The Ugly Truth

That afternoon, still sort of checking my phone to see if Riley would answer, I decided to head over to my old high school. Sure, it might be a painful memory, but something pulled me to it.

The warm summer air gently tickled my arms as I walked beneath the row of oaks parallel to Lincoln Park High School. I remembered all the mornings and afternoons I would walk along the same pavement, full of worries and so tired of being in high school.

I walked until I was standing in front of the immense building. It wasn’t open, obviously, but, for once in my life, I wished it was. I wanted to walk the hallways and feel so much better than I did back then.

I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. There was a group of what looked to be freshmen boys entering the school through a side gate. They were all dressed in baseball uniforms, and probably headed to the field to practice.

For some reason, I headed their way. They were already inside and, luckily, they didn’t see me. As they headed towards the baseball fields, I turned in the opposite direction towards the school building.

I quickly rushed down the hallway, books in hand, as I checked my watch every two seconds to check how late I would arrive. I hated being tardy, especially to history. Mrs. Fontaine wasn’t exactly a forgiving teacher.

But of course, I could never gracefully run to a class like every other sophomore and I fell flat not even five feet away from my locker. Luckily, there weren’t too many people around, but those who did see the incident were laughing in my face.

I did the only thing I could do: grab my things and continue on my race to history class. But as I searched the floor, I couldn’t find my history book.

“Looking for this?” a voice asked from behind.

I turned to find Ethan holding up my missing book. He was scoffing in his trademark way and looking down at me like he was some sort of Greek god.

“Yeah. Thanks,” I replied, standing up and reaching for the book, but just as I was about to take it, he pulled it away.

“Please give it back. I need to get to class.”

He just smiled at me and tossed it to one of his friends.

“Please,” I full on pleaded, but they were having so much fun passing around a poor girl’s history book that they didn’t pay any attention.

“You know what?” Ethan said, smiling, “I’m a nice guy and I’m going to give it back, but…”

And, to my horror, he began tearing pages out of the book to the sound of his friends' shrieking laughs.

“Stop it, please,” I said, almost crying.

He handed me the book and calmly walked away with his group of friends while I tried to recollect the torn out pages from the ground. My hands shook as I tried to make them look presentable and stuffed them into the book as neatly as I could. My eyes were brimming with tears but I didn’t cry. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of leaving me in tears.

But when I stood up and saw “cow” scrawled across my locker in black ink, I couldn’t stand the knot in my throat any longer. I went to the bathroom and cried during all of history class.

The memories the building brought back were awful. It was like reliving the worst years of my life all over again. Almost as if nothing had changed and I was still the same girl everyone made fun of. And maybe I was. Maybe I wasn’t as strong or different as I wished as I would be. Maybe the taunts and jokes about me still hurt like the first day. Maybe I still thought of myself as ugly and fat because everyone had told me I was for so long.

I got a text message, which rapidly interrupted my thoughts.

Go to Sally’s Karaoke Café today at 6pm. We’ll be waiting there.

Great. Now I had to deal with Caroline and her stupid orders. Why couldn’t I just have a normal summer like everyone else and enjoy the beach and relaxing instead of having all this baggage to carry around?

A few minutes later, while I was pondering a way to get out of doing karaoke, my phone rang. Why could nobody leave me to think in peace?

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Riley.”

My stomach flip-flopped as soon as I heard his voice. He could disturb my peace anytime he wanted to.
“Oh, hi. Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner; I was a little busy.”

“It’s okay.”

“So, are you doing anything?”

“Um, not really,” I replied, heading out of the school premises.

“Do you want to hang out?”

The words I’d been waiting for finally escaped his lips.

“Sure.”

I tried to sound as cool and collected as I could, but the mere thought of hanging out with Riley was enough to make me jump up and down in contentment.

“I’ll pick you at your house in half an hour?”

“Okay. Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. See you soon.”

And he hung up, probably to keep me intrigued. I can’t say I wasn’t. Apart from the fact I didn’t know where we were going, he was going to pick me up. Like almost a date.

I practically skipped home and all the way to my room. I changed into a floral romper and added some cute sandals. As soon as I heard the doorbell, I rushed down, nervous as ever.

Riley had also gone for a casual look, pairing a light blue shirt with beige bermuda shorts.
He smiled as I opened the door.

“Ready to go?” he asked as I grabbed my bag.

“Yup.”

I closed the front door behind me and we made our way to his car.

“We’re going to an awesome place,” he said, breaking the silence that had become a little awkward.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s opening tonight and it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Do I get a hint?” I asked, making my best puppy dog face.

He stared at me defiantly for a few seconds, and then hesitated.

“Oh, alright. I can’t say no to that face,” he teased, “I guess I could tell you the name of the place.”

I waited intently as he made a dramatic pause to build tension.

“Well?”

“It’s this place called Sally’s Karaoke Café.”