What a Character!

Sighing, Katherine fingered the violet lace of the over-the-top dress her mother had laid out for her. She was not a fan of parties, at all. She did love the satiny feel, the silky fabric beneath her fingertips. Remembering the reluctant promise she had made to her eager mother, Katherine obediently got ready for her birthday party. She slipped on the purple dress, brushed her damp hair and spread shimmering silver powder on her eyes. She looked at her portrait in her gilt-framed mirror and wished she didn't have a mother that loved frilly fabrics and dark lipstick.
Katherine sloped off to be embraced and fussed over by her mother. "You look gorgeous!" she blabbered on and on, tweaking Katherine's hair and smoothing the slightest crinkle in her dress. Katherine was finally allowed to see the disaster site, also known as her back lawn. The dew-covered grass was perfectly cropped and dainty little flowers grew endlessly in the long garden that stretched around the house. But no one was looking at the grass. All her classmates from school had just arrived in their sleek, swanky cars and were strutting towards the rosy pink tables laid with dozens of mini pies, treats and cakes. This was far worse then Katherine had imagined. "Happy Birthday!" A shrill voice cried; Paige, a bully from school, had hugged her forcefully. Why did the bullies always have to be the pretty popular girls that just so happened to be in Katherine's class?
"Hi." Katherine murmured nervously, just a faint whisper.

All the girls were chorusing a polite greeting, waiting to dig into the largest cake, iced with sugary roses and flavoured red velvet. However most, of course, had skinny figures and wore even girlier frocks than Katherine. While the other girls were engrossed in a cheesy game of pin-the-tail-on-the donkey turned pin-the-tail-on-the-magical-pink-unicorn, Katherine slinked back to the food table. On her way she brushed past a cluster of pink balloons tied with silver ribbon. She ripped it off the tree is was tied to and, after roughly stripping it of its ribbon, let it go. It floated off in the breeze like a cloud. Why couldn't all of this pink, babyish party fly off in the breeze, never to be seen again? She wished that, as she had suggested to her mother, she was racing about with her wild best friend Mandy in a game of soccer. Such a shame Mandy was disliked by my mother and in a different class. Katherine could almost feel the wind whipping through her hair, see the ball ahead of her, finally letting her competitive side free. Why bother to be competitive when the only game at that party revolved around blindfolds and unicorns? She was 15 for crying out loud.
Katherine picked a small, plain cupcake with a swirl of pink icing. She hated the balloons, the girly pink, the endless attention. After the guests had finished their game (boastful little Paige had won) they flounced over to join me in eating. They took petite bites and held their pinkies out like they were royalty. Paige continued to brag, declaring herself the best party-game player ever. When mum wasn't looking, at least.
Finally the girls, walking in a superior manner, departed without a second glance, and Katherine breathed a sigh of relief.
She was free to chill with her actual friends and enjoy her birthday.

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