Poems and Others

She Taught Me How to Believe in Myself

“Babe, come here, I want to show you something,” my friend Aubrey calls to me from the bathroom.

I get up from the bed and go down the hall then make a left turn into the bathroom. “Yeah babe?” I respond when I walk through the door.

“Do you want to learn how to do your hair and makeup with me? We’ve got all day to mess around with it, and I can show you how to do really cute things when it starts to get warmer,” she says. She looks at me from the mirror with a big smile on her face.

“Haha, yeah right! I’m terrible at doing my hair and makeup. I try to do it like you but I never can!” I say. She had to be crazy if she thinks she can really teach me how to do this. “Besides, no amount of teaching and makeup can make me beautiful,” I say quietly looking down at the ground.

            She smacks my arm and continues to straighten your hair. “Babe, I don’t care what anyone says, you’re beautiful. No matter what, you always will be beautiful. Quit judging yourself by looks and judge yourself by what’s inside,” she says.

            I look at my reflection in the mirror beside her. I stare at our reflections. Beside me is a beautiful girl with tan skin, short, beautiful brown hair, big sparkly brown eyes, and the smile that all guys chase after. Then I look at the reflection staring back at me. A pale shy girl with long red/brown raggedy hair, a blemished face, crocked smile and hidden deep blue green eyes that are hidden in shame.

            “The insides the same as the outside,” I respond starring at myself in the mirror.

            Aubrey stops straightening her hair and stares at my reflection also. “Babe,” she starts after a while. “Look deep inside yourself, you’re an amazing girl. You’ve been through things that most people have never been through or could even imagine trying to go through and then you come out of it stronger than you ever have been. You’ve always been there for me when I’ve fallen and you give the best advice. No matter how many times I get mad at you or say that I’m leaving you, you’re always there when I need you. You really are amazing babe, believe it or not,” she says.

            I look at her, then back at my reflection. “You really mean that?” I ask.

            She grabs me by the shoulders and turns me to face her. “Yes, I do mean that, it’s true.”

            I smile and hug her. “Thanks babe,” I say smiling.

            “You’re welcome babe!” she says back.