WHY AM I UGLY🎀?

The mirror never lied, but Nora wished it would. At sixteen, her reflection felt like a punishment. Pale skin that refused to glow, a nose she thought too wide, and eyes too small for the feelings buried inside them. At school, she sat in the second row, right behind Sasha—her best friend, her protector, and the girl everyone stared at like she was made of stardust. Nora never hated Sasha, but she hated the way standing next to her made her feel like a shadow, silent and shapeless. Carly, the reigning queen of the hallways, once whispered just loud enough, “You two are like Beauty and the Beast,” and laughed like cruelty was a sport. Nora laughed too—pretending not to feel it. But it stayed, like a bruise under the skin. Across the city, Lina wiped down the same counter she’d stood behind for six years. She had dreams once—maybe even beauty pageants, maybe theater—but life had this way of chiseling down your hope until all that’s left is rent and tips and pretending. She wore cheap lipstick and smiled at customers, but every night, she scrubbed her face raw, hoping to find something beautiful underneath the exhaustion. Jules passed her every morning, suit perfect, hair slick, never once remembering her face. He looked at people like numbers—calculations, outcomes, risks. He’d once dated someone like Lina. She was prettier then. But beauty doesn’t keep its shine in poverty. And he needed shine. Back in the school hallway, Nora looked at Sasha—laughing, radiant, surrounded—and whispered the question that lived in her bones: