Chubby Duckling

“Chubby Fischer, right? Thanks, Chubby!” Chubby. Chubby. CHUBBY?! He thinks my real name is Chubby?! I never thought I would curse the name that I used to adore so much and made me feel like I belong to a special group with my two best friends in the whole world, Elly and Addy. To be fair, my name is supposed to be Chammy, short for Charmaine. Elly was short for Eleonore, and Addy was short for Adelaide. The three of us had the hardest name to pronounce in kindergarten. And after sharing the experience of being made fun of because of our mouthful names, we came up with similar-sounding nicknames for each other and became best of friends ever since. But being on the large size in high school, that cute nickname dubbed for me by my best friends was easily warped to a heinous one: Chubby, by bullies. “It’s CHAMMY!” I called out to the boy. But he was already running back to his friends with the soccer ball that I graciously returned to him without so much as a grunt after I was hit with it in the back. “Are you okay?” Addy asked as she rubbed my back. “That must have hurt.” “Yeah, and did that butthead even apologize?" Elly put her hands on her hips and scrunched her eyebrows before shooting daggers at the back of the boy who has now reached his teammates and was readying to play again. "No, but it's okay. I was more hurt that he got my name wrong." "Honestly, Chammy, you're too kind. I wouldn't have given him back the ball. Not unless he begged on his knees and asked for forgiveness!" Elly said as she linked her arms with me. "Yeah!" Addy chimed in and copied Elly, linking her arms on my other side. They pulled at my arm and started to lead me towards the building where our classroom is located. I rolled my eyes in response. If either of them does get hit by a ball, they wouldn't even need to ask for an apology, they would instantly get it and more. The whole soccer team would probably have apologized too, punish the boy who was at fault, and even fight each other about who gets to take Elly or Addy to the clinic. That's the power of beauty in high school. Addy and Elly are two of the most gorgeous girls in campus, and they are known as the Freshmen Goddesses. Addy, with her straight and long blonde hair can pass as a shampoo commercial model. She's sweet and very feminine. She acts like the mother of the group, with her caring personality and her constant nagging about studying hard, cleanliness, and being a responsible citizen of the society. If Addy is the mother, Elly is like the father. She's very protective of us and she's very athletic. She knows and is good at almost every sport - even mobile games. She's also like the father because she's the group's provider. She's filthy rich and she loves to spoil us with food and other fancy stuff she's used to having. Her boyish charm and pretty face attracts both guys and girls on campus. Unlike me, who doesn't get noticed by anyone because I'm short and round. It's not that I'm bad looking, it's just that my two friends are insanely beautiful and skinny that I look plain and fat next to them. With my short curly dark hair, pale face, plump cheeks, and bright brown eyes hidden behind thick glasses, I'm passable as cute - or so my friends say. I'm the cute cheery chubby baby of the group, being the youngest among us three. "Move! The Freshmen Goddesses are coming!" The three of us walked along the crowded corridor which was suddenly cleared with a path like Moses parting the sea of students. "Wow, it should be a crime to be that beautiful..." "I'm really glad I came to this school!" Whispers like that among the students can be heard whenever Addy and Elly are seen cruising the halls together. "Addy Lewis is so beautiful that I heard she got scouted as an actress by multiple agencies but she keeps turning them down." "I heard, Elly Bailey used to model for that famous sportswear brand!" "Who's that other one with them?" "The fat one? She's their friend, they're always together." "Elly and Addy are so nice to include her in their group." "I think her name is Chubby." "Haha! Her name suits her!" "Addy Lewis has the hottest rack." "Elly Bailey has the hottest legs." "Chubby...has the the hottest friends!" "Ha! Good one!" I'm fairly used to getting overlooked. It has been this way since middle school when Addy and Elly hit puberty, while I was left still waiting for mine to happen to this day. It used to piss me off that no one knows who I even am, but now after hearing people call me chubby, I would gladly be invisible again. Or maybe just get my name right. "Her name is Chammy." Elly turned to that guy who made the crude remark about how the name chubby suits me. "It's short for Charmaine, which does suit her, because she's pretty charming, right?" She crossed her arms and looked the guy straight in the eyes, daring him to disagree. The guy, who I think is a sophomore and a member of the chess club, visibly gulped and nodded his head. "Y-yeah, it s-suits her." The poor guy stuttered before scampering inside his classroom. I do have the hottest friends. But more than that, they're also the kindest, nicest friends. They always stand up for me whenever they think I'm being bullied, and they never made me feel left out. "The poor guy almost peed his pants" I chuckled as I tugged on Elly's arm so we can continue walking towards our classroom. "Bravo, Elly! That's surprisingly tame by your standards." Addy smiled at Elly. "I guess you finally got through to me with your constant nagging." Elly shrugged and we all laugh. "But seriously, this is all Tiffany’s fault. I can't promise to be tame if it was her." "Although I would also like to see you rip her head off, I must advise you to refrain from doing so or you'll get into another trouble. The semester barely started and the principal has already called for your parents twice!" I admonished Elly. Addy giggled, "when do you think principal Hemming will realize that he's been talking to your driver and not your dad?" We all laughed again at that as we enter the classroom. "Speak of the devil," Addy whispered to us. I squeezed Elly's hand in an attempt to remind her to behave herself. "Hi Addy! Hi Elly!" Tiffany Adams approached our group but only looked at the two girls on either side of me as she greeted them. "I'm having a party this weekend. The parentals are out of town. You guys should totes come. It'll be lit!" She snapped her fingers and Jessica, who was standing behind her on her right side, quickly handed Elly and Addy an invitation. "...acquaintance party?" Addy read the invitation before looking up at Tiffany with questioning eyes. "Yeah, it's really just supposed to be a party for us Freshmen, but some of my sophomore and junior friends talked me into inviting some of them, and even a couple of seniors expressed interest in attending!" Tiffany flipped her hair as she explained to Addy before turning to look at Elly and continued, "it'll be the first and biggest party of the semester. So you really should come." "Yeah, it'll be the first and biggest. Tiffany is so popular!" Jessica chimed in eagerly while nodding her head. "Make sure to RSVP. Jessica will collect them after class." She continued to ignore me so I cleared my throat. "Hi Tiffany," I greeted her with a smile. "Oh, hi..." "Where's my invitation?" I asked. "Oh," Tiffany looked like I asked her something ridiculous. "You see, I have limited invites and because I had to accommodate some of the upperclassmen..." "Is Chammy not invited?" asked Addy with a frown. "We're not going then," Elly took the invitation Addy was holding and handed it back to Jessica together with her invitation. "What? But..." Jessica, baffled by Elly's actions looked at Tiffany with concern. "If they don't come, Matthew and the whole basketball team won't come." Jessica whispered just loud enough for us to hear which made Elly snicker. "Shut up-!" Tiffany whisper-yelled. She cleared her throat and put on the sweetest smile she could muster. "Now, now. Let's not be hasty with our decisions. Of course Chubby is invited-!" "It's Chammy." The three of us said in unison. "Right, Cha-mmy." Tiffany relented and personally handed back Elly's and Addy's invitation while ordering Jessica to give me mine. "So, I'll see you girls on Saturday?" It was more of a statement than a question because she did not wait for an answer as she flipped her hair, turned, and snapped her fingers like a cue for Jessica to follow. The bothe of them strut down to their seat at middle of the first row. The three of us sat at the back. I proceeded to sit by the window while Elly and Addy sat together in the row in front of me, leaving the seat to my right empty. This has been our seating arrangement since middle school whenever we have classes together. The two of them avoid the row with the view of the door while I prefer to have the extra seat next to me reserved for my bag and mountain of books. The bell rings and the teacher walks in. I bring out my textbook and pen. Before I automatically slide the invitation inside my book like a bookmark, I thought of the party. I can't believe Tiffany was able to invite the basketball team. And that I was invited as well. He's gonna be there. The thought that I might see the most good looking basketball player of Southridge High this Saturday excited me. Maybe I can finally get the chance to talk to him. I tapped on Elly's shoulder. "So, to go or not to go?"