Most Common?!?! Most Common??!! Ann Jones shrieked as she walked through the door of her home. Slamming her books onto the floor, Ann continued her tirade. From the kitchen Ann's mother heard her daughter's outburst. Ann was a sixteen year old who normally kept her emotions well under control. She hadn't even thrown tantrums as a two year old. So when Shelly Jones heard her daughter's almost hysterical shrieking, she ran to her.
"What on earth has happened?" questioned Shelly, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice.
"Oh mom, you won't believe this. It's too unreal."
"What happened? Please calm down and tell me what happened". Shelly repeated in a voice as soothing as her anxiety over her daughter's distress would allow.
"OK, well, I got my yearbook today." Ann began. She tried to speak, but was unable to continue, Ann opened the yearbook and pointed to a photograph.
Not knowing what to expect, Shelly looked where her daughter's finger was pointing. There, among the photographs of the winners of various popularity contests was a photo of Ann. Shelly looked questioningly at Ann.
"Read the caption mom!" Ann shrieked. "It says "Most Common"!!!! Right there with "Most Beautiful", "Most Popular", "Most Likely to Succeed", they have me listed as "Most Common".
"But Why?" Shelly said, almost as though asking herself the question. It was quite obviously an attempt to humiliate her daughter. Looking back at the yearbook it was clear the other girls had planned every detail of their photographs. They were dressed in designer outfits, smiling, hair and makeup done almost to the extreme, and each one was definitely showing their best side. Shelly knew the girls and they all looked much better in the photographs than they did in person.
In marked contrast, Ann was not really smiling, her hair and makeup were certainly not outstanding that day, and the best thing you could say about the outfit she was wearing would have been it was probably a little too casual for even the "casual Friday" attire allowed at school.
"I don't understand. Why would they do this?" Shelly asked again.
"It was that disgusting Alice Williams. She had some lame brained idea I was getting too close to her boyfriend. Since she was the main student editor for the yearbook she used this to get even. Everyone is laughing their heads off about it. And all I did was sit by him in study hall. He's a senior and you know I'm a sophomore. He was just being polite. I really don't care for him. He isn't very bright. In fact he may even be dumb. He is a big sports guy. He plays everything.
Anyway, I only sat by him in study hall. We never ate lunch together. We never walked down the hall together. We never did anything together. That's it. But that has to be the reason. Alice didn't like it. And it was Alice who called me common. She said everything about me was common. She said I was "as common as grass". According to Alice my hair is the most common color, mousy brown. Or dishwater brown if I preferred to call it that. I am the most common average height. I am a common weight. I have common brown eyes, not light brown, not dark brown, just common brown. My clothes are common. I drive a common car.
And mom, she said this entire fiasco was her way of doing me a favor. She said this is the most attention I will ever get in my entire life. And that I better enjoy it now while I can.’
Shelly was appalled at the story. She was unsure of how to proceed. As a mother her first thought was to protect her daughter. But the deed had already been done. Ann was devastated. Her second thought was to find Alice Wilson and have her sent to prison for life. But she settled for trying to calm Ann down. Shelly decided that her first duty was to decide what was in Ann's best interest and proceed from there.
Aloud Shelly said, "Well, honey, school is almost over for the summer. Alice will be graduating this week, and by the time school starts in the fall no one will pay much attention to this.’
Shelly knew immediately that was the wrong thing to have said. Ann gave her such a look of contempt that it almost took her breath away.
"You are as bad as that silly boy I sat by in study hall. You could be considered dumb as well. I will wait for dad to get home. He always knows what to do; where as all you know how to do is stay home and bake cookies."
Ann's voice almost dripped venom as she spoke to her mother. Shelly had dealt with Ann's temperament many times in the past, but it had never so openly vicious. That sort of outburst usually came from Ann's father.
Ann turned from her mother and coldly and deliberately walked up the stairs to her bedroom.
Shelly was left sitting in the living room wondering what had just happened. She sat in the chair by the window, but was really no longer aware of the beautiful day just outside. An ominous, although invisible, darkness seemed to have settled over the house. Her thoughts turned to her older child, her son Malachi.
"I hope Malachi is able to stay at least a few days when his term is finished and he comes home for a visit, she thought. "Oh Mal, I really miss you all the time, but I really miss you now."