Opposites Attract | Wroetoshaw/Sidemen

1

I sigh as I wake up to the early morning choir of birds chirping. After many years of hearing this tune it has become more of a cry you would hear in a battlefield or something. I despise it, especially as it wakes me up at 5:30am. Every. Single. Day.

I groan and try to cover my eyes with my blanket, but the amount of holes in it makes my wish impossible. I cuss under my breath, but it wouldn't matter if I screamed it anyway. I get dirty looks all the time. Maybe because I literally am dirty, but I can always feel the looks and how they linger on me, until I cover my face in embarrassment. It's been this way since as long as I can remember. I've gotten used to it.

Today isn't very different. Wake up too early, listen to my stomach rumble and try to freshen myself up. I look down at my awful state of an outfit and realise I needed a new wardrobe. All my clothes are scattered around me, all old and worn out, none showing my actual body shape, all baggy and oversized. To be honest I'd forgotten what my body looked like, the curves, my slightly underweight self.

I prepared for the day ahead. Brushed my matted, wavy blonde hair, attempted to flatten out my creased top, hole-covered leggings and checked my face in the window. Pretty average, malnourished, fairly spot-free face.

An average day for me was like any other person. Wake up, get ready, prepare for the day ahead. But there was a slight difference.

I yawned and began my day. I opened up the second to last packed sandwiches I had left and ate, making sure I made no mess. I didn't want any crumbs or condiments on me. I had to make a good impression for anyone.
I had to.

As soon as I finished my sandwiches, I got up and made my bed. Then I sat back down and scrolled through old messages on my phone. It was pretty old, it was free so I'd take that as a good deal. I was scrolling until I came across one contact.

Bestie xx

I quickly deleted the contact before floods of tears came pouring out. I had to keep it together.
She was my only friend. My best friend in fact. The one I told everything to. The one I trusted with my life. What utter bullshit.
One test escaped the clutches of my eye and it was gone as fast as it came.

Her name was Fiona Reed. The one girl who knew me better than anyone ever did. No one wanted to get to know me anymore. And I didn't let them. I couldn't trust anyone ever again, that was something I lived by. She broke my heart, my trust and I were ruined forever.

The typical popularity contest took over her.
In under a week of starting our fourth year in school, she had changed her hair.
I complemented her and encouraged her to do whatever she wanted.
Next she added piercings.
Again I stuck by her side.
Then her style came into the mix. And again I stuck by her and told her no matter what she did I'd always be there for her.
But then the one thing I feared would change happened. Her personality.
She became stuck up and rude. Mean and heartless. Bossy and controlling. She edged me  and begged me to change too. Saying we could be popular together. Besties forever. Look how that turned out.

She convinced me even though I told her I didn't want to. I did it for her as she was my only friend. The only one I thought would stick by me.
I was wrong.
When after a week of trying to change just to please her became more and more peer pressure, the more and more I hated who I had become. I was rude to people who weren't smart enough. I was heartless to people who were upset. I began to realise what a monster I had become and it was just to make Fiona happy. Because she couldn't see what had happened to herself. She just liked the attention.

I told her I didn't want to act like this anymore. I told her this wasn't me and it wasn't her. She was furious and said why I was being so stupid.

'This is all I've ever wanted!
Why couldn't you just do this for me?
You've always been so selfish.
I don't need this.'

Then she did something that changed my entire life. She exposed me for who I actually was. What I didn't want everyone to know. People immediately judged me even if they knew me to begin with, people judged me if they didn't. I wanted to disappear in the moment. She stood up on one of the yellow tables in the lunch hall and screamed for all to hear;

"Kelli Wills is homeless."

My future was gone
like a magicians trick.

(end of part 1
hope you enjoy this first part
as there's many more to come!)