Jane Smiley Trent's Attractions: A Narrative Fiction

Whereas Connie is considered beautiful, June is seen as “plain and chunky” (496). Regardless of their differences, both girls have one thing in common, they both love to spend time with friends and Connie uses this to her advantage. On several occasions, a friend’s father has left them off at the mall, however once they arrive, Connie travels across the street “ to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out” ( 497). It is here that she comes into contact with her future assailant, but at the time she ignored his attention.

The one thing he admired about Helen is the bond that she and Stephanie had together. But now, he’s worried about their marriage. He states, “Now an eight-pound steel ball seemed as dangerous as another woman, a runaway, or financial ruin, the less exotic tragedies of other families” (Apple 133). Helen makes her claim to her husband and Stephanie on why she feels so strongly about her daughter looking so boyish to her husband. When Helen was selling Avon, she had to spend hours dealing with an array of different women. Some of the women were ugly or disfigured. Being a seller of Avon, she would help these women pick out make-up and perfume to make them feel or look beautiful. Helen states, “I was never ashamed of being an Avon lady. I think their work is more important than IBM” (Apple 133). Stephanie is still not impressed by this argument her mother is making. Stephanie explains, “My truest feeling is that I want to throw the shot as far as possible, maybe sixty feet” (Apple 134). Still not understanding her daughter true feelings, Helen removes all the drugs out of the household still not understanding the exquisiteness of Stephanie’s

Things were going just smashing for Meredith this morning. The teen silently prayed that the bus ride would end soon, in all honesty, she tended to get a little motion sickness at times. The bus had left the school parking lot at least an hour and a half ago. How much further could this museum be? Meredith never really cared much for field trips, because more often than not, they were exhausting. Typically, the only good thing about field trips, was that students were not required to wear those ridiculous school uniforms. Meredith was currently wearing her favorite pair of comfortable jeans that were worn around the knees, and a form fitting Superman t-shirt. (Superman was her imaginary lover.) Yes, Meredith normally hated school field trips, but this field trip was different. Her class wasn't visiting an ordinary, boring, musty museum that was filled with useless artifacts no one in their right mind would ever find interesting. No, this museum, once upon a time, was an actual palace where real live kings and queens once lived! Like most little girls, young Meredith used to pretend that she was a beautiful princess from a far away land. So, the idea of visiting an authentic palace, was truly exhilarating. Of course, if anyone were to ask her that, Meredith would deny it until she turned blue in the

“Oh,” Grant muttered, mostly to himself, “well that’s good, I guess. Thanks, Auntie.” Grant shuffled over to the dining room to help finish setting the table with the other women. He didn’t look back.

Jessica’s eyes found the ground and she gulped. Phil stared at her waiting for an answer until she looked up and grinned brightly. "I'm doing great! College is fun, but there’s a lot of work.”

“Yes, you there, that man er—young man I spoke to earlier,” she shrilled, clumsily trotting across the street. “Yes, you,” she panted, grasping hold of her centered, skirt slit and swiftly darting across the grass. “Oh it’s wet, the grass is moist,” she wailed. “Yes, you there,” she said again, pointing at me, nearing closer and clamoring up the porch steps. “Oh look, those are some beautiful, Ah—deadly roses!” she squawked, “I think they just made a ladder in my favorite tights.” Her face looked like it was going to sob again, but briskly, she straightened her stance and blew out a sharp breath. “I know,” she said breathlessly, “you're probably wondering what this horrendous woman is is doing in front of you and—oh my god, is this street full of supermodels!” her eyes shifted distractedly, gawking at Gemma. “You look like an angel. Your light, champagne blond hair is so gorgeous, and you're so lean and perfect—how tall are you? She quizzed Gemma.

Making her way toward the sidewalk, she turned right on Doveland Drive. Without a car, Anita must walk two and a half miles to reach Forest Creek Lane, the predominantly upper-class part of town. As she walked, her stomach turned as if she had ridden a fast carnival ride and no matter what she tried to calm her nerves, her attempts were futile. When she reached the street, she couldn't help but stare in awe at the beautiful houses that lined it. Some had the latest car park in front, others had empty spaces while the owner was at work. Anita imagined handsome doctors carrying briefcases and housewives wearing wearing the latest fashions. Anita, at 22, still lived with her parents in the not-so-nice part of town, where houses where becoming dalapitated and the roads and sidewalks were cracked and never fixed. Always feeling as if she didn't belong where she lived, she often imagianed what it would be like to live as other

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing a notebook from his locker; maybe he wasn’t the only one experiencing weird paranoid episodes, maybe other people were too. My mind continued in thought as he made his way through the crowded halls when he stopped. Standing, staring straight up at me was three pairs of eager eyes smiling back at me. It’s the pink and purple girls, he

Gwen walked outside only to get a face full of the cool, cold breeze gliding across her face. She had on a lightweight, zipped up maroon jacket that still kept her warm despite its thickness. She also was wearing a dark gray - almost black - beanie her dad had got her the Christmas before he joined the army to go fight in Afghanistan. She’d had it since she was 14. Her somewhat medium-length bright, blonde hair went down just a little past the hood of her jacket. Being 17, Gwen hopped into her bright white 2014 Volkswagen Jetta - not the most spacious car in the world, but it got her where she needed to go. She set off to go pick up her best friend, Lauren, to set off on another adventure. The city of Cleveland was pretty busy this morning, yet it was nothing compared to New York City or Tokyo.

“Who could that possibly be? No one cares to ever visit me,” Edward thought as he jumped up from his chair in which he was just previously reading a magazine. He smiled at the idea of having company for the first time in what felt like an eternity. He straightened up and shouted, “Just a minute!” over his shoulder towards the front door. He ran over to his mirror, fixed his hair, and buttoned his collar before heading towards the door. He arrived at the door and peered through the peephole at a nice-looking lady standing on his front porch. She wore a lovely lavender pantsuit with a matching hat, pearl earrings, and glasses that nearly took up her entire face. Edward trusted her already. So he unlatched the seventeen locks on the inside of the door and opened the door wide as he put on a welcoming smile. “May I help you?” Edward asked while still holding that award-winning

It must have been around eight o’clock in the evening when Johnny saw the flickering lights from the tiki torches that were bordering the outdoor terrace. The two had been facing each other for a while now in the hotel’s lounge, and Johnny’s sight of the outdoor terrace gave him the out he needed to get Clarissa to a more secluded and romantic spot. “Pick up your drink…we’re going onto the terrace,” he quickly and bluntly told her with a grin. As soon as she could grab her lemontini with one hand and her purse hanging from her arm, her beau gracefully clasped her other hand and led them both through the crowd of hotel guests to the terrace entryway. She couldn’t help but be turned on by his spontaneous ways and smiled the whole way to the terrace

“Did you meet him?” her voice sounded like it had an echo, then again it always sounded like that. But this time there was a hint of excitement, wonder and interest swimming along with her usual ethereal nonchalance.

“Thats cool, It’s nice to meet you,” He said while giving a dazzling smile. “I’m Dylan and this is Logan.” He pointed to his friend. I smiled at him, his friend was a couple inches shorter than him, but still taller than me. He has this light blue eyes that looked like the sky and dark brown hair. He was cute in a skater type guy and his smile was beautiful.

Valerie Parker stood at the window of her condo in an exclusive area called Edenvale. The lights of Meridian’s dome dimmed to simulate twilight. Her condo occupied the entire third floor, included a southern exposure with a large bay window overlooking a park. Valerie’s taste in furnishings ran to minimalist neutrals with an abundance of chrome and glass. Before her company arrived for dinner, she changed into her favorite metallic orange kaftan, the last birthday gift from her mother.

“Natalie, where do you want to go for dinner?” Becca waited for me as I stood up and gathered things into my bag. “What about White Spot?” Their fries are the best in the town, I’d say. “Brilliant idea.” She had this trendy, flowery perfume on and dressed in lilac crop top and crème shorts and wearing kitten heels as always. Her beauty and stylishness always stun me, even though I have known her for a few years by now. She always has boys adoring her with their attentive eyes.