Alex
Alex woke up with a start, her body somehow lurching her into a sitting position before she was even aware of herself. She looked around her room, and the panic immediately set in. What time was it? Today was her first day of eighth grade, meaning that she needed to catch the bus that stopped outside her street at 7:45. Alex looked around the room, seeing the sun stream in through the cracks in her window, and immediately realized that she slept through her alarm.
“Shit!” Alex scrambled out of the bed, almost tripping over the bed sheets she trailed around her. She grabbed her phone, the bright 7:22 blinking back up at her.
Only twenty minutes to get dressed? Shit, shit shit, Alex thought. She immediately ran to the bathroom and went pee, getting more stressed by every second passing. As she hastily grabbed her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth, Alex stopped.
What was...that? Alex stared at the huge pimple smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Alex stopped brushing her teeth and just stared.
This was not the way eighth grade was supposed to start! Alex was supposed to be perfect: perfect personality, perfect clothes, but above all else: perfect face. Alex thought back to her night, did she skip her skin routine without realizing it? If people saw her like this, they would think she was a fraud, that she wasn’t actually pretty or cool, but just another middling student trudging through the halls of Summerview Middle School.
Alex got a hold her bearings. Everything would be okay, right? All she needed to do was put on her makeup, and no one would notice. She glanced back down at her phone, seeing that she only had 15 minutes left before she absolutely had to leave the house. God, why didn’t her mom wake her up? This was all her fault.
Alex opened up her makeup draw and went to work. Green concealer to combat the red of the pimple, concealer over that, liquid foundation, another set of concealer, powder, and a swipe of mascara would have to do today. Alex paused to look at the highlight and contour kit her mom just bought her, and all the eye shadow she bought at Target when she went with her mom. But then her music stopped, letting her know that another 5 minutes have passed, and she wasn’t even dressed!
Alex scrambled to her room - lavenders and millennial pinks covering the room, searching for her back to school outfit. Why did her mom remind her to set out her clothes beforehand, like she always did last year? Didn’t she realize how important today was?
Alex threw on the first brand name Aeropostale shirt she found, along with Nike shorts and tennis shoes. If she didn’t wear the brands, she was nothing. Her phone chimed - only five more minutes before she had to leave.
She speed walked into the living room, not wanting her mom to see how stressed she was. Her mom always talked about how life was so hectic, why tell her mom about her crappy morning? Soon enough she’d be at school with all of her friends, telling the story of how she shot out of bed and managed to get ready in 20 minutes and still look this cute. Alex saw her backpack sitting on one of the living room chairs, already packed. She glanced at her mom, whose headphones were in and already at work on her laptop, and thought, Maybe she’s not all that bad. But god forbid if she said that in front of her friends, she didn’t want to seem like a loser.
Alex hefted the backpack on, already heavier than last year, just from the empty binders and notebooks. She spied the breakfast she assumed her mom made - scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter and bananas, but instead went for the Belvita in the cupboard. The last thing she wanted was to be bloated when she arrived at school.
Alex’s last alarm went off, telling her she needed to go. Like, RIGHT NOW.
“Bye Mom! Love you!”
Alex shot out of the house before her mom could even reply, running to the bus stop and making it just as the bright yellow vehicle came up the street.
As Alex rode the bus, she tried not to look at the windows right next her. She could see a bit of her reflection, and realized that her makeup job was mediocre, at best. The pimple was still peeking through, and she forgot to put concealer on her under eye circles, making her look tired and unenthused.
Alex started getting panicky. What if her friends noticed right away and laughed at her? Maybe some of her kinda close friends would, like Alicia and Penny. But surely not Maddie, right? Her and Maddie have been best friends since sixth grade, and nothing was going to change that. But then Alex remembered all the snide remarks they both made at the expense of Alicia and Penny behind their backs, and thought again. What if the other girls were doing that to her?
The bus lurched to a stop at the middle school. Time to face the chorus. As the other kids got off the bus - she sat in the back, naturally - she opened up the front facing camera, needing to see what she was getting herself into.
Alex cringed as she stared at her reflection. The undereye circles were already bad, but that pimple that sprouted out of nowhere last night? It was obvious it was there. Sure, it wasn’t red anymore, but it was like she had a freaking volcano on her forehead. Alex started panicking again, but then thought of that show on Netflix, Fake it till You Make it. She never started the series, even though it was on her que, but decided now was as good a time as any to take the title to heart.
Alex jumped off the last schoolbus step and onto the concrete sidewalk, a huge smile on her face. If she acted like nothing was wrong, neither would her friends.
But that wasn’t the case at all.
Maddie, Alicia, and Penny were all waiting by their usual table right outside the main doors to the school. Their parents always dropped them off in the mornings, allowing the girls to get one of the most coveted morning spots on campus to hang out before the first bell rung. The girls’ eyes followed Alex as she approached the table.
None of them greeted her. Alicia and Penny just stared while Maddie hissed out, “What are you wearing?”
It was then that Alex’s remembered that they had all agreed to wear Hollister that first day, not Aeropostale. But really, was it that big of a deal? Both were popular brands at the school, and who could blame her given her morning?
“Well, I um..kinda woke up really late and just threw on the clothes and left. I’m sorry.” Alex mumbled, holding eye contact with Maddie for a brief moment before looking at the other girls, wishing one of them would speak up.
“And what is that?” Maddie pointed directly at Alex’s pimple.
“It’s a pimple? Aren’t they the worst right? I guess I’m going to get some better makeup after school tomorrow!” Alex tried to brush off her appearance and joke about the pimple, but the girls just simply stared at her.
Slowly, Maddie told Alex, “We don’t have room at this table.”
Alex looked pointedly at the vacant seat, the one closest to Maddie that was reserved for her.
“What about my normal seat though? I mean, aren’t I sitting with all of you like normal?”
Alicia and Penny had the audacity to look uncomfortable and not meet Alex’s eyes, but Maddie was headstrong in her denial.
“Actually, no. I was saving this seat for someone else. See you around.” Alex was decidedly dismissed.
Alex took a step back, shocked at what was happening. Just over a shirt and a pimple? Or was it that Alica, Penny and Maddie had stopped liking her this summer when Alex went to visit her cousins in south Carolina up until last week and didn’t see them that much? Maybe they really had been talking behind her back.
Alex looked at the girls faces. Alicia and Penny refused to look up from their phones, and Maddie glanced at her again and waved bye. Alex got the hint, she didn’t need to be humiliated in front of everyone. She walked away, trying to give off the confident and peppy vibe she had just yesterday when she thought of how wonderful eighth grade would go.
Alex walked into the Summerview Middle and instead found her new locker.
What had just happened? Maddie was just mad about something else right? Everything would be back to normal by the end of the week.
Alex convinced herself this was a case of a bad mood, and began to decorate her locker. She set up her magnets, her stickers, her name tag. Alex looked down at the locker mirror her packed in her book bag. She picked it up to put in the inside of her locker, but then saw a glimpse of her face again and put it back inside the bag. She didn’t want to be reminded of her flaws every time she opened the door and saw her reflection.
Bethany
Bethany woke up to the smell of eggs and sausage, and her stomach immediately grumbled. She had tried to eat a smaller dinner yesterday of just a plain garden salad, but now she was ravenous. She stretched and slid out of bed, heeding the call of the food. She didn’t bother to look at the mirror before going to the kitchen, it was just her and her dad anyways.
Bethany entered the kitchen, immediately seeing her dad.
“Hey Dad, watcha making?” Bethany asked, as if she didn’t smell the breakfast from across the house.
“Good morning Beth! Eggs and sausage for your first day of eighth grade buttercup! Eat up!” Her dad responded, always jovial.
Bethany looked at the clock, reading 6:58 am. She served up a heaping plate of eggs and a couple sausage links. She was assigned the late lunch period, meaning she wasn’t going to be eating until 1:30 later that day, so she figured she could get away with a bigger meal.
As Bethany began to dig in, savoring the fattiness of the yolk, Bethany’s dad said,
“Sure you want to eat all that sweetie?”
Maybe it was well intentioned, but Bethany immediately stopped chewing. She glanced down at her full plate, and then back up at her father.
“Yeah, Dad, I’m sure. Geez.” Bethany replied defensively, not wanting her dad to see how upset she was getting. “Plus, I’m not eating until 1:30 today,” she added, justifying her eating.
“Okay, honey. Just making sure!”
Bethany finished her next bite and then said, “I’m gonna get dressed real quick so I don’t need to rush to get ready.” She left the kitchen before she could hear a response, wanting more than anything to be alone.
As she went back upstairs to her room, Bethany tried not to look at the mirrors mounted on the walls, knowing that she wouldn’t like what she would see. After she made it to the safety of her room, she closed the door and stared at her reflection on the full-length body mirror hanging on the back of door. She started at her stomach, the most hated part of her body, and then continued pinching along her body: her thighs, her arms, even her fingers. Bethany found flaws in all of them. Too pudgy, as she grabbed her stomach, looked at her body from the profile. Next she grabbed onto her thighs, remembering hearing kids in the hall call another girl thunder thighs, a girl skinnier than her. She thought her arms were flabby, her fingers too short and stubby. Everything was wrong.
She looked next at her clothes, the ones she specifically picked out for the first day of classes. She would have loved to wear one of the popular brand names, but none of the stores - Aeropostale, Hollister, Abercrombie, PacSun - carried her size. Sometimes they had XL shirts, but they always strained against her developing chest, warping the lettering and the pattern. Instead, Bethany had settled on third-quarter sleeve dress. The sleeves would hide her arms, and the dress hung off her chest, masquerading her stomach. It was a little long on her, but she thought it was perfect - no one could make fun of her thighs if no one saw them.
Bethany finished getting ready, and headed back into the kitchen. She looked down at her plate, and put it back up on the counter. She figured she didn’t need to eat anymore; her dad was right, she shouldn’t be eating that much.
She glanced at the clock: 7:30, fifteen minutes before the first bell rung. Bethany went out to the garage, finding her dad in his “man cave,” sitting on his couch there and reading magazines about - gag - golf. Her and her dad had a set schedule, one they stuck to all last year. Leave at 7:33, in perfect time for Bethany to get to school right as the first bell rung, letting everyone know there was five minutes before first period started.
“Alrighty Dad, let’s get going!”
Her dad glanced up, surprised to see her all ready and empty handed.
“Didn’t you want to finish your breakfast?” He asked, eyes looking into hers, as if tyring to figure something out.
“Nope! I’m full.” And while that might have been the case, it sure wouldn’t be in two hours, let alone seven.
Her dad kept looking at her, but finally gave in, saying, “Okay, honey. Whatever you say.” He grabbed his keys from his shelf covered in tools and miscellaneous car parts. They headed to his truck. As Bethany got in, she couldn’t help but pull down the passenger mirror. One last check to see if no one could see her body.
Taysha
Taysha was up and going at 6 am. Just because school was starting didn’t mean she couldn’t fit in her daily jog with her parents around the neighborhood before she had to get ready for school. As she jogged with her parents, she felt strong. Over the summer, her and her parents started jogging together. Her mom proposed the idea after realizing that the family were like ships passing in the night - not talking to each other, just sitting silently at the dinner table. Not only did all this jogging foster a relationship with her parents - they actually had inside jokes! Like about about that frazzled dog walker they saw just a week or so ago having a freak out in the middle of the street after 4 of her dogs got tangled around each other. - but she felt strong.
Taysha felt her muscles powering her legs to keep moving and keeping stride with her parents, even though they were much taller than her. Her arms pumped as did her heart, keeping her going. As her and her parents rounded the corner up to their house, she felt accomplished. And she still had a full day to get through! She tripped a little on the sidewalk, and her dad said, “Hey now, don’t get tangled up like Lauren did with all those dogs,” and she had to laugh, even at one of her dad’s lame jokes.
“Ha ha dad, very funny.” she responded, rolling her eyes playfully.
“Was that some...attitude?” Her mom commented, with a big smile on her face. “Now come on Taysha, like I told you, “add a hand on your hip next time!”
They all entered the house, a picturesque family. Taysha headed to her shower, planning to take a quick one before she threw on some clothes for school and caught the bus.
After her shower (and a great singing session to some good ol’ TLC - like her momma told her, she don’t want no scrubs), Taysha threw on a pair of athletic shorts that still met the school’s dress code - 7 inch inseam, really? - and a t-shirt from the last day of school earlier in the year that read, “Summerview Middle” with a bright, beaming sun on the center of the back. She glanced at her fitbit, and saw she had 10 minutes to spare before the bus came to her stop. She packed her bag, said goodbye to her parents, and calmly walked to her bus stop, reveling in the sunrise.
When she got on the bus, she sat dead center. She definitely wasn’t one of those cool kids who complained about their parents and made dirty jokes, but she didn’t want to put a target on her back and sit in the front either like a suckup. As the bus got more packed as she got closer to school and more people were being picked up, Taysha heard snickering a couple seats behind her. She tried to sneakily glance back, wanting to know who was sitting behind her and what they were laughing at. As she tried to inconsipusly turn her head, she caught pieces of their conversation,
“...string bean!” and “She looks like a boy!”
Taysha snapped her head forward. Were they talking about her? She tried to act like she couldn’t hear them, but instead focused intently on their conversation, trying to piece it all in her head.
“I mean, how can she fit into that shirt from last year? Did you see Layla when she stepped on the bus? With that rack there’s no way she could fit in her shirt from last year. But Taysha? Damn. She still looks 10!”
Taysha stiffened in her seat. She looked at Layla, who was sitting right next to her, trying to make eye contact, figuring she’d be embarrassed just like Taysha was. Instead, Layla, makeup perfectly done, looked directly at Taysha, giving her a head to toe lookover. Layla smirked and said, “They’re right. You do look like a string bean!” and then began laughing.
Taysha chuckled along, trying to seem unbothered. But she quickly squeezed further into the corner of the seat, staring through the window until the bus opened its doors in front of Summerview Middle. Right once Layla got out of the seat, Taysha booked it to the bathroom.
Were they right? She stared at her reflection above the dingy bathroom sink. Her eyes narrowed, looking at her slips hips and nonexistent breasts. She thought of her mom, beautiful in her curves, and Layla and her developing body. Was there something wrong with her? Instead of focusing on her body's strength, Taysha began looking for all the flaws she never noticed before.
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