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The door clicked shut softly. Emma closed it and, holding her breath for a moment, let the mask slip away. The grace remained — a light, elegant stride, smooth movement as she approached the bed and sank onto it. But the tension in her shoulders betrayed her state.
She pulled out her phone. The screen once again glowed with a message from Jessica.
"Em, please. Let's talk. I'm really worried. We were best friends..."
Emma stared at the words for a long time. That "were" cut deeper than she wanted to admit. She closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath. No. This was Jessica's fault.
The sting of resentment boiled up in her chest, as if it hadn't been two weeks ago but was happening all over again. When she'd come home after that... date with Dan? At least, everyone wanted to think it was a date, romance, blah-blah-blah. Everyone except her. But what was it even supposed to be? A show? A game? She hadn't planned on dating men at all — it was already too much, just so confusing, and Dan, he seemed... Ugh, it was just complicated.
Back then, in that moment with the book, with that raw, honest confession of that damn truth, Emma... Mark hadn't been trying to be someone else. He had tried... to stay himself. Just wanted to be understood. And Dan, damn him, seemed to understand. Emma hadn’t needed anything else, just that. Just to feel like she could handle this, despite the damn transformation, despite the foreign body and alien emotions.
But in the end, she’d looked like... a fool.
Dan had looked at her like he already knew how it would all end. The light touches, the too-attentive glances, the fake care that had felt so real in the moment. Emma fell for it. Damn, she had actually fallen for it like some naive girl! No, not just naive — stupid, even... infatuated! She could barely believe she was thinking this about herself now, but that was exactly how it felt. At least, that’s how it seemed when she was walking home afterward, criticizing everyone — but mostly herself — for the whole mess.
"How the hell, Mark, did you let this happen? Where are you? Hello? You still in there, damn it? Where’s that grown man, huh? God, look at me, talking to myself in the third person... I didn’t even notice how it all turned out like this. I was trying to be myself, not Emma, and yet here I am... Emma? Just a different version, maybe. I’m actually acting like a teenager — no, not just a teenager, but a girl desperate for attention! And Dan, Jessica — ugh, they piss me off so much! Screw all this, I tried, damn it... What’s the point of it all if, in the end, I’m just... a naive, stupid... girl!"
Maybe if Jessica hadn’t told Dan, this whole ridiculous farce wouldn’t have happened! And maybe then things would’ve turned out differently. But what happened, happened, and it made one thing perfectly clear to Emma — who she was now.
That night, coming home with flushed cheeks, feeling... broken, she swore that no one would ever do that to her again.
She had stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection: loose hair, slightly messy from that "date," that stupid blush, those too-big eyes that gave away every emotion. It felt like she stood there forever, though only moments had passed.
The reflection was hers now. There was no one else left. That jester, Dan, their words still echoed in her head, but she looked at herself in a way she never had before. A teenager. A young woman. And undeniably beautiful... That day made her realize it was a fact. Had she really not noticed it before?
She was at the center of attention now. Despite the school year just starting, despite all the jokes and rumors back then, she had become popular — and that day, she realized it too.
That morning, it had embarrassed her. But now, it felt like... an opportunity. A chance to use this strange situation and finally take control. If everyone saw her as this delicate, perfect girl, why not turn it into a weapon? Let them look. Let them admire. But no one would ever make her feel weak again.
She felt her gaze harden.
"From now on, it’s on my terms. To hell with all this. To hell with that clown and that Dan. No one will treat me like that again. No one will make a fool out of me."