𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 - 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐚 ✔ [Being Edited]

Picture Day (E)

Reagan and Katie were at a table in the cafeteria reciting lines for the play.

"'Oh, happy dagger! This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die!'" Katie recited, stabbing herself with a plastic knife. She fell back in her chair, her head going forward and landing on the table.

"That was great!" Reagan said, clapping.

"Thank you," Katie smiled, lifting her head from the table. A piece of cheese had made itself at home on her forehead. "Thank you very much."

"You have a slice of cheese on your forehead."

"Uh...Well, flowers are traditional, but I'll accept cheese."

"Now that I had outed myself and people knew Katie earned the role of Juliet, she was doing great. My life was a little more complicated."

"Ah, the useless gift parade has begun," Alexa said as she took a seat. "I got a sympathy fish. Say hello to Ricardo." She held up a fish in a bag to show them. "I liked this a lot better when it was happening to Katie."

"Oh, I love goldfish," Reagan said.

"He's all yours," Alexa said, handing the bag over. "Sorry, Ricardo. It's not you, it's me."

"You break up better with goldfish than I ever will with men," I told her.

"Attention, students," The annoucements came in over the P.A. "A reminder that yearbook pictures are this Friday."

"Ooh, yearbook photos! Okay, that will cheer you up," Katie said, excitedly.

"Also a shout-out to freshman Alexa Mendoza from all of us at Kennedy High. We just want you to know that we're thinking of you every day. Stay strong, Alexa Mendoza. Stay strong."

"Could I stand out any more?" Just as she said that, she was gifted a giant teddy bear by one of our classmates. "Well, at least I have a prom date."

***

Alexa sighed, looking at herself in her locker mirror.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I don't know if I want my picture taken," Alexa admitted, a frown on her face.

"What? You have to," Katie said. "It goes in the yearbook."

"Exactly," Alexa told her. "Fifty years from now, everyone will be pointing me to grandkids, saying, 'That's the sick girl.' I want to be remembered as me, but no one sees me as me."

"Uh-oh. Gwenny Thompson," I say.

"Yes! Gwenny Thompson hates me. She's incapable of feeling sorry for me. I know she'll treat me like me. Bring it on, Gwenny!"

"Alexa," Gwenny greeted, her voice almost too sweet.

"Gwenny," Alexa greeted, weakly. "What a breath of foul air."

"Aw! I love that you still have your spirit, happy girl!" Gwenny pulled Alexa into a hug.

"What is she doing? Did you put something on my back?"

"Oh, I know we've had our differences in the past, but your heroic journey changes everything," Gwenny tells her.

"No, it changes nothing!" Alexa said. "Everything is the same."

"You know what you are? You're a fighter. #HereForYou."

"That was horrible," Alexa said.

"That was so nice!" Katie said at the same time. Alexa angrily shoves the giant bear from lunch into her locker.