As people make their way out of the cinema the friends slowly get up and start the long walk home: still deeply engrossed in conversation. They aren't really looking where they are going and one of the girls walks straight another person coming from the opposite direction. She looks up to apologise only to see that it's one of the girls from her class: surrounded by all her mates. These are the people who torment her on a daily basis.
"Watch where you're going, Fatty." The girl calls angrily. Anna's friend just stares down at the ground and mutters an apology: turning bright red.
"What did you say?"
"I said 'sorry,'" She almost whispers.
"Well I suppose I can't blame you for walking into me. You do take up nearly all the pavement." She laughs cruelly and this makes Anna angry. She looks across at her friend and sees her staring at the floor, trying to fight back the tears.
"Don't talk to her like that. She hasn't done anything wrong!" Anna says. Finding confidence from somewhere deep inside her. Normally she'd have just taken it and not said anything but tonight she'd had enough.
"Who asked what you think, Paki?"
"I have got a name." Anna snarled. Deciding to stand up for herself for once.
"Yeah, some stupid long Paki name I bet." They all laugh like it's the funniest thing they've ever heard.
"It's Anna actually."
"So you've stolen our names as well as our country, have you?"
"What do you mean? Anna's my name. Not any of yours."
"But it's an English name, get it?"
"I am English." Anna insists.
"No you're not. Now why don't you go back where you bloody came from before I get my big brother over here."
"I wish you'd just leave me alone. What have I ever done to you?"
"You're here. That's enough. Now do you want me to call my brother? He's just coming out of the cinema and he hates your lot as much as I do. So you'd better run before he comes over here and pounds the lot of you." Anna doesn't say anything else but she knows she's lost so she turns away as quickly as she can and walks away. Wobbling on her heals every so often. She is trying not to seem afraid but doesn't want to get 'pounded' by this girl's brother.
She hears laughing and footsteps following them so as soon as they turn the corner and can't be seen by the gang of girls Anna stops. With shaking hands she unbuckles her shoes and throws them into her bag. They all begin to run as fast as they can, which isn't very fast. They keep on running, despite the stitch and the stones that dig into Anna's feet. And they do this because they are too scared of what, or should I say who, will get them if they stop. But they do stop, eventually. But only when they get to the top of the road where Anna lives. They are exhausted and out of breath but think they will be safe now.
"I don't understand why they are so horrible to us." One of Anna's friends says as they stand saying goodbye.
"I know." Says another. "I mean I've never done anything to them. Most of them don't even know my name or anything about me. So why wont they just leave us alone?"
"I don't know." Anna admits "But I wish they would." They all nod in agreement and go their separate ways. Anna hobbles along, her feet hurt badly. After ever few steps she looks over her shoulder for girls with cruel laughs and brothers that want to pound her.
Part three
Here she is again: older but no wiser. She still believes that she can change herself to make other people like her. Anna believes that if she models herself on all the people that hate her, if she looks exactly like them, then they will realise what a nice person she really is. She's fourteen but hasn't quite realised that they don't see her as a person- nice or other wise- they see her as a skin colour. Some one who doesn't fit their guidelines of what a person should be, and because of that they will never like her.
But, as I said, she hasn't quite realised this yet. This is why she has changed herself so much that you wouldn't recognise her as the little girl gazing out of the window or even as the ten-year-old wobbling along on her high heals. Her hair that used to be so long and straight is now cut and curled so that it reaches just under her ears. Ears that now have now been pierced and have two glittering jewels resting in each. She is still wearing her school uniform: the skirt is creased where she's rolled it up at the top to make it that little bit shorter, her tie is done up as loosely as possible without it falling off and her jumper was tied round her waist but was quickly put on again before her mum saw. On her face she wears a light red lipstick, purple eye shadow and badly applied, blotchy mascara. She wore not enough to be noticed by the teachers but enough to make her feel that little bit prettier and like she was breaking a few rules. A bit of a rebel.
So here she is, squashed into her tiny bathroom with her two friends. She used to have three friends, if you remember, but Nicola- the tall, clever girl with braces and glasses- has left them for more popular friends. Once her braces had been taken off and she'd started to wear contact lenses she was actually very pretty, pretty enough to be popular, and could no longer be called a geek. Even the most popular girl decided that it would be okay to let her hang around with them as Nicola had offered to do all her homework for a month. So off she had gone, without so much as a glance back. And now she doesn't have anything to do with the 'out casts'. Infact she avoids them like the plague. Of course she doesn't join in with the bullying and teasing that the other children do but instead she just stands there and watches, not daring to make eye contact. In a way that is worse.
Anyway, back to Anna and her remaining friends. They are all crowded around a small box in the centre of the room that had a bottle of hair dye in it. Anna is smiling, talking, laughing and joking, which is a rare sight. It's not that she's a miserable child or even a quiet one but just that she has learnt to keep her mouth shut, to blend into the crowd and try not to get noticed. She's naturally loud and has a lot to say for herself: a bubbly girl, up for a laugh. But after being told for the past eight years that her opinions count for nothing and that nobody cares what she thinks she's learnt to only open up to people close to her. They stop laughing after a minute or so and one of her friends picks up the bottle from the floor and starts to re-read the instructions. Quickly she looks from Anna's excited face to the package and then back again.
"I don't think this is going to work, Anna." She says quietly.
"Of course it'll work." Anna snaps. "It's got to work." She adds sadly, desperately. Her friends nod in a silent understanding as Anna starts to pour jug full of water over her hair: shivering as cold water cascades onto her face.
"Christ, this is cold!" Anna announces. "Now you've got to put the gloves on and put that gunk on my hair." She instructs her friends bossily. They turned and glanced at each other in a silent conspiracy, one girl gently nudges the other, telling her to do it. The other glares back: not wanting to be the one who breaks the bad news but she realises after a moment that she doesn't have any choice.
"Anna," She begins softly. "This wont work, it wont turn you're hair blonde. I mean look at the packet-" She pauses to shove the packet in front of Anna's face. "-It only goes down to dark brown. You're hair's black. It won't work."
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