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Abigail Boyer

Mrs. Wright

English 1101

June 26, 2021

Sydney's Sister

Sydney's sister. That might as well be my name because ever since I was a kid, that is

what I’ve been known as.Teachers, friends, even family members have always referred to me

as “Sydney's sister”. Almost everywhere I go someone asks me, “are you Sydney's little

sister?” From as early as I can remember my big sister was little Miss Perfect. She was just

naturally great at whatever she did, she always had to excel at everything. My sister casted

the world's largest and darkest shadow and I spent my whole life living in it as if it were a

cold, hopeless cave . From a very young age I came to the realization that I would never be as

good as her. I did more sports and activities in elementary school than I can count, but none

of them ever lasted because my perfect sister would have to be better than me at whatever I

was doing. Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister dearly which could be part of the problem. I

love and admire her so much, so when we were growing up all I ever wanted was to be as

good as her at something. But I never was.

It should come as no surprise that my perfect sister had the best grades her whole life.

She got straight A’s all throughout her entire elementary school and middle school career. At

my elementary school, if a student got straight A’s during a grading period then they were

rewarded with the highest honor of all : pizza with the principal. Even though it was just a

bunch of little kids sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor of our school's gymnasium, it

was a big deal to all of the kids and an even bigger deal to me. My perfect sister was awarded

the privilege of attending pizza with the principal every single chance there was in

elementary school. Me on the other hand, I only got pizza with the principal twice and I had
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to miss the first time because I was out of town. The pizza was always cold and the bag of

crisp, crunchy chips that we got with it was practically a bag of crumbs. And someone always

managed to spill their Pepsi on the floor which, I suppose, is why our school janitor was

never far away. It’s understandable that none of this sounds appealing, it wasn’t. But for me,

it was a great privilege that I tried my hardest to achieve every single grading period at my

school and was devastated when my report card came back full of B’s.

By middle school, I had come to the realization that I wasn’t as smart as my sister and

never will be. It was an upsetting fact to come to terms with, but I quickly managed. After all,

I wasn’t stupid I just wasn’t a genius like my super awesome sister. Not too long after, I

started high school. My whole life I had kept up relatively good grades without having to try.

This all changed once I got to high school. When I was in middle school, I went whole

semesters not doing any homework for a single class and still managing to get an A. Now,

things were much more challenging.

I remember one day in particular in my freshman year social studies class. It was my

first period class, the birds were chirping and Mrs. Tiendas classroom smelled of strong,

black coffee. It was maybe two minutes into our morning announcements when I came to the

horrifying realization: I had forgotten to do my homework. I started to panic, my mind was

racing and my heart was pounding. Mrs. Tienda wasn’t a mean teacher at all, in fact, she was

the farthest thing from it. She was a very kind and fair teacher and I had taken a liking to her

within the past month that school had started. I just didn’t want to disappoint her or give her

the wrong impression so early into the school year. I calmed myself down fast, “lots of kids

forget to do their homework,” I thought to myself “she probably won't even care”. She came

around slowly at the beginning of class, checking the homework on each of our desks one by

one. When she came to me, she gave me a look that stung more than a knife. She looked up at

me and said “See me after class, I am disappointed in you Abbey”.

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Those words circled around my brain for the entire period. I could not focus, I was too

worried about what Mrs. Tienda was going to say to me after class. I knew she had a free

period after this class so it was reassuring to know we would be talking alone. After everyone

left, it was just me in the room. I didn’t know how to feel, I had never been in trouble before.

Sure, in elementary school I was a rambunctious kid but I had never gotten in major trouble.

This was very different from my teacher moving my clip from green to yellow, or being told I

had to stand on the sidewalk during recess. Now, I had no idea what was awaiting me. Then,

Mrs. Tienda finally sat down at her desk and without looking up at me said “You may come

to my desk now”.

With my red face and sweaty palms, I walked to her desk. She was looking down at a

stack of papers for about a minute before she finally looked up to me. She could tell I was

nervous, but after she started, talking I calmed down a little bit more. She told me she was

disappointed in me and she expected more. “You’re not the only one who didn’t do the

assignment, but you’re the only one I asked to stay after,” she said. She told me that she

knows I'm smart, but I don’t work hard enough. Up until that moment, It never occurred to

me that I could be smart. I had never tried hard enough in school to find out. “Could I have

been smart my whole life if I just tried a little more?” I thought. I had always just assumed I

could never be smart like my sister. But this was different, Mrs. Tienda saw me and talked to

me as if I were another human being. Not just as Sydney’s little sister.

Talking to Mrs. Tienda really changed my point of view. I started pushing myself

from then on out. I discovered I was good at math and really liked it. In fact, I took two math

classes my sophomore year. Abbey from freshman year could never have imagined taking

classes from Sinclair while still in high school. I am more than thankful for all the

opportunities I have today and I could have never been where I am now without getting that

push freshman year to start trying harder. Mrs. Tienda taught me to push harder and never
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doubt myself and I could not be where I am today without her. Thanks to her, I am no longer

just Sydney’s sister. I am Abbey Boyer and I am excited to finally be my own person.