Once there was a girl named Aria, who had a lovable family that thought she was as beautiful as can be. She wanted to see if the world agreed. The first day of school came around. Now was her chance to prove her family right. Getting ready was easy. Aria already knew what to wear. She didn’t have to worry about looking bad, because her parents assured her she looked fine.

At school, Aria meets a lot of girls, who seem nice, and they become best of friends at the start. Days go by and everything seems to be fine. Aria and her newly found friends hung out a lot during breaks at school. Aria becomes the center of attention. Everyone wants to play with her and be her best friend. She guesses that the world does see what her family sees.

Then out of nowhere, the oh-so-friendly world turned upside down. Aria is still the center of attention. But not in the way she used to be. The mirror reflection she looked at every morning, the appearance her parents thought was so beautiful, disappeared. She became the center of jokes and name calling, and slowly became an outcast.

Every night after that, before she went to bed, Aria would ask her mom, ‘Is there something wrong with me? Am I not beautiful anymore?’ Her mom would just kiss her on the forehead and give her the same answer, ‘There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Those girls are just jealous.’ Aria tried to believe it, but at school, there were many reasons that made her not too.

The next day was the falling action of the disguised bullying. The day every mean plan was laid out for everyone to see. Aria went about and was her same self as she was everyday. She showed kindness to everyone, trying to stay friends with them, and hoping they would return the favor. The group of girls continued to make Aria think they were friends. But it came to a deadly point to where it was obvious that they weren’t really her friends.

Aria couldn’t handle their lies anymore. She asks them, ‘Why are you guys treating me like this? I thought we were friends. Friends do not do this to each other.’

The girls looked at her like she was stupid and one of them replied, ‘We were not really friends. We were never friends in the first place. We were just pretending, because we felt sorry for you. Besides you are not worthy to be our friend. You don’t look like us. We have cool clothes, perfect vision and teeth, boobs, and nice fit bodies. No offense, but you have none of that, and you are not as beautiful as you think you are.’ After that they left Aria standing there broken, insecure, and depressed.

Aria went through the rest of the school year, as an empty shell, because her inner self was shattered. She lost all confidence in herself. She became a little shy and obsessed with her appearance, thinking she could never look good enough and that everyone was always judging her. The group of girls continued their harassment without a care in the world how much they were destroying Aria’s life.

Her parents asked what was wrong, one day, when her behavior was totally off. She broke down crying, and told them about the whole incident. Her parents were furious, and told her that she should have told them first thing, and they were now going to do something about it. They made some calls to the school and explained from the first day Aria came home questioning about herself, to now when she barely smiled and broke down about everything. That night, in tears, Aria asked her mom, ‘Am I really that ugly? I must be if those girls say so.’ Her mom replies, ‘No, you are beautiful. Don’t listen to what those girls say. They are just girls who make fun of other people to make themselves feel superior.’ Her mom stroked her hair until she cried herself to sleep.

A few days later, Aria’s parents took her out of the school and placed her in another school, far away. Aria had a hard time making friends, but she eventually met a couple of girls and guys who were her friends for real. But even though she was in a new school, on the inside, she was still broken and insecure.

Everyday, the words of the group of girls flowed through Aria’s head like a never ending song. At night, She would stand in front of her mirror and see how she used to see herself, beautiful as she can be. She felt her old self will be forever trapped in that mirror. She would then say, pointing to her reflection, ‘I may not be beautiful, but you sure are.’