The Status Quo

Sidney Martin (G9)

Arts and Writing

Published Issue 2 2022-2023

May I, the narrator, introduce you to Addison. She is a 13-year-old girl and learned 5 months ago about the status quo of the size girls are supposed to be, the clothes they are supposed to wear, the food they are supposed to eat (barely any), what type of music girls are supposed to listen to, and more.

Addison’s current life goal is to become one of the popular girls at school. She hears all this crap from her parents and others “to love yourself” and “that you are beautiful” but, who are we kidding, she doesn’t believe in this and I would be surprised to find a 13-year-old girl that does.

So, she had to make a couple of changes in her lifestyle in order to get accepted into the popular group.

She enters the shower and the first thing she notices is the big mountain below her. It taunts her. A reminder that she is not skinny enough, even though she has been juicing and fasting ever since she saw the Kardashian advertisement for this weight-loss pill.

Addison turns the knob and water comes crashing down on her disgusting short hair. It is one of her biggest flaws and she really needs to grow it out otherwise, she has no luck in getting into the popular group. There are rules she has to follow.

She tries this shampooing technique she saw on Youtube in order to have a clean scalp and smooth hair where you harshly rub your head until you get pins in needles in both your hands and your head. It seems to be working.

After rinsing out her hair she tries practicing this TikTok dance to impress the popular girls. She also practices the lyrics to the song as she heard one of the popular girls say that she loved the song and thought that the singer was super hot. Addison thinks the song is weird and has too many swear words, but whatever.

After conditioning her hair with a special type of conditioner she found on amazon, she soaps herself up with this fragrant flowery smelly soap. Then, she picks up the RAZOR! Addison has never shaved her legs or her underarms before and is really frightened by the idea of a knife grazing her skin. All she knows, from movies, is that you’re supposed to put shaving gel on, then press the razor up against your skin and drag it. Addison wants to look like the models she has seen on makeup boxes, with their smooth skin.

Addison is adopted and her parents are both men. There is no shaving gel in her shower. So, she uses soap instead. 3…2…1, she starts at her ankle and glides along her leg. Thankfully, she doesn’t cut herself, wait, I spoke too soon. She cut her knee, blood is slowly dripping down her leg onto the white plastic floor of the shower. It is bright red. She will never be able to join the popular girl's group with a cut on her knee.

She gets out of the shower and bandages herself up. Afterwards, she goes across the hall to her room. It is small, messy, and has a terrible colour scheme. She wishes her room could be designed by IKEA.

Addison looks at her clothes. Her new clothes. She has a new crop top that goes up higher than her belly button and it is really low in the back. She doesn’t have any boobs yet or a bra so she did this thing she saw in movies where you stuff tissue paper down your shirt. Who knows how well it will work?! She also has a new hoodie and a really, really, more than anyone needs to see, short skirt. But you know, that’s how it is. To end her outfit, she has white ankle socks and ankle bracelets and a pair of black converse.

Addison saw this trick on TikTok on how to make your waist smaller. You put saran wrap around your waist while sucking in your chunky fat - that seems like the size of a whole other person - and then you place your shirt overtop. Addison seems to be pleased with the results. To make herself even tinier, she decides that it would be best not to have any food today, just juice, probably for the best, as she is really ugly and fat.

She doesn’t have any make-up, or if her dads do have make-up, she doesn’t know where it is. Addison applies some sunscreen to her face to seem like she is at least wearing something to make her hopefully close to beautiful.

Addison heads out the door, trying to avoid her dads because she knows they wouldn’t approve but, this is important to her.

She heads to school, hoping to become a popular girl but, she’s not expecting a miracle.

Imagine her. She’s a complete and total ugly, fat, messy nobody.