UGLY DUCKLING

Have you ever felt ugly? Like you were never good enough? Have you ever yearned for love and appreciation, wishing that boys would gaze at you with admiration instead of enduring constant ridicule and being labeled the class ugly? Because I have. I embodied all these feelings and longed for beauty. I looked out of the window at night with tears flowing down my cheeks, pleading with the moon goddess to grant me beauty, envisioning the day I could finally exact revenge on the ultimate bully of my life: the Alpha’s only son. I vowed to make him pay for his sins and the torment he inflicted upon me.

Welcome to my world. My name is Ruby June, formerly known to my old schoolmates as Broomstick.

Five years ago, while still in high school, I was the skinniest student at 5’7, petite, and lacking any signs of puberty . While everyone else began to develop, I remained without breasts or hips, straighter than a ruler. I became the target of ridicule from both seniors and juniors. Every day, as I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt nothing but hatred for my skin, but the one I loathed most was Charles Fox. Despite his undeniable s*x appeal and handsomeness, he was the devil reincarnated.

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Back in high school, I often wore a large hoodie and baggy trousers. While these clothes concealed my small frame, my primary reason for wearing them was to avoid Charles Fox and his gang.

I silently prayed to the moon goddess that I would not run into them as I pulled the hoodie over my head.

I kept my book in my locker, and I had a jumpscare when I closed my locker and, standing besides me was Charles.

"Hey, Broomstick, hiding from me again?" Charles smirked.

I vigorously shook my head, unable to find my voice.

"You sure look like you are trying to hide," he said, pulling down my hood from my head. He scrunched his nose as he examined my form. "You are really ugly," he sneered. "Whoever ends up with you will be very unlucky."

I swallowed hard, fighting back tears even as his words stung. "I just want to go to class," I said, attempting to walk away, but he blocked me, pushing me against the locker. I stared at him with wide eyes.

"I'm not done talking to you, Broomstick. How many times do I have to warn you never to walk out on me?" he said, grabbing my neck as he slowly tightened his grip around me.

"I'm sorry," I gulped, shaking in fear.

Charles eyed me up and down before stopping at my bag. "What do we have here?" Charles asked, snatching my bag from my hand and tossing it to his friends.

"Give it back," I hissed, trying to retrieve it, but Charles pinned me to the wall. His friends scattered the contents of my bag on the floor.

My pink diary stood out among the rest of my books. How could it not, when my foolish brain had chosen to write in cursive handwriting, ‘My diary,’

The other boy picked it up and started grinning like an i***t.

"Don't read that! That's my personal book," I yelled desperately. I did not want them to see all the private thoughts I had written inside. I pleaded desperately, but it fell on deaf ears.

"February 12 ... I hate the whole class," the boy read aloud. He placed his hand dramatically on his chest. "Well, that's harsh. We have been nothing but nice to you."

"Give it back," I hissed.

But the boy kept flipping through the pages, reading my secrets aloud. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me because I could not bear this embarrassment any longer. It got worse when he flipped to a page I had long forgotten about. My heart caught in my throat, and I forgot how to breathe again.

"Hey, look, Charles. This one's about you," the boy said with a grin. "Dear diary, I met a handsome boy today. His name, I learned, was Charles. I heard he had been homeschooled all his life and is the Alpha's son. He is so perfect and sexy," he read out, drawing out each word to make it more agonizing. At this point, my cheeks were already so red that I doubted they could get any darker.

"I wish he would look at me," he continued, laughing loudly. They were cracking up, finding it hard to breathe, as if they had just heard the best joke in centuries. But the only person who was not laughing was Charles. He was staring at me with a strange look, his eyes boring into mine. His face was expressionless, and I couldn't tell if he found it funny, annoying, or silly. I swallowed, noticing that his grip had loosened around my neck.

"She thinks she has a chance with you, man. She wants to be known as Mrs. Broomstick Fox," he said, bursting into another fit of laughter.

"You are so delusional, Broomstick. You are not only ugly but stupid, too," the other guy chimed in.

"Would you date her, Charles?" one of them asked.

Charles raised my chin, ensuring I could look at him, his voice calm. "No. She is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It would be a shame for me to waste good genes on her. She would ruin my lineage. Wait! I would require a mask to bed her. Looking at this horrible creature turns me off," he said with so much spite.

By this time, all the tears I had been holding in finally fell.

Charles only shook his head. "If I were born ugly like you, I would hide under a rock and never show my face to the world. You ruin people's days just by looking at you."

My heart broke into many pieces as I snatched my diary from his friend's hand.

"You may be handsome, but you are ugly. Your whole personality stinks and I wish you nothing but the worst," I hissed, marching away from them.

I could hear them laughing at me as I walked away, but I did not care. After all, no matter how ugly his personality was, people would always praise him because of how handsome and powerful he was.