The Dress

The Dress

“I love your dress!” Cynthia said to Jean.

“Oh... thanks?” Jean said suspiciously, Cynthia had never complemented her before and she’d known her since preschool. Matter of fact, she hadn’t actually ever been nice to her in the thirteen years they had been in school together, something was off.

“Ah, it’s pretty new. My mother got it somewhere...”

“I used to have one just like that! How much did it cost?”

Well that was more in line with Cynthia’s usual... “Ah, I don’t really know,” said Jean, “my mother got it for me. I wasn’t with her.”

Cynthia turned to her friends, “It was just like that one, the only problem was it had a stain under where the belt goes... so we just donated it to the church sale. You know, for the poor people to buy...”

“Under the belt?” Deena said, not quite understanding what Cynthia was talking about.

“Yes! Like here...” and she pulled the belt up on Jean’s dress, and there was the stain. “This is my old dress!” she said, in fake shock.

The other girls all looked shocked too, and then burst into giggles, walking away talking quietly and laughing.

Jean just stood there. She wasn’t sure if she felt totally humiliated, or just sad. Yes, they shopped at the church second hand store. They had only so much money, and it was a way to stretch it. Cynthia’s family was rich.

“Don’t let it get to you,” a voice suddenly startled her. “She loves to be mean, and she’s so good at it!”

Jean turned to find Ben Johnson standing there. He also came from a very well-off family, but he was always kind. So, Jean just laughed. They spent the rest of their lives laughing, together.

Cynthia on the other hand, didn’t.