I am not sue what the motivation for this was, but its the story of someone who always takes second place. Its a little bit about getting what you wished for, but it not quite being what you wanted. Take a look, and tell me, what do you think?
She stood holding the medal and wanted to weep, knowing what was done to get her here.
She was good, actually, she was the best, but she had lost out more than once due to her nemesis, Amanda Cartwright. Technically speaking, Amanda was near her equal, but emotionally, in a performance, Amanda couldn’t hold a candle to her and knew it.
Amanda wasn’t one to win gracefully either. Every time she won, she rubbed it in. Made sure to thank Chloe for trying. For showing up, even though they both knew how it was going to end. It was infuriating as it was true.
The worst part for Chloe was knowing that she was better, in just about every way, except one. Amanda was prettier. Amanda was was taller, thinner, blonder, and just prettier than Chloe. Everyone said that Chloe would grow into her looks, which was a polite way of saying she was kind of funny looking, and well she was.
These weren’t beauty contests though, they shouldn’t have been basing the decisions on the contestants looks, and yet, its the only reason that Amanda was winning. Until today that is.
Her sister, her evil, loathsome, little sister, who was sick of getting ‘dragged all over hells half acre’ as she put it, decided in a surprising show of sisterly solidarity to put an end to it. She put hair dye in Amanda’s oil treatment. Black hair dye, which not only turned Amanda’s hair a deep unnatural black, but also had stained her skin in all the spots of oil she hadn’t wiped off, because knowing it was oil, it was safe.
It had made Amanda look dead, her natural peaches and cream complexion was washed out, and the scream Amanda had given when she saw herself in the mirror… Well Chloes first thought was that she got injured.
And then people turned on her. As she cried, everyone else just laughed. It was karma of sorts, all that meanness over the years coming back to her. The girl she called fat, the one she said was stupid, the boy she called Mexican even though he was obviously native American, all of the people she had mocked and taunted with her wins, saying they would never be good enough, they all took a turn tearing her down.
She ran crying from the auditorium, and Chloe was one of the ones laughing, because no one person had ever deserved this more than Amanda Cartwright.
Then Chloe found out her sister did it, specifically to make her win, and her stomach flipped. It was funny as a joke, but as sabotage, she felt guilty. Then she won, and she felt horrible. It was like the win was soured by what her sister did to get her there. She = knew she deserved the win, got there on talent, but there was a part of herthat knew, knew that if Amanda was there she wouldn’t have made it. And know she had a lingering doubt that maybe, well, what if Amanda was better. What if she was winning because Chloe wasn’t as good. What if Chloe only stood here holding this medal because her sister went Tonya Harding on my competition.
Winning had never been so bittersweet.
Anne McSommers' Writing Nook 