What Doesn't Kill You
A Clique Fan Fiction
Chapter 37

But after awhile, I caught on. I mean, I saw what they were hiring.
I also swiped my dance card once, after an audition.
And on a scale of one to ten? They gave me, for dance? Ten! For looks? Three! Why?
Dance-ten;Looks-three-and I'm still on unemployment
Dancing for my own enjoyment...
That ain't it kid-that ain't it kid

Dylan Marvil was cuddled up in Chris Plovert's arms, loving his one month break between football season and basketball season. It was perfect, because for once, there weren't any practices or games to interfere with their time together. And there wasn't a single cheerleader stalking Chris in her short little skirt with her skinny body spread over him as if she were his jersey. Dylan hated those cheerleaders. In fact, she hated all those girls who could snag a guy like it wasn't a problem. She hated it. After all, they were the reason for her constant dieting. After awhile, she caught on and saw what was grabbing the guys' attention. She saw what was getting dates and what was causing her to sit at home watching LMN and stuffing her face with Ben&Jerry's-the only boys in her life for the longest time. And she'd heard Kemp Hurley talking about her. Claiming that her personality was a total ten...but that her looks were barely a three. Why? Sure, she knew the reason. She wasn't his type-that was Kristen, the sporty, all muscle types. The blonde, all-American type girls. Not a fiery red-head with lots of curves. Not a burpy little tom-boy who didn't know when to cross her legs and shut her mouth and act like a proper lady.

Even her so-called best friends had told her she was a shrek...a monster-a freak. Alicia herself had said it. She'd told her the reason boys didn't like her. Sure, she was funny, but her looks? How she behaved? She acted like a boy and not like a girl. She was a friend, not a girl friend. There was a thick line between Dylan and girls like Alicia. And nobody was willing to cross it.

"Dylan? Did you really change because of what Kemp and I were talking about that day?" Plovert asked her softly. He was the only person who knew her reasoning for everything. She'd never told anybody else, and she'd practically cried when telling him. She was so afraid he'd remember everything he'd once disliked about her and leave her. But, instead, he'd held her close and just kept repeating a sad apology. He'd been the one to cry, hating that he'd done that to the girl he loved.

"Yeah," Dylan whispered. She'd hated that being the reason she was stuck by herself on Friday nights. She hated knowing that other girls were being chased after by multiple boys. She couldn't be alone and she wouldn't be left to amuse herself or be stuck with some loser. So, during the summer between her eighth grade year and her freshman year, she'd changed and gotten a brand new wardrobe. She'd reinvented herself and she hadn't looked back once.

"Dylan, beauty may grab the attention, but it's personality that gets the heart," Plovert said. "If there was only one type of beauty out there, we'd all be fighting over Massie and Alicia right now and we'd all die single and the population would just stop. But, every guy thinks of beauty in a different way. Derrick thinks Massie's his own personal goddess. Josh would punch anybody who said Alicia wasn't the hottest girl out there. Kemp thinks Kristen's the shit. Even Cam thinks Claire's the most beautiful girl in the entire world. And to me? You're the definition of true beauty. That's how you know it's love. You look for the boy who makes you feel beautiful. Do I do that, Dyl?" Plovert whispered, his old small, shy grin in place. The one that was so honest and true. The smile that Dylan had fallen in love with.

"You do," She whispered, reaching forward to kiss him.

Dance-ten...looks-three; is like to die
Left the theater and called the doctor
For my appointment to buy-tits and ass
Bought myself a fancy pair, tightened up the derrier
Did the nose with it
All that goes with it

Olivia Ryan had been perfectly happy with who she was until freshman year. A month into being the third prettiest girl out of her friends had left her feeling bitter and gross. She'd always been a perfect ten in her looks and another ten for her little talents. She couldn't settle for being a 13, with looks that barely counted for anything and some special talents she possessed. She could attract guys in a heart beat back in middle school. In high school, with a swarm of older, more mature girls and a more confident Dylan, she was nothing other than an ordinary girl. She felt like she was dead. So, after a month of being rejected by every single guy in the school, she'd taken a week off and called her doctor and made herself an appointment. She bought herself a perkier, tighter butt and a nice pair of boobs to match it. And, for the first time, she got a nose job for her own vanity. Back in middle school, the PC had mocked her for her constant nose jobs. Nobody realized that it was because of her terrible asthma that she'd needed to constantly change her nose to one that was easier to breath with. But, when she'd gotten her surgery, she'd gotten the works-everything that went with her new appearance had been neatly charged to her daddy's plastic card.

And then Massie had returned to Westchester and taken Olivia's spot as the most sought after girl at school. And the main reason was that Massie was real. Massie's beauty was just a natural blessing that she'd gotten. And Massie didn't have to willingly make out with buys during a game of spin the bottle or have sex on a first date to make guys want to be with her. She just needed to smile and wave at them. She'd gotten Derrick hooked within an hour of being back at BOCD and it had killed Olivia.

Mainly because Olivia needed the guys attention. She needed the cover for her dirty little secret. She knew that in Westchester, you couldn't give a rumor any reason to be started. People would never forget and it would spread faster than wild fire. So, the safest way to keep a secret was to never tell anybody. But Olivia had slipped one night, when she'd gotten too drunk, and Claire had found out. All Olivia could hope was that sweet Claire wouldn't let the secret slip. But, even if it did, Claire might just look like she had some crazy left in her after returning from rehab. Her drunkness and her drug addictions may have caused her to think this and start the rumor from a simple illusion or a drunken exagerration. So, Olivia assumed her secret was safe.

Little did she know, Claire had already leaked the secret to somebody else. And she was so wrong about it being safe.