She'll never fit in.
The realization is as painful as it is sudden.
Cupcake is only 8 years old, but as she watches some of the other kids laugh and play with each other, it occurs to her that there's just no way she will ever be able to join them as a friend. It doesn't matter how nice she is, or how quiet and non-threatening she tries to be. They'll never like her.
So she makes a decision. She's going to stop trying to please them.
She stops holding in her anger. Now, any and every insult is reciprocated with force. It's not long before the other children are completely terrified of her.
She stops dressing "normally." From then on she wears whatever catches her fancy to school. It takes some convincing on her parent's part, but she eventually acquires a different colored tutu for every day of the week.
And finally, she convinces herself that it's better this way. Better to be feared than bullied and ignored.
The realization that she's been lying to herself for the past few years comes to her in the form of a snowball to the face.