Chubby Girl

Preface

She's only ten, but sometimes it feels like the world has already made up its mind about her.

For as long as she can remember, she's been the "chubby girl." The one who never quite fits in at school, who always has the toughest time climbing onto the monkey bars or running laps in gym class. It's like every teasing laugh, every sidelong glance, has been aimed right at her, even if she wishes it didn't matter so much.

But she's got a few things that the world doesn't get to touch. Like afternoons fishing with her dad, the hum of old country songs crackling over the truck's radio. Or the feel of the dusty dirt road under her sneakers as she sprints beside her neighbor, laughing and pretending they're the Power Rangers, with no one around to judge. Her backyard opens into a wide-open cow pasture, where she can shoot BB guns or belt out her favorite songs to the cows, who only look at her with the same gentle gaze, chewing grass, listening. She loves them for that.

The truth is, she's caught in that messy middle where she's both big-hearted and bruised, dreaming of belonging in a world that seems to want her to change. Some days are harder than others, weighed down by the stinging words of classmates, the tight smiles of family members who think they know what's best. But she's learning—slowly, stubbornly—that there are small victories to be found. Like the kindness of a friend who doesn't care what she looks like, or the warmth of her dad's encouragement when he pulls her along in the old boat and tells her she's his girl.

This is her story—the real and the raw, the funny and the sad. It's about finding pieces of herself in the unlikeliest places, about what it means to be a ten-year-old girl who just wants to be seen as more than the sum of her struggles. It's messy, but maybe, just maybe, she'll figure out that the world's opinions aren't everything. And maybe someday, she'll even start believing it herself.