Bouncy

Before today's entry, I want to say thank you to Addy F, for leaving such a long and wonderful comment on one of my earlier blog posts. It was so much fun to read. If you started a blog just about the kids in your choir, I would totally read it. -Your Faithful O

As soon as the teacher announces that today is a free work period, all the phones come out. Everybody texting and talking and listening to their music. The teacher doesn't care. He doesn't care about anything. I wonder when he's going to retire. It's got to be soon, because he's completely stopped trying.

There are a lot of girls--especially in the AP classes--who never ever get sad. They're always busy, they always have someone to talk to, they always have something to laugh about. Bouncy is definitely one of them. Even once she gets quiet and settles down in class to get some work done, the smile never really leaves her face.

Everybody loves Bouncy. She does everything--everything worth doing, anyway. Sports, leadership, AP classes, foreign exchange programs. Wherever there's lots of people, there's Bouncy.


She's popular in a way that's both honest and intimidating--She's not popular because people are afraid of her, she's popular because so many people like her, and that's a little intimidating.
Her confidence can outshine anyone, and that's a little intimidating, too.

But at the same time it's hard to feel threatened by her. Her voice has this unwavering friendliness to it, and she always sounds just a little bit congested, which gives her voice an almost endearing quality. People like listening to her talk.

Bouncy has masses of curly blond-and-brown hair. It must be really hard to manage, but she doesn't straighten it, or even dye it. She rocks it. It's her hair, and she doesn't make any apologies for it. Besides that, it's gorgeous.

But if you really look hard into her face, she's not actually very pretty. Not the way you'd expect a popular girl to be. Her clothes are cute, her hair is adorably crazy, her voice is appealing, her nails are neatly done, but her face is just sort of average. A few freckles. Small eyes with lazy, half-closed lids, with a hint of bagginess underneath them. Covered up with a little makeup. It's no wonder--With everything she does, it must leave little time for sleep.

Her face is nothing special, but the thing is, it doesn't matter, because her bubbly personality makes her pretty. Her confidence. There is one thing about her face that everyone loves, and that's the smile. The smile that never leaves.

It actually gets creepy if you look at it for long enough. That smile. It looks like it knows something you don't know. And it's a little smug about it.

She's a flirt. She makes the boys feel liked, the girls feel smart, and the teachers feel challenged. She loves arguing with teachers, the English teacher especially. Every day, she and a few of the other Always Happy girls playfully try to convince him to give less homework. Bouncy always argues the most vehemently of them all, and he never hesitates to argue right back. He loves girls like her.
He likes to tease her. A lot of people do. And she loves that.