Judging books by their covers

The other day at Champion, thinking I might convert from coffee to tea, I bought this Regent's Park Earl Grey Blend, mostly for its packaging. Fine use of , black-and-white photography, colors, font. Also, it was one of the cheaper teas (€1,64). The tea itself, however, was only okay. And now I have to get through 19 tea bags of this okay tea.

There was a day during senior year of high school when we received our GPAs. Someone passed them out on white slips of paper. When we hadn't yet heard who was ranked first (I fell somewhere in the teens), we began asking around. Within five minutes, we learned that it was Goth Girl. Goth Girl's hair was long and black (dyed) and fell upon always a melange of black clothing. Her face was round and very white (powdered). She wasn't a far cry from Goth Talk's Circe Nightshade.

My friends and I weren't at all surprised to hear that our friend Goth Girl was "first." But others who didn't know her were expecting anything but Goth Girl. A tall, bird-faced lady in a red sweater and crisp Lee jeans stopped at my lunch table while walking round the cafeteria. I still don't know what her job was, but I knew her type. Loves football games, (especially Homecoming), has authority over you. And, even though the students she preferred were barely in the top ten (percent), curious about the rankings.

She asked my table, "So who's number one?" I told her Goth Girl's first and last name.

"Who's that?" she asked. I pointed at Goth Girl, who was seated a few tables away, her right side facing us.

"That's her," I said. Bird-face studied Goth Girl.

"Well, you should never judge a book by its cover!" she exclaimed with a chuckle. Charming. I didn't reply and waited for her to walk away before getting back to my chicken fried steak.