Just Plain Terry

Once upon a time there was a girl named Terry.

Terry was never considered adorable, cute, or pretty. She was always just plain Terry.

Even as a baby, she was always given the cursory 'how cute', but no one ever really thought so.

Terry's mother, Elizabeth, was disappointed. Though she herself was never model material, she was prettier than most and had hoped, with the combination of her semi-good genes and her husband's also slightly above average bone structure, she would be given the chance to dress up a beautiful, model-like daughter.

It wasn't unheard of.

But she didn't strike out completely.

The day Theodore was born, it seemed as though the heavens had finally agreed to answer her shallow prayers.

Teddy was the picture perfect baby. And as the years passed, he grew up into a healthy, vibrant and handsome child.

But little could be said for Terry.
Just Plain Terry.

She tried her best to make her mother proud.

When her brother scored a B overall in his third grade class and Beth exclaimed with joy to all the neighbours, Terry worked hard and finished 3rd in her entire year.

Beth smiled and patted Terry's head, but continued exclaiming on Teddy's soccer achievements to her sisters.

When Teddy was scouted by a talent agent to do a cereal commercial for kids, Beth jumped in jubilation and proudly walked her boy to school and told all the teachers who would listen.

Terry knew she couldn't compete with her Just Plain looks. But she tied her hair in neat pigtails, bought two shiny ribbons with her weekly allowance, brushed her teeth hard and pinched her cheeks and wore her skirt sightly high up and tied around the waist with a shiny black ribbon, like how she saw the pretty ladies in her mommy's shiny magazines did.

Beth took one glance at Terry and commented, "You have a string hanging out of your skirt dear."


The years passed and Teddy continued growing healthier, stronger, and handsomer.
Terry watched her mother continuously exclaim over her brother's achievements and learnt to just smile and nod.

High school passed by in a blink of an eye for Teddy.
He was the school basketball star player. He was voted Most Popular three years in a row by his schoolmates, and his grades were slightly above average.

Terry learnt to sit quietly in her corner, never demanding and asking for anything.
Though she continued her fascination with shiny magazines and slowly really did improve her outlook, her mother never saw any of it.

Terry never saw any of it either.

But then came That Fateful Day.

Beth had asked Terry to buy her brother's favorite vanilla ice cream to celebrate his certain win in that afternoon's basketball game.

Terry had an important exam the next day and had only just told her mother, but she just quietly got up and immediately went out to the neighbourhood store.
She had learnt a long time ago that unhappy emotions were better off being buried than said.

As she walked in the cool breeze, she unwittingly let her mind wander what she dreamt of becoming.

Someone.
Someone people would look up to.
Someone who would do great things for the society.

Someone worth loving.

Then her foot hit the curb of the neighbourhood store where she was to buy her brother's favorite ice-cream.

Bitterness engulfed her for a long moment.
She struggled to hold it back as she had many times before. Wave after wave of emotion swept over her and she struggled to hold back her tears.
But the moment passed. As always.

And Terry became Just Plain Terry again.
And Terry opened the store door to buy her brother's favorite vanilla ice cream.

He was at the counter. A stranger in town who stopped by to get some snacks on his way to the city.

And as he turned around and saw Terry, he thought to himself, "My... what a pretty little girl."

He saw her downturned head and said aloud to her, "Cheer up, my dear. A pretty thing like you shouldn't be in the blues."

Terry lifted her head in a daze.
"What?" She stammered out in disbelief.
"I said 'A pretty thing like you shouldn't be sad.'"

The man bid her goodday and walked out of the store.

Terry stood frozen at the doorway.
Never in her life had anyone called her 'pretty'.

She caught her reflection on a wall of the store and stared into the almost-woman she had grown to.

Her hair had grown long and shiny.
Her eyes were small but exotic looking.
Her nose was sharp and her face was slim and heart shaped.

And maybe it was the tears that ran out of her eyes and blurred her vision.
And maybe it was the man's kind words.

But for the first time Terry looked at herself.
And thought.

She was actually pretty.