Fat Kat

Katerina Jacobs:

I hated going to school more than anybody would know. I hated the people, I hated the lessons, I hated the lunch times. I hated having no friends whatsoever- because being seen with me was a reputation killer.

I’d been labelled fat by one of the most popular kids in school- Alex Gaskarth. A fat loser with no friends. And my frizzy ginger hair probably didn’t help either. Once you were hated by Alex Gaskarth, there was no hope of survival in Dulaney High School. I honestly thought it would be better if I ran away or killed myself, because I couldn’t stand the taunts from my classmates.

Alex hung with his best friends Rian Dawson and Jack Barakat, and I heard they were in a band together with another band mate from Towson High School. Jack usually laughed alongside Alex at me, while Rian would usually try and shut them up; along with his girlfriend Kara. I found respect somewhere within me for Rian Dawson and Kara- but those two were the only people who had this respect. Everybody else hated me.

I didn’t understand how Alex had so much popularity when we were only in the beginning of sophomore year. We were only 15/16 for Christ’s sake! You’d expect senior’s to have more popularity, but no; Alex had scraped himself to the top. And it killed me inside- because the more popular he was, the more people hated me.

He made me hate myself. He was that powerful. The only people in this world that truly loved me were my parents. They loved me for who I was without a care in the world. I knew sometimes they wished that I was a bit skinnier, but they would never dream of pushing me into working out or cutting down my diet. If that was to happen it would be my own choice.

So getting me up in the morning was always a challenge. Looking at my grotesque self in the morning was horrendous. The journey to school killed me because I hated exercise, and school was just a nightmare. Welcome to my crap life- where nothing seemed to go my way.

“Fat Kat! Fat Kat! Fat Kat!” The lunch hall chanted and laughed as I got my food. I held my tears in, trying to look strong in front of my peers- but their hurtful taunts were getting to me, and my strong facade was falling at an increasing rate. Alex was pointing and laughing, and Jack laughed alongside him too.

It was even more humiliating because Jack had been my long-term crush. He noticed me for all the wrong reasons, and it killed me even more than he of all people was laughing and mocking me. As usual, Rian and Kara were shouting at Alex and Jack and telling them to shut up, but they took no notice and carried on making me the joke of the school.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore, and my tears fell down my chubby cheeks, and I tried walking faster out of the hall. I did, but my face grew red from lack of exercise, so the taunting only increased.

Once I was out of there, I left school; unable to take the bullying any longer. I went home and cried on my bed, wishing that it would get better. I pulled a chocolate bar from under my pillow and opened it, but just as I was about to take a bite, I looked at it. What the hell was I doing?

I threw it in the bin.

Once my parents got home, I told them that I wanted to go into private tuition. They agreed, and curiously asked why. I smiled at them.

“I’m going on a diet.”