Love Bites (Rewrite)

Chapter 1: The First Drop

On her way out of her room, Bex shoved her feet into her slip-on checkered shoes and trotted down the stairs. She distracted her dad by kissing him goodbye on the cheek while secretly using her hand to steal his jellied toast off his plate. She shoved the toast in her mouth, flipped her brother off when her parents weren't looking, and stole her sisters freshly poured apple juice. Then she hugged her mom goodbye before running out the door.

She ate the toast and drank the juice as she walked across the neighborhood towards the ditch which led all the way to the high school. In less than five minutes she was skipping up the steps of the school two at a time and tossing her plastic cup in the trash on the way in.

7: 30 AM – Arrive at school.

"Hey," Bex sat down at their usual table in the back corner of the cafeteria.

Her friends were already waiting for her, well most of them at least.

"Bex, tell Darci she doesn't need anyone to validate her," Joan, Bex's best friend gave her an incredulous look.

"Darci, you don't need anyone to validate you," Bex immediately responded.

"You don't even know the context," Darci defended herself.

"The context being her boyfriend said she looks fat today," Mike jumped in.

"What!" Bex's eyes went wide.

"He didn't say that," Darci quickly said.

"Not in so many words," Joan added.

It is no secret that Darci is overweight, that doesn't mean she's not pretty. Her friends like to be uplifting and never pointed it out as a flaw or a problem. Still, Darci is subconscious. With everyone in her friend group being in good shape and a lot slimmer than her, she often felt like the odd one out.

Darci is quite fashionable, she always wears dresses and cute accessories. Her makeup is always done up. Her blond hair is always stylized. Today she curled her hair loosely and let it frame her round face.

"I mean maybe I should lose some weight," Darci pushed her food away.

"That doesn't mean you stop eating," Joan pushed it back.

Joan and Bex were very similar in the fact that neither cared much about their looks. Joan has dark copper-colored skin and dark brown hair. Her jeans were purposely worn down looking and rolled at the ankles. She always wears these clunky army-looking boots. And always has some type of tank top and flannel combo going on. Her nails are always chewed off to the nub and her hair always pulled back into a braid. She wears big thick-rimmed glasses; the weight of them causes her to often push them back up the bridge of her nose as she talks.

"I swear to god I will punch him in the throat. You aren't fat Darci," Bex said.

"Yes, I am, that's a fact of life. Anyone looking at me would say so. I mean he might like me better if I were thinner," Darci pushes her two index fingers together.

"If that loser can't appreciate you for who you are, then screw him, you don't need him," Mike said.

Mike is a sports reject. He always tries out for all the sports teams but he also always gets rejected. He's too scrawny and short. He has shaggy brown hair that hangs in his face. He wears blue jeans, a plain t-shirt, and black chucks. He always has earphones around his neck. He is clean-shaven mostly because when he tries to grow something out it comes in patches and makes him look creepy.

"Guys can we just drop it," Darci begged.

Darci is dating Aron, aka the student council vice president. Bex often suspected he only dated Darci for appearances as he tried too hard to look like the nice guy. Yet despite her friend's warnings Darci agreed to date him anyway. They have been dating for two weeks.