Chapter 3 My old face

I didn't hate my face at first.

That came later.

It started with a nickname.

"Potato Nose."

I was thirteen. Seventh grade. Standing at my locker, trying to zip up my backpack when Jason Miller leaned against the locker next to mine, sniffed loudly, and said, "Smells like mashed potatoes in here."

Everyone laughed.

I didn't get it at first.

Then I saw the doodle taped to my locker the next day.

A lopsided face. Huge eyes. A nose like a bloated tuber. Below it, written in red marker:

Evelyn – Ugly Since Birth.

I peeled it off. Crumpled it. Threw it away.

And told myself it didn't matter.

But it did.

Because it wasn't just Jason.

It was the girls in the bathroom who'd go silent when I walked in.

The boys who mimicked my walk - shoulders hunched, head down - during gym class.

The teacher who said, "Evelyn, you'd be so pretty if you just smiled more," like joy was a filter I could turn on.

By freshman year of high school, I stopped looking in mirrors.

Not because I was dramatic.

Because it hurt.

My face wasn't ugly - not objectively. But it didn't fit the mold.

My nose was wide at the bridge, inherited from my father. My jaw was strong, my lips thin. My skin was prone to breakouts, and no amount of scrubbing fixed it. My hair was mousy brown, never shiny, never flowing like the girls in commercials.

I wore my hood up. My head down.

I learned to speak only when called on.

I stopped going to parties.

I stopped trying out for plays.

I stopped believing I deserved to be seen.

The worst wasn't the names.

It was the silence.

The way people looked through me.

Like I wasn't worth the effort of cruelty - just the background noise of someone else's life.

Then came the photo.

Sophomore year.

Someone took a candid of me during lunch - head tilted, chewing, eyes half-closed. They edited it. Enlarged my nose. Added zits. Gave me buck teeth and devil horns.

Uploaded it to a group chat:

Ugly Alerts – Weekly Edition.

I didn't know it was me at first.

I saw it on someone's phone. Laughed along.

Then I recognized my necklace.

My blood went cold.

I confronted the girl who posted it.

She looked at me like I was insane.

"It's just a joke, Evelyn. Don't be so sensitive. No one even cares."

But they did.

Because the next day, someone yelled, "Watch out - the potato's coming!" across the cafeteria.

And everyone laughed.

Even the girl I thought was my friend.

Even the boy I had a crush on.

I stopped eating lunch at school after that.

I ate in the library. Then in my car. Then I skipped it altogether.

I started researching plastic surgery at 16.

Not because I wanted to be beautiful.

Because I wanted to be normal.

To walk into a room and not feel the weight of eyes judging me before I spoke.

To go on a date without worrying he'd regret it the second he saw my profile pic.

To be seen for my mind, my humor, my heart - not just the face I couldn't change.

But the world didn't care about my heart.

It cared about symmetry.

About cheekbones.

About whether your jawline could cut glass.

So when I turned 18, I used the money my grandfather left me - meant for college - and booked my first consultation.

Dr. Mitchell.

Facial Aesthetics & Reconstructive Design.

I sat in his office, hands shaking, as he pointed to a screen showing my face - digitally altered.

"We can refine the nasal bridge," he said. "Soft lift on the jawline. Subtle enhancement to the lips. You'll still look like you. Just... polished."

I stared at the screen.

The woman looking back was someone I didn't know.

But she was someone the world might finally like.

I signed the papers.

I told myself it wasn't surrender.

It was survival.

The surgery wasn't painful.

The recovery was.

Swelling. Bruising. The mask they made me wear to compress my face.

But worse than the physical pain was the silence afterward.

My mom hugged me and said, "You look... different. Better?" - like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to say it.

My friends said, "Wow, Evelyn, you look amazing!" - but their eyes were cautious, like they weren't sure who I was anymore.

And strangers?

They smiled at me now.

Held doors.

Complimented my style.

But no one asked, "Are you okay?"

Because pretty girls aren't supposed to hurt.

They're supposed to be envied.

And so I smiled.

I wore the right clothes.

I learned to pose.

I became the woman Julian fell in love with.

But inside?

I was still that girl.

The one who flinched at loud noises.

The one who checked her reflection ten times a day.

The one who wondered, every night before sleep:

"If they saw the real me again... would they look away?"

And now?

Now I'm standing in front of the mirror again.

Same face.

Same room.

Same fear.

But this time, I don't look away.

This time, I see her.

Not the girl they laughed at.

Not the woman who disappeared.

But me.

The one who carried all of it.

The one who just wanted to be seen.

I lean closer to the glass.

My breath fogs it slightly.

And I whisper - not to the world.

To her.

To the girl who still lives behind my eyes.

"I'm sorry."

She doesn't move.

But I see it - the flicker in her eyes.

The way her lip trembles, just once.

And I keep whispering.

"I'm sorry you had to hide."

"I'm sorry I let them make you feel small."

"I'm sorry I believed them when they said you weren't enough."

A tear slips out.

I don't wipe it.

"I wish... you hadn't had to hurt so much just to be seen."

"I wish I hadn't waited until I was dying to finally miss you."

I press my palm to the glass.

She does the same.

Like we're trying to touch through time.

"I won't fix you," I say.

"Not this time."

"I'll just... finally be you."

And for the first time in ten years-

I don't look away.