Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club but if I did...that would be awesome. But...no. All recognizable characters belong to Straffi. Plot belong to me though.
The Truth About Relationships and Love
By: renachi
Stella was the strongest person I knew. Confidence and determination were only two of her strong traits. When she had an opinion, she would share it with style. Even if the path to her destination was rocky and filled with pain, when she had a self-motivated goal, Stella would bulldoze through agonizing path, never giving up. Along with strength came misunderstandings. Many misunderstood her strength for selfishness and impulsiveness. Staying ignorant of her honesty and sincerity, they didn't realize her pure heart.
Stella was the brightest person I knew. She was the sun. Even during dark, rainy days, she still glowed with her brilliance and spirit. This was what made Stella so beautiful. I don't mean superficial outer beauty. I mean beauty of the character. Everyone would see her radiant personality if they could just get past her appearance.
Stella was the fattest person I knew. If Stella had to be compared to an animal, she would be a shining pig. The amount of lard she owned masked her natural face, her sloping curves, and most important of all her confidence.
I had the opportunity to befriend her when she was young before she hadn't gotten into the habit of eating her feelings, before her parents divorced. I met her during my father's business trip to Solaria and for days, I played with Stella in her castle till I had to leave. After that first meeting, every time my father had to visit the kingdom I would accompany him to see Stella again. Luna had given birth to a natural beauty, Stella, but after she left her husband, Stella hid that natural beauty along with her strength away from the world beneath layers and layers of fat.
Solaria became embarrassed of its princess, saying that Stella couldn't be a fairy when her wings couldn't lift her off the ground. Little did they know that she could...but only about three inches. And yes, I measured. Though everyone kept it a secret from the princess, citizens of Solaria had created urban legends for the adorable and innocent princess that they once treasured. The Princess of Lard. The Girl Who Jiggled Like Jello. The Everyday Life As a Human Ball. Blubber. Boing, Boing, Boing. It was an neverending list.
One time when I visited Solaria, Stella stained my tunic with her tears right when I saw. That was the last time that I saw the skinny Stella. After that visit, she began eating her feelings and grew heavier and heavier but that didn't change a thing about how I felt towards the her. Even after she underwent her transformation from a startling beauty to a big glob of lard, my heart still pounded every time she inched closer to me and I still treasured her as much as I had treasured her before if not more.
Truth #1: Love is blind.
Eventually, Stella discovered about a type of magic that could solve her problems, the magic of makeup and fashion. She obtained a vehement obsession with shopping and fashion trends. All of this was to hide her insecurity that stemmed from the name calling with a barrier, a shield. It was a thin shield that could easily be broken through. And it was broken through all right, broken through by a guy called Brandon.
Stella had seen him at the freshman ball at Alfea and fell in love at first sight much to my chagrin.
"Timmy! Isn't he just so handsome and kind and nice and cute and beautiful!" she squealed that night at the freshman ball.
"Are you serious?" I skeptically questioned, hoping that she would just blow it off as a joke. Instead she gazed at me with her innocent amber eyes.
"Yep!"
"Stella…you aren't going to pursue him, right?" I worriedly asked. The sheer look of shock fell on her face as if I were saying that clothing had to be burned and everyone had to go around stark naked now.
"Oh no, no, no!" She dramatically waved her hands in my face and gave me a playful hit on my right shoulder before entering a pensive state. "I wish I could though."
I couldn't see what was so great about that guy other than his bulging biceps. Ok, ok. I admit that he had an amiable air and that he was a great fighter but…other than that, what else did he have that I didn't have? According to her, a lot: his stride, his poised air, his talk, his grades that she got when she tricked me into obtaining them when she found that I could hack into Red Fountain's network in a few seconds, his hair, the way he shoves food into his mouth when no one is looking, and so on.
It was then that I started to try to model myself after Brandon but the feat turned out harder than I imagined. Unlike Brandon, my genes did not include the ability to grow biceps as big as my head overnight. The closest I got to imitating Brandon was his hairstyle though I decided to keep my hair blonde for individuality reasons.
From then on, every time Brandon was mentioned, an expression of sheer happiness flew to her face. I couldn't help but cheer her on even though it pained me to do so. I thought that my support was harmless and that my support was going towards a good cause: Stella's smiles. I was wrong.
Truth #2: Relationships often hurts both of the parties that are in it.
A year later, Stella took action. It took place during the ball. Stella had specially called me to accompany her when she went shopping for the perfect dress to wear. I hadn't understood why she decided to call me back then because the year before she hadn't but I gladly went anyways under the spell of ignorance. I remember that day as the day I experienced hell. From 5 AM to 10 PM, she literally shopped till I dropped for one pair of heels, one dress, one pair of earrings, and one necklace. I lost count of how many dresses she tried on after the twentieth time she asked me, "How does this look on me?"
Back then I was a poor, ignorant boy, totally unaware that every time she asked that one question, she was doing it with Brandon on her mind. In fact,I genuinely was happy, ecstatic that she needed me.
The next night she walked up to Brandon with itty bitty confidence and a truck load of courage.
"W-Will you dance with me?" she asked in a tense voice. She had been shaking all night with nervousness but when the chance came she managed to carry an air of poise.
Brandon looked at her and twitched in the slightest way, a way that most people wouldn't have noticed except me, calculating, observant Timmy.
"Sorry. I can't." It seemed like Stella didn't understand and she continued to gaze at her crush with those hopeful, amber eyes.
"Why?"
"Because I can't." That reply elicited a few chuckles from a group of guys behind Brandon. Brandon cringed at the giggles and nervousness started to cloud his eyes. On the other hand, Stella remained oblivious to the group of people who were secretly making her sincere action into an embarrassing joke.
"But why?"
"I don't dance with people who aren't…my type," Brandon articulated in a slow and discreet manner. Tension started to overcome the benevolence in his voice. Stella eyes darkened.
"Then who is your type?" Suddenly, laughter exploded all around her and Stella finally became aware of the crowd that watched her.
"Obviously not you, you fatass!" a female voice called out from the crowd. Stella's body tensed up as the overwhelming crowd stared, mocking her.
"Did she actually think she would have a chance with Brandon looking like that?"
"What the hell did she eat to get that big?"
"Poor thing. She actually had hope, didn't she?"
Stella prepared herself to lash out on the crowd and tell them to shut up because she honestly didn't care what they thought. The only opinion that she valued at the moment was Brandon's, only Brandon's. Then he spoke.
"I'm sorry, but I can't dance with you." It finally struck her that the reason he wouldn't allow her to dance with him was just because she was fat. Stella then noticed how red Brandon's cheeks had gotten and realized that she was embarrassing him. Stella threw away her selfishness and for the sake of Brandon, again, turned selfless and decided to give up so that he wouldn't be humiliated any further.
Truth #4: Love is selfless.
"Oh. I see. We-Well, that's ok." Stella managed to force a toothy grin while she attempted to salvage any pride she had left. With that, she dashed out, storming past everyone in her way till she reached the bushes at the side of the building. I unconsciously followed her out and watched her sit in a corner and sob her eyes out.
Truth #5: Love comes with pain and disappointment.
"S-Stella?" Stella's face flew up, showing me a expression full of pain.
"Go away. I want to be alone." So she wouldn't even allow me to lend her a shoulder to cry on.
"Stella," I worriedly whispered.
"Go away! You probably knew all along that he wouldn't even allow me to dance with him! You were probably thinking that all the work I put into trying to look pretty in front of him yesterday was for nothing. In the end it didn't matter because I am fat! So just get lost, would you!" she screeched. I still stood frozen to my spot. When Stella saw that I wouldn't disappear from her sight, she proceeded to rip off her heels and violently throw her expensive Jimmy Whoos at me.
"GET THE HELL AWAY!" That got me to move.
I had thought I wouldn't hear from Stella for quite a while after that dramatic episode but the next morning, she surprised me. Stella appeared before me as if nothing had happened the night before. The only evidence on her that she had been rejected the night before were her swollen, red eyes. Stella traveled all the way to Red Fountain to tell me one thing: "I want to lose weight."
That wasn't the first time she decided to lose weight. She tried many times before and failed, so I predicted that this time wouldn't be any different.
"For Brandon?" Stella replied with a terse nod. I sighed. "Then why are you telling me?"
A grin immediately flew up to her face as if she had been anticipating for me to ask that question.
"I want you to help me. Monitor my progress. Tell me what I have to do to lose weight. I'll do everything you say. You are smart so I trust you."
I reluctantly accepted. Using technology, I put Stella under a strict diet and program. Her favorite foods were banned and every day, she had to undergo a fitness program.
By the time the next ball came around a year later, she had transformed. I had a hard time reminding myself that the Stella in front of me was the same fat princess I knew for the past five years. I silently worried that guys would steal my sunshine from me because now Stella wasn't only brightly shining on the inside now, she was also shining on the outside as well. Stella had become gorgeous. This time around, Brandon approached Stella and I concluded that the end had come. Stella and Brandon would dance, fall in love, become a couple, marry, have children, live to their grandchildren and great-greatgrandchildren and live happily ever after while I sat in the sidelines as a nerdy, dorky, best friend.
"May I ask this lovely lady to a dance?" He extended an arm and gave a flirty wink to her but Stella didn't return the favor. Instead, she returned the gesture with an icy glare through her lowered eyelids.
"You remember me?"
Brandon drew back his arm while his faced contorted in confusion.
"We've met?"
"You don't remember me. I'm that fatass that asked you to dance last year at the ball where you said that I wasn't your type." Brandon seemed to be at lost for words so Stella continued. "I have to thank you. Before of that experience, I decided to finally get serious about losing weight if it was for you." Brandon grew hopeful.
"Then you like me—"
"I think you are mistaken. I used to be heads over heels for you but now that's over."
I gaped. When did this miracle taken place and why didn't I know?
Stella continued: "Not eating the things I wanted to eat and having to exercise for hours and hours everyday was like hell. I never had a break from that hard life for months after months after months. Then I had an epiphany: Why was I doing this? Was it just for one insignificant guy that didn't even give a care about me. Did he even know my name? What was so great about him that I had to put myself through this torture? After that, I lost my reason to lose weight. You became nothing to me, but I still wanted to reach my goal so I had to find another motive, another reason for me to lose weight. I needed a dream, a dream that was so magnificent that I would do anything for it. So I decided to aim to become a supermodel. So no, I do not like you anymore. To me, your importance is less than a single thread on a scarf."
Truth #6: Love, especially in the fragile form of passion, changes.
With that, Stella gracefully walked away and I plunged into a dance of mirth. From then on, I resolved to actively pursue Stella, confident that I had the advantage of being the closest guy friend to her. However, pursuing her proved harder than I thought. I was never the initiator in our relationship. Stella was. She had sat in the pilot seat since we met and now I that I decided to take over the controls, I was completely lost because I had no idea how to "fly". I found out that I had adopted the habit of being stringed along by Stella. The time to grow up from being just a guy best friend, a childhood playmate, had long passed and I was stuck with my useless feelings, useless because I knew that Stella would never return them no matter what I did.
Truth #7: The mechanics of a relationship, after remaining the same for a certain extent of time, is hard to modify.
After Stella stopped loving Brandon, something changed in her. She didn't gaze at other with hopeful, innocent eyes anymore. Instead, she acquired an aggressive fire. If she was a shining pig before, now she was a lioness with a fiery mane and a thundering roar. In a way, her love for Brandon kicked her down but Stella stubbornly rose up again and returned with a fiercer and stronger attitude. At the same time, Stella matured to a certain extent where she spent less time hoping and more time taking action.
Truth #8: Love changes the owner of it for the better or for the worse.
She grew to be overbearing and confident, qualities that were hidden underneath the layers of fat. Stella stopped being so dependent on my company when she got her own set of girl friends. I heard they call themselves the Winx Club, an all-girl fairy group that I sadly couldn't join. Nowadays I never get dragged out on shopping expeditions by Stella anymore. I wondered when I stopped loving her. Maybe after loving her year after year after year, I finally got tired of my passionate unrequited love and unconsciously gave up. Year after year after year I kept up with Stella and worried for her till it became a habit. Then suddenly, one day, I wondered why I did so much for Stella. Did I still love her? It was the oddest epiphany I ever had. Before I got the chance to confess, my feelings for her were gone and I had moved on.
Truth #9: Love is stealthy, like a thief in the night, for it sneaks in when you least expect it to and leaves without you knowing.
Now I'm dating her friend in her little clique, the Winx Club. Her name is Tecna and she is definitely different from Stella in every way possible. She doesn't give a care about the latest fashion trend; a simple solid-colored top and skirt is all she needs. Tecna also knows what the equation E=mc^2 means while Stella always believed that it was a sideways sketch of some lady's outfit. She still does to this day. Unlike Stella, Tecna is dull in spirit, cool, and stoic majority of the time we are together but it is strangely attractive. Maybe it makes her mysterious? I couldn't comprehend why I loved Stella as much as I couldn't comprehend why I loved Tecna. It is crazy how I could come to love two people from opposite sides of the personality spectrum.
Truth #10: Love is unpredictable, unconditional, and uncontrollable because you cannot determine its next victim or action through logic or computations much to Timmy's frustration.
If you read all the way down to here, do tell me what you think about this one-shot. Tell me: Did I glorify Stella to much? Is Timmy's POV OOC? Do you disagree with my truths or are they cliche?
Still looking for a beta reader so I probably made many mistakes and didn't catch them while proofreading. If you know a good beta tell me because the site won't let me enter the Beta Reader section right now.