Special

One month later, Khanyi was walking. The school newspaper and the local news coverage called it a miracle! Cindy’s throat healed and Mel was back in the gym backflipping as easily as she could walk. After multiple visits to the doctor, my green tinge had all but faded and I dropped a considerable amount of muscle and body fat. My mom said it was probably because I had stopped dancing and I had lost muscle mass, but I honestly could not care! The bigger chest and wider bum were not fitting into my regular clothes anyway.

Once I was back to my skinny, scrawny self, I was comfortable again. Terry and I were spending more time together and the chess tournament season started up again. As I walked through the school quad to meet Terry for lunch, I bumped into Khanyi.

“Nancy! You have a habit of knocking me off my feet every time I see you.”

“Hi Khanyi, I’m glad you’re on your feet at least!”

Khanyi was beaming with joy. “It’s just a miracle, I can’t believe it. The girls want to apologise for treating you so badly. For some reason they thought you were the one causing all the issues, but I told them that’s impossible and ridiculous of them to treat you the way they did.”

“Oh wow…thanks Khanyi.”

“So, I wanted to ask if you want to join our dance group again! This time no drama, I promise.”

“No thanks, I really want to focus on chess this season, I really won’t have time.”

“OK girl, I get it! You want more time with Terry. Well, if you change your mind…”

What Khanyi did not know was that dance was no longer my forte. After several nights of watching Shakira teach a dance masterclass I was still awful at it. Somehow I had lost all the moves. I guess some hobbies just come and go.

“Hey! Miss Froggy!” Ever since the green skin incident, Terry had given me a playful new nickname. I hated it, but because it was Terry, I allowed it. I walked up to him and let him carry my bag. Things were good again and I was happy.

I came home and dropped my books and bags on the floor, sat next to my mom on the couch and watched TV with her. As we sat in silence, I thought over the events of the last few months. It seemed as though whenever I wanted something really badly, it would be taken from others. I remembered when Khanyi was in the hospital uttering the phrase, “green with envy,” and I thought back to my strange skin condition that somehow just went away by itself.

I looked over at my mom and said, “Mom, do you really think I’m special?”

She turned to me really quickly and just for an instant I detected a bit of fear in her eyes. “Nancy Jane! You are the most unique and most precious person. You are indeed very special. Anything you want, you can have, the world is yours for the taking!”

For a second, I thought my mom was trying to tell me something more, but then again, she always gave these award-winning mom speeches. I looked back to the TV, but still felt something strange. I felt as though my mom was hiding something from me. I may not be a dancer, or a gymnast or have a beautiful, buttery voice, but I guess she’s right – I guess I am special.

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