“My portfolio is HOSS,” Amber continued, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her perfectly shaped ear. She reminded me of Goldilocks, except you could see she didn’t eat bowls of porridge.

“And mine’s PPC,” Teagan jumped in. They talked as if they’d rehearsed this speech many times before, expertly jumping from line to line, like actors on a stage.

“HOSS and PPC?” I asked, when it looked like they’d finally finished the scene.

“Head of School Spirit and Primary Peer Counselor,” Amber qualified.

I’d suspected this school was overflowing with teen spirit. Still, I hadn’t expected “Spirit” to be an actual thing. The only teen spirit I had was that old Nirvana vinyl that I’d found in a vintage store in Joburg.

“It’s our job to show new students around and introduce them to the school.”

“Introduce?” I looked into Amber’s ridiculously clear blue eyes as panic slid a cold finger down my spine. I tried to push the panic down. I’ve learned that showing the enemy how you really feel is not a good idea. They can, and will, prey on it.

But then Teagan did something unexpected; she pulled me into a hug. “Welcome to BWH, Lori.”

“Uh . . . thanks!” I was surprised by what seemed like a genuine show of friendliness. Maybe I’d judged everyone here too soon? Maybe.

“Great! We’ll do the introduction in assembly first period,” Amber said casually, and then they both turned, flipped their hair at the same time (had they rehearsed this move too?), and walked away. I stood there, unable to move, as if the rubber soles of my shoes had melted into the hot concrete. Which was conceivable, since it was scorching today.

“Aren’t you coming?” Amber turned, tilting her head and looking at me from a different angle. I wondered if she was thinking, Nah, still fat from this angle. I sucked my stomach in quickly in an attempt to appear more streamlined.

“Uh . . . I . . .” Dammit. I exhaled when I realized that the stomach-sucking had caused my voice to rise two unnatural-sounding octaves. “Suuuure.” I tried to sound casual even though every cell, nerve, fiber, and muscle in my body wanted to turn around and run, run, run!

3

I was seated in the front row of the lecture hall. Amber and Teagan had placed me there and told me to stay. I didn’t want to stay. And I certainly didn’t want to be introduced to the entire school. The repetitive motion of picking at my cuticles was somewhat comforting, but it wasn’t enough to quell the anxiety, especially when a bell rang and people began streaming into the auditorium.

My eyes swept the crowd, hoping to find at least one of my kind, but the more I looked, the more I realized that no one here was like me. I was officially the biggest person at school.