𝐃𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐲 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚜 𝚂𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛

The thing about being a DUFF is, you don't always know you're one until someone points it out-like a big, awkward elephant in a room full of tiny, graceful gazelles. The acronym stands for "Designated Ugly Fat Friend," but if you've been crowned a DUFF, you probably already knew that.

And if you didn't... well, congrats-ignorance really is bliss.

Harper Grant didn't exactly volunteer for the title of DUFF, but then again, no one does. It's not like she woke up one day and thought, "Hey, I'd love to be the poster child for 'not pretty enough to date but funny enough to keep around.'"

But high school has a twisted way of assigning roles you never auditioned for. One minute, you're just Harper-quiet, a bit out of the school norm, minding your own business-and the next, you're 'Harper the Whale,' the girl people avoid like the flu because they're afraid your unpopularity is contagious.

For Harper, being the DUFF of Glendale High wasn't about being hideous or repelling people with bad hygiene. She had a cute face, thank you very much, and she could work a pair of jeans like nobody's business. No, her DUFF status was all about perception : Carly Chase's perception to be exact.

One snide comment from the queen bee, and suddenly, Harper's slightly curvy body and quiet demeanor were grounds for social exile. And because high school social rules are about as logical as trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded, no one wanted to risk befriending the 'whale.'

So, there Harper was : the designated outsider in a sea of perfectly coiffed and curated teens, doomed to be the unremarkable backdrop to everyone else's homecoming selfies. But if there's one thing no one warned her about being a DUFF, it's this : sometimes, being on the outside gives you the clearest view of what's really going on inside. And Harper? She was about to do a lot more than just watch.