Stand Tall, Georgia!

by AM

One day a while back when cell phones, computers, and smart TVs were not a thing, there was one thing that is still the same, the way people are treated.  

On December 7, 1899, Georgia walked into her 5th-grade classroom, she felt as if she was a clown. She skittered quickly to her desk and sat scared.  After she was done with her morning work she waved to her friend group to come over,  they just disregarded her. She saw everyone whispering, she knew it had to be about her. She was not a bad person, so why were people acting like this to her?  

If the teacher would have not come into the room, all the students would have made more fun of her. When math class was over it kept happening, but, this time, the students weren’t just whispering. They were laughing and pointing at her. 

When they went outside for recess Georgia could not decide if she should go into the bathroom or go outside. She went outside because of the fresh air. She stood alone on the brick wall, while all of her friends were on the playground. When people started to come her way she did not even look at them.  She decided that it was not fair that she was being discluded from the friend group. 

Georgia decided to go to the bright blue playground and ask her friends,  “May I please hang out with you guys?”

“Of cour—,” Allison, her friend said. 

“No, you can’t hang out with us anymore. We know what you have done,” Kylie said.   

Georgia ran back to the wall. She was crying realizing she has been excluded from her group. She decided that she would go back over to the playground and ask why she couldn’t hang out with them.  

“Sorry to bug you guys again, but I would like to know why I can’t hang out with you anymore?” she said. 

“You have kept too many things from us, and we know them all now,” Kylie said. 

Then she went to the other half of the playground and decided that the only way that they would have found out the confidential news is if Allison told them.  There is no one besides her family and Allison that know the secret. 

The next day she got to school and was treated the same. 

Finally, she stood up for herself. “Ms. Jolene may I use the restroom?” she asked her teacher. 

“Sure but make it snappy,” Ms. Jolene said. 

Georgia did just that, but when she came out of the restroom she was super tall, had a long neck, spots all over here, and weird-looking ears. She was as tall as a giraffe. She stomped as loud as a Elephant. When she got back into the classroom, everyone was staring at her—the whole class screamed and shouted with terror. 

She made a quick speech. “I and many other people have not been treated well recently and this is unacceptable and not right.”  Georgia raised a hand, did a softball pitch, and sent a shrinker flying. No movement. No talking. No eye contact. 

Out of nowhere Kylie got super short and screamed, “Ahh-h!”

Then Lilianna got shorter, but she didn’t scream. Instead, she laughed. “Ha Ha Ha Ha.”

Everyone started getting shorter, except two people: Allison and Georgia. “Wait! You were the goddess at our school?” Kylie asked. 

“Yes she is the goddess at our school and she always will be," Allison replied. 

“The only way you can grow back is if you start treating people the way you want to be treated,” Georgia sneered. 

Together, Allison and Georgia walked out of the room and smiled at each other. “Now, will you change back to your normal self so I can take you seriously?” Allison asked. 

“I was planning on it!" Georgia smiled. "I certainly don’t wanna look like this!”