A New Beginning
By Belle Neuwirth

"Why would you do that? Don’t you want to keep her under your wing as long as possible?"

Sara replied with a sigh. "Sure, I’d like to. But it’s really not working out. She defies my authority all the time, and she’s hanging around with a strange group of kids at school."

"Strange in what way?" Melissa inquired curiously.

"Well, you know—blue hair, black nail polish, tattoos. . ."

Melissa arched her eyebrows. "Aren’t you being judgmental? You don’t know those kids."

Sara, feeling slightly on the defensive, answered, "No, I don’t think I’m being judgmental. I didn’t say they were bad, just strange. If you want me to rephrase it, okay: they do strange things. I’m very traditional, I know, but I want my daughter to be normal, the way we were at that age."

"Hmm, that’s debatable," Melissa said with a smile. "But I see what you mean. How does Jessica feel about it? Does she feel you’re trying to get rid of her?"

"Surprisingly, no," Sara said, remembering the conversation they’d had the week before. "She actually brought it up herself, because she heard that one of the ‘popular’ girls is going. She thinks it’ll be fun to be with other girls in a dorm. I guess we’ll try it and see what happens."

Despite her family’s misgivings, Jessica went off to school the next fall, with duffel bags full of clothes and gear. She called home after a few days and said she was fine. The only problem was that many of the girls seemed snobbish and clothes-oriented. She felt a little self-conscious in comparison with them, but she felt she could deal with it.

About a week later Sara got a call from the school principal. He said there had been an incident at the school in which a fight had broken out, and some of the girls had been injured, though not seriously. One of them was Jessica. He asked if Sara could come out for a few days. With a great deal of trepidation, Sara flew east.

When Sara saw her daughter at the hospital, she was relieved; Jessica had some minor bruises, but otherwise she was fine. Jessica told Sara what had happened. A small group of girls at the school had been hassling a girl from another country. Jessica had seen this harassment going on almost every day and felt terrible about it. But she was dying to be popular and was too "chicken" to get involved. Finally, after a particularly malicious incident, she decided she couldn’t be cowardly. She went over to the group of kids and told them to back off. Almost immediately, a fight started and turned nasty. But to Jessica’s great surprise, at least a dozen girls who had been hanging around came over and backed her up!

Someone had the sense to call the principal, who quickly arrived. The fight was broken up and the injured girls were taken to the hospital. The principal was upset that he had not been aware of the escalating situation. He said an oversight committee would be formed as soon as the girls felt better, and as a result of what he had heard about Jessica’s role in the incident, he asked her to head the committee. The girls who had been doing the harassing were suspended.

Jessica said she was amazed at the number of girls who supported her during and after the incident. She found that popularity was a lot more fun when it was based on kindness rather than on clothes.

Sara was relieved and gratified. Her daughter was really growing up!