Okay but you have to fogive me it was a long time ago

It has been requested that I share this excerpt of a book I wrote before I could write, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

It was shocking to see so many pretty people all in one place, but the girls were by far the worst. Tall, tan and gorgeous, she thought. It figures. Speaking of figures, as the bell rang signaling that first period was to begin in a brief few minutes; she couldn’t help but search for another girl more like her. Amidst the designer jeans, long, flowing hair and perfect bodies with perfectly clear, pimple-free faces, she couldn’t help but pray for one overweight kid. Girl or boy it didn’t really matter to her, they didn’t even have to be completely fat, just a little pudgy would be okay. She just didn’t want to be the biggest one. She lowered her eyes to the print out her mother had given her searching for which direction she should go to find the student resources office where she would get her class schedule.

            By then most of the students had filed into their various class rooms and she was alone with just the stragglers rifling through their lockers for some lost item and a few of the faculty members standing by the doors of their classrooms. Even the teachers look like underwear models, just perfect.

            The woman behind the desk of the Student Resources office was definitely the exception to the rule of perfect she had discovered that far. She wasn’t fat, but she had possibly the worst face Felicity had ever seen. Her hair was stiff looking as though it was made of fishing wire and she had frown lines upon her drooping face. She had severely penciled in eyebrows in an unnatural color and thick, coke-bottle glasses with black frames.  Oh…look at you judging other people by their appearance, Felicity scolded herself. She smiled uncertainly at the woman and tried to be pleasant. “My name is Felicity Thurston and I was told I could get my schedule here,” she said.

            The woman scowled at her as though she were a poisonous bug that might threaten humanity if she weren’t squished. Felicity adjusted her backpack strap and waited for a response. “You’re in the wrong office,” the woman said in a gritty voice. Felicity noticed that her teeth were yellowed and crooked and her lips cracked when she spoke. “You want the office next door, Student Services.”

            Felicity apologized and backed out the door the way she had come. She hoped the rest of her day would be better. She hoped wrong.

            Attendance that morning was her very first disaster. Aside from seeing the tiny desks with tiny little seats attached to them that this school would expect her abnormally large frame to slide into, of course. She had begged her mom not to fill out the admission paperwork with her full name, and obviously her mother had chosen not to obey her wishes.

            “Felicity Ann Thurston,” her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Monroe called out. “Here,” Felicity said in a small voice. It was going okay, no snickers, no jokes, nothing. Perhaps these kids weren’t as bright as she had been giving them credit for. Then, the worst thing that could happen…amend that; the worst thing that could EVER happen, suddenly did.

            “Each student is assigned a student ID in my class. You will use your assigned student ID on all of your paperwork and assignments. Your student ID will be the initials of your full name and the month and day of your birthday. So, Miss Thurston, your new student ID will be FAT- 1021.”

            The class was oddly silent for a few seconds until one of the girls in the second row turned and looked at Felicity. She only said one word, “Appropriate,” but it sent the class into gales of laughter.

            Felicity sunk down in her chair and felt the blush bloom from her chest and sweep up her face. It was definitely not going to be a good day.