pizzaface | ✓

38.

MISS MULROY was standing at the front of Noel's English class with a wicked gleam in her eye. "I hope you guys didn't forget your papers and presentations were due in today." A collective groan sounded throughout the class. "Might I jog your memory on the assignment. It was to write a piece in relation to the novel Black Wings about feeling different in any way... remember? I'm expecting A+ work!"

Noel was sitting way too close to Myron that he could smell the lingering scent of his aftershave. Underneath the table their hands were interlinked. "Hey soulmate." Noel whispered underneath his breath. Myron turned to Noel with a smirk, tapping his pencil idly with his other hand.

"What is it, soulmate?"

Noel stifled a laugh, heck he didn't know why he was laughing so much today. "Did you do the assignment?"

Myron nodded, pointing his pencil to the neat folder on his desk. "I talked about my mixed heritage, being both Mexican and Indian in a predominantly white town hasn't come without its challenges." Myron then stopped for a moment, as if pondering. "I really like writing you know?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, a lot more than football actually...maybe it's something I'll think about in the future."

"That's so good, you should really explore that, maybe you could-"

Noel's wandering brainstorm was halted by Miss Mulroy glaring at the two. "When you two have finished flirting, I'd like to see your work, everybody else has given there's in." The class erupted into mild laughter at Miss Mulroy's scathing comment. Noel tried to fight the blush in his cheeks, while Myron sauntered up to the teacher with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Here's my work Miss, and I must say, I love the hair." This hair, in fact referring to Miss Mulroy's now shaved head, Noel couldn't help but think it meant something in his life.

Miss Mulroy shot Myron a glare before glancing at Noel, "and where's yours?"

"I decided to do mine as a speech, I have it typed up on my memory stick, but it's better if it's said I think."

"Okay get up here."

Myron had now returned to his seat, throwing Noel a large cheesy smile. He clapped his hands wildly. "Wooooooo, go Noel!"

Most of the class ignored him.

Noel stood in front of the class, scanning his peers for a moment, he saw Marcel sitting at the back with the other football guys, talking and yawning and throwing screwed up pieces of paper at each other. They no longer evoked fear or annoyance from Noel, rather indifference, and though they relentlessly teased him towards the start of the year, they had nothing to say to him now. Noel then looked at Myron and he felt a sudden insurgence of confidence overwhelm his body, he couldn't wait to tell his mom all about him when he got home.

"You've got this Noel!" Myron shouted one more time, cupping his hands over his mouth. Noel smiled tightly at him, and then he began to speak.

"Everybody has their insecurities, things they feel that make them different. For Teala, it was her black wings, beautiful and mysterious, foreign and terrifying, for me, it was being unwanted. It was being the last cookie in the barrel, the one left behind in a race, in a game, or by his father...and I guess this manifested into something physical, something tangible, my acne. My acne was my shield, my excuse to hide away, if I didn't let anyone close...then I couldn't feel unwanted by them. But it turned me into a recluse, stripped away my sanity, left me trembling and cold and nothing. I lost my friends, I lost my family, I lost myself. That was the biggest difference between Teala and I, Teala knew her wings were gorgeous and she didn't let anyone take that away from her, she embraced them, she broke free of society's expectations and rules, then she made her own, her own path to follow, and whoever wanted to join her could...and in a terrifyingly similar way that happened to me, one of my best friends, May, who isn't in this class anymore- because she moved to A.P- she helped me in ways I couldn't even imagine and not only her, but her friends too, I couldn't afford for my acne to be the reason I let life pass me by. That the mistake of one person or a multitude would ultimately determine my future...and yes, it hurts when you're ostracized, when you're marginalized, just like Teala was convinced to take poison in order to turn her wings white like the rest, because the harsh words and the crippling feeling of alone was too much to bear. But what I've come to realize is, if it isn't your acne, it's the shape of your nose, your lack of social skills, your hair is too long, too wild, too messy, you talk too much, you don't talk enough. There will always be something, I can guarantee you that, but just like Teala, this something doesn't define you...simply you do. I'm different, yes, we all are, let's stop treating it like a bad thing. Teala did and now she's queen of her own kingdom... Thank you."

Silence. For a split second Noel swore nobody breathed or moved, once his voice died away, his fellow pupils stayed quiet for a moment to let his words sink in.

Then came rapturous applause (as rapturous it can get for a class of thirty pupils).

Myron was the loudest. Of course Myron was the loudest, Noel thought. He was the first to stand up on his feet, screaming repeatedly. "That's my soulmate, guys! That's my guy!" And even though everybody was clapping and some even tearing up and he could hear Miss Mulroy congratulating him and telling him how he is most definitely getting an A+.

All he cared about was Myron's face glowing at him and the fact he was going to gorge on chipotle and fro-yo with all his friends after school and once he'd get home his mom would be there with her plans about starting afresh in a small apartment with plants upon plants that reminded her of home.

And Noel thought, as he dragged himself back to his seat, while receiving countless rough pats on the back and a myriad of awed accolades;

Not too bad for someone nicknamed Pizzaface, not too bad at all.