There's a common saying: You should never judge a book by its cover. Despite how many people say it and how often you're taught it when you're growing up, it's not common that it's actually taken into consideration. The things you hear about someone and the way they look don't always tell you who someone truly is, and they surely don't show you what that person is going through.
"Her? Nah, she's a whore, don't go for that." Chatter was heard from the boys behind Bailey as she tried to get her biology work done.
She dealt with this every day. Gage and Sam were constantly talking about girls as if they had nothing better to do, and it was never positive. It was constant slut shaming, body shaming, and any unnecessary assumption a man can make about a girl. Bailey thought it was disgusting.
She uncomfortably shifted in her chair and adjusted her long, pastel pink hair as her stomach churned. She tried to focus, but the boys continued showing each other images of girls on their Snapchat that they were "interested" in. The objectification of every girl was getting sickening and she couldn't take it anymore.
She quickly turned around, "Can you guys please shut up? You're being gross and I'm trying to do my work." She snapped at the boys. They looked at her for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Us? Gross?" Gage questions, "You probably know male anatomy more than anything on that paper you're trying to do." Him and Sam couldn't control their laugher as Bailey turned back around and stared at her paper. She suddenly lost every urge to try to understand amino acids and stood up, grabbing her bag and storming out the door.
She locked herself in a bathroom stall and felt tears build up in her eyes. She hated boys more than anything. She looks forward to coming to school because she sees it as a break from her home life, but she's met with slut shaming instead, and no one even knows the real story. No one knows anything about her despite how many people know her name and the rumors they've heard. It's exhausting.
Bailey decided to call it quits for the day. For weeks it has happened every day. A boy, sometimes even a girl, says something about her without knowing who she is. She gave up and walked out of the school.
Being only 16, she had nowhere to go but home. Her parents were working so she knew she'd be okay if she walked in. It was a short walk, and in only a few minutes she was approaching her doorstep, unlocking the door. She didn't bother looking around at the cluttered living room that was made a mess by her mother, she just quickly made her way up to her room.
She fell back onto her bed and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and attempting to stay calm. She then felt a buzz in the pocket of her jeans. Worried it was her parents, she slowly took it out of her pocket but was relieved to see that it was her friend, Cedar. Bailey quickly answered the call.
"Hey, what's up?" Bailey spoke into the phone, putting it on speaker and laying it beside her.
"You walked out of school, I was worried about you." Cedar sounded relieved to hear how calm Bailey was. "What happened?"
"Gage and Sam again." She sighed. "I'm so tired of people assuming things about me."
There was a few seconds of silence over the phone before Cedar answered, "Yeah they don't have to be mean about it. There's nothing wrong with having sex."
Bailey's eyebrows furrowed and she felt a pang in her heart, "W-what do you mean? I haven't done anything like that, Cedar."
"You haven't?" Cedar questioned, seeming surprised, "I thought you fucked, like, your whole Algebra class in your freshman year."
Baileys jaw went agape and the pain in her heart strengthened, "What the fuck are you talking about, that's not true-," She was holding back tears. She had only gotten close to Cedar in the past month, she had no idea they thought of her like that.
