Chloe Bradley sat across from Gary Wallace in science class. Ever since the first grade, she liked him. Yet Gary wasn't interested in a geek like her. He would rather have pretty girls like Deb or Hilley.
Chloe had ocean blue eyes that were overpowered by the ugliest GI glasses (on account that her family was poor), braces and messy black hair that was tied up in a side pony tail. She wore geeky clothes: big sweaters and A-line skirts. She would've been pretty if her stupid glasses didn't scare away so many people. She hung out with Gary and his best friend, Wyatt Donnelly. She had a close relationship with her gym teacher, Lisa.
Chloe was always embarrassing herself at Shermer High, on account she was clumsy, especially at gym: she couldn't do gymnastics, couldn't hit a ball for the life of her, even her running sucked. She would trip over her shoelaces. Sweat stains under her arms. Mismatched socks. Her breasts were small. Her skin was oily.
Pretty much everyone picked on Chloe: the jocks, popular kids, even the unpopular teased her. Gary and Wyatt felt sorry for her. But since Chloe was in their friend circle, it was hard to maintain since Chloe would try to flirt with Gary.
Gary looked at his lab partner across the table. Her big metal mouth in a huge smile. Her birth control glasses. He cringed a bit.
"Hi, Gary," she said panting.
"Oh...hey, Chloe," he said uncomfortable.
He was still pretty embarrassed about being depantsed by the jock bullies, Ian and Max, during gym class earlier today. While all the girls stared in disgust at them, Chloe blushed and hyperventilated, seeing her man in his underwear. Both boys were embarrassed. Chloe ended up fainting due to lack of oxygen, embarrassing herself as well.
Chloe finally had to work up the courage to tell her man her feelings. She used Shakespeare's sonnets and poetry to inspire her. She would tell him at lunch. Hopefully she would convince Gary to ditch Wyatt and talk to him by herself.
"Gary," she said.
"Hmm?" he replied.
"Um well...I wanted to tell you something."
Oh good God! He thought exasperated. He knew this day was coming. Chloe had subtly hinted that she liked him very much. She had liked him since the first grade. She was very aggressive then. He recalled the time she tried to kiss him in fourth grade when they played Spin the Bottle and got too aggressive that she ended up scalping him. Thankfully, she backed off more in middle school.
"Well..." she said. "I want to talk to you at lunch. Without Wyatt, if you don't mind."
Gary raised an eyebrow. "Um...OK..." he said uncomfortable, swallowing. "Why?"
She dug through her backpack, looking for the poem she had written for Gary. She was unable to find it. She panicked, searching through her backpack. She dumped out her backpack, spilling everything: papers, books, pens, pencils, a bunch of shit. She couldn't find her poem she had wrote. Everyone turned to see the geeky girl dumping her back out all over the floor, revealing embarrassing contents of her backpack.
"Looking for this, Chloe Foley?" Max taunted, dangling her poem in front of her.
"Give it back!" she yelled. "It's MINE!"
Ian stood up on the table, his dumb friend, Max, following him. Max and Ian took turns reading Chloe's poem out loud in front of the class, speaking in a mocking girly voice.
"Gary, my love," Max began. "I love you beyond the moon and stars..."
"Oh Gary, my love, how I love your eyes of blue...my love runs deep as an ocean..." Ian continued.
They made sexual noises and movements, making it sound even worse. Chloe was so embarrassed she wanted to die. She buried her face in her hands, ready to cry. The entire class rang out in laughter, embarrassing the two geeks. Even Wyatt was laughing, earning a death stare from his friend. Wyatt shrugged and apologized quietly, mouthing 'sorry, man'. Chloe grabbed her poem and ran out of science class, completely humiliated.
She had hoped to have done this in a more intimate setting with just the two of them, not in the middle of science class. Christ! Could this day get any worse? Chloe decided to make an excuse with the nurse and leave school early. It was when a hand tapped her shoulder, she turned to see Gary.
"Oh...hey, Gary..." she said timidly. "I'm...I'm sorry about the poem. I was hoping to ask if we could meet at lunch and I could share it with you."
Gary pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly embarrassed by what had occurred today. Not only did he get humiliated in front of a bunch of girls by getting depantsed with Wyatt, but he was even more embarrassed that his friend, Chloe, had written him a love poem. He had to make it very clear to Chloe this time.
"Look, Chloe," Gary said. "I am flattered that you like me...but, let's face it, it's not going to happen. I'm just not into girls like you."
Chloe's face scrunched up with a mixtue of anger and hurt. Her heart shattered into a million pieces.
"You SUCK, Gary Wallace!" Chloe yelled. "I hate you and I hope you choke and DIE!"
Gary was taken aback by this insult. He had never heard Chloe curse. She shoved past him, tripping on her loose shoelaces, and ran out of Shermer High School, crying.
Chloe ran all the way outside to a bench to cry. Her stupid glasses fogged up from crying. She sat on the bench, sobbing. It wasn't fair! Gary was a geek and yet he didn't even like her! Why? What was wrong with her? She tried to use the whole 'beauty is on the inside' as her motivation, but what was the point? It was no use.
Her tears fell on her scrapbook of supermodels with her head glued to them. She looked at her photos of Brooke Shields and Joan Jett, wishing she could be like them. She started ripping up those photos, knowing that would never happen. She would never be pretty as Brooke Shields, confident as Joan Jett, or popular. She wanted to be perfect like them.
The high school gym teacher, Lisa, heard crying. Poor Chloe. Her life was hard enough with her parents working, being ostracized, and just in general tough. Lisa sat down next to the crying geek girl.
"Chloe?" Lisa asked, concerned. "Chloe, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said sniffling, wiping her tears on her hand.
"C'mon, love," she said. "You can tell me."
"Gary doesn't like me," she said sadly. "He said he doesn't like girls like me."
The geek girl burst into more tears as she replayed the rejection in her mind.
"And so what?" Lisa said. "He's shallow. You don't need someone like him."
"I bet if I was pretty, he would like me," Chloe said miserable, looking at a photo of Brooke Shields. "Y'know in sophomore year when we did Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, I always wanted to be Olivia because she was pretty and perfect. I ended up playing Viola. She loved Duke Orsino."
"Duke Orsino was shallow," Lisa said. "He loved a woman who didn't love him back. Despite the fact that Viola was bringing messages between Olivia and him, Olivia ended up falling in love with Viola, despite she was playing a boy. By the end, Duke Orsino fell in love with Viola once she lost her disguise."
Chloe sighed, disappointed. "I wish I was pretty," she said morosely.
"Physical beauty isn't just as important as what's on the inside," Lisa said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "But if that's what you want, maybe I can give you a makeover in my office."
Chloe sighed even more disappointed, shaking her head. "Sorry, but I already learned that fairy godmothers don't exist in the sixth grade," she said bitterly. "You can't transform this..." She gestured to herself. "...to this in one night." She pointed to a photo of Brooke Shields.
"What if I could?" Lisa suggested.
"Best of luck," Chloe said skeptical. "It's impossible."
"Well, if you change your mind, my office is always open."
Chloe watched as her gym teacher left. She sat on the bench, hugging herself. She cried some more. Her man didn't like her. She sighed, wiping her tears away. She felt anger and vengeance in her heart as well. She imagined if SHE broke HIS heart. She wanted to hurt him! She thought about the play Much Ado About Nothing how Hero was humiliated by Claudio for telling everyone she was a slut. After being humiliated, Hero's dad wished she was dead-so the friar decided to help Hero by conspiring with her and her family to say she was dead, making Claudio feel like shit.
Chloe admitted she liked the idea of faking her death. Maybe Gary would feel like shit. Maybe.
Nah. That was too much. Maybe have her be out sick for a couple of weeks. She thought about Lisa's offer for a make over. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage. Make everyone think Chloe was out sick, take Lisa's transformation into a hot, bad ass girl that Gary would be chasing after. She'd pretend to be not interested, then slowly reel him in. Then, when the time was right, she'd break his heart.
It was the perfect plan. But it had to be done carefully. She decided to meet with Lisa after school. She went to her office and raised her hand to knock on her door.