My fable for Creative Writing Class

Once, not so long ago, in a small portion of a great forest, there lived a small school of rodents. Now, among this group of tiny creatures lived a small, cute mouse named Ilia. She was extremely dazzling but even more so intelligent. She also had many friends, one of which was Hannah, the closest of all. It seemed like everywhere that Ilia tread, Hannah was sure to follow, and visa versa.
However, as brilliant as Ilia was, that was not to say she was perfect. As a matter of fact, she was quite far from it. But no one knew that, because to all, she seemed elegant and a perfect imitation of a princess. Well, no, there was one who knew who she really was. But Hannah was never going to tell a soul about this, though she herself disagreed with it. And that’s how one fateful afternoon turned into an almost disastrous evening.

Ilia and Hannah were packing their bags when one of “The Rats” approached her. Now, “The Rats” were a gang in school, composed entirely of rats. And as mean and grizzly as they all were, they were all just as popular. Now Hannah and Ilia both knew how mean they all were to all of the other students but really, Ilia wanted to fit in just like they all seemed to.
“Hey Ilia, we’re going down to the lake later. It’s sure to be a blast; wanna come?” This particular rat was named Lector, one of the higher-ups in their “gang.” Particularly, he was one of the nicest looking of “The Rats” but overall, he was also the meanest.
“Uh, sure, yeah! What are we gonna do there?” Ilia was surprised he asked this of her but was eager to be liked.
“Heh, we’re gonna go swimming of course. I mean, you can swim, right?” He had an air of charm about him, at least to Ilia; to others, he just stank.
“Oh yeah, of course, hehe… who can’t swim?” Ilia answered uneasily. In truth, she couldn’t. Nor could any one of her friends, to be honest.
“Well good,” began Lector,” I’ll see you there.” He plodded off silently.

“What?” asked Hannah,” You’re going down to the lake with “The Rats” tonight? What are you thinking?!”
“Oh, you’re making too big of a deal out of it.” Ilia tried to keep cool but she was really nervous too.
“Can you even swim?!”
“Well… no, but-”
“You’re going to drown you idiot! Why did you ever agree with this!”
“I don’t know, I just kinda did.” Ilia felt sick now with anxiety.
“It’s all right, just don’t go.” Ilia looked at Hannah like she was crazy.
“Are you kidding? I have to go! How would I look if I agreed to but didn’t show up!?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you won’t look so great if you’re dead!”
“Whatever, Hannah, thanks for the help; I’m going anyway.” She trudged off as fast as she could.
“Ilia…” Hannah said quickly but she rounded a corner and was gone.

“Glad you could make it.” Lector was already in the giant lake swimming; all of the other rats were splashing and rough-housing too.
“Uh, yeah, I am too…” she looked around quickly, her knees shaking.
“So, you gonna get in?” He swam to the bank and treaded water.
“Yeah, just… let me get ready…” She went back behind a large mushroom stalled for time. What was she going to do?
“Where is she?!” Ilia jumped out from behind the large mushroom when she heard that. She looked and saw Hannah telling Lector off. He looked shocked but at the same time, quite angry.
“You know mice can’t swim! Why would you even ask her to come?!”
“We thought it’d be funny to see her squirm for awhile. I mean, we wouldn’t let her drown or anything; it was all in good fun.”
“Yeah, let’s all laugh at her as she struggles to swim and stay alive; all good fun, yeah right!”
Ilia could feel her heart beating real fast by now, so much pride and happiness filling her chest she almost started to cry. But instead, she clenched her fists and stepped out and walked towards Hannah.
“Ilia, you’re all right!”
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks… You were right, I shouldn’t have come.” Hannah just smiled.
“Ha, you’re not gonna swim after all? What a wimp.” Lector began laughing, as did all the other rats. “You know what, I don’t care what you think!” Ilia stormed up to Lector. “You think you can just push me around, make me feel bad and I won’t do anything about it?”
Lector stepped backwards.
“Well I’m through acting! I can’t swim, and I don’t care what you think!” and with that she pushed him into the water. She immediately turned around and walked back toward Hannah, a huge grin on her face.
“Let’s go.”

Moral: You should never act in opposition to your true nature, for you may find yourself in a position worse than you can handle.

Note: A true friend has learned the melody of your heart and plays it back to you when you can no longer hear it.