Sarah squealed and flung the dirty jockstrap back at Katerina, “Your boyfriend left this at mine!” Misjudging men’s underwear aerodynamics, Katerina’s dodge failed and it thwacked her chin. She shrilled playfully and the bus’s remaining students cheered wholly entertained.
That wasn’t today. Today, Sarah glanced at passing McMansions then soccer fields with laughing girls practicing in fitted uniforms she envied. With pink painted nails, she touched the glass longingly and heard herself concede without saying a word.
Pimply Niles shuffled towards her, goaded by Thomas and Leon, she imagined, staring at the grass more than her eyes. Sipping Gatoraid, she waited, while coach screamed at the forwards to push to goal. When Niles finally arrived, Sarah let Christina and Julianne do her giggling while she confidently bounced a ball on her knee. “Sarah…Um…me and Leon like…” Sarah enjoyed his squirming, confident of what was coming. “Are you…like going to the Fling with anyone?” Full blown screams from Christina and Julianne. Sarah grinned. “Finally,” she said.
But that wasn’t today. Today, she wrestled her oversized wind breaker until she was confident it covered her completely. “See ya tomorrow!” Sheepish Daniel shouted from the adjacent solo bench. He got off, unnoticed by the other clustered students not wanting for friends or laughs.
Sarah feigned exhaustion critiquing her TikTok. A denim top? What was she thinking?! But it had 970 likes, 50 more than Julianne out the shower half-naked, faux shocked. A small win, sure. But a win.
But that was not today. Today, Sarah checked her TikTok as she got off the bus in front of her house. It was of a sunny sky and captioned, “been waiting for this”. It had 23 likes.
She shut the door to her bedroom, dropped her bag, unzipped the windbreaker and pulled it over the hunch that was her right shoulder. It slithered off her and down her left arm with a hiss. It was her unwelcome companion, the voice of her S-shaped spine. It hit the carpet and she sat on her bed, hating herself for the monster that stared back in every mirror and she wished just one day would be one of those other days.