"Good morning, beautiful." My best friend, Chresanto, leans over and kisses my forehead. He always calls me beautiful, everyone else calls me ugly.
"Morning." I smile brightly as he begins driving.
Once we make it to school, he walks me to class. "Meet me on the roof for lunch?" He asks.
"Okay." I nod. He pulls me into a tight hug and kisses my forehead again.
"Love you, beautiful." He smiles. "Have a good day."
"Love you too. Have a nice day, bro."
I walk into class and take my seat at the back, ignoring everyone. I can't wait for lunch.
---
As I go down the hall, I hear Chresanto speaking. "You have nothing to worry about."
"What about your best friend?" A girl asks.
"Who? Tay?" He asks.
"Yeah." The girl answers.
"I'm not interested in her, she isn't my type." Ouch. I kind of have a crush on him. "Besides, I'm pretty sure she isn't into any male." That hurt even worse.
I grew up with just my dad in my life. No one taught me how to do make up or hair, or to wear dresses. My dad is protective, he dressed me in jeans and t-shirts. We went fishing, hiking, bowling and hooping. We didn't shop and get our nails done. We had burping contests at the dinner table. We ate pizza and burgers, not a small salad for dinner.
"I think she's into you." The girl can see me now, but Chresanto can't. He was facing her, with his back towards me.
"So? That doesn't mean I'm feeling her. I like girls like you, confident. She's too shy." Ow.
"Might wanna tell her that. She looks pretty hurt." The girl smirks.
"What?" Chresanto turns around. I feel the warm tears running down my face, so I understand why his face softens. "Tay-"
"You don't need to explain yourself to me." I shake my head. My best friend since the age of four just said these hurtful things about me, to a girl who makes fun of me everyday. "Have a nice life."
I run out of there so fast, I just leave everything I dropped, including my sketch book. It has pictures of him, so I don't want it anymore anyway.
---
"Daddy!" I yell, running into the house.
"Whoa, what are you doi-" He cuts himself off when he gets out of the kitchen and sees my face. "What happened, sweetheart?" He pulls me into a hug.
"I don't want to be here anymore. I want to move." I cry.
"Talk to me, Tay. What happened?" He sits down on the couch, getting me to sit beside him.
"He's just like the rest of them. He doesn't care about me." I cry harder.
"Tay." He pulls me into a hug. I've never cried like this. What people have said never mattered to me, until the person that mattered the most said them.
"It hurts." I admit through my sobs.
"What happened? What did he say?"
"Everything. Everything that everyone says. He said it." I sniff.
I end up crying myself to sleep on my dad's shoulder, and I guess my dad carries me upstairs because when I wake up the next morning, that's where I am. My room.
"Tay?" My dad knocks on the door.
"Yeah?" I ask quietly.
"You can stay home if you want." He tells me.
