The Truth About Prom Queens and Other Fancy Things.

“Look how cute I look Emmy!” Esther stood in a tank top that had pink and white strips going down her stomach.

Her faded blue skinny jeans matched nicely. Her snow white flat just made her look complete.

I rested my aching head on my knees and wrapped arms around myself. I knew that Esther was using school shopping as yet another excuse to show off everything she has. She and I both knew I was nothing compared to her.

“Uh…Hello?” She waved her pink fingernails in front of my face. “How do I look?”

“Do you really need to hear what I think?” I hadn’t spoken in weeks. My own voice felt weird, alien like even. “No matter what I say you’ll ignore it anyways,” I sighed loudly.

A preppy whine left her lips. She arched forward into an ape like pose. Her perfect eyebrows drew together into a fat ugly line.

“Why do you have to be so depressing all the time?”

The dark dressing room seemed more like an interrogation room now. The sole light in the small dressing slot swung back and forth. I watched Esther’s shadow grow and shrink away.

“Hmm…let’s see-“ I lifted my head and put my pointer finger to my lip to imitate a thinking person. “-You stole my boyfriend and my reputation. You single handedly ruined my life the night of Prom. You’ve had sex with Blake in my bed once or twice already. But, you know what Es?”

She dropped to her knees so she was shorter than me. She attempted to look innocent. “What’s that Em?”

“I was his first.”

Her face went blank. A gaping hole formed in her mouth. The room became awkwardly silent. This was her thinking face. A pretty girl like Esther took forever to think of a decent comeback.

“So?” Her voice began to break.

For the first time in months something happened in the pit of my sadness. A small smile came across my face. A tiny spark of victory erupted in my stomach. I felt normal for a second before it all came crashing down again.

“When he asked me out he said he liked me more. He went out with you to get with me ya know? And about me doing shit in your bed… I was doing you a favor. You don’t deserve someone as perfect as Blake. He told me how much he always hated you. He only went out with you so he could be Prom King and so everyone would like him. He used you Emma!” She was breathing heavily as she said three sentences at a time without a single breath of air. Her voice had slowly risen as well.

With every word she said, I felt an invisible force squeeze my heart tighter and tighter. I felt as if someone was choking me. Air would not enter of leave my lungs. The world froze for a slow second and my entire life shattered. Prom night was nothing compared to right now.

Never had I thought for a second that something like this would happen in the second dressing room in American Eagle. I didn’t know what to say.

So, I said something that sounded so childish. “What happened to the Friend Code?”

“The what?” She had stood and was fixing her blonde hair. She didn’t even bother to look at me.

“The Friend Code. Ya know?”

“No, I don’t know,” She took out an eye pencil and went to work on her eyelids.

“If I date someone you don’t ever date that person…ever!” My throat had begun to hurt. It felt as if someone opened my mouth and had forced me to swallow a bucket full of razor blades.

“I don’t get it still-“ She pulled out the eye shadow now, a nice brush full of white and pink glitter fragments. “-If I like someone I should be able to date them.”

“You said you hated Blake the first time you saw him,” I crossed my stiff arms across my chest.

“That was before he asked me out. Before he got cute.”

Before I could say another word she had dressed back into her Pink clothes and had slammed the dressing room door shut. The movements made the fragile walls shake. I jumped and I cried.

I couldn’t win this fight against my own sister. I never could…

---

My alarm nosily woke me up five in the morning. Today was the day I’d see everyone again.

I rubbed the eye crust away slowly and didn’t even bother to get a shower. I just brushed my teeth and made sure to keep my eyes away from the mirror. I didn’t want to see the fat cow look back at me.

I hadn’t looked in the mirror since Prom night. I could look like a car wreck victim and I didn’t care.

I carefully put the toothbrush back and turned around and went back into my room. My room was plain. White walls, no pictures, no posters no nothing. My comforter was white too. It looked like a prisoners room. There was nothing personal about this room.

My wardrobe for the day was depressing, just like my mood. A black, long sleeved sweater with black skinny jeans, along with black high tops. I let my hair drop over my face. I didn’t want anyone to see me.

I didn’t bother with makeup. No one would see my eyes. I sat on my bed and went back to sleep. I’d do anything to get out of going to that hell hole.