“Come on Frida, let’s save the world!”

My older sister and I played hero with the dolls. I was saving Frida from the great dragon, and I was about to win when suddenly three boys appeared.

“Oh look, it’s the freak and her little sister.”

“*laughs* They’re playing with dolls like little losers!”

Frida looked down. The boys of the village were always teasing her for her hair, which was quite a beautiful colour in my opinion but no one else on the island had the same hair colour as her. Because of this, she was always teased just cos she was a little different.

“Leave us alone!”

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?”

You might think I’d have no chance against 3 older boys, but think again.

“*war cry*”

I head butted one of them, while the other two backed away in fear.

“This girl’s crazy!”

“YES I’M CRAZY! AND IF YOU DON’T LEAVE US ALONE I’LL DESTROY YOU!”

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You…you're so cruel Kiara. You know what? One day something bad is going to happen to you and no one will help you because the truth is, you're awful!

Hi! My name is Kiara from Louisiana.

Mom passed away when I was born so my multi-billionaire dad raised me alone, and he spoiled me with money.

Everyone fawned all over me but I knew it was just because I was a billionaire's daughter.

One girl, Rita, the girl you saw earlier, was especially annoying in her attempts to please me. She will follow me everywhere!

Oh! You spilled juice on your sneakers!

It's waterproof!

Oh. Sorry.

People would say she was super nice, but I thought she was too fake and itched to be rid of her. So when she invited me to her 17th birthday party, and was about to cut the cake, I stepped up to her and pulled off her wig.

Look guys! Rita's hair is actually two inch long!

All the kids in the neighborhood were there including her crush Derek. 

Her face went red, and she uttered those words of doom to me.

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“In this corner, we have Ava the Destroyer!”

The crowd went wild. This was just a simple boxing fight, the first stage of the tournament that I hoped to win. A lot of people had their bets on my victory.

“And Ava’s opponent.. The strong, the almighty: Abigail the Wrecker!”

Again the crowd went wild. I watched as my opponent entered the ring, but when I saw her face my blood stopped moving. It was my sister Abigail. Except, my sister had been missing for 10 years!

Hi guys, my name’s Ava and I’m from Texas.

My sister Abigail and I were twins, and we were the bestest friends ever! We did everything together, one time we even broke our left arm at the same time when we fell off a trampoline!

“Ow!”

“Wow this is so cool, we’re broken arm twins!”

I loved Abigail so much. She was my other half. But then one day our lives were ruined.

Our parents took us out on a camping trip, but when we woke up the next morning Abigail was missing. We searched for days and days but there was no sign of her. After several years had passed, we started to believe we’d never see her again.

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Hi there! My name is Angela, and I was born in a small house in the Kingdom of Edopia. My dad worked at the local mill and my mom stayed home, growing flowers that she would later go and sell. I also had a little sister named Phillipa, who was totally adorable. Things had always been rough for us and we barely scraped by, but we were always there for each other. I didn’t mind it when I was a child, but as I grew older, I began to notice stuff. 

Like one day, my mom made us dolls made out of cloth. My sister was thrilled, while I was there, pouting. 

“Angela, what’s wrong honey? You don’t like it?” 

“Daisy has better ones. They are such tiny china dolls mum! And so pretty. Her parents are the best,” 

“Honey, Daisy’s dad works as a horseman for the king. We could never afford those. But the best thing about these, are that they’ll never break.”

Eventually, my parents coaxed me out of it and I also understood that it couldn’t be helped. 

When I was sixteen, one day, I was walking home near the town square when I saw that there was a crowd of people trying to watch something. I was tall, but there were so many people that it was difficult to see. I tried to jump to see over their heads. No luck. I found a barrel of wine near a cart and I climbed over it, finally managing to see a fancy carriage, unlike anything that I had ever seen before. It was something out of those fairytale books like that carriage made out of a magical pumpkin in Cinderella. 

There was a girl, around my age, looking around and waving at the crowd.

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“Rachel, come play hide and seek with us!”

“Hey Rachel, do you wanna come hang at my house after school?”

“Can I play with you guys?”

“Ew Candace no way!”

Rachel laughed and waltzed away with her friends.

I didn’t get it. Why was Rachel so popular? She was always so mean to me!

Hi, I’m Candace from Texas.

Growing up, I was always just average. I wasn’t pretty. I wasn’t super smart. I wasn’t popular. I was the opposite of my neighbour Rachel. Everyone loved her. 

One time the whole class was at a birthday party. Rachel had told me the day before that it was a dress-up party, so I had begged my mom to buy me this Harley Quinn outfit. I arrived at the party but to my horror not a single person was in fancy dress! I was the only one.

“Oh, look who’s here! Is that supposed to be Harley Quinn? More like Hardly-A-Queen!”

Everyone laughed at me. Hmph. It wasn’t even a good joke! I was ready to leave the party right away, but then another girl rushed in and stood between me and the crowd of laughing kids.

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Urgghh, where did this pimple come from? And look at this hair, look how limp and thin. 

If you couldn’t guess, I absolutely hated how I looked. My eyes were too wide apart, my nose was too big and my lips are thinner than a pancake without baking powder. At school, none of the boys are interested in me. But, they were all interested in my older sister, Gillian, who by the way was drop-dead gorgeous. 

Take it from me, it sucked to attend the same school as your older sibling.  Nobody knew my name and the teachers called me Gillian’s little sister.

"Ok, class today in Sex Education we are going to talk about STIs you can spread via kissing"

"That’s something Gillian’s sister doesn’t have to worry about. "

My face turned red as the entire class pointed at me and laughed. I stood up and asked the teacher for a hall pass to the bathroom. I waited for a few seconds and do you know the name that was written on the hall pass? You guessed it, Gillian’s sister. I groaned and walked out of the classroom. I was so sick and tired of living in Gillian’s shadow! I want people to see me for me, not for who I was related to. Was that too much to ask for? And then there’s Dad. I feel horrible saying this but I don’t think Dad likes me very much. I think it’s because I look just like Mom. 

Mom left him when Gillian and I were toddlers to marry a rich man. Dad always tells me how ugly I am and refuses to even consider me his daughter, although we share the same last name.  

But then, one day, I found something that changed my life forever.

"Hi, my name is Tara and I’m from Holland."

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“Ok, guys, we’re on in five minutes.” 

Suddenly a scream erupted from outside our trailer. It was Harry, the animal tamer, “The tigers are loose! The tigers are loose!”

Dad ran out of the trailer and Mom looked at my brother and I, “Don’t step foot out of this trailer until your father and I return.” 

Craig and I nodded and as soon as Mom left I locked the trailer behind her. 

For twenty minutes, screams and chaos filled the air as Craig and I huddled helplessly inside.

Finally, there was a knock on the door followed by Mom’s voice. Craig swung the door open. When I saw the dreadful look on Mom's face every muscle in my body tensed. 

“Kids, something happened to your father.”

Hi, my name is Laurie. I grew up in a beautiful town in Estonia. Do you want to hear more of my story?

SAD

My older brother and I were third generation circus folk. Circus life was the only life we knew and we loved it. The sites, the smell, the applause, the big tent; it’s like living in a movie full of fun, excitement and adventure. 

But the day the tigers escaped brought my family to its knees.

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Katia, my arch-nemesis, placed a paper crown on my head and shouted, “Make way, make way, for the four-eyed, braces-wearing loser.”

Students made a pathway in the hallway and snickered as I passed. Katia and I had known each other since elementary school and we never got along. In middle school,  I wore glasses and braces which made me a target for kids like Katia. I hated school. That was until my best friend, Raquel, showed up and saved the day. 

Hi, my name is Aiko, and I’m from Peru.

One day during lunch period Katia was up to her old tricks. She pushed me down to the ground in the courtyard and dangled an open can of soda over my brand new outfit. Suddenly, a girl stepped in front of me and grabbed the soda can from Katia and poured it all over her head.

“Touch her again and you’ll have to deal with me.”

The girl was taller than Katia, so instead of fighting back, Katia grumbled and walked away. The girl then turned to me.

“Hi, I’m Raquel.”

“I’m Aiko. Thank you.”

Life was great with Raquel but our senior year in high school had major drama! 

One afternoon while at the skating rink, Raquel and I were putting on our skates and discussing the upcoming dance. 

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Hi! My name is Lidia and I’m from Chicago.

I was born to a very poor family. Mom and dad couldn’t even afford to buy me new shoes every year and I would end up wearing the same ones over and over again, even though they now had a hole bigger than the Grand Canyon! One day, when I was seven years old, I went to school with those antique shoes and everyone started making fun of me:

Haha, look at her shoes! They look like they could be on display in a museum!

I wanted to cry, but suddenly I felt like I should say something:

Yes, just like your underwear!

His face was frozen, but everyone else laughed more. Even though they laughed at my joke, no one wanted to hang out with me. 

One night, before I went to bed, mom came to me:

Don’t worry my lovely Lidia, I am sure that time will bring you the right friends.

She smiled at me and kissed me goodnight. But instead of friends, time just brought me more bad events. 

One morning, when I was 10, mom and I woke up to find out that dad was missing. 

He was nowhere to be found and he didn’t come home all day until mom decided to call the police. 

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Hi, my name’s Isabella and I’m from Mexico.

Growing up I was always a loner. 

“Quick, everyone run, Isabella’s here!

I don’t know why everyone hated me. What was I doing wrong? But I had learned to accept my fate as a loner. That is, until Elle moved in next door. And she changed my life forever.

The first time I met Elle was when I was 8 years old.

“Isabella, go down the road and buy some tortillas.”

“Si Mama!”

I rode down on my bicycle but suddenly my tire popped and I went tumbling down.

“Lookout!”

I screamed as a car came racing towards me. It was too late. I was gonna die! But then suddenly I saw a flash of blonde hair and suddenly I was on the side of the road, out of harm’s way. A girl had just saved me from certain death!

“Muchas gracias! You just saved my life!”

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