Holding On

Holding on....


Maria waited, watching the count on the screen. The number didn't change. She quickly moved her mouse to the top left corner and hit refresh. Still, the number was the same. She took a deep breath and thought that it might be a glitch. She would be okay with only fourteen views. For now. Tomorrow there would be a hundred, and she would be the best blogger in the world. All she had to do was talk to the people at her school. She was so popular there, it was sure to translate online, too.

The next day, when she came home from school, she sat in her favorite chair with her laptop and logged back into her blog. Nothing. Still fourteen views. She sighed, exasperated. She had told everyone she knew! And that was almost everyone at school! Suddenly, the page refreshed and there were....
fifteen views.

She sighed with relief. Someone had noticed her that day. The most popular girl in school. They had paid attention to her. Everyone loved her. She hit refresh to see if maybe that person had left a note or a comment. There was a comment, but not the one she was looking for. She read it aloud, tears coming to her eyes.

"Unknown.
Poorly written. You should try doing something else. Obviously writing isn't for you."

Poorly written. Writing isn't for you. It echoed around in her head. Obviously they hadn't read it right. Maybe they had read something else. She was a great author! All of her friends had told her so before! She was popular and liked by everyone! Except the nerds, she thought. The nerds probably hated her because they were all jealous of her. She told herself she would check in again the next day to see if they had corrected themselves.

She slept fitfully that night, nerds swimming around in her dreams, calling her lame and sticking out their tongues.

The next morning, she woke up extra early just to jump on her computer. There were four more views and comments. She read them aloud, her heart slowly breaking.

"Katlover8294
Horrible author! Try another field, newbie!"

"Markhun28
Worst blog ever! Your life must be terrible, because all of your stories are!"

"Wolly333
This is laughable, you should give up on writing."

"Hollyint679
Pathetic attempt at writing. If I could give this thousand thumbs down, I would!"

Maria felt tears coming to her eyes, and she wiped them away. These were all people who were supposed to be her friends. She knew all of these people. How could they be so rude?! It hurt her heart to know her "friends" weren't really friends at all. She hung her head. Was she really a bad author? Were her friends right? Should she give up and just stay the pretty face at school?

Suddenly, another comment popped up on the screen. Maria looked up. The tears came again, but not because she was sad.

"KarenTH7800
For a first post, this isn't bad! You should see mine!:D I look forward to your next post. The more you write, the better you will get! Most importantly, you should have fun with your writing!:)"

Maria smiled. She had no idea who this girl was, but they had made her feel so much better. Was it someone from school? She had never seen that pen name before. She would have to ask around school. The blog page refreshed and there was a follower! KarenTH7800 was a follower!

Maria made a promise that she would find out who KarenTH7800 was. When she went to school later that morning, she asked around and finally found Karen. It turns out that she was a nerd, and one that Maria had ignored so many times before. They talked for a long time after school, and during that time Maria apologized for anything she had ever done to upset Karen. Karen accepted her apology. She made it through all the jeers from her "friends" that day with Karen, her new, true friend.

Later that day, Karen replied to all of the other mean comments on Maria's blog, defending her and telling them to back off. Maria had never been happier.

Holding on.