Well guys, the day has finally come. The Grand Klarissa Reveal of 2026.
Were you surprised at my identity? You probably weren’t, but for the sake of my sanity, let’s pretend you are. Honestly, I was planning to go on this whole rant about how ‘oh, this has been the most fun part of Clarion!’, but if I’m being completely truthful here, it was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever had to do. I mean, trying to come up with responses to some of the questions that were asked of me was the worst. Like, I had to rewrite my entire WRITING AND SPEAKING STYLE and let me be the first to tell you: it sucked.
All in all, though, I wouldn’t have traded being Klarissa for the world. It was definitely one of my more interesting parts of this year. My favorite part especially was hearing everyone’s guesses as to who I was, ranging from Lainey to Gurleen, but finally landing on the perfect candidate and my saving grace: Maya Grewal.
Maya, I need to shout you out, girl, because the literal torment everyone put you through is something I knew I couldn’t handle. But I’m not sorry for using you as bait. It was the most perfect scheme ever.
I can still vividly remember, after writing my second Klarissa Q&A and it being published, sitting in English class while everyone read when suddenly my friend Abram got to my most dreaded piece: Klarissa.
I can still feel my heart start to literally POUND out of my chest when I heard him reiterate some stupid, corny line I added in there to throw off people’s game (which totally worked, by the way) and hearing him go: “Oh bruh, I know who this is. It’s Maya, who else says ‘y’all’ so much?”
From that moment, I came to the most striking realization of my career: I can pretend to be ANYONE in Clarion. And since Maya was already such a popular target, I ran with it, leading me to here, the farthest writer away from her (sorry, queen…).
One thing I truly will take to heart from this experience is the beauty in being an observer. There is such a liveliness in everyone’s day-to-day conversations that I never truly acknowledged until I had to just sit back and listen to feedback on Klarissa. From giggles to criticism, not being the center of a conversation didn’t leave me feeling lonely or left out, it left me feeling excited.
From being excited to hear guessing games about who I was, specifically what I did or didn’t do right in my responses, to just shared glances between friends when I made a reference to something I hoped they would understand. It allowed me to enter a world I’d never thought I’d be accepted into.
Being Klarissa was so much more than just a simple deadline I needed to reach, as it became a huge part of who I am. Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to go on a rant, but this is MY Klarissa reveal and I’M going to do it my way. In sum, I allowed myself to become submerged in silence and take in the excitement around me without feeling as though I needed to contribute.
So, to whoever may be Klarissa next, I hope you have as much fun being her as I did and don’t forget to write in the same style as a classmate to jumble everyone’s minds.
Hope y’all enjoyed the reveal! Klarissa out <3.
