Ashleigh lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She knew she shouldn't worry about Kevin, but she couldn't help it. Everytime that she was around the "preppy" or "jock" type of guys, they always labeled her as one thing- a freak. Some people even went so far as to claim she was a druggie. All she was, in reality, was a normal girl with a creative streak about a mile long. She didn't just like hard rock and alternative music, she loved everything. In fact, she was proud to herself an oldies freak- her favorite band, for instance, is the Monkees. 'Their music kicks ass, the show was adorably hilarious, Head is so 'psychadelic', and Micky is just so damn cute!' She'd always explain.

Standing up, she walked over to the CD-player she had just set up. She flipped through her CDs and put 5 into the CD player- the Monkee's Headquarters, Head, Greatest Hits, and Missing Links 2, as well as Savage Garden's Affirmation. She put those CDs on random and took out a journal. In it were what she felt some of her best works- her songs and poetry. Pulling a metallic teal gel pen out of her purse, she began to write a song inspired very loosely by the Monkees song with the same name (that was pretty much all they had in common) and about her role in society and it's stereotypes.

I wanna be free
To just be me
Not be judged by others
To feel the way I want to

In this world, there's no escaping
Our stuck-up, stereotyping culture
I MUST be skinny,
I MUST have the "perfect body",
If I wanna achieve something

Don't they realize there is no such thing as perfect?
The true beauty is INSIDE a person.
But in this society,
It's just so hard to believe that and break free

I wanna be free
To be the person locked inside me
No worries,
No cares,
Just plain, simple

ME.

**Chapter Seven**