I was having a rough day. I had just gotten in a fight with my strict parents who never let me date and the typical, pretty, mean girl at school had just gotten another guy I had a crush on even though my parents never would have allowed it. So, that weekend I decided I wanted to spend a little time without any friends or parents. I walked downtown to see a movie and do some retail therapy. Continuing to feel sorry for myself, I decided to stop at the candy store on the corner of Holt and Byrd. A nice old, Chinese lady worked there, I guess she saw I was having a bad day because she offered me some free homemade candy. She told me it would make me feel better, but only for a little bit. I graciously accepted and left for the movie theatre. It was a great movie. Kind of typical I guess. As I sat watching it and eating my candy I realized how perfect the character's life ended up. Her life turned out perfectly and exactly opposite from mine. Sarah fell in love with John, the boy her parents didn't want her to date, she told off the mean girl Pam who was always trying to steal him, and she had great friends and looked happy. I always thought about what her life must be like after all of that happened. As the credits began to roll I sat there feeling sorry for myself and ate my last piece of candy. All of a sudden though everything felt different. I didn't know why.


I stepped out of the theatre into the cold, rainy day and all of a sudden I got a text message. It was from my friends. The text said, "Hey Sarah, come to the party tonight, and bring John." Thats funny I thought, my name isn't Sarah, and who is john? I went straight to my aunt's house because she always had an answer. I told her about my bad day, the movie, and then the candy. My aunt immediately knew what was wrong. She explained to me that the old, Chinese lady at the candy store granted one wish every year. Then it hit me, my wish was to have the character in the movies's life. I thought I was going to be stuck in this new cinematic life forever, but my aunt explained to me that as soon as I was able to see the character's life was still not perfect at the end of the movie, then I would be able to go back to my normal life.

I left my aunts house anticipating the worst and already hoping for my old, miserable life back. It turns out that when Sarah ended up with John, she really made Pam mad, now Pam was out to humiliate me any chance she gets. Then John, the cute, popular boy who played football, was actually very busy and almost never had time to hangout with me because of practice. There were always girls throwing themselves at him, and I couldn't help but realize it was not going to be a good relationship. In the movie her strict parents finally loosen up, well now I'm stuck with parents who are too loose and don't seem to care about me anymore. In the movie, Sarah's friends are so great, but now that I have John, I never have time for them. My new life was becoming a struggle and I began to feel, well, miserable. As I woke up on day 7 of this happy ending life, I really wanted to get my old life back. My aunt had told me I would need to realize how happy endings aren't always what they seem. Well, I realized that 7 days ago, and all I wanted was my life back. I decided to go the candy store to see the old, Chinese lady and hopefully she would give me my normal life back. When I walked in she immediately recognized me. I approached her and told her that I needed some candy to make all of this nonsense go away. She smiled a smile that told me this wasn't going to be easy. She began to explain that I thought the movie had such a happy ending compared to my life. She told me that I would need to create a happy ending of my own before I could return to my life.

I hated it, being called Sarah and having to live up to the expectations of dating the star football player. I wanted my life back, strict parents, mean girls, dateless and all. I knew the only way to do that would be to create an ending for this far from perfect happy ending. I began with John, I broke up with him. While the movie seemed like she needed him for a happy ending, this Sarah doesn't need a man. Then Pam, the typical mean girl who Sarah told off in the movie, I decided it would be best to completely ignore her for good and never let people like that bother me anymore. The best way to create a truly happy ending would be to apologize. I told Pam how sorry I was, and the weird thing, she accepted it. Overall, I think that I may have struggles and problems, but it is my life and I need to love it. Suddenly, I felt someone shaking my arm. I woke up to see the ending credits of the movie rolling across the screen. It was only a dream I thought with a smile on my face. I stepped out of the dark theatre into the lights and new beginning of my life.