Catfish: The Other Side of the Screen

Chapter 1

In the begging of high school, I did not care much about my grades. I should have, and man do I regret it now, but it was around that time when everyone's hormones started to go absolutely wild and I really needed something ¨special¨ or ¨exciting¨ to happen in my life. I would say I was about 15. I went out with my friends and I always saw them getting asked out to dance, they were always flirting with some attractive young boy and I was always the fat friend who sat on her own at parties, or any kind of gathering for that matter. Being the ugly fat friend who no one ever really took a second glance at was getting pretty old.

Every single day we went out to a party I was tormented even hours prior, during and after about how badly I wished I was someone completely different. How desperately I wanted to be anywhere else. I looked around and all I could see were skinny pretty people. I wanted to be skinny, taller, have longer hair, brighter eyes, longer lashes, a more refined nose, clearer skin. I wanted to be someone I wasn't. I could not stand the fact that people were overseeing my presence and had absolutely no interest or intention in looking past my weight and finding out what my personality was like. That's the one thing I will say I've always loved about myself. I'm outgoing, I have no problem speaking in public, I have absolutely no problem in making new friends. Honestly, once people got to know me, they always knew they'd have an awesome time.

One day, my best friend Emily and I were sitting face to face after the teacher asked the whole class to memorize every country in Europe along with its capital. We had reviewed every single country and we did not seem to be memorizing any of it so we eventually gave up and before we realized it, we were talking about everything but Europe.

Emily: I want this day to be over already. I can't believe how much work we've had to do all day. I'm exhausted! I shouldn't have stayed up watching Grey's Anatomy last night.

Me: I know.

I couldn't say much because I too, had gone to bed way too late because I was catching up on Grey's Anatomy.

Emily: Let's go on Facebook and see if there's anything interesting going on.

She had the biggest smirk on her face as she was pulling out her laptop. As if suddenly going on Facebook woke her up.

Me: We should me memorizing these countries, Emily.

Emily: Oh, come on Amanda, let's get real. How are we going to memorize all of Europe AND it's capitals in these 5 minutes? I don't think it's even psychologically possible.

She made it sound as if the teacher was asking us to do the impossible. But in reality, he had given us more than enough time to do so. Guilt started making its way into my body. But even then, I wanted to know what was happening on Facebook.

And just like that, we were wrapped in the Facebook world. Completely forgetting the fact that we had to memorize and know by heart a lot of information or else we would be getting into big trouble. Looking back, I regret messing up in that specific class. That teacher was awesome. He was one of the few people who noticed I was capable of giving more; of having better grades. He was one of the few people who saw my potential and took the time to tell me about it. Years later he actually ended up writing a recommendation letter for me but I'm getting too far ahead.

After endless scrolling through Emily's news feed on Facebook, I finally pronounced the sentence that changed my life forever. I don't know where the thought came from or why it did. I just know it came abruptly and I blurted it out in the same manner.

Me: Emily! I just had the best idea. We should come up and create a fake profile with someone else's picture and add attractive guys around the world and chat them up and see what happens.