Never Worry About Me

Chapter 1: I Don't Care What Anyone Thinks of Me

The glow of a white light as pure as snow veiled my vision, its beauty and lack of decadence leaving a mark of perplexity behind.

With its streaks so blinding, there was a strange sense of familiarity embodying it, yet I was left behind its fog.

What is it... about this light... that leaves me feeling warm, yet... cold..?

"Angelica, Angelica."

The echoing of a familiar classmate's voice bounced in the back of my mind, and I unconsciously blinked those feelings away.

I smiled sweetly and responded with a soft "yes?", despite his scorn.

A corner of Nathaniel's lips quirked upwards into an insidious smirk while he leaned closer.

"Don't you find it ironic how your name means 'angel'? I mean no one thinks you're pretty. You wear the ugliest clothing, and you always have your hair in that pony tail of yours."

His hand reached for my pony tail, threatening to tear it off.

"You could be so much prettier if you would just let your hair down once in a while."

"And buy actual clothes that actual teenagers would wear." Nathaniel's friend, Cameron, added.

I lowered my eyes at what I was wearing as my smile started fading away slowly. I knew I didn't wear what others would wear, but that's because what all the other girls wore were very tight clothing, and they always showed too much skin. It was unsafe and disrespectful, and God would frown upon it. I felt the fuzzy fabric of my long sleeve shirt that had a kitten on it, and then my eyes wandered to my dark blue jeans, prior to my eyes re-fixating on Nathaniel and Cameron.

My lips separated as I spoke with an earnest smile. "I wouldn't want to change myself just to please others..." I then tightened my ponytail, realizing it was getting loose. "You like football. And that's great. It's what you like, and if it makes you so happy, if it puts a smile on your face, who cares what others think about it?" My smile widened as I gained back the spark in my ocean-blue eyes.

"So you don't care what anybody thinks of you?" He snarled in disgust and confusion.

"No." I voiced, sweetly.

And, it was true. I didn't care what others thought about me. Did you think that was the first time someone had told me my outfit was ugly, or that I was ugly? Because it wasn't. In fact, I got this sort of thing every day... and usually from the same people. But, I had never let it get to me, because I knew deep down that they had a heart and that somewhere in that heart was a soul. A human being. And every human being cared... just expressed it in different ways.

For Nathaniel, he expressed his humanity through degrading everyone's appearance.

But, he didn't know better. He didn't know how much destruction he could cause by his harsh words. He was just an ignorant boy lost in his own little fantasy world. He couldn't know better. And, I worried for all of those who were actually affected by those words. I even wanted to protect them somehow... someway, but I knew that I, out of all people, could do nothing about it. I was tiny and too soft spoken. And, I knew that I just didn't have it in me to do anything. I was too shy, and he wouldn't take me seriously. I mean, how could I have stood up for anyone when I couldn't even stand up for myself?

I just had to accept the fact that good things couldn't exist without the bad.

Nathaniel smirked and let out a hysterical laugh. At that point, all of my classmates had directed their stares at the three of us. This wasn't new though. We practically went through this routine everyday as if it were rehearsed.