She was born with horns.
Little ones, but noticable. Not covered in skin or anything, just pure bone that curled slightly above her tiny head.
The nurses screamed. The doctors stared. People said that she was a child of Satan, but her parents refused to believe that. So they just wrapped her head up in blankets and reassured her that everything would be okay.
When her parents told her to wear hats or hoods in public, she never questioned it. She didn't know she was the only one with horns.
But on her first day of public school, she realized that she was.
And on the second day, she lost her hat.
Kids would stare at her. The teachers seated her in the back of the room and ignored her. They feared her. She came to be nicknamed "Monster Girl" or "Horn Girl" and she accepted it as much as it broke her heart. She never fussed when she sat alone at lunch, she never cried when she was pushed in the hallways, she never fought back when she was being bullied. She just dealt with it.
Her parents bought her a new hat. She wore it, but it didn't change things. People talked about her, made up stories about how she got her horns-"Her parents are Satanists! She's possessed by an evil entity!"
They even warned the new kids about the horn girl. She was safe from no one.
But then, one day, she realized something. Across the room. A boy was staring at her. He grinned.
He had fangs.
She stared back at him. They stared at each other the entire period. Then he walked up to her, said hello. She didn't say anything, just kept staring.
He walked her to class, talking about this and that, as if they were both totally normal people. But she knew they weren't. She could feel the eyes staring at them as they walked down the halls. When she asked him if he noticed them too, he just shrugged. She was shocked.
When he asked her what her name was, she replied, "Horn Girl." He shook his head. "Well, then, I'm Fang Boy."
She watched him walk away.
At lunch, she sat down in her usual spot, in the table in the corner of the lunchroom. She stared at the lunch line, searching for him. Of course, she knew, there was probably no way he would sit with her. But it didn't stop her from hoping.
She just didn't know that it would actually happen.
Sure enough, down he sat, right across from her. It felt like the entire cafeteria was staring at them again. But he just laughed and joked, and after a while, she began laughing along as well.
After the last class, as she was walking to her locker, the usual jerks were ganged up around it, blocking it. She sighed and tried to get to her locker anyway, but they wouldn't let her. They tugged at her horns and made bull noises, laughing. But suddenly they stopped laughing.
There he was, right behind her. He was scowling, his fangs showing. The jerks let her go and backed off. She thanked him. His scowl turned back into a grin. shrugged.
They'd missed the bus.
He offered to walk her home. She accepted it with a smile. She pulled her hood over her head so that she wouldn't scare the town, but he pulled it right back down. "Why'd you do that?" she asked. He shook his head. "Don't hide."
So she didn't.
When she got home, her parents were beside themselves with happiness that their daughter finally found a friend. They invited him to stay for dinner. He agreed.
She observed him as he talked and joked with her parents. She noticed how lively his voice always seemed to be. How he made no effort to hide his fangs. Heck, he seemed proud of them.
After the dinner, he had to go home. They stood on her porch, and she thanked him again.
"For what?" he asked.
"For talking to me," she said.
He kissed her on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, Horn Girl," he joked.
She laughed. "See you tomorrow, Fang Boy."
