PRETTY WHEN YOU'RE MEAN

a's

irl who made my life hell in high school, had sat across from me with her hear

e wors

somethi

was off the second I walked into our dorm with red cheeks and s

t after what

the dining hall, joking about cafeteria tacos when the unmi

group of flawlessly dressed, ridiculously loud friend

irk. "The misfits are out in d

old. My sto

ed. "She did no

thought I might lunge at her.

hours ago, she'd told me I was the person she'd w

n't even look

too tight, like every word I wanted to shout wa

Away from the gro

still feel h

in a long time, I wis

y's

ke swallo

alked past me like I was a stranger again it tore

uspected what I felt for

uilt. My status.

at I knew ho

er hate

ng people's day," Marcy said beside

my hair over my shoulder

burned wi

e didn't.

moment outside the dining hall. And she definitely didn'

ng and gossiping about some party that weekend. But the

was

ready mi

back emotionally, and Abby struggling to maintain her mask, or even a moment where Lela or Ka

've felt

re humiliated. You take control of the story before some

of my perfectly curated circle o

other open mic night. Normally I'd be the one cracking jokes, pretending to gag

d she'd hidden it fast,

ted myse

rse than every ins

what I hadn't even admitted to myself. That I'd wanted her. That every gla

see me. Not the mask, not the girl who tore her

t I turned on her the secon

cared. I wasn't

pulling me back. Her eyeliner was f

said too

ou're zoning out. Thinkin

fr

mb, hoping my face

tinued. "The one you roasted back there? Y

y best bored expression. "Just annoyed she

roup. I hated how easy it was

ith them, it sounded

was everywhere I was terrified she wouldn't be anymore. T

k away before I was brave