SUMITRA - Ugly.

"Dude, who are you taking to prom?"

"Man, I was thinking of asking Roxanne..."

"No way, I wanted to ask Roxanne!"

"Shh, you nut! She's standing right there!"

"Shoot. Do you think she heard me?"

"Nah, man. I don't think so."

"Yeah, she looks kinda busy..."

Roxanne heard everything. She closed her locker and looked right at the pair. Her eyes moved down and then up, examining her victims, sizing them up. The boys detected her attention immediately and started waving their hands nervously. Roxanne snickered. She was amused.

"Dude. Dude, I think she's smiling at me..."

"What are ya talking about? She's smiling at me, not you."

"What the- no she isn't! She's obviously attracted to me!"

"Don't flatter yourself, John..."

"Ha! Look who's talking!"

"You!"

"Hey, where'd she go?"

Roxanne had turned her back against them and walked away a long time ago. "They're all the same," she thought. Just then, Gautam Gupta from Social Studies caught up with her.

"Uh...hey there, Rorrrorrroxanne..."

"Hey"

"Hey I was just uh wondering if you'd uh maybe wanna uh..."

"Go to prom with you?"

"Uh yeah..."

"Sorry, I'm not even sure if I'm going."

"Oh uh it's OK then..."

"Bye."

It's not that Roxanne was little Miss Fussypants or anything. She just knew the boys at school, or almost every boy she knew didn't like her for her. Heck, they never even knew her. They only knew her curves. Roxanne was waiting for someone to share conversations with, real conversations, someone she could text, late at night, in bed, someone who'd always be there to listen to her problems, understand her but most importantly, someone who admired her for her, someone different.

She felt everyone staring at her. They were all talking about her because they all saw how she had turned Gupta down. They were just pretending not to. See, when there's a whole bunch of people who admire you and who'd do anything to get in your pants, there's gonna be a group of people who hate your guts for no apparent reason. "She is like, so mean!" Roxanne heard one of them say. "Yeah, poor Gautam..." "Who does she think she is??" Frustrated, Roxanne entered the only room she could stabilise her emotions in -the girls' bathroom.

The toilet was empty, much to her relief. Roxanne opened the tap and washed the light makeup off her face. She looked into the mirror, glaring at her reflection. She saw the deep, brown eyes, the dark, wavy locks of hair, the long, curly eyelashes and the lush, pink lips.

"This is what everyone sees." she muttered. What everyone failed to see was her hard little mouth that spoilt her pretty face, the little frown lines that told of bad temper and the dark circles that were forming around her brown eyes because of the nights she spent crying in bed and the nights she just couldn't get any sleep.

Nobody noticed the bruises on her body, or the scars. Nobody knew about the bitter fights she has with her parents, every night. Nobody heard the words she has used. Nobody found out that Roxanne was actually an orphan, who lived with foster parents who were very fond of alcohol.

They never saw how ugly she truly was. No, they only saw a pretty face.

She closed the tap. Slowly, Roxanne took a deep breath. "I will not cry" she told herself ", not in front of these people." And then she exited. Home Economics was going to start.

SUMITRA