Powerful Bodies
Lilly and Her Spots
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Amongst the treetops lie three best friends. They are laughing and flying and playing together while the sun slowly drops below the horizon.
Lilly the ladybug leads her friends down the trunk slide with a face full of glee. Lilly is loved by her friends you see. She is the one with the big house, good snacks, and fun games. But they didn’t love her because of that, they loved her because she was Lilly.
“Let’s go down the slide one more time before we have to go home,” Benji the Bee said.
Lilly the ladybug, Benji the bee and Sarah the stick insect all raced up to the platform before holding each other and throwing themselves down the slippery slope.
Their laughter echoed throughout the canopy, causing Lilly’s mum to stick her head out the door.
“Lilly it’s late, Benji and Sarah your parents will get worried soon, say goodbye,” Lilly’s mum says with an annoyed shake of her head.
The trio wave their goodbyes and head off in separate directions. Lilly gets pull into her house by her mum who grabs a cloth and begins scrubbing at Lilly’s body.
“How did you get so dirty”
“Mum those are my spots, they won’t come off”
“They should, I grew out of mine by your age,” Lilly’s mum says while dragging her to the shower.
Lilly lets the shower water wash over her head, she didn’t know why she still had her spots, but she knew that she hated them and wanted to change. She grabbed the washer and scrubbed at her body until it was raw and stinging. With no luck, Lilly went to sleep thinking up a plan for tomorrow.
Charlie the chicken sings out at the sight of the sun, waking the village, but not Lilly she has been up for hours.
Lilly has a bucket of red paint and is covering her black spots. She smiles at her success.
“Bye mum,” She calls on her way out the door. Her mum, confused by the blur of red that dashes past her, shakes her head.
Every day the trio meet up to fly to school together and today is like no other, except it isn’t. There is no recognition in her friends’ eyes when Lilly sees them.
“Sorry we are waiting for someone,” Sarah says
“Yeah me” Lilly replies with a confused tilt of her head
“Lilly that’s you? You look uh different,” Benji looks to Sarah, but they decided to put it aside and head to school.
Throughout the day Lilly gets called Claire, Bella or Izzy. No one seems to recognise her; she gets caught in the school rush crowd and Sarah can’t see her to pull her out. Lilly realises being plain red isn’t as great as she thought it would be.
Looking like everyone else is no fun, Lilly thinks to herself on her way home alone.
At home her mum looks at her puzzled and questions why she is sad and covered in red paint. When Lilly tells her it’s because she wanted to hide her spots, her mum grabs the cloths and starts scrubbing.
“I always thought having these spots would make you sad but you're sadder with them covered. You are beautiful and unique, you don’t need to change for anyone,” Lilly’s mum says while scrubbing the last of the paint and placing a kiss to her cheek.
“Now go and play with your friends,” She ushers Lilly out the door straight into the arms of Benji
“Your spots are back” Sarah and Benji say together.
“You know I never liked my stripes until I saw that new actor Terry the tiger in that movie we watched” Benji said placing an arm around Lilly’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I didn’t like how skinny my body is, but it is so cool to be able to camouflage” Sarah said hugging her other side.
“Really?” They both nod their heads and pull her into a group hug.
