Orchids - Outgrown by Jennifer

Outgrown

It has only been 6 years, but today the group of young girls I remember in my graduation photos have transformed into the beautiful ladies seated around this coffee shop reunion.

Braces removed, pimple marks faded and the stress of the impending HSC absent in their eyes, it hits me how they have all grown. Long gone are Theresa's signature Nike joggers, replaced by the black stilettos whose glinting tip taunts any approaching stranger. She turns to me and flashes her perfect smile, beckoning me over to her table.

'Hey, how have you been?' The lingering keenness in her musical voice reminds me of who I must be, of the desire to rebuild that past intimacy which had existed between us.

I wear a foolish grin. 'Just as usual. You?'

'Yeah, around the same. Isn't this a great idea? How'd you manage to organise this reunion so well?'

An insignificant primitive instinct falters for a moment within me at her praise. A great idea. That was what I expected initially as well. It strikes me that the strained smile I pull performs poorly against their immaculate complexions.

'Well, it's great that we're here together now, isn't it?' 

Her wavy, mahogany hair glints with the fluorescence of the cafe light as she nods enthusiastically. 

I dare myself to take a long look at these women around me, these people who had accompanied me in a stressful but rewarding high school life. And it becomes clear that my perceptions had been far outdated ... my immature teenage narcissism being stripped of me painfully.

Torn away from my egoism, the story of the ugly duckling happens in reverse. What had happened to the sense of security and superiority many years ago? I pinch the back of my shin under the table until it goes numb, casually stealing another glance at the gathering around the table. Once I had thought that I was the elegant white swan, maybe not the best but fine nonetheless ... but gradually the ugly ducklings of my herd bloomed and, caught up in my own vanity, I had failed to realise that it is now I who is the ugly duckling.

I pull my shoulders back, chin up, in what I know is a futile attempt to live up to these ladies around me. In a final, exhausting effort, I try to laugh sincerely as the outgrown grass in a garden of orchids.

Author's Note: 405 words. I am getting less and less creative judging from the shrinking word count haha. There are so many aspects of this creative which I would not write in something that I actually have to hand in (haha 'pimple marks faded') but this is a half hearted attempt at writing something which 'I know about'. Not really, since I haven't done the HSC yet ...