Light in the Dark

Beautiful Monster

Emma was so excited to try on her new swimsuit! She watched as a couple of girls walked out of the changing rooms wearing cute little bikinis. They gave her judgemental looks, but she ignored it! She ran into the changing room, going so fast and bursting out of the room with excitement. 

"Lets see how it looks." thought Emma standing in front of the mirror. But all her confidence drained when she saw herself. She looked like an ugly weird monster. She felt a million pounds heavier. Even worse, she hadn't shaved her legs! She stomped towards the showers.

When Emma saw her reflection in the water of the shower, she felt like a big ugly fat, hairy elephant. A tear ran down her face, but she ignored it. Feeling self-conscious, more and more tears spilling down her cheeks. She wiped them away, and walked towards the pool area.

The pool was crowded! Even though no one was in the pool, around it was so packed! "Well good." thought Emma. "Maybe no one will see my freakish ugly body in this crowd." She walked towards the middle of the crowd thinking quickly. "If I stand near the locker rooms, someone will probably see me. If I stand near the edge of the pool, someone might accidentally push me in, and I will be even more visible." thought Emma. She couldn't wait until practice was over.

She tried to sit down, but that made people stare at her. She stood up, and more people were staring. She even heard one girl say, "Hi guys, welcome back to my YouTube channel, and would you look at this ugly monster." and pointed the camera at her. Looking left right, trying to crouch down, not let anyone see her ugly body. She tried to grab someone's towel and cover her, but that caused even more yelling and staring. So much. Staring. The YouTube girl started talking again, "OMG, she even tried to steal someone's towel.." Emma plugged her ears, not wanting to hear anything. She would do anything to become invisible right now.

Then someone came out of the locker rooms. Not the coach. A girl. She hadn't shaved her legs.

Everyone stared at her. Silence. No one said a word. Then it broke out. People were screaming all sorts of words at her, calling her names. But it was almost as if her confidence was so strong, they didn't affect her at all. She flashed a bright smile, showed the peace sign, and jumped into the water. 

Then there was silence yet again. I sat on the floor, in shock. Then, slowly I stood up, pushed on my goggles, and divided into the water. I wasn't an ugly monster. No. I was a beautiful one. A... beautiful monster!