🦅🥋🏆Mostly inspired by Tumblr prompts featuring Eli 'Hawk' Moskowitz, Demetri Alexopoulos, Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, to name a few.
Or, the AU KK/CK (and Jacob Bertrand) ficlet and non-fanfic collection I decided to write even though...
Prompt: "Why didn't you pay any attention to me before when I had glasses? What makes you think I'd want to be friends with you now when you didn't like how I was before?"
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Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, Demetri Alexopoulos, Demetri's girlfriend Yasmine and Yasmine's friend Moon crossed their fingers as they looked at Jane Anderson, the 'ugly duckling' who was now a beautiful swan. "Good luck, Jane," Yasmine nodded.
Jane returned Yasmine's smile. "Thanks, Yasmine. I've forgiven you for bullying me. Now, it's time for me to face my other hopefully now former tormentors."
Hawk, Demetri, Yasmine and Moon nodded, knowing who Jane meant right then.
***********************************
"There are two questions I want to ask you, my hopefully now former tormentors," Jane said.
"Oh, yeah? What are they?" asked one former bully, speaking for both himself and his fellow former bullies, as well as the former mean girls.
As calmly as she could, Jane took a deep breath, and then stated, "Why didn't you pay any attention to me before when I had glasses? What makes you think I'd want to be friends with you now when you didn't like how I was before?"
None of the former bullies and the mean girls seemed to know what to make of that; their eyes darted back and forth among each other. So utterly shocked and taken aback at her words were they that they couldn't even think of an answer, much less an insult to throw right back at her. Demetri, Yasmine, Hawk and Moon exchanged glances and nodded; Jane's former tormentors would never be able to find a way to apologize for their treatment of her back then, or find an answer to why they'd done what they did.
Jane was someone almost all the other students at West Valley High used to pick on just because she used to look so plain with glasses, braces and acne. The way she looked now — all cleaned up nicely and wearing a lovely dress — was kind of a shock to them. She'd changed from the last time they saw her; she now had clear skin, the braces were off and the glasses had been replaced with contacts. Sometimes, they'd often wonder what had happened to the Jane they thought they knew from back in high school.
Although they'd seen and mingled with the beautiful swans, it was hard for them to picture Jane as one; they still saw the 'ugly duckling-slash-wallflower' who'd usually sit off to the side without a date during school dances in the gym since none of the boys had sat up and took notice of her, let alone asked her out. (The only dance they didn't see her at was Homecoming; as they'd heard through grapevine gossip, she'd decided to stay home instead.)
After pulling themselves back to reality, they saw her give them an icy cold glare, which would've given any former bully or mean girl the wiggins (a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
And speaking of which, there were a few of those who felt the acute sting of regret when they recalled their actions from back then.
Had we been more open-minded and clear-headed back then, we would've vowed to be against bullying and shown Jane more empathy, and even summoned up the courage to stand up to those who picked on her. Heck, we would've even turned the tables on them by making them feel the same way they'd make her feel from time to time.
