Lily hated the locker room. She hated her skinny legs and arms, and the way the other girls grinned at her skinny flat-chested body. She hated the showers most of all. It was torture for her to walk naked into the steaming room, hearing the giggling of other girls when they saw her, knowing they thought she was hideous.
Whoever wanted teen girls to shower together at the same time was a fiend. A perverted fiend at that!
But she endured. Now, no one laughed. Now, she was the highest-paid fashion model in the world.
Well done tale of revenge. From what I know of a model’s life, I hope she didn’t go out of the frying pan into the fire.
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Some of them actually survive it. I hope she’s one of them.
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This is true… anyone who was once a teenage girl winced! It is almost too painful to remember the horrors of “gym class.” Generations of girls carried the scars and horror with us. My own generation was in the early 1950s. The horrible blue gym suits and the constant hassle over showers…sneaking in with underpants, omg… It was all-important though. I know a girl who would have been class Valedictorian if her near-perfect record had not included a “D” in gym. The girl who actually made the honor….well, she didn’t have a “D in gym.” Her experience was in the 1980s.
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Early 1960’s for me, with just the opposite problem from Lily’s. I wasn’t at all fat then, but I was curvy, ahead of most of the others. Gym class was agony. And I was so glad not to have to take it after my sophomore year. It was like being released from prison.
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Gym class…like a bad memory that keeps popping up . Why was that form of torture acceptable for so long?
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Some of my friends truly loved gym, but none of them loved the showers.
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Gym was ok, except that one of my most inept talents was sports…coordination great. I never could do those hand clapping routines without sticking a finger in my eye. 🙂
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🙂
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I hated showering in school. I hated changing with other people present. No one made fun of me. I’ve just always been painfully shy.
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I think “modest” is a more accurate word.
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You found a happier (perhaps) ending than I did
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One can hope. Some models do very well after the peak period of their careers.
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Dear Linda,
You brought it all back. The nightmare of having to undress and shower with other girls. Not to mention the horror of getting my ironed hair wet. Well done and good for Lily. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I wonder if they still make kids do that. It was so awful. I hated gym days.
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It’s a strange thing, I remember boys too had communal showers in school and after football team games, and in hindsight it seems a cruel thing to make teenagers do! I’m glad it worked out for her.
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You know, I think boys are just different than girls when it comes to being naked in what, to me, felt like a public place. I have three sons, and they were all in athletics. Don’t remember them complaining. But then, neither did I. I figured it was just something I had to endure.
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Kids can be so judgemental… And with that description of herself, it does sound like she’d make a good high-fashion model. A little sweet revenge.
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Remember Twiggy?
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Yep. Since then most super models are like that.
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Thin is in.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those girls who made fun of Lily wished they had her life.
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I think most, if not all, schools in Australia have cubicles; dressing and showering are done in private. At least that’s how it was at my school and from what I heard about other schools.
You described a nightmare!
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It was. Just awful.
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You’ve recaptured the horror of those days. Bringing a note from your mother to excuse yourself… 😦
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It would have to have been a doctor’s excuse, back in the 60s. Mom was not objective 🙂
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I remember the embarrassment to this day – I was flat-chested until I was 15. Not much bigger now, TBH, but happy not to be over-burdened!
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And it just doesn’t matter any more, does it? Thank goodness!
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Communal showers, I’d forgotten how ghastly they were! She who laughs last ….!
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Bad for you guys, too, huh?
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Sounds like a Taylor Swift song, lol. Peers are not a girl’s best friend.
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Sadly, not always.
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A neatly worked tale, Linda. Oh, those showers! If you delayed to avoid the crush, the water ran cold…
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Yup. And I’ll never forget our gym teacher standing there watching us to make sure we were wet all over. Not allowed to wrap the towel until we passed her inspection. Pervert, if you ask me!
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like they say, the best revenge is to be successful. 🙂
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hey at least it all worked out well for her
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ah, the taste of sweet revenge… Great story.
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I love your story! It reminds me of one of Toni Morrison’s last books, “God Help the Child,” that tells the story of Bride, a girl born very dark-skinned and rejected by her mother. Later she becomes a high-dollar fashion diva.
Ivana says, “Success is the best revenge.” 🙂
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I’ve heard of the book. Haven’t read it yet. Sounds like one I need to read!
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That’s shown them. I hope she survives the modelling life unscathed.
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Me too. Many do.
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Sort of an ugly duckling story, eh Linda?
I find it justice that kids who were popular (cool) in school often face more challenges, and often find less success, in life than those who were considered nerds and outcasts. Perhaps the struggle, and dealing with adversity, builds perserverance and character that wins out in the long run.
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Agreed. As a teacher, I observed some of those “cool kids” who felt so entitled because of their high school standing that they really felt they didn’t have to work for a living. Sad.
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A good ending. I hope she likes the life she has now. Screw those girls hey?
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Indeed! There was plenty of reason for the movie “Mean Girls” to have had such success.
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The awkward years – so familiar, so formative, so frightening. Skinny girl, chubby girl, poor girl, poor little rich girl, mean girl – we should do better by our girls. Well done!
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Agreed. I watched it start in kindergarten when I was teaching in a small private school. Little bitty five-year-olds shunning the girl who didn’t have the clothes they did. It starts young. We need to teach them kindness. It doesn’t always come naturally.
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No communal showers but let me tell you that in a boy’s boarding school there is no privacy 🙂
An ugly duckling story indeed and I’ve seen that transformation in a few (no international models unfortunately).
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Great story! I’m new here and was wondering if you guys could check out my page and give it a follow, like or even just some feedback! caleecreates.wordpress.com Have a great day 🙂
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Calee, best advice is just keep writing! And stay with this crazy group, because they will inspire you and keep you on your toes 🙂
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