Chapter 2: Ann

Billie POV

“Breathe,” the new girl said. She was nice, and she had been the one with me after the incident in the classroom. She had saved me from my twin and my boyfriend’s betrayal and brought me to the washroom. I couldn’t understand why she did it. I wondered if she would also make jokes about my weight and tell me to exercise to make myself pretty, just like everyone else had, including my parents.

But she only looked at me with concern in her shiny black eyes, framed by a round, beautiful face, and painted lips. She had neatly tied her short hair behind her head. I felt a pang of jealousy. How could she be so beautiful? She, I suspected, was a bully who feigned niceness before betraying me. I had always known this. I opened the tap and washed my face.

I was washing nothing since my ugly face needed no care. Big, chubby round face with a birthmark that makes me look like a chimpanzee. That is a perfect make-up.

I closed the tap, dried my face, picked up my bag, and turned to the girl.

“Thank you,” I said.

The girl smiled. “It’s okay, I am Ann”

“Billie”

“I know Bill’s Johnson, you are Blake twins. You are quite popular in your year,” she said, showing me her set of white teeth that almost made me want to bite myself. I mean, her teeth were neat and shiny like she was a model, modeling for a toothpaste. I tightened my mouth. Unlike mine.

I nodded at her. “Guess I am that famous, I am grateful,” I made to go out.

She blocked my way. “No, I am sorry, that’s not what I meant by popular. I meant you are well familiar with the teacher because of your excellent brain. I mean you are the best students in your year”.

“I guess that is another curse I inherited,” I said. How can I be brilliant without looking? Even Blake was not as brilliant as me, but she usually used her looks to get grades from our professor. That I knew it. The grade is easy and I only got a grade not looks, and that is another reason for believing John, but it turns out he is only using my brain.

Good player John.

“I am sorry Bill,” Ann said. I looked at her. What did she just call??. Bill. It was the first time someone called me by my short name. I heard people only called those important to them but their short names but since I got no one I was always given a bad name that suited my appearance.

“ about your sister and boyfriend, they are pathetic you know. They shouldn’t have done that to you.

“You should have had a better life, but it’s just hell.”

This was the first time someone was truly seeing my pain. Even the woman I called my birth mother and the man I called my father couldn’t see it. They always brushed it off as just a teenage prank, saying it would pass soon. But it never did; it only got worse, and they still couldn’t do anything about it.

“I know, I’m okay with it since it’s already become part of me,” I said, tears staining my eyes. I was trying not to cry, but I just couldn’t hold it all in.

Ann pulled me into a hug. “Yeah, I know. I understand how they treat you, and I’m sorry. But now you have me.”

“You have me?” What did she mean?

I pulled away from her. “Sorry, Ann, for troubling you. I should return to...”

“You have me now, Bill,” she said again, this time with seriousness in her eyes. “I will stand by you from now on. You can count on me as your best friend. I will help you get through it all.” She held my hand. “Together.”

I smiled at her as my tears fell freely; I couldn’t contain them any longer. This was the first time I had a real friend—someone willing to stand by me, to console me. For the first time, I felt I had a real family. Even though she isn’t related to me, I feel like she is my twin, just from knowing her. Is this happening?

“Thank you, Ann,” I said.

She squeezed my hand. “No, you don’t thank a friend.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

Everything felt like a dream. Ann was gentle, and that was how we became friends.

We exited the bathroom together and frequently visited each other, going out often. It was as if I had my life back. Ann did everything she could to make me feel like I mattered; it was the first time I truly felt alive.

“And this?” Ann asked, raising a blue top in her hands.

I shook my head. “No, it’s too big for me, don’t you think?” I said, picking up the oversized green top. “I think this one fits.”

Ann dropped the top she was holding and walked over to me. “I think you should be more confident in yourself, not worry about what others say about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you look down on yourself more than anyone else does, and that’s why you’re being bullied.”

I stopped picking up clothes and turned to her. “Ann, you might be wrong. This is just who I am. For the last fourteen years of my life, I have been like this. I’m fat, ugly, and out of shape. I was used and dumped by my boyfriend because of my brain, not because he loved me. My parents acted like they liked me, but they didn’t. I’ve been like this my whole life, and you expect me to see myself in a positive light? No. Ann, you say that because you haven’t experienced it.”

Ann sighed. “I know what it’s been like…”

“No, you don’t,” I snapped.

“Of course, I do,” she replied. “I’m sorry.” She sounded like she was hiding something, but I didn’t want to pressure her.

“I’m also sorry,” I said.

“Oh, if it isn’t the two lovebirds,” Blake said as she walked in, her hand linked with John’s, who had a sly smile on his face. Behind them were Blake’s friends, Alisha and Sofia, beaming at us.

What are they doing here? I thought. They shouldn’t be here.

Ann placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently to reassure me that she was with me. I offered her a small smile.

“How are you, sister?” Blake asked as she stepped closer to us. “I was wondering where you were when I didn’t see you in the library.” She glanced at the top I was trying on and holding. “Wait, are you trying to change your looks?”

I clutched the top tightly in my hands.

“Oh, I guess there’s nothing left to change here, Blake,” Alisha said. “I bet it was this Cinderella who chose to take her out, right Billie?”

I felt like I might sink into the floor.

“You should talk to me instead of her,” Ann said. “Yes, I was the one who took her out to get her some clothes. But what does that have to do with you since you couldn’t help your twin?”

Blake shook her head. “You’re mistaken there, girl. First, she isn’t my sister, and second, I remember Mom buying Billie clothes just a week ago—clothes that define who they are. Those big outfits, not these that don’t suit her.”

I wanted to cry. My sister was denying me now. Was she my twin?

“Yeah, those big outfits were what suited her,” Mimi added. Sofia giggled.

Sofia’s boyfriend also laughed.

“Excuse me, who is this girl to you, Blake? You said she isn’t your sister,” he asked.

“She’s just someone I live with, isn’t she?” Billie said, brushing her arm against John, who was busy enjoying the scene in front of him.

“Yeah, just someone she lives with,” John agreed. “Anyway, we’re going to be late for the movie. Nice to see you again, Billie.”

“Yeah, nice to see you again, freak,” Blake said. They both laughed as they headed out, leaving me and a speechless Ann behind.

“I don’t believe her,” Ann said, folding her arms. “How can she be so heartless and stupid? First, she goes after your boyfriend, and now she doesn’t want you to have any space of your own. What an unbelievable twin.”

“I guess she’s right,” I replied quietly.

“What?” Ann exclaimed.

“We’re not sisters. I’m just someone she shares a house with, and I’m a freak.”

“Don’t let that get to you, Bill. She’s just jealous.”

“Of what?” I asked. “My big body? My shapeless figure? My ugly face with a burn? What else?”

“You’re pretty, Billie,” Ann insisted.

“Please, Ann, stop lying to me…”

“I’m not lying. I’m telling the truth. You are beautiful, smart, and kind, while she is stupid and angry. She’s the real freak, thinking she has it all, but that’s a lie. You’re the real deal. Someone will fall for you, Bill.”

I laughed. “Who would fall for a person like me?”

“There’s always someone, Bill. Someone who will love and care for you just as you are, someone who will be your knight in shining armor. Someone who will cherish you and accept you for who you are. It’s the truth, Bill, it is.”

If words were like magic, I would have wished for that to happen. Someone who would care for me and accept me for who I am. I just didn’t know if that person existed or if it was just a fairy tale. But I guessed Ann was right. I just hoped so.