Shadowing Practice: I Hid My Real Self For Years... Until He Found Out \Animated Story - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Have you ever stared at yourself in the mirror and literally didn't recognize the person staring back?
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Welcome to my life.
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A masterclass in fake it till you make it.
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Hi, my name is Tessa, and I've been living a lie since I was six.
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That's when the Crawfords adopted me.
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Initially, it felt like a dream come true.
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A mansion the size of a small country, a garage full of cars, and parents who paraded me around like their favorite charity project.
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And this is our daughter, Tessa.
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We rescued her from that dreadful orphanage.
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But as I got older, the constant stares and whispers started to get to me.
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I was tired of being the adopted one in a family of blue-eyed, perfect-looking people.
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Why don't you look like your parents?
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Are you like the help or something?
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So by the time I started at a new high school, I took matters into my own hands.
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Every morning my routine was the same.
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Wake up in my perfect room, put on my perfect clothes, and finish with the most important part.
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Blue contact lenses to cover up my boring brown eyes.
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The Crawfords never asked me to hide who I was, but they never stopped me either.
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And honestly, it was easier this way.
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No more questions, no more explanations,
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just Tessa Crawford, the perfect daughter with the perfect blue eyes that matched her perfect parents.
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And that perfect image didn't stop there.
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Very soon, I was the queen bee of my school.
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Top of the social pyramid, an Instagram feed that looked like a fashion magazine, and grades that would make any parents proud.
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I had the whole package.
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Well, except for one seriously annoying problem.
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Ryan Bennett, King of the jocks, heir to Bennett Corp, and owner of the world's most punchable face,
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who'd been trying to make me his girlfriend since freshman year.
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Come on, Tessa.
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We're practically royalty at this school.
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Can you imagine the power couple we'd be?
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Our parents practically run this town together!
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Wow, Ryan.
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When you put it like that, I'd still rather date a cactus.
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But I always kept the rejection light and friendly.
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See, Ryan wasn't just annoying, he was the kind of guy who'd destroy your entire social life if you bruised his ego.
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And with our parents' businesses connected, I couldn't risk it.
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So I played nice, while mentally calculating how quickly I could escape every conversation.
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My perfectly crafted fake life was running smoothly, until he came along like a wrecking ball.
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Ethan Cole.
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New kid.
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Foster child.
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Always carrying a beat-up sketchbook, and wearing clothes splattered with so much paint, they looked like a Jackson Pollock original.
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The second he walked into class, I knew Ryan would make him his personal chew toy.
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Hey, Goodwill!
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Did a rainbow throw up on you?
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Or is that your idea of fashion?
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His squad of brainless hyenas erupted in laughter, while I sank lower in my seat in embarrassment. But Ethan?
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He just looked at Ryan with this.. amused expression.
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Like Ryan was a toddler having a tantrum in a grocery store.
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Genuine creativity intimidates those with empty lives.
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Thanks for the psychological case study steady.
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What?
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Nobody talked to Ryan Bennett like that.
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Ever.
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Ryan's face turned blazing red.
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But before he could respond, the teacher walked in.
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I thought that would be the end of it.
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Man, could I be more wrong?
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Over the next week, Ryan and his goons accidentally spilled paint all over Ethan's English essay, shoved him into lockers when teachers weren't looking,
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and even started an Instagram account dedicated to mocking his secondhand clothes, calling him a peasant painter.
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Through it all, Ethan kept a poker face, never giving them the satisfaction of seeing him crack.
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But I noticed the shadow under his eyes growing darker each day.
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Then came the art show event.
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Ethan had entered his painting into the district competition, a breathtaking piece that showed a small child reaching for the stars.
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I overheard him telling the art teacher it had taken him three months to create.
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When I arrived at school the next morning, there was a crowd gathered in the hallway.
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I pushed through to see Ethan standing in front of what remained of his painting.
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Now slashed to ribbons with crude words spray-painted across it, while Ryan and his friends were snickering nearby.
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For just a split second, Ethan's mask slipped.
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I saw tears in his eyes as he gathered his destroyed canvas with trembling hands.
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No one else seemed to notice.
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They were already moving on to the next piece of hallway gossip.
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But I couldn't look away.
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That afternoon, I did something completely insane.
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I wrote an actual, physical note, like we were living in the stone age, and slipped it into his locker.
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You're stronger than they know.
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Just don't give up.
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Then, I lurked behind a pillar like some deranged stalker, watching as he found it.
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When he smiled, this genuine, surprised smile that transformed his entire face,
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I felt this weird flutter in my chest.
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But I didn't dare actually talk to him.
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Are you kidding me Tessa Crawford voluntarily interacting with the paint splattered foster kid that would be social suicide
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Still I couldn't stop thinking about him.
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How could anyone be so comfortable just existing as themselves?
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One day after school I spotted Ethan sneaking off with his paint supplies and Something possessed me to follow him.
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I felt like the world's worst spy ducking behind trees and cars praying nobody from school would see me.
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He led me to this abandoned playground.
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Rusted swings barely hanging on, a slide covered in graffiti, the whole post-apocalyptic vibe.
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But Ethan walked straight to a crumbling concrete wall and started painting the most incredible mural I'd ever seen.
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I crept closer to get a better look when...
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Oh my god!
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I'd stepped on an empty soda can.
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I dove behind the slide and quickly climbed up, my heart threatening to explode out of my chest.
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And then, because the universe hates me, my phone started blaring my ringtone.
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Shut up!
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Oh my god, shut up!
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In my panic to silence it, the phone went flying out of my hands, skidding down the slide, and landing directly at Ethan's feet.
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Well, hello there, mysterious stalker's phone.
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Let's see who's calling.
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He picked it up, then answered with a smirk.
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Thank you for calling, Stalkers R Us.
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Your business is important to us.
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Please hold while I locate the owner of this phone.
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What?
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Who is this?
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Where's Tessa?
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Ah, Tessa.
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She just went to the bathroom.
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Can I take a message?
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Yes.
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Tell her that her parents are leaving for a charity gala in Paris in an hour.
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And we'll see her in a few days.
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Then, Mom just hung up, and I wanted to evaporate on the spot.
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I slowly emerged from my hiding spot, face burning hotter than the sun.
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I can explain.
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I was just...
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I was...
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Following me?
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Pretty sure that's defined as stalking in all 50 states.
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I wasn't stalking you.
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I was taking a shortcut.
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And then I saw you and got curious.
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A shortcut through an abandoned playground surrounded by a chain link fence with NO Trespassing signs every five feet?
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Okay, fine.
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I followed you.
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Happy now?
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Just.. don't tell anyone at school, okay?
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They have a reputation.
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Instead of mocking me, Ethan just laughed.
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Like he genuinely found the whole situation hilarious.
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Your secret's safe with me, Princess.
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He gestured toward his mural, a stunning scene of people helping each other during a storm, sharing umbrellas and reaching out their hands to pull others to safety.
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Wanna see what I'm working on?
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Up close?
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And that was the beginning of the end for the fake Tessa Crawford.
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Over the next few weeks, I started sneaking away to meet Ethan at that playground.
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At first, I told myself it was just artistic curiosity, and I liked watching him paint.
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But the truth was, I liked talking to him.
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Really talking.
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Not the fake small talk I did with my friends where we discussed nothing but Instagram likes and who was dating who.
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One night, sitting on those rusty swings, I finally told him the truth.
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I've been adopted since I was six.
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The Crawfords?
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They've given me everything a girl could dream of.
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The house, the clothes, the opportunities.
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And I'm sure they love me in their own way.
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But what I've really wanted the most is their attention.
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You know?
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And they're usually too busy with their galas and business meetings to give me that.
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Sometimes I feel more like a charity project than their daughter.
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Is that why you hide your real eyes?
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I nearly toppled off the swing.
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How did you- The blue doesn't quite match your skin tone.
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Also, the way you're always rubbing your eyes when you think no one's looking.
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I don't think it's the most comfortable thing in the world.
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They do get uncomfortable after wearing them all day.
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So take them out.
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What?
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No, I...
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There's no one here but me, Tess.
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Something in his voice made me trust him.
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With shaking hands, I carefully removed the first one, then the other, blinking as my eyes adjusted.
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And then I finally looked up at him.
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For what it's worth, your real eyes are way more captivating.
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They've got these little gold flecks that catch the light.
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Just stunning.
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Then he leaned in and lightly kissed me, and I felt that for the first time, someone had really seen me.
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And Ethan just had this freaky superpower for noticing things everyone else missed.
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Like how Mrs. Daniels, the lunch lady, wore the same worn out shoes every day because she was sending her kid to college.
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Or how Mr. Rivera, the librarian, always had hospital forms peeking out of his bag because his daughter was sick.
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Together, we started leaving anonymous notes for people we knew were struggling, just like I'd done for him that first day first day.
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You really think a little note makes any difference?
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When I got yours, it was the first time anyone at school had shown me a speck of kindness.
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So yeah, they matter.
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A lot.
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The more time I spent with Ethan, the harder it got to step back into my fake life.
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It was like having two separate identities that were getting impossible to keep apart.
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I don't get it, Tess.
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How can you stand those people?
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Especially Ryan.
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The guy's basically a walking cologne ad with the personality of a mosquito.
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You don't understand how it works.
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My dad's company and Ryan's dad's company are practically joined at the hip.
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And the rest of my friends, they're not that bad.
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Yeah?
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Think they'd accept me if they knew we were friends?
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They might.
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If you tried to fit in a little.
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Maybe tone down the whole...
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I gestured vaguely at as paint splattered everything.
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The whole me thing.
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Got it.
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It felt kind of terrible that I'd said it, but to my complete shock, Ethan actually tried.
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He started wearing cleaner clothes, tamed his wild hair, and even sat with us at lunch.
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I was touched, because it meant he cared enough about me to do something that was obviously hard for him.
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But Ryan and my friends still found ways to exclude him, making comments disguised as jokes.
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So, Ethan, is it weird living with random people who get paid to pretend they care about you?
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Like having a babysitter who never leaves.
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Ryan!
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Actually, Ryan, I bet if your parents cared as much for you as my foster mom does about me, you might have had a better personality.
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But hey, at least you got that trust fund to keep you warm at night.
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The table went dead silent.
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Ryan's face darkened like a thundercloud.
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And I knew we were in serious trouble.
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And the next day, I found Ethan staring at the spring formal banner he'd spent weeks painting.
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It was destroyed, torn in places, dripping with soda, with crude drawings scribbled all over it.
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Just then, Ryan sauntered over, grinning like he'd just won a championship.
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Aww, what happened to your little finger painting?
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Such a shame.
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You did this.
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Again.
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I let it go the first time, but what makes you think?
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You can keep treating people like this.
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Relax, Charity Case, it's just a prank.
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That's how we have fun!
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But I guess you wouldn't get it.
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It's one of those, you're poor, you wouldn't understand kind of things.
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The look in Ethan's eyes?
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I'd never seen anything like it.
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It was anger mixed with resolution.
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Like he'd finally made a decision he'd been putting off for too long.
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The next day, Ethan didn't show up at our spot.
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I texted him, called him, nothing.
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Days went by, and Ethan still didn't show up.
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Worry weighed on me, until I finally decided to visit his foster home and see if he was okay.
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I'm sorry, honey.
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Ethan left this afternoon.
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He said he needed a fresh start.
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Did he.. did he say anything about me?
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He left you this.
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She handed me a folded piece of paper.
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Inside was a sketch of me.
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Not with blue eyes, but with my real brown ones.
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Filled with warmth and life.
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Underneath he'd written, Don't let fear choose for you.
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You're more than what they expect you to be.
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Live your truth.
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And don't change for the world.
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Make the world change for you.
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Ethan didn't take the revenge route after all.
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He just left.
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Maybe rich bullies were never his world to begin with.
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I cried the whole way home, finally seeing the truth.
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I had used Ethan's strength while never showing any of my own.
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That night, I stared at myself in the mirror for a long time.
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Then slowly, I took out my blue contacts.
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My real eyes, brown with little gold flecks, stared back at me.
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The next morning, I went to school as my real self.
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No contacts, no fake smile, just me.
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I started leaving notes like Ethan and I used to, slipping them to people who seemed to be struggling.
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You're not alone.
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You're stronger than you think.
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Your voice matters.
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To my shock, someone found one of my notes and posted it on the school's social media page.
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The next day, I spotted similar notes appearing on random lockers.
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By the end of the week, they were everywhere.
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Taped to bathroom mirrors, tucked into textbooks, even written in chalk on the sidewalks.
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The movement kept growing.
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people started leaving little care packages with the notes.
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The drama club put on performances about kindness.
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Even some teachers joined in, writing encouraging messages on the board instead of just assignments.
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Within a month, the entire school atmosphere had shifted, from cold and competitive to warm and supportive.
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People actually looked up from their phones, held doors open, sat with kids who used to eat alone.
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A local news station even came to do a story about the kindness movement sweeping through our school.
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What sparked this wave of positivity among students?
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I don't know who started it, but it's changed everything.
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People actually look out for each other now.
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This is pathetic.
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Who actually cares about all this touchy-feely garbage?
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All this kindness nonsense is just what losers tell themselves to feel better about being nobodies.
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Like that homeless artist freak who ran away.
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Right, Tessa?
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The cafeteria went dead silent.
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Everyone turned to look at me.
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No, Ryan.
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You're wrong.
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And you're a bully.
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A few kind words can literally save someone who's drowning inside.
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If you can't understand that, then I feel sorry for you.
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Because your life must be incredibly empty.
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Ryan's jaw literally dropped.
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For the first time in his life, the king of comebacks had nothing to say.
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People actually applauded.
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These were the kids from every corner of the cafeteria, including the ones who'd been invisible to me for years.
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I never told anyone I started the notes, and I never saw Ethan again.
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Sometimes I wondered where he was, if he was still painting his truth on walls somewhere.
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Six months later, I was riding the subway downtown when I saw it.
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A new mural on the wall of the station.
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A girl with familiar brown eyes releasing butterflies from her hands.
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And in the corner, a tiny signature, EC.
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Ethan was out there somewhere, still making the world more beautiful.
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And thanks to him, so was I.
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Sometimes, the people who break your carefully constructed world are the ones who set you free.
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I had just walked a few blocks down, when suddenly, I stopped short in my tracks at a familiar sight.
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A boy with must-up hair and enough paint on his overalls to make them look like a Jackson Pollock original.
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Then, his head turned in my direction, and our eyes met, and his smile made my heart flutter, just like the first time.
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Ethan was still out there, changing the world one wall at a time.
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And maybe that's what we're all supposed to do.
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Leave something behind that makes life a little kinder.
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So if you're listening to this, here's my challenge.
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Find one person who you think needs a little hope.
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Someone who might feel invisible.
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And write them a letter.
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Slip it into their locker, their notebook, wherever they'll find it.
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Do it tomorrow.
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No one has to know it was you.
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Just let them know that they matter.
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Because kindness doesn't need a name.
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It just needs someone brave enough to start it.
Context & Background
In the animated story "I Hid My Real Self For Years... Until He Found Out," we follow the journey of Tessa, a girl who struggles with her identity after being adopted by a seemingly perfect family. Tessa's life appears glamorous from the outside, but she feels the pressure of living up to the expectations placed upon her by her adoptive family and society. The story delves into themes of self-acceptance, lies, and the search for authenticity. She navigates high school life while masking her true self behind a facade, highlighting the complexities of her emotional landscape and the social dynamics at play.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Why don't you look like your parents?” - A common question about identity and family resemblance.
- “A masterclass in fake it till you make it.” - An expression used to describe pretending to be confident until you actually feel it.
- “Can you imagine the power couple we’d be?” - A playful, albeit superficial, way to discuss relationships.
- “Did a rainbow throw up on you?” - A humorous phrase mocking someone's fashion choices.
- “I’d still rather date a cactus.” - An exaggerated way of expressing disinterest in a romantic proposal.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively utilize this video for English speaking practice, engage in a shadow speech technique that enhances your listening and speaking skills, particularly in understanding emotional context and expressive speech. Follow these steps to improve your English pronunciation:
- Watch the Video: Start by viewing the animated story without any interruptions. Pay close attention to Tessa’s emotions and how her tone changes throughout the narrative.
- Listen for Key Phrases: Replay sections where Tessa speaks. Focus on the intonation, pauses, and emotions in her voice.
- Practice Shadowing: Use a shadowing app or simple voice recorder. Repeat Tessa's sentences right after she says them, mimicking her rhythm and intonation. This is crucial for mastering natural speech patterns.
- Reflect on Context: After shadowing, take a moment to note the emotional content of Tessa’s dialogue. How does this affect your delivery? Practicing with context in mind helps with authenticity in your English speaking.
- Record and Compare: Record your shadowed phrases and compare them with the original audio. Identify areas for improvement in your pronunciation and fluency, which is essential for effective IELTS speaking practice.
By following this structured approach, you will not only improve your English pronunciation and fluency but also gain insights into emotional expression in conversation, helping you become a more engaged and articulate speaker.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.