Chapter 2

2.

I was shoved out into the freezing night. Snow whipped against my skin, numbing my face with stinging cold.

I dragged my heavy, clumsy body step by step through the slush.

When I got home, Grandpa had made a massive plate of roast beef for my midnight snack.

In the past, I would have devoured it all with three bowls of rice.

Tonight, I could not swallow a single bite.

I retreated to my room and opened the journal resting on my desk.

The final entry had been written just the night before.

I had written: [I'm going to confess to Farrah tomorrow. I can't wait.]

I had genuinely believed I had a chance.

Around this time last winter, our class had gone on a ski trip to the mountains.

Everyone else was gliding down the slopes with ease, while I tumbled clumsily down a steep hill because of my weight.

I had dislocated a joint, and the throbbing pain kept me pinned to the snow.

The teachers were nowhere nearby. The classmates around me did nothing but point and laugh at how fat and useless I was.

Only Farrah had stepped up to defend me, scolding them for being cruel and judgmental.

She stripped off her ski gear and knelt down to help me up.

"Can you stand?" she had asked softly. "Do we need to call an ambulance?"

When the medics arrived, she leaned close and whispered something I never forgot.

"You're not fat or ugly at all. You look handsome even when you wipe out. My heart's honestly skipping a beat."

That sentence had shaken my entire world.

Ever since I gained weight, nobody had ever called me handsome. She was the first.

That was why I believed she had feelings for me.

And that was why I gathered every ounce of courage to confess on her birthday.