Have you ever done something no one thought you could? Or has someone told you you couldn't do something, and that made you all the more determined to do it? For me it was running for Class President. I knew the odds were against me and I knew that in order to win, I would really have to fight hard.

The girl running against me seemed like "Miss Popularity" and had always been the leader of everything our class had done. She had an ego the size of the Atlantic Ocean. Don't ask me why she was so popular.

When I announced to my friends that I was running against her for Class President, they all got looks on their faces which said, "You must be crazy!" I couldn't believe they were my friends, they were supposed to support me. All I got was a terrified look. At that point I was determined to run and beat her. There were people who would come up to me and say "Good Luck" and "It's about time she had some competition." Then there were the ones who thought I was totally insane and needed help. All I said to those people was "I take it you're voting for my opponent!" No matter what, I held my head high and said, "Yes, I am" and "Yes, I will."

Then I realized my parents were right. They said it didn't matter if I won or lost, what mattered was the fact that I had the guts to stand up to someone no one else would. For that, they were proud of me, no matter what the outcome. The point was not to be afraid of someone who was more popular or who had more friends than you did. You might have to work a little harder, but in the end the satisfaction you felt inside outweighed all the work, frustration and pain.

In the end, my friends did support me and I could tell at that point who my real friends were. I also gained their respect. I didn't win; another person did, but it wasn't Miss Popularity, so I was satisfied. That day I went down to the office to see who had come in second and guess what? It was me! I knew I had won and she knew I had beaten her, but the rest of my class will never know. Next year I will run again and maybe I will win or maybe I won't; all I know is that as long as I try, I can say I won. To me, knowing that I came in second was good enough! n