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The First Time I Realized I Wasn’t A Pretty Girl

Emily Kingsley
5 min readJun 29, 2020

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It wasn’t a hard lesson, just one that I had never learned before.

Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash

Getting dropped off at college for the first time is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s leaving childhood behind and entering a pre-adult holding tank where nobody does your laundry, but your RA will still remind you to keep your music down. It’s sitting on your bed with your new extra-long sheets and a hideous comforter from Bed, Bath and Beyond and wondering if you should hide your stuffed animal from home under the pillow.

It’s looking at a hundred new faces wondering if even one of them will ever consider you a friend.

I grew up in a small town and went to a big college. The number of students living in my freshman dorm was greater than the total population of my hometown.

Since I had been with the same group of kids from Kindergarten until graduation, I didn’t know how to make new friends. I ventured up and down the hallway, trying to think of things to say that wouldn’t give away how scared I was to surrounded by people, yet hours away from a familiar face.

I met a girl who was living two doors down from me and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her name was Kerry and she had perfect everything. Her skin glowed and when she flashed a warm smile at me, I saw her perfect…

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Emily Kingsley
Emily Kingsley

Written by Emily Kingsley

Always polishing the flip side of the coin. Live updates from the middle class. e.kingsleywhalen@gmail.com. She/her.

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