Pretty's On The Inside

　　[The World thinks She's ugly but He sees her Beauty]

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　　By; Authoress Kamara

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　　Episode 1

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　　Paris Myers

　　Save yourselves first

　　Those words kept on resounding in my head and I couldn't keep it out. There were just there.

　　Three months since my world crashed.

　　Three months since my parents died.

　　Three months since Rio became confined to a wheelchair.

　　Three months since I turned ugly.

　　I sigh running my hands on the last framed picture that had managed to remain intact despite the fire incident.

　　It was the only thing that didn't crumble along and I am extremely grateful for that.

　　I drop the picture before walking over to the side of my window leading to an open balcony.

　　I stand by the framed window and look out imagining what my life would have been like if that didn't happen two months ago.

　　"Paris ... ?".

　　I turn at the sound of that soft voice to see my Mum's sister.

　　The only one that was kind enough to take Rio and I under her custody along with her family. Her husband and her daughter.

　　I merely smile. "Hi. Aunt".

　　"What are you doing here?". She walks over to me.

　　"I just, um, love to look at the stars, thats all".

　　Yeah, I just lied.

　　"Oh".

　　I only nod and then pause glancing at her, I find her staring at me with tears in her eyes .

　　"Aunt?".

　　"Paris. You know you look so much like your Mum and I feel that__".

　　"Mum?".

　　I turn to the direction of the voice to see Tiffany walk in the room interrupting Aunt.

　　"Mum. What are you doing with her ?". She asked looking at me with distaste.

　　I drag my hoodie over my head feeling conscious of her stares on my face.

　　"Tiffany. Paris is your cousin, you don't care to talk to her and thats why I'm here to__".

　　"Jeremy asked me out on a date!".

　　I watch confused as Aunt Jenny widens her eyes then squeal along with her daughter, Tiffany as they both looked happy.

　　Hmm. I remember when I always had this kind of bonding with my Mum.

　　But now, its all gone. Everything gone. My parents, my friends ...

　　All I have is my family, Rio and my Aunt.

　　I don't get to see Aunt's Jenny's husband most of the time and Tiffany treats me like trash always depicting me as ugly.

　　Well thats what I am.

　　I sigh and look to my right realizing that my Aunt Jenny and Tiffany left already without me noticing.

　　I step away from the window and walk to my bed. I glance at the guitar on the table and grab it without thinking.

　　The guitar was my Dad's birthday gift to me on my 16th birthday.

　　But I haven't played it in two months now.

　　I close my eyes and began strumming the strings slowly humming to one of my celeb song.

　　Violet Summers. I love her.

　　I begin singing to the lyrics lowly then dived into another world feeling warmth.

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　　Xavier Marion

　　"And last but not the least, Marion!!".

　　I watch from backstage as the crowd yell my name calling me out to perform. The host waited allowing them to echo my name.

　　"Marion! Marion!".

　　"Jeez! They really like you". Violet turns up next to me.

　　"I'm always loved".

　　"Don't get too cocky, hotshot". She said hitting me playfully as I smile as most of the people backstage stare on.

　　I guess they are mostly surprised that I'm being free with Violet.

　　"So where's Sam?". She asked looking around. "Isn't he here?".

　　Oh dammit! I knew she would never stop teasing me on this once she found out.

　　"Violet ... ". I warned her.

　　She giggled lightly. "Sorry!".

　　Violet is my childhood best friend. We did everything together ever since we were little kids and its still the same now.

　　Its kind of weird that we both ventured into the music industry and made it big even before finishing high-school.

　　To the public, she is their role model, one of the best pop stars, Violet Summers.

　　While I'm Xavier in private, and Marion is in public. I don't wear a mask or anything like that though.

　　My face is known but only a few people are privileged to see me in person.

　　And a group of those few people are the students of Berkeley High. Its named after ...

　　"And lets give it up for ... !". The host yells snapping me out of my thoughts. "Marion".

　　"Good luck".

　　I nod as Violet whispers that to me adding a peck on my cheeks. I ignore that and go on stage.

　　Immediately, I step out. The spotlights was shown on me and it made the diamonds in my outfit glitter like spark.

　　Another reason why I hate for my Mum to be my manager. Too much glitter.

　　I connect the speaker to my ears as a mic was handed over to me.

　　"America ... ". I spoke into the microphone and the crowd began yelling again.

　　I chuckled lightly and more screams went on while I sighted girls fainting and some of them were struggling to get noticed but all I did was look away.

　　Thats the thing. I don't fancy girls.

　　"Hi". I spoke into the mic again and girls began falling on each other again.

　　I smile this time and paused. The lights were turned dim in the crowd while only the stage lights were on reflecting on me.

　　Thought I'd find love

　　But nothing of that sort happened

　　I close my eyes as I continue the song that was actually composed by me, saying my true feelings.

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　　Paris Myers

　　The pretty's on the inside

　　See it in your own eyes

　　Look a little closer in the mirror tonight

　　"Ugh! Your voice is as disgusting as your face".

　　I stop strumming the guitar on hearing her voice and I look sideways to see Tiffany.

　　"So you got a guitar? Hm?".

　　I stare surprised that she's actually talking to me. Though we are cousins but she had never liked me on bit since I came months ago.

　　"Hey! Have you no mouth to speak or what!". She snapped her fingers at me. "I just asked a question, don't tell you are dumb".

　　"I'm n-not". I mumbled as I look down at my guitar.

　　"Aargh! I wonder why Mum brought you here anyways!".

　　She glance at my guitar then at me while I simply look away unable to look into those her hateful eyes.

　　"Look! Mum asked me to call you down for dinner! Its not like there's a need to ... ".

　　"I'll be down in a few minutes ". I told her.

　　She rolls her eyes. "Like I care! And don't look at me on the dinner table, I don't want to lose my appetite".

　　"Sorry". I mutter not even knowing why I was apologizing.

　　Tiffany clicked her tongue. "And call your crippled brother as well".

　　My eyes stung with tears as she called Rio that, I stand up wanting to say something but she had already left through the door.

　　I place my guitar carefully on the table and walk towards the door. I went out and in a few seconds, I was in front of Rio's door.

　　"Rio?". I knocked loudly hoping that he would hear me.

　　Well he didn't just get crippled by our building foundation falling down. He also got what they call hearing defect.

　　The doctor said its as a result of the sound of the building collapsing but its partial. He makes use of a hearing aid though.

　　"Paris?".

　　I look sideways to see him stride towards me on his wheelchair. I smile slightly and walk towards him.

　　"Rio ... ".

　　"I wanted to head to the dinner table but I couldn't get this down the stairs". He said referring to the wheelchair.

　　"And Tiffany didn't help?".

　　"No! She didn't". He shook his head staring down at his feet. "She called me crippled".

　　"She called me ugly".

　　"But we are not any of those things, right?". Rio looked up at me.

　　"Right!".

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　　TBC

　　Pretty's On The Inside won. Sorry but that was the rule.

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　　©Kamara B. Blake

　　All Rights Reserved.