Jupiter

Chapter 1- Temptation

"Hey loser! Read this!" The snowball flew at her face, just as Kate glanced up. The snow covered rock hit her right in the lens of her thick, horned rim glasses. The stone crashed through the inch thick lenses, and slammed into her left eye. Her vision swirled in red, and her ears filled with sound of shrilling laughter as the kids continued on. She walked home, rubbing the necklace that kept all of her imperfections showing, everything that made her human, on the exterior, for all the world to see. She was tempted, very tempted, to just take off the necklace, drop the imperfect exterior, and show the world her soul. The important part of a human.

On Jupiter, where Kate was from, there were no exteriors that differed from the interior. The souls determined the looks of a creature. If someone had a beautiful soul, they were beautiful. But if they had an ugly, mean, soul, then they were the most horrendous creature alive. Of course, most were mediocre by their standards, but even the most ugly soul on Jupiter was more beautiful than the creatures, er, humans, that lived on Earth. They were all so corrupted by greed that they couldn't be even slightly pretty by Jupiters standards. If a creature from Jupiter were to become as corrupted as humans, they would be banished to Earth, which, contrary to popular belief, is how the human race started. The 'God' most humans believed in was actually a beautiful soul from Jupiter that believed killing and imprisoning ugly souls was inhumane, but he of course agreed we shouldn't have to live with them, so his solution was to send them to a new planet and make them fend for themselves. They have obviously evolved since then, and some say they've become worse than we left them. They now depend on the crappy 'air' those humans breathe, instead of being able to planet jump and instantly adapt to the new atmosphere. 

"Dumbass! Wake up! We already know you're stupid, you don't have to retreat into whatever you have instead of a mind." Alan Wright screamed at her, chucking a rock at her again, not even bothering to hide it in snow. She was rubbing her necklace so hard by now, the clear-blue sphere crystal wrapped in gold dragon talons was about to fall off the fake chain she'd purchased for a convenient way to hold the power orb. She knew she couldn't take it off. She knew that. But still, the idea of stunning them all with her sheer beauty ran in a constant loop through her head. No, she decided. I'll phone Cassie and get her to agree to a stunning reveal, where I can laugh in their faces as they gravitate towards me. Where they'll ask me for dates instead of suicide. Where they'll hand me gifts and compliments instead of insults, and pain. She could see it now, all the boys that bullied her wanting her as their girlfriend. All the girls that ignored her when she needed a friend, wishing as hard as they could to go back and befriend her when they had the chance. She'd show them. Beauty is not something you can buy from a drugstore for $5 in the shape of a mascara tube or a bottle of hair gel. True beauty is being nice, and giving, and loving. So she did what any beautiful citizen of Jupiter would do. She smiled at them.

 "Have a good day Alan! Thanks for the tips! You know, I actually did know you all think I'm stupid. But thank you so much for the daily reminders! It really keeps me in my place, ya know? Anyway, I hope you and your friends have a wonderful evening, and good luck on Mr. McGorney's test. I hope we all pass!" With her final kind words leaving them confused, she turned on her heel, and walked the final few steps home, her short, bushy ponytail swinging.