It was night and a little girl named Laura had turned 7 years old. Her poor father gave her a porcelain doll. Laura was screaming with joy.

'It is my favorite gift', Laura yelled as she hugged her dad with all her might.

'Now, Now Laura you're choking me!' Papa laughed.
That night as Laura was about to fall asleep, she saw a falling star out of her window.
Breathing quickly, she wished that she would find a friend who would stay with her for a very long time.












* * *


I woke up for the first time. Opening my eyes I saw that a blanket covering my body, colorful with pink flowers. A breeze was caressing my stone face. I stand up for a moment and stare at my gorgeous velvet dress.


Suddenly a yell was heard and a girl out of a door picked me up with such force. Fearing for my life, I tried to yell, but no sound could have been heard from my mouth. Instantly a door opened and I was thrusted in to a gust of wind and into a yellow school bus. A door closed and I saw the house in which all these strange events whisked me away.















***

At the building which the brown haired girl called 'School' we arrived. A yellow colored building surrounded with many kids appeared playing all sorts of games. I was startled that a boy pressed a wad of gum onto a girl's beautiful golden curls, while she was playing on the monkey bars. I was disturbed at the sight of the girl with the wad of gum in her hair. She was crying very hard. The teacher was helping her to the nurse. Laura, the girl who took me to school, whispered to me 'Roger like to do mean things to girls, but the teachers never notice. Once he locked a girl in a trash can and would not let her out. When the teachers found out he said she was looking for her notebook. '




















***







Laura whispered to me when the teacher was talking. 'Margaret'. I suddenly realized that that was my name. 'Isn't this topic so interesting? Abraham Lincoln fought to free the slaves in the civil war'. It was interesting indeed. This man whom they called Lincoln freed the slaves and gave them freedom. I wondered how a man so dedicated could free slaves and be kind to them. The clock rang and all the children ran towards the playground . A cry silenced my heart as Laura yelled. Roger, the little boy Laura talked about before, suddenly shoved Laura and I into the mud. He laughed a cruel laugh. I feared him at once and knew that he was my foe.
"See this is why girls aren't smart. They mess with the wrong guy." He took her and dragged her and shoved there into the boy's bathroom. He turned the lock and smiled at me.

***

I tried to yell as the smelly kid poured mud on my head. I trembled fearing my life. Never in my short life had I encountered a boy so filled with malevolance. However I knew just what to do. I took mud out of my hair and shoved it right into his eyes. Cursing, the boy jumped away. Running away, I ran into a teacher. Curiously, she picked me up. "This must be Laura's new doll. Poor thing. I wonder where she is." The teacher called on everybody to find out where Laura was. A boy spoke up: "Roger put Laura in the boy's bathroom." I was one of the happiest doll when I saw Laura come out from the bathroom. She hugged me tightly, even though I was dirty and promised me that I would become clean again.
Later, Roger was expelled from school, and Laura got me clean. When she was cleaning me she told me: "Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."