Clara woke up the next morning determined.
No more crying. No more hiding.
She stood in front of her mirror, her desk scattered with YouTube tutorials paused mid-frame and open tubes of foundation. "If I can't fit in, maybe I can fake it," she whispered.
Amelia had tried to help. "You don't need to change, Clara," she'd said last night. But Clara couldn't listen.
She wanted the laughter to stop.
She wanted to walk down the hallway without feeling like a joke.
So she spent her savings on mascara, lipstick, and a foundation that was two shades too pale. She brushed, curled, powdered, and prayed. By the time she finished, she barely recognized herself — and not in a good way. Her eyeliner smudged, her curls drooped, her lipstick looked too red. But she smiled anyway. It's something, she thought.
When she stepped into the hallway of Westbridge High, the whispers began instantly.
"Clara tried makeup?"
"Looks like she got attacked by a paintbrush."
"Oh my God, take a picture—"
Amber turned, eyes sparkling with cruel amusement.
"Well, look at that," she said loudly. "Did someone get lost on their way to clown school?"
Her friends burst out laughing. Even Arthur gave a half-smile he tried to hide.
Clara's face burned. She wanted to disappear. Instead, she kept walking — one step, two steps, pretending not to hear. But her chest felt tight, like the air itself was against her.
By the end of the day, her makeup was ruined and her spirit along with it.
She went straight home, wiped her face clean, and sat down at her desk.
Her sketchbook waited there — her real world.
Pencil lines flowed where words never could. She drew faces that weren't hers, girls who looked brave and beautiful without trying. She drew a version of herself that didn't care what anyone thought.
The tears came quietly this time.
She closed the book and whispered, "Maybe I'm just not meant to be like them."
Outside, the sky was dimming, and a single streak of pink light cut through the gray.
She didn't know it yet — but that small, quiet version of Clara wasn't gone. She was only waiting to wake up again.....