Reflection

Reflection is the eighth and last of the short stories in Part 2 of Welsh Cakes: Book of Short Stories. Jane Peters, a teenager, is not part of the "in" crowd and longs to be. The "in" crowd is a group of popular girls who are pretty, fashion conscious, and made up of qualities that Jane feels she does not possess. Jane is envious of them and particularly of Amanda Graves. She is everything that Jane wants to be and is not. During the summer holidays she practices looking in the mirror and making herself look like Amanda. She seems to have magical powers and, by the end of the summer, she is able to go back and fore from the likeness of Amanda to the likeness of herself. When she gets back to school she attempts a switch with Amanda and is successful. This experiment results in some strange happenings, and opens Jane's eyes to another side of Amanda's life, which she little expected. In the end she learns that not all one sees is all there is to know. She becomes more tolerant of others and promises to use her magical powers only for good.