Essay on A Short Story Entitled “Being the Odd One Out"

Lisa felt a bit nervous. Here she was in her new school for the first time and she knew nobody. She thought, why does a father have to get transferred to this town and leave my old school behind? All my friends are not with me in this strange school. She felt like crying, but she held back the tears. She was no longer a little girl and crying in front of the school clerk was not going to help.

Presently a teacher who introduced himself as Mr. Wong approached her. Immediately Lisa felt as ease with him. She was not quite sure what it was about Mr. Wong that reassured her but at least she was in safe hands. Lisa followed Mr. Wong to her new class. After ascending to the first floor, they entered the class together. What a shock Lisa got. The class had only boys! For a moment she stood at the doorway speechless with disbelief. She had hoped to make new girlfriends in the class and not one girl could be seen. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Again, the presence of Mr. Wang reassured her, she rubbed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate. She felt too tired to argue. So, she sat on a chair offered to her next to the wall. One girl among thirty-odd boys. She really felt cut off place, so lost and miserable.

“Hello, my name is ‘George,” a pleasant voice spoke to Lisa through the veil of her misery, bringing her back to reality.

Lisa looked at the smiling face beside her. Behind the smiling face were other smiling faces ail eagerly looking at her, she managed a half-smile.

“Welcome to the class,” a raspy voice came from somewhere among the smiling faces.

Lisa looked again at the smiling faces. Words of “welcome”, “relax”, “don’t worry lah` reached her ears. Slowly her half-smile turned into a big grin. She said softly, “thank you.”

Roars of approval deafened her for a minute. When I roars subsided, she felt her fear and misery evaporating like the morning mist. The boys were not so bad after all. Perhaps she could get along with them and not feel such an odd one out.

The days that followed taught Lisa many things. The first thing she learned was that boys were just human beings, like girls. Secondly, she learned to conquer her fear of the unknown. She realized that it was better to face whatever had to be faced than to let fear and anxiety get the better of her. All she had to do was to treat the boys accordingly and things worked out all right. Her fear was unfounded.

Two weeks later, another girl was put in her class. Now there were two girls. She was no longer the odd one out. However, she was thankful she had the opportunity to experience what it was like to be one girl out of thirty boys. That experience served her well as she had to teach the new girl how to cope with her fear and anxiety as well. She knew what it was like to be the odd one out.

Essay on A Short Story Entitled “Being the Odd One Out”

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