Odd Girl Meets Pretty Girl, Chapter One
Vanessa was very pretty, tall and slim, like a princess out of a fairytale. She was the most popular girl in school. She got straight A's, was president of all the major clubs, and all the boys chased her. Though it was odd, she never paid attention to them. I think it was because she was too good for them.
In class I couldn't stop staring at her. Well, more like I couldn't stop staring at the back of her head as I sat behind her. She had such lovely hair, it was like golden honey and fell behind her in lovely waves streaked with red and brown. I wanted to touch it, run my fingers through it and curl it, it looked so soft. Her fur was white like a pearl, and she always smelled of cherries and honey. I wished I could talk to her, but I was so afraid of her laughing at me. She was always surrounded by her friends. I pondered this while staring at my notebook where I'd drawn a heart with Vanessa's and my names in it. Then the bell rang and I gathered my books. It was time to head to gym class.
I hated gym. I was always behind, and I didn't look good in shorts. They'd ride up and it'd look like I was wearing some kind of strange thong. Today we were playing dodge ball, red vs. yellow. I was on the yellow team and Vanessa was on the red team. And to make things worse the air conditioning had broke and it felt like a hundred degrees inside. It wasn't a long game. I was the first one out. I took a ball to the gut. It just flew out of nowhere and knocked the wind out of me. I spent half of the game lying on the bench. Miss Benson our gym teacher approached me and asked me if I wanted to go to the nurse's office but I told her no. But then Janine, one of the popular girls, was hit in the face and had to be rushed to the nurse's office. Gym ended from there and we were sent to the showers and Miss Benson told us to go to the library.
I waited for all the other girls to finish before I took my shower. I didn't want any of them to see me, or my body. I was short and "chubby," I'd had issues with weight since I was a kid. My mother didn't help me by saying to me, "Should you be eating that?" whenever I put something in my mouth. They seemed to take forever, the girls, in the showers. I didn't think there'd be any hot water left. When they'd left I stripped and took my towel with me to the shower at the end of the hall. I hung up my towel outside and turned on the water, then let out a scream that could have woken the dead. I was right. There was no hot water. It was cold as ice and felt like needles showering down on me. I washed quickly but dried myself slowly, shivering. I pulled my hair back in a loose bun and pulled on my panties, but I had trouble closing my bra. Stupid back closure.
"Need some help?" a voice said.
I peeked over my shoulder. It was Vanessa. She was naked but for a pair of black boy shorts. Her wet hair cascading down her shoulders and over her breasts. Before I could respond she stepped over to me and fastened my bra behind me.
"There you go," she said, petting my back.
"Thanks," was all I managed to say.
Vanessa smiled and turned on her heel back behind the lockers. I dressed quickly, then grabbed my bag, locked my locker and hurried off towards the library.
I couldn't focus after my encounter with Vanessa in the girls' locker room. I think the other girls noticed it, but I think they thought I was distracted by a boy. I was so dazed I actually forgot to get off the bus and ended up downtown on Skid Row. I waited an hour before I was able to catch another bus. Luckily Mom didn't come home till 11 pm. I ordered a pizza and made myself a salad while I studied for next week's biology test.
School was a nightmare the next day. Lunch was awful. I saw the other girls laughing hysterically at Donna's, a slender fox, laptop. I pretended not to notice and focused at my sandwich, but then the girls called me over to them. They turned the laptop towards me. There was a video of me gobbling down sweets and getting fatter and fatter till I exploded into a thousand pieces. I was so upset I just rushed off to the bathroom. I locked myself in a stall and sat down to cry.
I heard footsteps and the door open, then there was giggling.
"Did you see her?" I heard Stacy, a skinny orange tabby, say.
"God yes, if I was that fat I'd kill myself!" Donna laughed.
"And what about her hair? Talk about a total frizz ball!" Shawna, a curvy cockerspaniel said.
"Did she even shower today? She smelled like a hobo," Stacy laughed.
Each word they spoke hit me like dodge ball after dodge ball to my gut. My cheeks burned, my eyes watered. I didn't want to cry because I worried about them hearing me and ganging up on me. When they left I breathed a sigh of relief. I waited before leaving the bathroom, even though I was late for Math.
I stopped to look at myself in the mirror. My reflection stared back at me. A hyena with sad brown eyes and a tear-stained face, with deep brown ringlets. I pushed my hair back and sighed. I didn't go to class. Instead I skipped and hid in the library. Course when I got home later Mom had a fit about me skipping class, but she didn't punish me. She just told me not to do it again.
The next day at school Donna, Stacy and Shawna approached me at my locker.
"Hey, I know we were kind of mean to you yesterday, but we didn't mean anything by it. We were just being stupid," Donna said.
"It was totally uncalled for, we're sorry," Stacy said.
"Yeah, we're sorry. Forgive us?" Shawna asked.
I bit my lip.
"I don't know, you were really awful yesterday," I said.
"Totally," Donna said.
Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a pink envelope.
"This is an invitation to a party I'm hosting at my house this Saturday. There will be music, food, drinks, games, dancing," Donna said.
She slipped the envelope into my bag.
"Think of it as a peace offering, an apology... We hope you can come," Donna said.
"Sure, I'll talk to my mom," I said.
"Great, the address is on the invite, see you," Donna said, and she and Stacy and Shawna disappeared into the crowd.