BIG NEWS: The 2M submitter had to drop out so I need a 2M FAST! Preferably from someone who doesn't already have a slot. So if you know anyone or if you want to submit, SEND ONE IN!
Quarla Hydrargyrum- District One female (16)
I tried to see the good in everyone. But it was hard to see the good in Amy.
The bathroom door swung open with the squeak whoosh that made me flinch every time. It probably said something that I was so used to getting harassed by Amy and her friends that I could recognize her footsteps on a linoleum bathroom floor. I hurriedly flushed the toilet. Amy was the reason I used paper towels and not the far more efficient choice of a toilet brush.
"Hey, Creme Brulee," Amy called from the entrance of the bathroom, smacking each door as she went by to announce her impending arrival. Amy wasn't very good at either formulating or delivering insults but she did get the point across. "Fireplace", "Fondue", "Overdone Smore"... it was pretty easy to gather what she was referencing. Once I saw the goodness in everyone. Then the world taught me that some things were just entirely bad- no good at all. There were some people in the world either so low or so desperate that they would bully a deformed, disabled custodian.
Amy opened the door to my stall just after I hid the cleaning solution in the toilet tank. I'd tampered with all of them months ago for this exact purpose, even though I never used anything more acidic than vinegar. Not after what she did that one time. Before that I still had a little hair. Now it was just me and my sunny yellow beanie.
"A cockroach in her natural habitat: somewhere disgusting," Amy said as she loomed in the stall doorway. Her two friends smirked, caring more about being included in the in-group than about the contents of the bullying. I certainly knew from experience that it was a lot easier to stand by and watch someone get abused than it was to stand up and put your own position on the line.
"What's it like to be so hideous?" Amy asked. She didn't actually want an answer so I just stayed quiet. Had she actually wanted an answer I would have told her it's not really as bad as she probably assumed. Appearances are everything in One and I would always be a second-class citizen, stared at and denied opportunities because of my looks, but that was just… life. People, especially children, can get used to a lot. I'd been like this for longer than I hadn't been like this and it was normal to me now. I was ugly and poor and like everyone else I was doing the best I could with what I had. That was one reason I still worked at the Academy instead of somewhere less visible. The sewers, maybe?
It wasn't very bad in the end. Amy and her friends just threw out a few more insults, splashed me with toilet water and left. Once everyone else was also gone for the day I went out to the training floor. There were cameras everywhere so they definitely knew I was training. They just didn't care. Maybe they chalked it up to a job perk they could use to offset the guilt of paying me less than minimum wage.
When it was just me and the weapons I felt at peace. My appearance didn't stop me from throwing a spear. My prosthetic leg didn't prevent me from sending a throwing knife into the center of the target. The Arena doesn't care about your past or your beauty. It only cared about results.
Quarla: Baldheaded. She has a damaged right ear and crooked set of teeth with a missing front tooth. She is short for her age at 5'0". Fair skin tone, but the skin on her arms and leg were either burnt or bruised. She is missing 3 fingernails on her right hand.