[ Chapter 11 ]

"Girl, we have problem. People trash talking you on radio station." Abbey says suddenly.
I close my locker, glance up at her. "Huh?"
"Tune in today and see for self." She says, walking away, leaving a certain frost in her mists.
I blink, wondering what she's talking about.
"Mia!" I hear my name. My ear twitches. "Mia!"
I turn my head, see Kim running my way. When she stops in front of me, she has to pause and catch her breath. "W-what is it?" I ask worriedly.
"You've got a big problem."
"What do you mean? What kind of problem?" I bite my lip.
She takes one of her skull shaped ear plugs out and puts it in my ear. I adjust so it doesn't come out. "This is C.A. Cupid tuning in with our host, Abbey. So I hear there's a certain monster out there burning a serious flame for his princess to hopefully be, a Ms. Mia Tumnus. What do you, the audience, make of this?"
"Well," someone says, their voice purring with a familiar accent. "I think she's I a few flaws. Did you see how she was dressed today? I mean really, who still wears baggy outdated overalls in the twenty-first century? And did you see the yellow and white striped top she wore with it? And then she even wore the dark blue-grey hoodie with it – it was a voltage fail."
"Oh, what a not nice kitty." The A.C Cupid girl said. "Caller, thanks for tuning in, but you're so out."
"Ah, what? Wait-" she was cut off.
"No one ask about girl's style," Abbey added. "We ask simply about girl."
I look down at spice brown overalls, wishing that I could suddenly turn invisible.
Suddenly sadness washed over me and I felt as if I was about to cry.
"Why wouldn't anyone like her, for starters." Someone else said, calling in. "Her hair was a mess. But then again, so is Heath?" the person said, laughing meanly.
I blinked, my lips turning into a frown. I bit my lip harder, begging myself not to cry. Kim took the earplug from my ear, sparing my feelings.
"You OK, Mia?" she asked, frowning too.
I shook my head, letting my bangs cover my face so she wouldn't see. My un-done and messy curly bed-head hair falls on my shoulders. I stare down at my old converse, telling myself not to cry. "W-why…?"
"Oh, it's OK, Mia." Kim says, guilt setting in her voice.
"W-why would someone say that?" I put my hands to my face just as the tears begin to leak from my eyes. I bite my lip, crying historically. I try to keep my voice down.
"Oh no, Mia, don't cry! They're probably just jealous…" Kim responded, not sure what to say or do to help me.
I hiccupped through my tears. "I never even liked him in the first place!"
"I know, Mia. No one likes Heath Burns, he's an idiot." Kim tried to pet my head to comfort me, but it wasn't getting through.
"But it wasn't his fault…it was some girls." I say through my tears.
Kim stops petting me. "Wait, what? What girl, how'd she look?"
"Green eyes…orange-red hair with black strips I think…and she's part cat or something." I say weakly, trying to wipe away the tears that won't stop coming. "She took a picture of Heath and me when he threw his arm around me. It was on the first week, the first day I came here. She kept calling us a couple."
"Fashion don't." Kim heard the sound of a kitty's voice in her ears.
"Toralei…" she said angrily.
"W-what?" I looked up at Kim, my eyes slightly blurred.
"She's dog-food when I find her." Kim said, angrily stomping off.
I stood there, snorting and trying to wipe my face. Finally the tears dried. Just then something dropped at my feet. I picked it up, trying to call out to the person that dropped it, but they didn't seem to hear me. Slowly I unfolded it.
"Don't worry, Mia," I read aloud. "I'm the one with all the bad luck."
I sniffed, wiping my eyes one last time. Then, I realized who it was from. A sad smile found my face. I continued to cry, silently standing there, allowing myself to cry again.

"Mia…what are you doing?"
I hug onto him, letting my tears fall. I puff up my cheeks like Cara, hoping he doesn't ask me to explain what's wrong.
He pets my hair. "Alright," he sighs. "Well, you might as well come in."
I nod, releasing him and wiping away my tears with the knuckles of my fists. He holds the door open, I step inside. I blink at the girl sitting on the floor, playing cards with Minami.
"Oh," he blinks up at me. "It's Mia-chan."
I bow my head. "H-hello again."
Dakota's arms swings around my shoulders, his head bumps into mine. "She's had a rough day, mind if she hangs around for a bit?"
"It's your place, right?" Minami smiles. "But how about some ice-cream?"
Dakota shrugs. "Sure, why not. Be back in a sec, join them, you'll have fun."
I nod, watching as he goes to the small kitchen. I join the pair of them, taking a seat next to Minami. I look shyly at the girl. Minami giggles. "That's Miya-Miya-chan."
Suddenly my head lifts as I look at the girl. She's the one Dakota described as cute, the girl that sounds so familiar like me…
She's beautiful with white powdery skin that resembles chalk and shoulder-length silk-like midnight colored hair. Her eyes are just as dark. Her face is shaped heart-like and her eyes small and less slanted. Her nose is small too, yet her lips are plumped and swollen.
I blink at this girl named Miyako, as if I'm seeing an alien.
I don't think I've ever seen a girl this beautiful.
"H-hi, M-Mia." She says, her skin turning a bright red. I gasp, being reminder of Snow White.
"Hi…" I say, suddenly feeling unconfident in my looks.
"Alright, I've got ice-cream. Hope you guys don't mind vanilla and strawberry." Dakota says, sitting a cherry brown tray on the floor before himself.
Miyako smiles, her teeth blindingly white. "I love that flavor best."
I grow uncomfortable in my position. Why did I show up here?

I continue to run, almost exiting the parking lot in panic. My legs are wobbly and feet clumsy, but still I run. Suddenly, I open my eyes to find myself falling. I look up at the person I ran into, my eyes wide with nervousness. He offers a hand. "Hey, what's wrong?"
I take his hands and thank him with a nod as he helps me to my feet. "Someone else knows now…it was suppose to be a secret, but…"
"Knows what?" Rocco says, pulling me into a hug.
I feel myself shake in his warm arms. I pray I don't cry in front of him as he rests his chin to my head. I hiccup, hiding my face in his shirt as I begin to cry. "She knows too…Minami told her…"
"He told her that you're a monster?" Rocco whispers bitterly.
I nod, accidently getting snot on his shirt. "Why…why is everything turning out like this? I should've never came here…"
He pets my head, smoothes down my hair. "It'll be OK, Mia…just calm down."
I cry, telling him my sorrows through my tears. I pour out my feelings, telling him about the whole Heath situation and how Minami found out I was a monster. I tell him that I'm tired of hiding and about how it's so troublesome to walk around with horns on my head. He sighs, just listening as my tears wet his shirt. He doesn't pull away as I stop crying.
"I just wish I was a normal human girl…" I sob.
"But that's no fun, right?" He mumbles, rocking me from side to side.
I look at him, realizing how tall he is and how short I am. He has to at least be six feet. "Fun?"
"Being human isn't interesting, right?" he gives me kind, wise smile, as if he's already experienced all of this and now before.
"So you like being a monster…with all that hair and those ears?"
"Yep," he nods. "Those special things about me make my life much more interesting."
"Really?"
"Yes, really." He says, suddenly leaning down and brushing stains of hair from my face.
I blink my eyes closes, allowing for him to kiss me, and to my surprise, he does.