A Change of Sweater

By: Torsten P. Whetsell

A strip of cloth bolted past me, barely missing my cheek. I jumped back, startled, and
looked around. I saw a flurry of aquamarine hair disappearing behind the corner followed by a
giggle. I rolled my eyes to no one in particular and jogged around the corner. The bell chose this
inopportune moment to ring and I had to race to get to my Engineering class in time. I knew Id
see Violet soon enough anyway. Violet Elizabeth Xander is a very strange girl. In addition to
generally trying to hit me with her sleeves, Violet had her usual purple contacts in, and had her
Sweater-of-the-Longest-and-Bestest-Most-Fun- Sleeves-Ever, as she calls it, on.
As I walked to biology, my friend Maverick was asking me something.
Hey! Torsten! Are you even listening? Mav was saying, Did we have anything due in
bio?
I dont know, and even if we did isnt it a bit late to be doing it now? I scolded him.
Eh, not the point. Oh look! Theres Vex.
I turned around and saw Violet walking towards us, her sleeves trailing behind her.
Toooorrrrrsteeeeennn! Oh, hi Make-a-Rake, she called to Maverick and I as she
whipped her sleeve at me
There you are Vi. How are you? Your Sweater-of-the-Longest-and-BestestMost-Fun-Sleeves-Ever seems a bit worn, I asked as we stopped just outside the biology room.
Yeah I knowwwww, she whined, people keep stepping on my sleeves and it makes me
really sad and ughhhhhhhh.
Well, have you tried wearing a different sweater to school?
She looked at me like I just murdered her family. B-b-but why would I wear a different
sweater?
I tried to explain that wearing a different sweater would solve her problems. Her sleeves
wouldnt be stepped on nor would they get caught in things like they normally do. She was
adamant that that was the only sweater she was physically capable of wearing, though. For a
whole week I tried arguing with her. Her problems were steadily getting worse, too. The more
worn her sweater was, the more the threads got caught on things. After a week I think I was

finally getting close to having her give up the sweater. By lunch she was relying on even more
childish antics than normal.
But whyyyyyyyyyyy?
Because youre just going to hurt yourself at this rate Vi, I reprimanded her as I fished
a sandwich out of my lunchbox.
You agree with me, dont you Noah? she asks, smiling at our friend Noah.
Uhh no. I agree with Torsten on this one, he replied as he too obtained a sandwich from
his lunch bag.
Lol stupid Noah. Youre so funny when youre joking.
But Im not!
Whatever.
Maverick came in and sat down next to Violet, right across from me. Are you still
arguing the sweater issue?
No. Help. Yes. Violet, Noah, and I said simultaneously.
Well, I have an idea then. He pulled out a piece of paper and began drawing rough
sketches of Vex. Vex, how about you wear a different sweater for one day, he drew shorter
sleeves on the sketch,if you like it, then you stop wearing the long sleeves, if you dont like it,
you go back to the long sleeves. Okay? He finished his sketch, one of a Vex with short sleeves
and one with long sleeves.
Fine, she said begrudgingly.
So the next day, she came back wearing a cute pink sweater with sleeves of normal
length. Violet looked quite awkward without the extra weight of the sleeves and we didnt talk
about the sweater at all; however, nearly everyone else did comment on her lack of sleeves.
Many of the comments werent very kind, but almost just as many said they liked her new sleeve
length. At the end of the day, we parted ways to our buses. Since it was Friday, we wouldnt see
each other till the end of the weekend, and I wouldnt see if Mavericks plan had been successful
or not.
The day finally came to see if she had kept the normal sleeved sweater or if she reverted
to the longer sleeved one. I almost didnt even recognize her when she came into English. In fact,
it wasnt until she called over to my friend Cole and I that I even noticed she was in the room.
Hey, Torsten and Koala! How do I look?

Whoa, came my shocked reply. Violet wasnt wearing the Sweater-of-the-Longestand-Bestest-Most-Fun-Sleeves-Ever. In fact she wasnt even wearing a sweater at all! Violet
was wearing a black T-shirt with the Leo zodiac symbol on it and skinny blue jeans. She had cut
her formerly back length hair to just above shoulder length. She had also changed her contacts to
a cool green and shed dyed her hair a reddish brown.
Whoa, I said again.
Haha. Ill take that as a good response.
Uh, yeah, you could say that, I said, as the bell rang and our teacher had us pair up to
read the narratives we had written over the weekend. The day started to blend together as it
always does, and the school year moved on just as it had before, only this time with a new and
improved Violet Xander.