The Ugly Duckling

and her journey to flyness

I was always the ugly, funny friend.

My best friend back in high school…well, really, she was more of a frenemy, one of those girls that your mum warns you to stay away from, but you’re convinced she’s your bestie. How do mum’s always know? Anyway, she was the pretty girl. All the boys lusted after her. None of them so much as looked in my direction. It was my lot in life. I got it. I was never called pretty, never complimented on my looks.

But man, was I funny.

One day, we were sitting in music class. There was a conversation happening about modelling. Frenemy was talking about her plans to take the industry by storm. The other girls fanned her flames - she had that kind of energy that people flocked to, but were kind of scared of. She turned to me and said ‘you should look into modelling too.’ My heart swelled. What?! Could this beauty actually be saying I’m attractive? My breath was caught in my chest. I couldn’t believe it. No one had ever said that to me. And just as I was about to weigh in with my thoughts, she said ‘yeah, they’re looking for….different looking people these days.’ A little smirk crept across her face and the other girls stifled their giggles.

And just like that, all the wind went out of my sails. How could I ever have thought, even for a moment, that they’d think I was pretty?