Status: Currently Writing part Six of this Story, Editing to be followed after all writing is completed
Let Your Color's Burn
Part One
It was a daily struggle, just to get out of bed in the morning. She would roll over from her tear stained pillow and regret the yesterday before and the day that waited. She didn’t feel that different, she had two hands, feet, eyes, legs, arms, etc. Anatomically speaking, she was technically the same, it was the same speech she would recite as she pushed her glasses further up on her brow.
<i> “Just because they treat you differently doesn’t mean you are. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you ARE beautiful. </i> However, when her eyes met the image before her, they filled with unspent tears. She tried to see past the rolls of extra chub around her stomach, thighs, and arms; but the words he class mates had chanted at her since the second grade haunted her mind. <i> “Come on say it, think it, feel it, please. You are beautiful, you are beautiful, you are beautiful… </i> She tried to chant it as she pulled her shirt on, it was a cream that her mother said “accented her rosy cheeks and lovely blue eyes” though she didn’t think it looked very good.
It was her best friend’s birthday, a party was being held in honor of her sixteenth. A pool party. Chloe groaned at the thought of people seeing her in a bathing suit, let along seeing herself and feeling that way when they lowered their eyes instead of looking longingly. <i> I’ll just leave my suit, they can’t ask me to swim if I don’t have one. </i> The thought didn’t quell the feeling of hurt that was building in her heart and with it now heavy she began applying her make-up. She never wore much, seeing as other girls would ask her who she was trying to impress; though they said it like it was a waste of her time. Though she thought her eyes looked better with the grey she was now putting on and hoped that someone else would notice that they were nicely shaped and a gorgeous color besides her parents and herself.
She to a deep breath of air and tried on her first pair of heels, and smiled after a few shaky steps. <i> Well at least I can walk in them…</i> Her concern from early seemed silly now, after all it was nice to be able to have one thing up on the other teens who all primped for hours and wore spikes to school that a knight would have cringed at and used as a weapon instead of put them on their feet. With hope and high spirits she called “I’m leaving,” to her parents and was gone.
---
The party was crazy, her best friend had to have invited the whole school and she was the only one not in a bathing suit. <i> Great, just great, I try to fit in and then they change so I am still left out. Well, on the upside, they liked my shoes. </i> It was true, everyone there had been complimenting her all night on her shoes, though she still wanted someone to notice her eyes. Even a few guys had spoken to her, which was a rarity in itself, but she was still not satisfied.
“Chloe come in the water is amazing!” Her best friend had been bugging her all night to join her in the pool. As usual, she was surrounded by guys and when Chloe had mentioned that she had no suit her friend had shrugged and said, “then come in your bra and underwear. A lot of girls are doing that.” <i> I could never do that </i> Chloe thought as she remembered the way her bra and underwear pinched her body inwards creating extra rolls in her nowhere near smooth physique. So she sat, fighting back her tears, nodding thanks at the walker past who complimented her now seemingly unimportant shoes wishing she could be her best friend, or at least have more courage.
---
He walked up to her slowly and she thought he was going to walk right past, but instead he sat down next to her. With a smile he spoke to her, “Why aren’t you swimming?” She didn’t know what to say, so she just shrugged shyly and looked away from his brown eyes. He turned her face to look at him; she saw his shapely jaw, messed hair, and kind smile. He kissed her on the cheek, tore off his shirt with a wink and jumped in. <i> “Umm what just happened.” </i> It was like something out of a dream, a guy had noticed her. No, not noticed her, spoke to her. <i> Did he just kiss my cheek? </i> She couldn’t believe it but then when she looked at the cement below her own feet there was the water marks from where his splash had landed. Chloe looked from the ground to the pool and there he was smiling still, staring at her. Her cheeks burned with the blush that rose from her feet all the way to the top of her head. “Come in, the water is great,” he called.
---
She slowly took off her jacket, the fear of what she was doing knit into her stomach forming knot up knot and worry writ her brow. As she pulled her new shoes off, she thought about changing her mind, she thought about the teasing, and the cruelty. Then she raised her eyes and his were keeping her gaze steadily, so she tossed her shoes on her jacket. With each new article of clothing being tossed in the pile their now joined smile grew. Until she stood there at the edge of the pool and to her surprise, no one called her fat or commented about her thighs. No one paid any mind at all; so she jumped in towards that smile that laughed and spoke to her once she joined him in the water.
<i> “Just because they treat you differently doesn’t mean you are. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you ARE beautiful. </i> However, when her eyes met the image before her, they filled with unspent tears. She tried to see past the rolls of extra chub around her stomach, thighs, and arms; but the words he class mates had chanted at her since the second grade haunted her mind. <i> “Come on say it, think it, feel it, please. You are beautiful, you are beautiful, you are beautiful… </i> She tried to chant it as she pulled her shirt on, it was a cream that her mother said “accented her rosy cheeks and lovely blue eyes” though she didn’t think it looked very good.
It was her best friend’s birthday, a party was being held in honor of her sixteenth. A pool party. Chloe groaned at the thought of people seeing her in a bathing suit, let along seeing herself and feeling that way when they lowered their eyes instead of looking longingly. <i> I’ll just leave my suit, they can’t ask me to swim if I don’t have one. </i> The thought didn’t quell the feeling of hurt that was building in her heart and with it now heavy she began applying her make-up. She never wore much, seeing as other girls would ask her who she was trying to impress; though they said it like it was a waste of her time. Though she thought her eyes looked better with the grey she was now putting on and hoped that someone else would notice that they were nicely shaped and a gorgeous color besides her parents and herself.
She to a deep breath of air and tried on her first pair of heels, and smiled after a few shaky steps. <i> Well at least I can walk in them…</i> Her concern from early seemed silly now, after all it was nice to be able to have one thing up on the other teens who all primped for hours and wore spikes to school that a knight would have cringed at and used as a weapon instead of put them on their feet. With hope and high spirits she called “I’m leaving,” to her parents and was gone.
---
The party was crazy, her best friend had to have invited the whole school and she was the only one not in a bathing suit. <i> Great, just great, I try to fit in and then they change so I am still left out. Well, on the upside, they liked my shoes. </i> It was true, everyone there had been complimenting her all night on her shoes, though she still wanted someone to notice her eyes. Even a few guys had spoken to her, which was a rarity in itself, but she was still not satisfied.
“Chloe come in the water is amazing!” Her best friend had been bugging her all night to join her in the pool. As usual, she was surrounded by guys and when Chloe had mentioned that she had no suit her friend had shrugged and said, “then come in your bra and underwear. A lot of girls are doing that.” <i> I could never do that </i> Chloe thought as she remembered the way her bra and underwear pinched her body inwards creating extra rolls in her nowhere near smooth physique. So she sat, fighting back her tears, nodding thanks at the walker past who complimented her now seemingly unimportant shoes wishing she could be her best friend, or at least have more courage.
---
He walked up to her slowly and she thought he was going to walk right past, but instead he sat down next to her. With a smile he spoke to her, “Why aren’t you swimming?” She didn’t know what to say, so she just shrugged shyly and looked away from his brown eyes. He turned her face to look at him; she saw his shapely jaw, messed hair, and kind smile. He kissed her on the cheek, tore off his shirt with a wink and jumped in. <i> “Umm what just happened.” </i> It was like something out of a dream, a guy had noticed her. No, not noticed her, spoke to her. <i> Did he just kiss my cheek? </i> She couldn’t believe it but then when she looked at the cement below her own feet there was the water marks from where his splash had landed. Chloe looked from the ground to the pool and there he was smiling still, staring at her. Her cheeks burned with the blush that rose from her feet all the way to the top of her head. “Come in, the water is great,” he called.
---
She slowly took off her jacket, the fear of what she was doing knit into her stomach forming knot up knot and worry writ her brow. As she pulled her new shoes off, she thought about changing her mind, she thought about the teasing, and the cruelty. Then she raised her eyes and his were keeping her gaze steadily, so she tossed her shoes on her jacket. With each new article of clothing being tossed in the pile their now joined smile grew. Until she stood there at the edge of the pool and to her surprise, no one called her fat or commented about her thighs. No one paid any mind at all; so she jumped in towards that smile that laughed and spoke to her once she joined him in the water.
♠ ♠ ♠
This is part one of the Let Your Color’s Burn Series. Written to display the feelings of an over-weight young woman and the courage it takes to break out of that stereotype to show how beautiful you truly are. While this isn’t finished I am very happy with it and hope that you like it as well. I haven’t edited this particular part just yet so go easy on the critiques :).