Ugly(23)

The phone starts ringing again and this time it’s Mr. Hackly. “Hello,” I answer it quietly.

“When I, or my son, call you, I expect you to answer it promptly. Understand?”

“Yes, sir, but I’m in class.”

“I don’t care. I got you an interview at the grocery store straight after school this afternoon. The manager’s name is Stacey, and she’ll be waiting for you at four. Do you need a lift getting there? I can come get you,” he says into the phone.

The hairs on my arms stand and I involuntarily scrunch my nose. “I’m okay, thank you. There’s a bus that will get me there.”

“You know which store, right? I can come get you,” he instantly says.

A shudder of ice rips up my spine. The sooner I can get some money together, the better. I’m not ungrateful, truly I’m not. I just think it would better if I found a studio apartment on my own. “Thank you, but I’m okay.” I tuck some hair behind my ear as it limply falls over my face.

“Make sure you look presentable. She’s a good friend of mine and I told her you’re a good kid. Don’t disappoint me, Lily.”

“No, Sir. I won’t.”

He hangs up without saying another word and I walk back into my English class.

At lunch, I sit at a table on my own, and I eat the sandwich Mrs. Hackly has prepared for me. As I’m looking over my math homework, Audrey, one of the popular girls, comes and stands in front of me. “Hey,” she says to get my attention. I look up from my math homework and smile at her. “Are you going out with Trent Hackly?” she asks. There are four of them standing together in their designer clothes, with their perfect hair, flawless make-up and incredibly low vocabulary.

“Yeah,” I say as my gaze flows among the four girls.

Trisha and Candy laugh, while Audrey quickly sends them a dangerous scowl. The fourth is holding in a laugh, though her face betrays her. “He’s going out with you?” she asks condescendingly. She looks down her nose at me and sneers.

“Yeah,” I say again, but my voice is so small.

“Must be good a lay,” Audrey snorts to the other three girls as she turns her back and walks away.

What a nasty person. But what does she mean by that? I know I’m not pretty, and I don’t look anything like those girls, but what does she mean?

I quietly sit and eat my lunch, but I’m distracted by Audrey and her words. Ordinarily, she’s not a nice person. She’s horrible, a bully. And one day it’ll come back and bite her on the butt, but her words have cut straight through me.

All these years I’ve been invisible – a shadow, simply walking behind everyone else. No one knew me. And I liked it that way, because it meant no one got close to me. If I had no emotional connections to anyone, they couldn’t ask me questions. They couldn’t see who I was. I was just the girl everyone ignored.

But now I have someone’s attention. And I don’t want it. I don’t want the looks, the laughs, the pointing, or the stares that come with hormonal teenage girls who are naturally nasty.



“Hi, I’m Lily Anderson and I’m here to see the store manager, Stacey,” I say to one of the girls working the front counter at the supermarket.

The girl looks at me with a smile and says, “I’ll call her down.” Her name badge reads ‘Shayne’ and she seems really friendly. And beautiful. Her hair is long and a rich mahogany, and she has the biggest, brownest eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Thank you,” I say as I step back and adjust my school bag on my shoulder.

Shayne calls Stacey then looks over at me. “You here for an interview?” she asks.

“Yeah, I am.”

She looks over her shoulder then whispers, “She likes hard-working people.” Then she winks at me.

I smile at her, feeling comfortable already. Strange, because I don’t feel comfortable around anyone. Except for Mrs. Hackly, I like her. Even Trent doesn’t let me fully relax. Something about him niggles away at me.

“You must be Lily Anderson. Chris has told me a lot about you,” says a striking blonde woman as she walks toward me and stands beside me.

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” I hold my hand out to her, she takes it in hers and shakes.

“Come upstairs and we’ll have a chat.” She turns and quickly starts walking away. My eyes are instantly glued to her sexy, hour-glass figure. Her strides are filled with such confidence and strength. It makes me envious to see those qualities in a woman. “This way,” she says, as she leads me up a narrow staircase.

At the top on the right, she opens a door and steps inside before closing it and sitting behind an ordinary looking white desk. I sneak a look around the room and see how everything is in its place. Nothing out of order. Her desk is immaculately clean, with papers stacked neatly, and all pens in a container pointing down.