Her name was Sylveth.
She was not beautiful.
In fact, she was rather ordinary - nothing special about her at all.
Her hair was the usual length. Her eyes were of the predominant color in her country.
She was neither too tall, nor too short.
One could say that she was just another girl.
One would be right, except that she wasn't normal in one aspect. She somehow was forced in a situation of being the outcast, being the odd man out. The other teenagers at her school always made fun of her. Not that she was provoking them in some way, it was more like a routine to them. Someone started doing it at one point and it kind of stuck. Now it was deemed inappropriate for anyone to even talk to her. The youngsters had no evil intentions, it just happened that way. Like a pebble that you kick unintentionally on the street - it rolls and bounces and finally it lands in the middle of a puddle, spraying a little mud and water on the trousers of an unsuspecting stranger. A small thing, no big deal.
It was really not a big deal for everyone, for everyone but her. For her this was a nightmare. She had no one to talk to, she had no one to share her thoughts with, she had no one at all, except for the teachers of course, but somehow she didn't think that she could become friends with them. So her life continued that way for several years - her grades dropping at a gradual rate, her heart dying a little day after day, especially when the boy she liked laughed to the stupid jokes about her.
One day at school the homeroom teacher came and announced that they were going to have a day off the next day. She explained that group of small orphan children was going to visit the school and instead the usual sports festival they were going to have a dancing and singing contest. The kids were to dance with all of the students, which, as the teacher explained, was intended to let them feel at ease in meeting new people. It was also to prevent any isolation or boredom. The students were to try their best to entertain them under the supervision of their teachers. Finally the homeroom teacher told them that at the very end of the event, all of kids were going to select a king and queen of the night, choosing from a few students, selected by a jury of the teaches. At this particular point everyone began speaking and the uproar was so big that it took the better part of half an hour to continue with the usual classes for the day.
When she went back home she imagined for a second how nice it would be to be selected as the queen of the night. Maybe then she could even dance with Brian (the boy we mentioned before) like a normal girl, without him being ashamed and without hearing strange giggles from all over. This was of course not going to happen - in her class there were several exceptional beauties, all of which were far better dancers than she was. Also they were from a richer families, meaning better clothes and all. She had only one official dress, a present from her grandmother for her last birthday. It was nothing fancy, but she really liked it, all the more so because it was her favorite color - green.
When the next day arrived everyone was dressed in their best clothes. Somehow this event was turned into a competition of who has the slickest costume or who has the best hairstyle - it was like a mini-prom, so to say. She, of course, didn't have any fancy hair-style or in fact anything fancy about her at all. Only her green dress and her sad smile. Today nobody was telling jokes about her, the girls were preoccupied evaluating who has the tallest shoes, the longest nails, the brightest hair color or the best lipstick. The boy - well they were not so much into the event, but she could see some them looking at the girls with bright eyes, while pretending to talk about games and other boyish stuff. The event was not to be held in the classroom, but in a big concert hall, rented from the school with money from... well from somewhere.
The orphan kids arrived a little bit after the students. They were also officially dressed and had a little anxious expressions at first. When the dancing and singing begun their faces turned to smiles and their eyes began to shine. Since she could not sing, she remained on the dance floor during the whole event. The best part was when she danced with the little kids, they were not judging her or making fun of her, which made her smile more than she did for the past two years at school. In the singing pauses there was no dancing, so that people could concentrate on the songs. All of them were beautifully performed - almost like by real professional singers. Finally there was one last round of dance, in which she danced with one little girl for the second time. The girl's name was Katy and she was dressed in small draped pink dress. The only difference from the last time they danced together was a small stain on her belly that looked suspiciously much as peanut butter. The girl didn't seem to care and was far more talkative than the first time they danced. At the end of the song, the little girl hugged her and ran of to the other kids, where they were being gathered by the teachers. After a five minute pause the jury selected five girls and five boys from all of the students and told them get up on the podium for everyone to see. Two of the girls and Brian were from her class. She wondered if he will have to kiss the queen in case he was selected as the king. Soon she dismissed that thought as being absurd and something the teachers will never allow. After everything was ready each of the small orphans were given two flowers, and they were told to go on the podium and give one of them to one of the girls and the other to one of the boys. Whoever had most flowers at the end would be the winner.
The kids were enthusiastic that they were going to decide who the kind and queen would be, especially because afterwards they were promised a photo with them, which was to be printed as a big poster and hung up in their orphanage to remember this night by.
Katy was last - when she got to the podium she walked up to one of the boys and gave him a daffodil, she then turned to the girls and seemed a little bit confused. She looked at the other students watching her, while the silence was covering everything like a blanket. When their eyes met Sylveth made an encouraging smile at her. For everyone's surprise Katy smiled back and jumped off the podium, darting towards her. When she reached her destination, she placed the remaining rose in Sylveth's hand and smiled even wider. One of the teachers at the orphanage said: "Katy, you are supposed to give the flowers only to the people up there." At that Katy simply shrugged her shoulders and replied: "I know, I just felt like she deserves one flower too." At that moment the world for Sylveth became blurry and then warm wet streaks rolled down her cheeks.
Later after the king and queen were selected and everyone was preparing to go home, Sylveth went to Katy and with small trembling voice said: "Thank you so much for the rose, but why me?" "Your smile is beautiful and you smell nice."- said the little kid and went outside with the others.
After that at school things didn't change noticeably but somehow that didn't bother her anymore. Each time she felt lonely and sad she just remembered in her head: "Your smile is beautiful and you smell nice."
Her smile was really beautiful and her heart even more so. After high school Sylveth graduated from university and got married to Brian, not the same one from her school years but another one, one who appreciated and loved her. He gave her a lot of occasions to show her shining smile to the world!
