Stereotypes. It's a real problem, in my opinion. People assume that a single hobby or physical characteristic means a hundred other things.

Well, if you think that, you are wrong, brotha.

In this chapter, I'll let you know what stereotypes people use against me, and things that people think, even if they're not stereotypes.

1. The Nerd

Yes, the most commonly used stereotype of all time. This one is generally used against people with good grades and cool stuff like that. Once in seventh grade, this kid told me I was nerd because I had glasses and braces. I actually found it quite offensive!

I can't remember much of my grades throughout elementary school, but I went through middle school with straight A's and ONE STUPID, BLASTED, HAUNTING B IN SCIENCE WHEN I WAS IN SIXTH GRADE. For all three years, I had a cumulative GPA of 3.99. There was this one girl who looked better than me because she got a 4.0, but she was only at that school for one year, so technically, I win.

This year I have also had perfect grades. I'm not saying I ace every test, because I don't, but I manage to do well enough that my final grade is always an A. My GPA is 4.14 because of my honors class.

Because of these things, I have been referred to as a nerd. Although, this year I ditched the glasses so it doesn't get used as much. Now people mainly call me a nerd because I sometimes act really stupid.

2. Blond

It haunts me. I don't even like blond hair. Well, I do, but not on me. My hair is actually pretty dark but when it's 112 degrees in the summer, it gets lighter and stays like that until summer comes around to do it again.

The struggle is real.

I don't know how or why this stereotype came to be, but it's pretty annoying. For some reason, I have lots of trouble understanding people. If I understand a joke five seconds too late, I get called blond. Every time, without fail!

But what really chaps my hide is when people who aren't blond do something stupid, and then say, "I'm such a blond!" (Sorry if I offended anyone!!) Like, bro, no you're not. And I'm standing right here.

3. Religion

Alright, here goes it: I am a Mormon, okay? But I don't want you peeps to be scared of me. Before you run away, I'm mentioning this is a chapter about stereotypes, so maybe I'll clear some things up for you, eh?

There's good and bad rumors about us Mormons. One example was back in seventh grade. (This was literally one of the most irritating things I've ever gone through.) We were playing some kind of game in science, and we had to write our answer on a little whiteboard and hold it up and yada yada yada.

My group answered the question correctly, and the idiotic teacher didn't give us a point! So we had this big argument about how we answered correctly, and the stupid teacher kept saying, "No you didn't!" And everyone was taking my side, too! This one girl shouted, "Hannah doesn't lie! Her religion doesn't let her!"

In the end, we didn't get that stupid point.

See, it's good that people think I don't lie. Not that I do, but this is a good thing people think. I try to avoid lying beside I've been taught lying is wrong, and I only do it when it's insignificant and I'm trying to safe my own hide. I know it's still wrong. :( Well, poop. We've all got things to work on.

As much as she doesn't mention it, my friend totally thinks Mormons are weird. We don't drink coffee or tea or alcohol (that's simply for health, man. It's not that weird). And she thought that men still had multiple wives. To that I say Noooooooooo. That was a few thousand years ago. Where've you been?

Last example: I had a teacher last year who was off-the-walls insane. Maybe I'll go into detail about him later, but one day, out of nowhere, he came up to me and said, "I'm scared of Mormons."

And I was like whaaaaat? I never told him I was one, so who knows how he found out! Apparently he once knew this Mormon girl who was like stalking him or something. But I simply told him of someone he knew who was a Mormon and he was like "really?!" And later on I was randomly like, "Napoleon Dynamite is a Mormon," and he said, "Okay! You've cured me of my Mormophobia!"

:D

Now, for some things people for some reason think of me:

-Apparently I'm anti-makeup. No one can ever tell when I'm wearing it, which isn't a big deal. But for some reason they think I'm against it. Like what?

-I'm now athletic, I suppose.

I swear, I used to be the worst of the worst. Sixteen minute mile, couldn't hit a volleyball, didn't understand football, last one picked for soccer...

But when you do track for four years, you all of a sudden become athletic. Suddenly people pick you to be on their team, and you cut ten minutes off of the mile!

But you know what? I still can't hit a volleyball. I still don't understand how to play football. But it doesn't seem to annoy people as much, for some reason.

That's all I've got for you today, folks. What other stereotypes can you think of? Sorry this was so freakishly long. Comment if you relate!