Plaid Skirts

My first day of seventh grade, I walked down the crowded halls. I had no friends yet and I was determined to at least have one friend by the end of the day.

Every girl wore jeans or pants, except one. She was leaning back on her locker wearing a plaid skirt that was just a few inches up from her knees and holding her books with one arm. She was talking to a group of boys and her legs were all scratched and bruised. Why would she wear a skirt with legs like that? I thought to myself, She must be a flirt with all those guys around her; I better stay clear from her.

It was hard to ignore her since she was in every one of my classes. Although, I met a girl also in every one of my classes, her name was Tori and she had two other best friends, Ilah and Sarie.

At lunch that day I realized that the girl (who I found out from Tori is named Layla) is not really a flirt, she was a tomboy. Layla played football with the boys who are her friends (and nothing more). Luckily for her she was smart enough to wear shorts under her skirt. That was the reason why her legs were so banged up, but why not just wear jeans? She wouldn’t get hurt as often.

By the end of the week, I was accepted into Tori, Ilah and Sarie’s group and everyday Layla would play football with her guy-friends wearing a plaid skirt with shorts underneath. I accomplished my goal of getting new friends, but I couldn’t really connect with them. They were the type of girls who thought shopping was sport and all of their favorite colors were pink. I liked blue and I despised the color pink. I was also the type of girl who wrote for the school newspaper or joined a debate team. I didn’t talk that much, because they didn’t really talk about stuff I could get into.

The school newspaper then started taking writers, and I signed up. For our junior high, they have a flag football team and this was the first year a girl got on the team, Layla. I was assigned to do an article about this and I thought that it would be great to interview her.

I saw her in the hall before first period the next day and asked her if she would be interested in an interview after school. She said that she would be happy to and we decided to meet in the newspaper classroom.

Layla was there as she said she would after school.

“So how long have you been playing flag football?” I asked getting out my notepad and pen.

“Ever since I was six years old with my brothers.” She replied. “How long have you been writing?” That surprised me, usually when people interview others they just answer questions and get it over with.

“I started writing articles when I was nine.” I said and then got back to the interview, “Were you surprised when you got on the team?”

“A little, were you surprised when you got on the paper?”

“A little… why are you asking questions when I’m suppost to be interviewing you?”

“I was only wondering, do you want me to stop?”

“It’s alright.” She was only trying to be friendly after all, and then we continued with the interview/conversation.

At the end of it when we were going, I just couldn’t help but ask one more question, “Layla, why do you wear skirts when you can get less hurt wearing pants and you won’t get that beat up?”

“They make me feel pretty. My mom tries to make me get jeans, but it doesn’t work. I can take getting bruises and scratches and if anyone has a problem with it, they can just look away, because I like my skirts.”

That answer caught me by surprise. I always thought that it was maybe because her parents make her, but she actually chooses to wear them?

After that we started talking some more and we had a lot in common, despite the fact that she likes sports and I am horrible at them. I stopped being best friends with Tori, Ilah and Sarie and started being close friends with Layla. She never listened to the crowd, she was her own person, not just another clone.