I tossed and turned, trying feverishly to fall asleep. I had lain awake in my old room since midnight, and had yet to fall into slumber. Finally, I gave up and, seeing no other alternative, turned on my bedside lamp and pulled out Beastly by Alex Flinn from the nightstand.
I had barely started the first sentence when my eyes slid shut.
"Go away!" I shouted, curling up into a ball and shutting my eyes tightly. The mulch under the big yellow slide poked at me, making me uncomfortable, but I didn't care. I hid my face in my hands, thinking that, perhaps, if I couldn't see them, they wouldn't be able to see me.
"You can't tell us what to do, Ugly. You're stuck with us. Forever." Mean laughter echoed all around me as the taunts and jeers kept on coming. Only a few children were actually bullying me, but out of fear, the others did nothing to stop it.
"What kind of face is that? A pig's?" One girl guffawed, pointing at me and scrunching up her perfect nose. "No, wait, even a pig would be ashamed to have a face like that." Her mean jab brought tears pricking at my eyes, and another round of laughter from the kids surrounding us.
"Stop it..." I whimpered, trying my best to stay brave and remember what my mother had told me. "I'm not ugly."
"You wish you weren't ugly, cheese-face," the little girl spat, taking a handful of my hair in her hands and tugging it. "You'll never be pretty. You'll always be ugly." She hissed, giving my hair another rough yank.
"Yeah, cheese-face, you'll always be ugly." A few surrounding children echoed.
Tears began to slide down my face, but, instead of taking pity on me, it only egged the girl on more. "Ugh. A crying pig, how disgusting." She let go of my hair and shoved me so that I fell on my side in the dark red mulch. I made no move to get up, but remained there, crying silently until she flounced off towards the swing set, her perfect, curly brown hair bouncing along her shoulders.
"I'm not ugly..." I whispered quietly to myself between hiccups, "I'm not ugly..."
"You'll always be ugly... You'll never be pretty..." Their rude voices swirled around and around in my head, until I couldn't take it any longer. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and screamed, trying desperately to drown out the laughter.
I woke, as I always did, with my heart pounding erratically in my chest. My breathing was shallow, and my mouth dry. Briefly, I wondered if I had actually screamed aloud and if my mother had heard it from her room across the hall.
My mind was put to rest, though, when I heard a very loud snore. Yep, she was still asleep.
I debated for a moment whether or not I should try to fall asleep again, but the prospect of having to face those atrocious memories again made my stomach turn. Instead of drifting back to sleep, I threw the covers off of myself, slipped my feet into my fluffy, blue slippers and headed towards the kitchen for a midnight snack.
Flicking the light switch on, I moved towards the refrigerator and got out the milk then moved to the pantry and cupboards for cereal and a bowl. Unfortunately, the only kind of cereal my mom had on hand was the weird, goat-feed resembling, fiber-rich kind. I groaned and put everything but the milk back, and instead got a glass and some chocolate syrup. If I couldn't have cereal I would settle for a glass of chocolate milk.
As I blew bubbles into the glass, I felt like I was five years old again. Care-free and happy, like I was before--Hurriedly, I moved my mind to another topic from that dreaded one. No need to dwell on the unhappy past.
Almost too quickly, I finished my beverage and was forced to find something else to occupy my sleep-deprived thoughts. I considered, for a moment, calling Gavin, but then decided that it was probably too early to call anyone. But, then again... it was Gavin. If nothing else, I could irritate the living daylights out of him.
I grinned, and grabbed the phone from its charger on the black granite counter-top and dialled in the number that I knew by heart. It rang only twice before he answered.
"This had better be good." He didn't even bother to say hello.
"Well, it's good to talk to you too," I teased, hoisting myself up onto the counter-top so that I could dangle my feet in the air.
"Aislyn? Why are you--What time is--Why the heck are you calling at three in the morning?!" He shouted into the phone.
"Why the heck are you shouting at three in the morning?" I asked, wincing as his voice caused my ears to ring.
"What kind of person calls their best friend at three in the freaking morning?" Gavin complained, "I thought you loved me."
"I do love you!" I chirped happily. "And that's why we're going to breakfast."
"Now?"
"No, in three days; of course now, you idiot." I rolled my eyes, and leapt off of the counter. In truth, I hadn't planned on going to breakfast with him, but at least it gave me something to do.
"Nowhere is going to be open," he pointed out, being logical.
"Denny's is." I countered, flipping the light switch in my room and digging around in my drawers for something to wear.
He huffed on the other end of the line childishly, "Fine, I'll meet you at Denny's."
Without waiting to say goodbye, I pushed the button that disconnected the line and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. It really didn't matter what I wore anyways, it wouldn't change my physical appearance.
As soon as I was dressed, I ran a brush through my thin, blond hair and brushed my teeth before bounding out the door and towards the Denny's on Beach Street. It was about an hour's walk from my house to the Denny's, so I called up a cab. It may have been late, but there was a 24 hour taxi service. I waited a few moments outside before the bright yellow car arrived and I hopped in.
I didn't talk to the taxi driver the entire ride there, and he didn't speak to me. The only contact that we had during the car-drive was the exchange of money from my hand to his. He thanked me, and sped away.
Bright, orange and yellow lights spilled from the Denny's sign overhead. I pulled the door open and stepped inside to see Gavin already seated at a small booth in the far right of the diner. Only one other person was sitting at a table besides him. A man--or at least, I assumed it was a man--sat alone on the other side of the dining room, body covered in a tan trench coat and face shadowed by a large hat. For a moment I imagined that he was a spy, and Gavin and I would witness some kind of secret exchange when his informant came, but I quickly pushed all childish imaginings aside and walked over to sit with Gavin.
"So nice of you to stop by," Gavin grumbled. His black hair was rumpled in the back, sticking up at all kinds of odd angles, and if the bags under his usually happy brown eyes were any indication, he hadn't slept much before coming here to meet me. He hadn't even changed out of his baggy, plaid pajama pants and plain white t-shirt that he slept in.
"I couldn't leave my best friend hanging, now could I?" I grinned and slid into the booth across from him.
"You couldn't just let him sleep either," he complained, mock-glaring at me. Sure, he was upset, but he wasn't mad. He moaned again and let his head slump down onto the table.
"Can I get you guys something to drink?" An elderly woman, with grey hair that curled up about her ears came to a stop in front of our table.
"Your most caffeinated drink for him, and some hot-cocoa for me." I replied, smiling.
She smiled kindly back, and for a moment I felt okay about myself. She wasn't judging me by my looks. "I'll be right back with your drinks."
"I... need... bacon." Gavin mumbled, his voice muffled by the table.
"Well then, get bacon." I laughed, flicking the top of his head. "It's on me."
"It had better be," he said, "Waking me up at three in the freaking morning just to eat breakfast with you... What are we? Fourteen again?"
I smiled at the memory of us sneaking out at night on my fourteenth birthday. He had turned fourteen the day before, and I had insisted that we do something big for 'one of the biggest birthdays of our lives'. He had suggested a party, I had other plans.
"You know you liked going to that park." I scoffed, pushing my pale-blond hair behind my ear. I wrinkled my nose when I noticed Gavin looking at me. "What? Is there something on my face?"
He answered my question by rolling his eyes, "The park was fun, it was what happened afterwards that wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life."
"So Harriett stole your first kiss, big deal." I mimicked his eye-rolling and leaned back in the booth, "It's just a kiss. You're acting like a girl."
"Am not." He pouted, crossing his tanned arms across his chest. I swear, sometimes he didn't even act nineteen; sometimes he seemed like a 13-year-old girl in a man's body.
"Yes, you are, now turn that frown upside-down with this coffee," the elderly woman, whose name tag red 'Claire', declared, sweeping in with our drinks on a small tray. She set the steaming mugs in front of us carefully, then whipped out a pad of paper and pen, "Do you know what you're going to eat?"
"Bacon." Gavin answered immediately after he sipped his coffee. The caffeine hit his system and he perked up a bit. "Lots and lots of bacon."
Wrinkles erupted around the corners of Claire's bright blue eyes as she smiled, "Now here's a man who knows what he wants. You hold onto him, missy. He's a keeper." She winked at me, and I resisted the urge to laugh.
"Gavin is like my older brother, actually," I managed through my fight not to giggle. "But I'll be sure to pass on your advice to his future girlfriend."
"You do that," she said, "Now, what would you like to eat, young lady?"
"I'll just take the classic Grand Slam," I replied, folding my menu up and handing it to her, "You can give Gavin here my bacon."
She laughed as she took our menus into her wrinkled hands, "Just the entire Grand Slam." She shook her head good-naturedly and slipped the pad and pen back into her apron's front pocket. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Thank you," Gavin said as she walked away, then turned back to me. "You're such an amazing best friend, giving me your bacon."
"Eh, you owe me one." I winked at him and laughed at his annoyed expression as he took another large gulp from his coffee.
"You are so buying this meal," he retorted, settling the side of his face into the palm of his hand. "Because I don't have any money on me."
"Nice," I flicked his forehead. "I was paying for it anyways, remember? We talked about this five minutes ago."
"I feel like I woke up five minutes ago," he grumbled.
I shook my head at him and turned to look around the dining room again. It was still empty except for us and the trench-coat man. He had acquired a newspaper and was scanning the headlines. Finding that boring, I moved my gaze all around the room. Yep, still boring.
"Nothing interesting happens around here," I sighed, facing Gavin again.
"Lots of interesting things happen here; but not at four in the freaking morning."
I was going to reply, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Frowning, I pulled it out, "Who's calling me at four A.M?" I wondered aloud. I hit the 'accept' button and put the phone to my ear, "Hello?"
"Aislyn!" My mom's voice bubbled from the other end. "Where in the world are you? Why aren't you in bed? Are you with Gavin? Please tell me you're with Gavin! You’re not alone, are you? Oh my, I hope you’re not alone!" She paused. "I've got the most fantastic news!" Huzzah for mother-mood-swings.
"At," I glanced at my watch, "4:13?"
"Oh, time doesn't matter, dear, now are you ready to hear what I called you to tell you?"
"Yeah, sure..." I muttered, I was a little apprehensive about this 'most fantastic news'.
"I... have landed you a modeling job!"
"You what?" I gasped in disbelief, my hands flying to my face.
Gavin looked at me in confusion, "What's going on?" he mouthed.
Frowning, I ignored his silent question, "Wait, you did what, Mom?"
"I landed you a modeling job, today at 8 o'clock! Isn't this fantastic?" Even though I couldn't see her, I imagined that she was bouncing up and down, her blonde hair in multi-colored curlers and a funny green paste coating her face.
"Er, yeah, Ma, totally awesome."
Gavin snickered and mimicked 'Draco Malfoy' from 'A Very Potter Musical'.
"Is that it?" I sighed, sinking down into the cushions of the booth.
"Nope! You're grounded."
"Great, thanks, Mom."
"Anytime," and with that, the line went dead.