Not Beautiful

Chapter 1: Jun Showers

I'm not gay, but I wish I were.

These thoughts have run through my head thousands of times while looking at my best friend. It's not only her beauty. Don't get me wrong: Jun could compete with any girl on the cover of a magazine. with her raven-black hair, milky-white skin, and long, sultry limbs. But it's more than that. It's the sway in her walk, the glint in her eyes, and the lull in her voice that make her an unstoppable force. But as I said, I'm not gay. So all these amazing traits of hers only serve to make all the men in the vicinity overlook little ol' me.

"Ali, look."

I looked over at where Jun was looking. It was the first week of the new UNI semester. We were in our second year. New students filled the campus. Enjoying the nice weather that late summer and early fall provided. And Jun was looking at a group of male students doing exactly that.

"Oh, look, a gaggle of douches."

"Don't be rude." Jun scorned, but there was no reproach in her voice; in fact, she laughed. "They look like first-year students. "Do you think they're into cougars?"

"Your definition of 'cougars' is off." "Since we have to be as old as their mothers, not a year older,"

"Details, details."

The guys were already looking over. Their eyes met Jun, and she didn't even have to move a finger. She was that good. But as I said, these guys looked like straight douches. Their hair, styled to perfection. Their shirts, too tight. And their muscles looked like they would deflate if they skipped a day at the gym.

"Come on, there will be plenty more where they came from." Jun shifted next to me, and her come-hither aura turned down.

"You're right, it's only the first day; I've got to keep my options open." We left the boys looking after us, well, after June. But hey, I was next to her, and that counts. and made our way to the lunchroom. The smell of fried and preserved food hit us like a brick to the face, along with the smell of human bodies. The lunchroom was packed. Older students, trying to relax between their first classes. And new students trying to get their bearings

"Was our first day this hectic?" I asked.

"No, at least not for me," Jun replied, scanning the room for an open table.

"Of course not," I remembered Jun's first day. Everybody was bending over backwards to help her. I'm not complaining; the help they gave her rubbed off on me too. I'm frustrated at how dense she can be about the benefits she gets.

"I see an opening; come on." Jun took my hand and dragged me through the crowd to a table. It reminded me of Moses parting the Red Sea as everybody stepped aside for her. It was a small table, but good enough for the two of us. It was also located pretty centrally in the room, giving us a good view of the happenings around us.

"The blessings of being tall," I commented as we sat down at the table. I pulled out an apple and set my water bottle down to scroll through my phone.

"Ali, look."

"Mmmhmm," I replied, too absorbed in my phone to pay attention.

"ALIDA!" Jun shouted and shook my hand.

"Good God, what?" "Can't a girl even enjoy her apple in peace?" I replied, annoyed.

"Look, look." I looked at where she was looking and saw a table at which five guys were sitting. Boys, of course.

"What? Another gaggle of "do-"

"No, no, look at the one in the middle in the leather jacket." So I did. His blond hair was ruffled up in that just-woke-up way. I could have grated cheese on those cheekbones, and he was dressed in that bad boy style. Leather jacket and all. He was exactly Jun's type.