Ugly is Beautiful By: Audrey B. Holley

Chapter 2

My mind is nearly drowning in its own thoughts when Gaven comes and plops before me. His tray is piled with each section of the food groups.

"You're not eating anything?" He asks me.

"Can't."

He tilts his head to one side. "Why not?"

"Just preparing for my after school beating."

"You walk home?" He asks.

I nod.

"Why do you let her spit on you as if you're the ground?" He questions me before diving into a faceful of his ketchup drenched cheeseburger.

"Because I am." I reply. He drops his red sandwich.

"Is that what you really think? Because it isn't true." He says through a mouthful of meat.

"How do you know? You don't even know me or anything about me."

He swallows, and then says, "Well, by the looks that people give you, I know that you don't have any friends, and lets face it. Everyone, especially individuals like you, needs at least one person or shoulder to cry on."

A feeling of anger boils the liquids inside of me to there burning temperatures, and begins to form into hatred words.

"Shut up." I finally mutter, unable to think of a better comeback.

"You can't deny it, you know I'm right."

"No, you're wrong." I say, grabbing an apple off of his tray, and clogging his mouth with it to block out his annoying deep voice. He takes a bite of it.

When silence has filled the space between us, he decides to speak again. "Ya know, you really should eat." He chews another large bite of his apple.

I glare at him and say, "Oh yeah, why's that?"

He gulps down his food and replies, "Because you're so skinny, wait, let me re-fraze that, you're too skinny."

"Whatever." I mumble, and rise to my feet. He stands as well. I walk away, and start heading to my locker.

I take my time by slogging sluggishly through the halls. Dread is inching its way into my system, but my cells are fighting it off and washing it away with fresh flowing blood. I don't want to be scared, I want to be audacious and fierce. I want to have super human strength and thump Mindy in the mouth and beat her jaw. But I can't, if I throw my hand into her face to give her a firm whack on the cheek, she'll just bite my fingers off.

I'm so tangled in the jumbled mess of my thoughts, that I barely hear the sound of footsteps gaining distance from behind me. A heavy arm full of muscle lays perfectly around my boney shoulders. A weird feeling is beginning to swirl deep within me. I can imagine the swirls forming into an outline of colorful wings that are fluttering and increasing in size. I can almost feel them slightly hitting the thin walls of my growling, hungry stomach. My eyes wonder to the face of this person. His skin looks so smooth, you'd think it was baby soft. He has a jaw so perfectly set, and lips that are finely curved and beautifully pink. His eyes have the colors that seem so inhuman like, the left is as bright yellow as the sun while the right remains the shade of indigo.

"WOW, relax. It's me," Gaven says, and that's when I notice my body stiffening at his touch. "Did you think I was Mindy?"

"No, I know where she is. She's waiting outside the school doors, readying herself to leave a dent in my face."

"Well, we'll just see about that." He mumbles. I stop myself from taking another step, and my body is shaking from the emotion of annoyance that has come over me. My eyes are now closed but I sense Gaven standing before me.