The Quirky Tale of April Hale (Quirky Series #1)

2.21: The Hardest Hits Come Not From the Fist

A U D R A

Her mother named her Jessica, which was one of the most common names in the world. In high school, she shared a name with three other people in her homeroom class. Out of the population of 27.866 people in her small city, there had been over one hundred Jessicas.

She never wanted to be 'basic'. It was like being cursed. She wanted to be great. She wanted to be known as special. She believed she was special.

So when she came to the big city, she changed her name into Audra.

And she had done everything right. Just right. Too right, even.

She worked hard to get into a size 2, even though she had been obese in the majority of her childhood. To this day, she defended her childhood photos with the ferocity of a nursing predator. She colored her hair according to the trends, and she worked so so hard to produce the best videos to gain more followers.

Her whole family never believed that she would make it.

But she proved them wrong. That she did. She got that deal with Maybelline, and many companies had endorsed her or used her face to promote their products. She had been moderately successful by her family's standard, and she had produced more money in a year than her whole family's earning in their lifetime.

But still it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for her to be pretty or slim or photogenic. It wasn't enough that she didn't follow the usual human diet or if she researched furiously about her competitors so that she could think of a way to defeat them without looking mean. It definitely wasn't enough that she managed to date one of the upcoming stars Quarterback in the city's best football team.

She still had no friends. Her childhood friends still called her 'Fatty Jess' and the only reason people from her highschool contacted her is to be introduced by edgier, sexier people from the Youtube community.

Even though she had done everything right, it still wasn't enough.

And then there was her.

April Hale never did anything right, not by Audra's standard.

April Hale graduated from an artsy fartsy university cum laude, but never used the opportunity (or her recommendation letters) to get a job in a good company. April Hale was shit at social media. April Hale didn't take care of her body well, and often she ate too much or too little. She was skinny, yes, but she was flabby, and when she ran, Audra could see every inch of April's body jiggled in places where they shouldn't.

Her boyfriend Quentin said that April was dumped by her longtime boyfriend at university, and she had never been the same. Audra had thought that it was pathetic. For a girl to be so down because of a guy. It was saddening, and it was almost maddening. Especially because Audra could see that there were a lot of guys who bid their time for April to forget about 'That Guy' and give them a chance.

And one of the guys was one of the most eligible bachelor Audra had ever seen, Alex Malifeci.

Audra hated April, although she thought the word 'despised' would be more fitting. She despised how April was ridden with a mental condition that would automatically make people symphatize with her. She despised how April could break down when she didn't get the right food and people could still like her. April wasn't that smart and she wasn't that pretty and even though she was good at editing videos, she held no candles to Audra's ability to build and own a business.

And yet people loved April like she was such a treasure.

Audra had done everything right, and April had done everything wrong.