Little Inklings 2024

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER By: Sabrina Lubow ’28 “Ugh,” Avery groaned as she stumbled out of bed to prepare for another day of seventh grade. She put on her thrift store jeans and top and grabbed her backpack and water bottle, nothing fancy, just some simple things. She grabbed a turkey sandwich for the drive to school and got in the car. She sighed as she sat down in the front seat and her mom asked, “What’s wrong honey?” “NothingMom, I’mfine. Great sandwich though,” Avery replied. They drove off to school and Avery and her mom jammed out to Ariana’s new album. They arrived and Avery reluctantly walked into her first period class. The day was looking good as she sat down next to her best friend, Marina. She first got back her math quiz and saw that she got a 95%. A good start to the day and shewas feeling happy. Then, one girl came into class, late. Scarlett walked in with her Stanley cup, Lululemon backpack, and fancy shoes and jewelry. She was a nice girl, but it felt almost as though she was staring at Avery and shaming her for not having those nice things. During her quick break between the first and second periods, she went on her phone and started scrolling through TikTok. It seemed like therewere endless amounts of hauls that all of thesegirlshad gotten. Almost immediately, her mood shifted fromhappy to sad, remembering that she could never have any of those nice things. About a month later, it was her birthday. She woke up to the sound of Happy Birthday playing loudly. She was overjoyed to see that she had gotten her very own Stanley cup, a beautiful light pink color, one she could have only dreamedof. She came to school feelingon top of theworld but just then she became sad again when she saw the other girls with their even more expensive jewelry. Shewas sad again for the rest of theweek andMarina noticed soon enough. “Avery, please tell me what’s wrong. You’ve been acting down for weeks now!” Marina pleaded. “Honestly, I just feel sick knowing that I could never compare to all of the things everyone else has.”, Avery replied solemnly. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I had no idea what was wrong. Just know that it is better to not be a materialistic person. There will always be someone that has more than you so it is important to just be happy with who you are and what you have.” “Thanks, but it’s just not that easy.” Avery got a little cold and shewas home for a while. During this time, she didn’t talk to Marina. Avery didn’t understand how she could just not care and it almost made her hate Marina. About a week after feeling down, Avery realized that Marina was right. While she liked having a Stanley and going along with the crowd, the joy wouldn’t last forever. She began to understand the true joy that came from being yourself and everyone noticed howmuch happier she had been since then. 36