Story prompt: Emma, age 14, goes through middle school minding her own business and enjoying the company that consisted only of herself. Though it seems that her class, if not the entire school was talking about seven teenagers who have made headlines all over the world. There was a singer-songwriter who was only 15 who had his songs make up half of the “Top 10 Songs Of The Week Worldwide”, a high-class 14-year-old boy who was the heir of a family of powerful billionaires, another 14-year-old who was both a child soldier and revolutionary from the other side of the world who always seeks liberty and freedom for the peoples under tyrannical governments and regimes, a 13-year-old girl whose presence in social media and millions of subscribers can’t be ignored, a 14-year-old girl who gained controversy with her left-leaning views that went against her politician father’s campaign, an up and coming 15-year-old whose talent in tennis, basketball, soccer, American football, baseball and MMA made him an athletic prodigy and the seventh being a 13-year-old genius and polymath whose theories and inventions garnered her admiration and respect in the whole scientific community. All seven and their lives were unrelated to each other, yet they were the talk of the school. How couldn’t they be? Whether it was discussed by the athletes, popular kids, outcasts and even the teachers sometimes bringing it up in their classes, it was impossible to escape. Yet Emma preferred to keep to herself. Despite kids across the middle school either trying to get her in the know of any one of the seven, or some meaner teens trying to mock her by comparing her to any of those seven, she barely budged or followed the hype. She had her reasons not to, but Emma liked her quiet way of going about life in school.
Emma was content with her solitude in middle school. While her classmates were busy gossiping about the seven teenage prodigies who were making headlines worldwide, Emma was perfectly content being oblivious to it all. The constant chatter about their achievements and larger-than-life personalities seemed to echo through the hallways, but she remained unfazed. She had her reasons for not succumbing to the hype. Emma believed that focusing on the extraordinary lives of others would only distract her from her own goals and aspirations. She was determined to pave her own path, free from the pressure of living up to the extraordinary standards set by these seven teenagers. In a world that seemed obsessed with fame and attention, Emma found solace in anonymity. While her classmates eagerly discussed the singer-songwriter’s latest hit or the billionaire heir’s lavish lifestyle, Emma found joy in her own passions. She spent her free time immersed in books, exploring different worlds and expanding her imagination through the power of words. She found comfort in the pages of science fiction novels and the tranquility of her own thoughts. Despite the occasional attempt by her peers to involve her in the buzz surrounding the seven teenagers, Emma gracefully declined. She politely declined their invitations to watch videos of the social media sensation or to debate the controversial views of the politically active teenager. Emma knew that indulging in the hype would only serve as a distraction from her true self.