Suddenly, the door to the shop opened and the most unlikely person to be there stepped into the store. It was none other than Sarah McMillan. And behind her were her cheerleader friends.
"There she is," Sarah announced, pointing at Zoe. Usually when Sarah and her friends pointed Zoe out, it was because they were using her as a target for their latest barrage of teases or insults. But not this time.
Sarah and her friends ran over to Zoe, smiling all the way. "Hi, Zoe," Sarah said. "I thought I might find you here. I never thought too much about this gothic stuff before, but if you're into it, then maybe I should be too."
"Yeah," said one of Sarah's friends (Melissa Smith). "I think we'd all look good in black. What do you think, Jessica?" she asked another one of the cheerleaders.
"Totally. Pink is out, but black is totally in."
Zoe stared at them. They actually wanted to become something they always hated, just because Zoe was popular now.
"Zoe, are you okay?" Sarah asked, putting her arm around the Goth girl, trying to console her.
Zoe immediately shrugged her off, which confused Sarah. Zoe just wasn't used to a "nice" Sarah. To her, Sarah McMillan was and always would be the biggest bitch in school.
"Keep away from me," Zoe said.
Sarah looked around at her friends, with a puzzled and slightly worried look on her face.
Then Zoe pushed her way through the crowd of people that surrounded her and ran out of the store. She needed some air and some time to figure out the ramifications of what she had just done. All she wanted was to never be treated like an outsider or a loser. She never wanted to be the most popular girl in school.
