Freckles

CHAPTER ONE

My Big Teenage Problem

I hated my freckles when I was young. Every day I looked in the mirror and thought, 'Look at them! They're getting bigger! When I'm older they'll be one BIG freckle, all over me!'

At school, the other little children in my class laughed at me and my freckles. 'Hello, Freckle-face!' they shouted.

But when I was a teenager, it all got worse. My freckles were my Big Teenage Problem.

Why did I think that? Because one lunchtime, I went to the school library and started to look for a book. Suddenly, I heard a conversation between two boys.

'So who do you think is pretty?' one said.

'Donna Marshall?' said the other boy.

My ears went - DING! - Because Donna's my best friend.

'Yes!' said the first boy.

'Susie Carpenter?'

My ears went - DING! - Again, because that's me.

'Great legs...' began the first boy.

I thought, 'That's a good start, but don't talk about the freckles! Please don't talk about the freckles.'

'... but I don't like the freckles.'

'Oh, no!' I thought. I wanted to run away and cry. 'Perhaps that will wash my freckles away,' I thought.

Donna is pretty, of course. She has it all: pretty hair, blue eyes, nice teeth - and no freckles! Boys fall down at her feet when she walks past them. She can go out with any boy - and she goes out with a lot of them! When she gets bored with somebody, she says goodbye to him. Then she turns to the next boy.

That was Donna's life. A lot of young men, and they happily did everything for her. I only had freckles! I was very unhappy in those days.

But not now. Now I'm quite happy with my freckles. So what changed things? I'll tell you...

It was lunchtime in the Dining Room, and I was with Donna. Suddenly, Donna said, 'A boy over there is looking at us.'

'Looking at you, you mean,' I said. 'What boy?'

'I don't know,' she said. 'I never saw him before now.'

I started to turn my head.

'Don't look!' Donna said quickly. 'He'll see you! Look at him when he's not looking.'