Waiting on the World 2 Change :KEVINJONAS: :INFO:

"Snickerdoodle, wake up," whispered Verity's mother. Mrs. Gooding was the only person on this planet allowed to call her that cookie-ish nickname. The only person since her ex-best friend Zoe Myers decided "screw this place, I'm getting outta here." That was nearly six years ago. And still, she couldn't let go of that. She missed him way too much. "Snickerdoodle...don't make me get out the ice buckets." Verity's eyes snapped open. "Much better. Out of bed, we've got to get you ready for the Miss Teen Wyckoff beauty pageant today."
"Mom, I've told you before," Verity groaned. "I do not want to be in a beauty pageant."
"Sweetie, you're going to win. You're the prettiest girl in the county and you've got the best figure. And you have the talent. You should read one of your poems or songs or something." Verity rolled out of bed. She knew where this was going and her mom was going to win. She always won. "Fabulous. I've got all your good dresses and swimsuits laid out for you on your dresser and you can just pick the best ones. Dad's not going to make it, he just called. But he told me to wish you luck. Now, go brush your teeth and wash your face. We need you perky and smiley for the pageant."
"Yes, Mom."
Verity obeyed. She always obeyed and was submissive. At least, when her parents or other responsible adults were around. When with her friends, Verity was the smart-alecky goof. That was her role outside the house, but now she had to fulfill her role inside the house. So she brushed her teeth and washed her face and brushed her hair and straightened it. She looked best with straight hair. Or at least, that's what her mom told her. Her mom always thought too much about looks and features and fashion. Then Verity walked down the stairs, sweats and t-shirt covering her nearly-freezing body (even though it was July).
"I was sleeping, Mom."
"You can sleep when you're dead, Ver," said her little brother Alex, joining her at the dining room table. Verity rolled her eyes and put the halves of her bagel into the toaster. He had been watching Alvin and the Chipmunks obsessively over the past five days. By now, he'd known every word. "So, are you gonna go in that pageant Mom wants you to enter?" Verity turned around with the coffee pot in her hand and gave him a look. Of course she was going to be in the pageant. Her mother was the one who signed her up, didn't he remember? "Whatever." He took his Cinnamon Toast Crunch into the living room and watched more Alvin while spooning cereal into his mouth.
The bagel was ready. Verity picked up the knife and began to spread cream cheese all over her bagel. She looked up to see her mother's awed face. Verity raised an eyebrow.
"Absolutely not," said her mother shortly, and snatched the bagel out of her hand and began scooping of the cream cheese until all that was left was the white residue. "Cream cheese has too much fat and calories and you're on a strict 2,500 calorie diet." Then she handed her daughter back the now flavorless hunk of bagel. Verity spared her one resentful look and bit into it. No taste. Mrs. Gooding checked her watch and nearly yelped. "Good God, it's almost eleven and we have to be there by twelve-thirty! Verity, go pick from your dresses and your shoes and everything and put them all on!" And so she shoved her daughter up the stairs and into her room.

At the pageant, Verity was truly and utterly bored. The flashy dresses and bikinis were all a gild for the thick-minded models. For the talent sections, they did things like sticking their entire fists in their mouths and twirled flaming batons and read poetry about talking trees. As for Verity, she read one of the songs she'd written a long time ago, back in eighth grade.
"Um. I wrote this song a while back. I hope you like it," she said quietly, and unfolded the paper with her lyrics.
Caught Up In It

Walked in that day
And I couldn't even speak in a casual way
It's not my fault I didn't do it
She blamed me for something, and I knew it.

And now I take the fall
'Cause girls like me can't have it all
At the bottom wishing for the top
I can't make myself run away, I just can't stop
And I feel like this is the limit
I dunno what I'm up to, but I know I'm caught up in it.

Under my skin
That's where she's getting in
Falling apart inside
Just wanna run and hide

I'm numb and I can't see this
From the way I'm obviously that miss
Who's the one to blame
Every situation's the same

And I can't understand
Just what I did wrong
And now I'm just in the middle of this match of ping-pong
This is a problem I just cannot solve
When there is no sin for the priest to absolve

And now I take the fall
'Cause girls like me can't have it all
At the bottom wishing for the top
I can't make myself run away, I just can't stop
And I feel like this is the limit
I dunno what I'm up to, but I know I'm caught up in it.

You say I'm bitter
Being cruel
And I'm just trying to be cool
They say I need to straighten up
And she says I have done enough

But I can't let it go
Can't make myself slow
'Cause it'll all catch up with me
You just wait and see
The day that I fall down
Slow-motion with no sound.

And now I take the fall
'Cause girls like me can't have it all
At the bottom wishing for the top
I can't make myself run away, I just can't stop
And I feel like this is the limit
I dunno what I'm up to, but I know I'm caught up in it.

When she finished, the entire crowd clapped and hooted and whistled. Verity smiled weakly and returned to her spot with the rest of the contestants. The judges watched her with appraising eyes. One of them looked far too familiar. She shielded her eyes from the stage lights and squinted. It was her neighbor Joe. And it was odd that it was him because he was going-on-nineteen whereas all the other judges were men and women, like, fifty. Gross. But Joe was famous, so that probably helped. Verity didn't even notice the next contestant walk up to the front of the stage. The crowd started wolf-whistling before she even started speaking.
"Hi. I'm Zoe Myers."