White Butterfly Beauty

Samantha tugged at the spaghetti straps attached to the top of her two-toned outfit. She knew that she was going to wow the judges today with her one-of-a-kind cheetah print ball gown made of tan velvet and black taffeta. A model needed to be slim, beautiful, outspoken and admired by all. As far as Sam was concerned, she had it in the bag!

"What is taking Heather so long?" Sam managed to enunciate through gritted teeth.

Sam had agreed to allow her cousin, Heather to tag along to the modeling competition as long as she toned down her style and stopped being so darn quiet.

Sam had always felt that Heather was a weirdo. Case in point: Heather didn't party regularly. She also wore little makeup; mostly only nude lipstick and black mascara for special occasions. She also had honey blonde goddess locks down to her waist that she wore in two ragged ponytails as an ode to her favorite childhood character: Dorothy from from the Wizard of Oz.

Even Heather's choice of music was offbeat. She never listened to Rap like 95% of her college cohorts and neighbors back in Baltimore. She was more of a Reggae Queen. In fact, you will likely find her slow-dragging by herself to Beenie Man in front of her vintage jukebox (the one with the custom, neon-green, disco lights attached) every Friday night instead of hitting up the local clubs with her friends.

Heather also answered questions with weird responses. For example, if someone asked her her age she would give it to them in dog years.

Heather's fashion sense was also lacking in Sam's eyes; she always wore the same pair of purple acid-washed overalls once a week with a modest white tank top, corny lavender beret, and shabby lavender kicks.

Sam often teased Heather about having a secret affair with Walt, short for Walter Mosley, since Heather loved to stay home on the weekends to read his mystery novels. It was all in good fun. Sam knew Heather never made time for anything fun like dating.

Heather's favorite Mosely novel was: White Butterfly. Heather even had an old-timey tattoo of a White Butterfly placed on her right shoulder because she loved Mr. Mosley's books so much and had subsequently heard that White Butterflies represent PEACE. Samantha preferred her friend Whitney's elaborate tattoo that read: SIMPLY STUNNING in cursive. In fact, when she turned eighteen she was going to get the same tattoo in Edwardian Script on her right calf as well.

Samantha heard a knock on the door.

"Heather, do you own a watch?" Sam chided as the two women exited her apartment building.

"Sorry, I had to run to the store to get some milk for Big Mama's Peach Cobbler crust," Heather said softly.

"Big Mama knows how much this competition means to me. The milk could have waited," Sam said with a stern look. "But I guess Biggie's Famous Peach Cobbler will make a great victory treat!" Sam said sticking her tongue out with delight.

Sam fought back tears as she exited the stage. The judge's words circled around her psyche like a swarm of bees that continued to sting her at their discretion. Sam was shell-shocked. Three of the biggest modeling scouts in the business had just shot her down.

Sam heard Heather's high-pitched voice from a mile away, "I made it to the semi-finals! I'm number Ten!" Heather exclaimed as she waved a Hot Pink flyer with a HUMONGOUS number TEN written on it. "What number did you place?" Heather said excitedly.

"I didn't. The judges said I was a bit too slim, that I lacked originality in my choice of attire since so many girls in the competition had worn cheetah prints; although I protested that no one else had added the black bottom half like I did. They also said that I was too verbose and that I need to work on making my answers a bit more clever," Sam admitted.

Heather was absolutely astounded. "Sam, you are so striking. I can't believe that!"

"What did the judges tell you?" Sam demanded.

"Not much," Heather said looking away.

"Spit it out--HE!" Sam retorted.

Heather reluctantly replied, "They just, kind of said, that I had the RIGHT proportions, since there is a trend where European designers are now designing for bottom heavy girls. They also said that they loved my personal style as well as the Butterfly tattoo and what it represents. They said that it showed that I had the right attitude about life."

"Anything else?" Sam asked more softly.

"Well...they asked about my choice of color for my hair and I told them that I chose Honey Blonde because I love to eat honey on my grandmother's biscuits..." Heather paused, suddenly unsure of whether she should continue.

"Please continue," Sam said politely.

"Okay...they said that I had a unique fashion sense, a colorful personality, a quiet, calm confidence and a great sense of who I was. They also said that my answers to their questions about my fashion choices were some of the most clever they had ever heard."

"You know what else they said they liked?" Heather asked earnestly.

"What?"Sam asked, her eyes growing as big as two frisbees, in anticipation.

"They said that out of the 250 girls that they saw today, I was the only one that had done Community Service. I was surprised that I was praised for it because most people would rather be spending time with their Bae than volunteering to rock Crack babies to sleep until the wee hours. The judges said they were ultimately impressed that I cared about other members of society that much."

"Congrats, Heather!" Sam said, her sour attitude suddenly melting.

On the ride home, Sam thought about everything that the judges had told Heather and she realized that what had impressed them the most was that Heather was herself.

Ironically, the judges had praised everything that Sam had faulted Heather for. Her hair; her style; her demeanor. Sam realized that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

Suddenly, Sam had an epiphany. She suddenly felt inspired to be herself. She immediately stopped dying her hair in coffee water to prevent its red hue from shining through. She also began to wear her hair in its naturally curly state. She had secretly tired of the straight, black, flat-ironed style that she and her crew had worn since the 9th grade anyway.

Sam also began to wear tennis shoes to school. In the past, she would have thought she was being too tomboyish but she actually felt more comfortable minus the heels. She had always felt like a giraffe in heels because she towered over most of the boys at her school when she wore them. Sam even began to take up Tap again, something she hadn't done since she was nine because it wasn't the hip thing to do.

As Sam became more and more herself she began to get more compliments about her appearance than ever before. She also gained more friends since her new Tap class was now introducing her to the school's DANCE KIDS. Sam even met a really dope boy in her Tap class. Most of the boys Sam had dated before just wanted to show her off to their friends, but her Tap Partner Reginald was different. He cared about her opinions and treated her like a lady.

Sam received the ultimate compliment when she went to visit her Grandpa Roy in Minneapolis that April. He said: "Sam, you seem more powerful with your red curls, tennis shoes, and tapping lifestyle--you don't seem to care about what others think anymore. I don't know what it is but you just stand out as a leader now." But Sam knew what it was. It was the influence of her good old weird cousin Heather and her White Butterfly Beauty.