Don't Fall in Love with the Flirt

Chapter 4: Pretty / Ugly

Flashback: Jasmine's 7th Birthday

"You're super ugly!"

After hearing this from her closest friend, 7-year-old Jasmine grabbed a fistful of cake and smashed it at her tormentor, a 9-year-old Sebastian.

The icing hit Sebastian's shoulder and started dripping down his brand new shirt.

"Stop it, you ugly brat!" Sebastian yelled as he tried to wipe the cake off him.

"You meanie!" Jasmine stuck her tongue out at him. She turned away from Sebastian and went out of the house to sulk in the yard.

This was the worst day of her life. It was her birthday and instead of having fun, she ended up all alone.

Her parents had insisted on this party. She already told them that none of the girls at her school liked her. But they didn't listen. They said that she needed to make more friends.

It was not always like this. Jasmine used to have many friends since pre-school. She got invited to all the play dates, sleepovers, and birthday parties.

But last year, after she had won the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, everything changed. Instead of being popular and having more friends, it was the opposite.

The girls at her school started calling her names and excluding her. It was like they all decided that she was no longer cool. They ignored her and made fun of her.

At first, Jasmine didn't understand why. Jasmine tried to figure out what she did wrong but she couldn't think of anything. She was the same person as before.

Then one of the girls to whom she was closest to told her that she was a show-off for winning the pageant. They didn't like that she was in the local news and that she was getting all the attention.

Because of this, she only had the boys at school to talk to and play with, which angered the girls more. And of course, there's Sebastian.

Today, Sebastian was late coming to her birthday party. Before Sebastian came, Jasmine was on a high. She had honestly thought that nobody was going to come so she was happy to see her classmates attend (even the girls who used to ignore her).

Jasmine felt like everything was great again. She had her friends back! She was already saying goodbye to the last two girls, Mary Jo and Julie, when her happiness bubble burst.

Jasmine thanked them for coming to her birthday and asked if they wanted to come to her house the next day for a play date.

Mary Jo smirked. "We don't want to play with you, Jasmine."

Julie started giggling, which confused Jasmine more.

"But I thought we're friends now," Jasmine felt her eyes getting teary.

"We're not your friends," Julie said, shaking her head."We only came to your birthday because our parents made us."

"Just because the boys think you're the prettiest girl in school doesn't mean we'll like you too," Mary Jo added.

With that, the two girls left and Jasmine was alone again in the kitchen. Shocked at what she heard, she started muttering to herself. "They don't like me because I'm pretty," she cried. "I don't want to be pretty! I don't want to be pretty!"

That's how Sebastian found her. He came just in time to hear her say that she didn't want to be pretty. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"It's not funny!" Jasmine glared at him. "I don't want to be pretty!"

"Well, that's not hard." Sebastian took her chin as if he was examining her face. "You're not pretty anyway. You're super ugly!"

And that's when she smashed the cake at him and walked out to hide.

Jasmine was still having her own pity party in the garden when she heard someone calling her name. It was Sebastian. He was still wearing the cake-smeared shirt but it was cleaned up a bit.

Jasmine quickly wiped her tears but she was sure that her entire face was puffy and red.

"Hey," Sebastian came closer to her.

"What," Jasmine muttered. "Why are you still here?"

"I haven't given you your birthday present yet," Sebastian handed her a box, clumsily tied with white silk ribbons.

Jasmine was surprised. "You got me a present?" she asked as she took the box from him.

"Of course!" Sebastian rolled his eyes. "I won't forget your birthday."

Jasmine tried to resist her smile, acting like she was still angry. "But you called me ugly," she pouted.

"Well, I thought you said you don't want to be pretty," Sebastian said with a shrug. "So why are you upset now when I said you aren't?"

Jasmine bowed her head and kept quiet. She was not sure if she wanted Sebastian to know what the girls said about her.

"Anyway, open your present," Sebastian nudged her shoulder and pointed toward the box.

Jasmine did as she was told and opened the box. Inside was a necklace with a pendant that looked like a jasmine flower.

Jasmine delicately took it out of the packaging to take a closer look. "It's pretty."

"Prettier than you for sure," Sebastian joked. "Let me put it on you." He took the necklace from her and stood up. He brushed away Jasmine's hair to one side to put the necklace on her.

Jasmine then decided to tell her friend why she threw some cake at him.

"The girls said they only came to my party because their parents made them," she confessed, brand new tears threatening to fall. "And they said they would never be friends with me because I'm pretty."

"Forget those stupid girls," Sebastian sighed. "And don't worry, I'll still be your friend, you ugly brat."

"I know," Jasmine said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Sebastian put his arm around her shoulders and Jasmine inched closer to him. She felt safe and loved, and she didn't want to let go. At such a young age, she knew that Sebastian would always be her friend no matter what.

"Hey, Jasmine," Sebastian said after a few minutes of silence. "I lied, you know."

Jasmine looked at him, confused.

"You're not ugly," Sebastian whispered. "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen."

- -
I wanted to show the dynamics of Jasmine and Sebastian's friendship as kids in this flashback, to hopefully show that Sebastian's reappearance is a big deal in Jasmine's adult life.
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