Heart of Glass (A Pierce the Veil Fanfiction)

XV

Belle's POV

Who would've guessed that after some weeks, things carried on for the better? I've really noticed a coming together of everyone as friends. Sure, there were the rough spots between people like Valerie and Vic or Monica and Anne, but not everything could be perfect. I've really come to like these people and although everyone generally assumes I'm some outgoing and amazing person, I'm really really shy. My appearance may give off 'va va voom' but I'm really more like 'uhhh, please don't approach me.' Everyone was so cool and I felt happy that I finally found a place to belong. I've never really had that.

~*~*~

It was my first year of high school and I was estatic. I was ready to get away from boring old Montana where there was nothing to do and no one to hang out with. San Diego was hopefully going to be a breath of fresh air for me. Annabelle Smith was finally going come out her shell.

Needless to say, I just wanted to be accepted. Montana was a desolate place and it was too cold for comfort. With the snow and cold, I was always inside. My pale skin was a little too pale and my round face held grey eyes that sat flat against it. The short brown haircut made everything worse and my braces gave me a light lisp. I never believed I was much, I was chubby and just a dork but I had parents that made it all better. This move to San Diego, might be the thing to change that.

So I went into school with high hopes and an open mind. One week in, no one liked me, but no one disliked me. I was more like a wall. I couldn't be a wallflower because that's how in the background I was. I sat behind the flowers.

I don't know what made Alex Prescott point out everything I already knew about myself, but she did. She taunted me with words like 'fat' and 'chubby cheeks.' The worst was 'fat cakes.' Then came Jennifer Lawson and they became best friends by teasing me. I was the scum that brought together the tag team that made everyone miserable. That year at Clairemont High was hell. But the mimicking, the teasing and the social destruction gave me the drive I needed.

The school year ended and then the summer came. I decided that I wanted to lose weight. I didn't want this giant ass or these little rolls in my sides. I wanted to be thin, so I ate right. More fruits and veggies and I even became a vegetarian. By the time the summer was over, I was smaller. I was proud of myself and all that I had achieved. The first day of school, it happened.

"Fat cakes! How was your summer?" Alex taunted me as Jennifer just slammed my shoulder into a locker. All I could do was cry at how I still wasn't good enough. I cried and ran into the bathroom. I locked the stall and fell to my knees in front of the toilet.

The year went on and with instant depression came an instant reactions. I was growing thinner and by the end of the year, I was small, but not small enough. Toilet bowl after toilet bowl, there were even bruises on my knees from falling on them repeatedly and my parents began to worry. They only wanted their baby girl to be okay.

The second summer came and I decided a complete transformation was in order. So the braces came off and I could talk right, with my cheeks being smaller and all. I grew out my brown hair and dyed it black. I spent most days in the sun and got a gorgeous tan that made me look healthier. But what else could I do?

Go get a piercing.

So my parents signed off to let me get a piercing and it sat right below my bottom lip, to the left. So was I beautiful? I was definitely not recognizable to the naked eye and that's all I needed.

I put one blonde streak in my hair the night before school and entered the building in fear. The terrible two looked at me and and gave me the eye, but never approached me. I let out a sigh of relief.