Just Another High School Story!

Ethan was fumbling around to shut the whole thing down, but it was Leah who had set up, he had no idea how she'd set the whole thing up, he switched his computer off, blaming himself for not doing that earlier. The second slide had said, "Our Head Girl's a bulimic, she eats like a pig and throws up to stay thin!" Their was a pathetic eye-rolling emoji that popped up afterward, the whole thing went down under forty five seconds. When he saw that the presentation was finally off, he glared at Mindy and started looking around for Leah, he saw her lying on the floor, different from Leah's, E's world had sped up, everything was happening fast, "Shit!" he almost yelled but didn't, he just thought that he did, because it sounded so loud inside his head. He rushed to get her but before he could Shawn swept in with a couple of people, Linda for one, who was giving Ethan the you're-so-dead look, and when he saw that look he realised what had happened. It finally hit him. She'd not be able to keep her Head Girl position anymore, and also there would be gossip about her, in short her school life would become hell, he could feel the ground beneath him crumble, it was like someone had punched him in the face, and then in the stomach, he was hurting for her. He loved her. Still. After everything.

Ah, if only he hadn't been such a teenager. Their love story would have been a lot easier.

Leah awoke to Linda looming around the bed that she was stuffed in, she felt like she'd drowned and come back to life just like Kang Cheol in the Korean drama, W. Oh, how much she'd loved that. She had thought everything was over, but then she realised that it didn't matter what people thought anymore, they weren't the ones sticking their fingers into their mouths to barf, or the ones who couldn't eat, it was not their problem, so they should just mind their own business, this was hers, she'd deal with it. But of course, as people always do, the kids made a big deal out of this, they started calling her, "Barfie", it was a play at the word, "Barbie", and things only went downhill. She was called into the principal's office, who was apologising to her, and after a little conversation about how important she was to them, he told her that she needed to step down from the position of Head Girl, the Head Girl had to be a model student, not infamous, and downtrodden, how she wanted to break the news that Mindy would be taking her place was entirely up to her. She thanked the principal, and went out of the room. You'd expect her to go to the rooftop to cry, right? Me too!

But Barfie didn't go to the rooftop to cry, she went there to celebrate, she couldn't have been happier. Because of two simple things, she was yet unaware of who she was, how could she lead someone else, and second, being the Head Girl had gotten harder because of Ethan, ever since their 'breakup', he pushed all the work to her, didn't show up to meetings, and didn't show up to meetings, and didn't reply to her texts, she was doing it all alone. Mindy could take the mantle, she was off to paint the world red, pink, black, blue, yellow, rainbow colours, she was ready to wear her sneakers and sprint. "Yes!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. It wasn't that she wasn't sad about Ethan but she'd thought about it, if he did not trust her after her explanations, she wasn't going to waster her time explaining. It was time to really beat life and she couldn't wait.

During recess on the last day, she didn't have tears in her eyes, she was happy, she walked into the broadcasting room, and wondered whether after break Mindy would continue to help the students, she'd been helping the students by advising them on things, the forum she'd created for them to talk was going to be shut down probably, Mindy was too popular for that stuff. But then she realised, now that her secret was out in the open, she could talk about that, just asking people to talk wasn't ever going to be enough, she had to share her story too. She got an awesome idea. She'd write a novel about herself. A girl lost and trying to find herself, trying break an unbreakable, a killer habit-- losing to herself. Maybe the answers to the millions of questions she had would pour out, without her knowing, she had the power to save herself. Just like you do. You don't need to write a novel for that. Just ask. That's enough, and when it's not keep asking, the answer is within you. So don't waste time going around the world, gallivanting for naught, though you might find an answer like that, if you don't, you can receive the answer to the question: Who am I? By travelling inside your body, playing around in your mind, and letting your soul loose. Often, we suppress ourselves, we aren't ourselves in public, why is that a reality? The answers vary so I won't give one. But I can tell you something, don't be embarrassed about who you are, don't check your laugh, if you snort while you do, or if your body shakes, like mine does when I laugh hard, don't mind your clothes if you like skin tight jeans, or really, really loose sweatpants. Be comfortable, no one really has the time to scrutinise you. Be your best self, and that's enough. You don't have to become someone else to be liked, because there is no one else like you.