A Dare With The Bad Boy

It was five in the morning and Luna was already wide awake and staring at the ceiling. Her alarm clock wouldn’t even go off until two hours later, but here she was, a hundred thoughts running in her head and so she couldn’t get back to sleep.  There was only one reason as to why.  In a few hours, she would be going back to her high school. This was not her first time since she was already a Junior or in her third year, but it was her first time showing up there again after disappearing three months before her Sophomore year ended.  After an unfortunate incident, Luna didn’t have a choice but to be hospitalized. She still remembered every detail about it even though she tried her hardest to forget.  It was a Monday morning, the sun was up and bright during Spring time and this was usually the time that the weather seemed erratic. It would change from warm to cold throughout the day without any warning at all.  For Luna, this was her least favorite season, only because she had a hard time figuring out what to wear to help hide her insecurities. She also didn’t like the summer time, but not as much because she could stay indoors as there was no school.  And to her, she had a lot of insecurities to hide. From head to toe, she was always so uncomfortable with her body and face. Every time she passed by a mirror, she would choose to look away. She couldn’t bear to see herself. She also disliked looking back at her old pictures because it reminded her of how much had changed.  The pictures of her when she was a child, around grade school, she looked thin and beautiful, but then eventually, once she hit puberty, for some reason she started to gain weight. It was as if she had suddenly started eating every minute for her to bloat that way. Besides that, because of all the sugary stuff she had been consuming, she suddenly developed a lot of acne.  From the first year of high school, she was dubbed as the school’s ugly duckling, which also meant the number one person to bully.  Luna had gotten used to being bullied so she preferred to hide in layers of clothing. She usually sported a big hoodie and long pants that helped cover her whole body.  The problem with Spring time was that sometimes it would go from cold then warm and Luna had a hard time dressing up for it.  While she was walking to the bus stop to get to her school, she felt the weather start to become warm and began to sweat profusely. She was starting to feel like she was going to faint and before she got to the bus stop, she decided that she would walk back to her house first and change into a long shirt instead because that would at least be less warm but still be able to cover her body.  As Luna was walking back, she was unable to take in the heat and looked around the place before concluding that there was no one around her and that she could take off her hoodie and just walk back to her house wearing her undershirt.  Unfortunately for Luna, she didn’t see that a group of her classmates were heading towards her and they immediately spotted her.  “Hey! No pigs allowed!” Someone shouted at her and she turned to see who it was.  Emily Andrews, the most popular girl in school. Emily had long beautiful golden blonde hair and ever since she was a child, Luna remembered how beautiful she was.  Emily and Luna actually used to have a past. They were best friends since they lived right next to each other. They were almost inseparable. That was until Emily hit puberty and turned into the school’s beauty, while Luna was left behind.  Almost instantly, Emily completely changed once she realized her full potential, which was that all the boys wanted to be with her and all the girls wanted to be her. Emily, without even caring about Luna’s feelings, completely dropped her as a friend. To make things worse, Emily soon started to bully Luna only because she believed that this would make her cooler.  Luna, for a while, was heartbroken about losing her friend and for her to also suddenly go against her, but she had learned in her first year of high school that people could really be terrible and she somewhat got used to it. Or so she thought she did. Luna felt ashamed about Emily’s words but it wasn’t the first time this had happened.  Just ignore it and keep walking, Luna thought, and that was what she did. She kept her look ahead of her and started walking faster and faster, hoping that eventually they would leave her alone.  “When did they open the zoo?” Another one of the popular group shouted at her.  Luna gave a quick glance to see who it was and caught the look of Cody Andrews, one of the running backs of the football team and the twin brother of Emily. Luna still remembered how they would all play as kids back at their houses. Cody was a shy kid and was always attached to his twin sister, Emily, and so they were always together. At some point, Cody even told Luna that he had a crush on her. Luna, being a kid, didn’t know what that meant and just kept on being friends.  Who would have known that that exact same person would suddenly be screaming terrible and mean things to her?  Luna let out a sad sigh but kept on walking faster and faster. She figured it would be best to put back her hoodie on even though it was warm, but she would rather sweat a lot instead of feeling even more insecure with her body exposed like that.  While walking, she took her hoodie and raised her arm to put it on. “Yeah, cover up. No one wants to see that!” Luna heard more mean comments from them but continued walking instead of letting it get to her.  Unbeknownst to her, while her hoodie was blocking her full view, there was a big rock and she hit it with her foot and she came tumbling down.  “Ow!” Luna shouted as her hands and knees landed flat on the asphalt concrete, knowing full well that she definitely got some bruises from it. Immediately, she hears a burst of laughter. Laughter from the popular kids that continuously teased her ever since the first year of high school. She felt her eyes start to get wet and a pout forms on her mouth.  She took a deep breath and pursed her lips to try and stop herself from crying.  In her head, Luna was reciting positive reaffirmations. Everything was going to be okay. Everything is okay. You are fine. You are great. Just get back up and get home. You will get through this.  With her hoodie still half undone and positioned in her neck, she was about to push herself when a hand suddenly showed up in front of her.  Surprised, she immediately looked up and was greeted by beautiful ocean blue eyes. She knew exactly whose eyes those were.  Aiden Harries. How could she not know when she’s had a crush on him ever since grade school?  Luna could not forget the first time she met Aiden and how nice he was to her. She remembered every detail about her first encounter with him. She was walking home from school and saw that there was an ice cream pop-up store. She started to crave and immediately ran to it and ordered her favorite, strawberry ice cream. She was so excited to get it, but then when it was time to pay, she realized she was one dollar short. She looked all over her bag and pockets hoping that a coin would somehow miraculously be in it, but began to feel sad when she realized she would no longer be able to have her ice cream.  Until, a surprise savior came in and handed her the extra money she needed. Luna looked up from her bag and to the person who was so kind and that was the first time she met him. The boy with the ocean blue eyes. Luna was about to thank him, but before she could, he already got his ice cream and walked away. Luna later on found out that they were in fact in the same school and from then on she has had a crush on him ever since. Luna kept daydreaming about him and wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship with someone so nice and handsome. Unfortunately for her, she would never know while her old best friend was rumored to be his girlfriend. Luna always wondered how Aiden could be with Emily as he was the only nice one in the group, or generally be a part of such mean people. Luna’s heart began to beat faster and faster as she stared at the hand of Aiden that was stretched out for her to take. She so badly wanted to hold onto it, but she felt embarrassed knowing her hand was probably dirty. What’s worse was that she probably looked terrible and unpleasant right now, but here was her crush, looking straight at her.  Aiden gave her a smile and this immediately melted Luna’s heart. She felt as if that smile told her that it was okay to take his hand even though her hands were dirty. There was always something reassuring about Aiden’s presence, she believed.  Luna, albeit nervous and filled with butterflies in her stomach, was about to take his hand when someone pulled Aiden away, and his hand disappeared from in front of her.  “Let’s go. We’re going to be late.” Theo said as he dragged Aiden away without even bothering to give Luna a glance. Theo Donovan. The quarterback of the football team. Tallest in the popular group, even taller than Aiden by an inch or two. He had dark black hair and gray eyes which completely matched his bad boy reputation. Theo was probably the most hated student by the teachers in the school. He would always skip class and be caught fighting other students from different schools, but because of his influential and rich family, he would always be able to get away from getting into too much trouble or any for that matter.  Luna considered him the worst out of all of them. She never had any history or past with him and didn’t usually speak up, but it was exactly that that made her feel uncomfortable towards him. He always stood on the side and just watched Luna get tormented and bullied by his friends. Luna always felt as if Theo thought he was too good for her to even bother giving a second of his time to her.  Aiden gave Luna one last quick smile before they walked away.  “Bye piggy!” Emily and Cody shouted in unison before their entire group started walking away from where Luna was. Luna swallowed the lump in her throat as she kept her lips pursed, trying her best not to burst into tears in public.  Slowly, she turned her head around to check if everyone was far away from her and she let out a sigh of relief once she knew the coast was clear.  She pushed herself off the ground, feeling the sting on her hands and dusted herself off.  For some reason, Luna was feeling more defeated than usual. She thought she had gotten used to people bullying her, calling her names, and just laughing at her. But right now, as she continued walking back to her home, she felt her heart drop and she was losing the motivation to keep moving her feet to walk.  She raised up her arm to check the time on her watch and it showed that there was only a few minutes left until the bell was going to ring and she knew that she wasn’t going to make it to class.  Luna decided that she would just walk back home and spend the day inside. She could tell her parents she was suddenly not feeling well and needed to take a sick break from school. Fortunately, her parents were very caring and considerate of their daughter as she was their only child.  Luna got back to her house and immediately walked up to her room. Before slumping on her bed, she needed to change out of her clothes as she was already drenched in sweat. She took her hoodie and pants off and suddenly realized how sweaty she really was and decided it was best for her to shower. As she was taking off her clothes in the bathroom, she chanced upon seeing her full body in the mirror and froze at the sight of it.  Luna suddenly began to think deeply about how far things had gotten. She felt sad that her body was just getting bigger and bigger and her face acne made her look like an ogre of some sort. Tears started forming in her eyes and before she knew it, she was already bursting into tears.  After a few minutes of lamenting in her sadness, she looked again in the mirror and decided that once and for all, she was going to change for the better. She was going to exercise and eat less sugary things.  With a new mindset to change and be better, Luna looked at herself in the mirror and  gave herself reaffirmations.  “Okay, Luna. Let’s do this.”  A few minutes later, she had already put on a top and shorts and a random workout she found on the internet. She thought that it was a good thing her parents were already out for work and so no one was there to hear her jump and shout from tiredness.  Luna let out a deep exhale before pressing play on the workout video she had randomly found.  First move, jumping jacks. The last time Luna remembered doing this was when she was around ten years old and she saw her mom working out in the living room. After doing the move for a few times, Luna felt dizzy and almost collapsed. She was never the physical type.  She was scared to work out, but she was determined to make a change in her life once and for all.  With a deep inhale, Luna began to do jumping jacks.  “One!” Luna shouted after her first jump.  That wasn’t so bad, she thought.  “Two!” Luna felt proud that she was finally doing this. If she continued to do this combined with better and healthier eating, in a few months Luna hoped that she would get thin enough to stop being bullied.  “Three!” She was starting to feel the burn already.  Her heartbeat was faster than it has ever been and it started to feel like she was almost going to have a heart attack, but she believed she could keep going.  “Four!” Luna was hopeful and excited for all the changes that was going to start happening with herself.  She didn’t know if it was normal to feel slightly dizzy from jumping and her sight was starting to get blurry, but she believed it was normal so she ignored it.  Because of this, by her fifth jump, Luna’s body could no longer take the sudden physical activities she was making it go through.  “Five!”