Megan
What do people think when they see me? What do I think when I see myself?
These are the questions that cross my mind often. Normally, there's no common ground among myself and my tormentors, but we do agree on one thing--I'm a nobody. I'm just the fat, ugly outcast of MM High.
"Hey, Megan, guess what?" a perky voice exclaims.
Against my better judgment, I raise my chin. It's Tessa, my one and only friend, standing before my desk, a wide grin on her lovely face.
"What?" I ask, attempting a tone half as eager as Tessa's.
"Remember Jason? The guy you like?" Tessa asks excitedly as her brown eyes widen.
"Um, what about him?" I mumble, blushing at the thought of Jason. Maybe the news won't be so dreadful after all.
"Well, we're invited to his party!" she chirps, sitting on one edge of my desk.
"P-party?" I stammer, gulping hard. "B-but.. H-how is that e-even possible?" I stutter.
"Who cares?" Tessa beams at me. "Now you can go and confess your feelings to him!"
"Ah.. You do know that I have no chance with him, right? I mean, look at me," I say glumly, glancing down at my overweight body morosely.
"What do you mean?" Her brown eyes turn round with puzzlement.
"Are you really going to make me say it?" I ask, frowning.
Tessa rolls her eyes at me. "You're very pretty." I know she's just saying that to make me feel better. I know I'm anything but pretty.
"You don't have to lie, you know. I mean, I was voted 'Ugliest Girl In School,' remember?" I mutter, remembering that day in sadness.
"You mean those immature pricks who bully others to hide their insecurities? I doubt they know what cool actually is to make a credible judgment." Then, more softly: "Don't listen to them, Megan."
"Well," I reply. "They're right, and I don't want to go to that party," I say, returning to my novel written by Agatha Christie. Despite my love of pink and romantic comedies, I have an irrational love for murder mysteries.
Before I can turn to the appropriate page, Tess snatches the book from my hands and moves it out of my reach. "But you have to go!" she whines as I try and fail to grab the book. "I hardly doubt that reading would be anywhere near as fun as seeing Jason."
She has a point. "Fine," I concede. "But I'm only going because you insisted. Not because of Jason," I add, partially lying.
"Thank you! You won't regret it!" Tessa gushes, hugging me tightly.
I grumble, "I better not."
"You won't! I'll see you later after school!" she says enthusiastically while waving as she runs off.
Shaking my head, I wave back at Tessa, attempting to ignore how she looks compared to her thin, pretty friend's frame, but once again, I fail.
After collecting my things and shoving them into my pale pink backpack, I start walking towards the exit, but then I feel the world tilt when a foot blocks my path.
My glasses slip off the bridge of my nose as I fall. I scramble on the floor trying to find them, buy my hands are only grasping air.
All I can see are the blurred shapes of my classmates as the gather around me, pointing and laughing at me.
I continue to search for my glasses, trying not to cry. A familiar male voice drawls in a snide tone, "Do these belong to you?"
I look up, squinting, to see a guy holding up my glasses. But he's not just any guy. He's Reed King, the meathead who assumed he conquered my brother's territory. His surname, in one way, suits his obnoxious personality. He prides himself as royalty here at MM High School, though he undoubtedly lacks the heart and dignity of a proper leader.
