We always make fun of people who peaked in highschool don’t we? The ones who fell from grace. Like the prom queen turned heroin whore. Or the football jock who became a wife beater. High school is a popularity contest, and you bet I was winning it. I always knew I was beautiful. My curves were the object of everyone’s envy and desire. But I’d always been modest, so I wore a loose shirt and baggy jeans. My skin was a smooth, buttery caramel brown. I was a mix of Jamaican and East Indian you see. But it wasn’t my curves or my luscious skin that made me popular. It was my face.
The warm honey-brown tone complimented my delicate features with undertones of golden hues. My skin was flawless, with no blemish or imperfection. However, without a question, my eyes were the centrepiece of my face. Deep and expressive, they were a combination of the best traits of both cultures. The shape was almond-like, reminiscent of my East Indian heritage, but with a hint of Jamaican influence, making them appear slightly wider and more open. The colour was a striking shade of hazel, with flecks of gold and green that danced in the light. My nose was refined and elegant, with a subtle arch that contoured my face. It is neither too small nor too large, and it appears perfectly balanced with the other features. My lips were full and plush, with a natural pout that was both sensual and alluring. They were the colour of ripe berries, with a softness that invites a gentle touch.
Yes, I was just THAT beautiful. And yes, I was chased by a lot of sweaty, pimple faced boys in my time but my Jared was the one I was devoted to. He was manly and ruthless, with a tall muscular frame. He made me feel protected, mostly because he was a bit of a monster. Isn’t that what all girls look for? Someone who is just enough of a monster to keep the other monsters at bay? So dont judge me when I admit that my Jared was the most notorious bully of our school. But I could easily ignore that part of him. I mean we were “Jennifer + Jared 4eva”
The halls shuddered at his arrival. The whispers were constant. Even the teachers were somewhat wary of him. But his dad paid off and hushed up all of Jared’s wrongdoings. I mean, Mr. Brown was the richest guy in town!
That’s until Simon moved here.
Simon was this small scrawny boy. Couldn’t have been more than 5 feet 5 inches. His face was so delicate and rosy. He would have made a very pretty girl, were it not for the huge glasses that occupied one third of his face. Nonetheless, perfect bully material. Normally Jared would have been satisfied with dunking his head down the toilet, or stealing his clothes while he was in the shower. But the punishment for being a loser had to be way more serious because you see, Simon’s father was apparently the 121’st richest man on earth. This had become personal. Jared knew his crown jewel, his ultimate “get out of jail free card” was compromised. Afterall, second place is for losers. Even I’ll admit that my attraction for Jared dwindled a little. Jared had to do something to assert his dominance. Lo and behold, 2 months of downright torture. I wont get into the details, but Simon fought death everyday. It didn’t help that his father, despite all his wealth, locked himself in a room doing god knows what all day long, and couldn’t concern himself with trivial matters like his son’s attempted murder everyday. He owned one of the biggest engineering firms in the country.
If you feel bad for Simon, dont. He was one of those incel types. We caught him jerking it outside the girls washroom once. Real creepy shit. Needless to say, sweet Jared took care of that at once. I think it was that day that Simon decided that it was enough. All the pain that Jared had put him through, came boiling up, turned into violent anger. He screamed, in front of the entire class “Fuck you Jared! Im gonna get the most beautiful girl in town for Prom and you’ll be sorry you sick fuck”
The class was silent for a second, but then it roared into boisterous laughter.
“Skinny Simon’s gonna take Jennifer to prom! Hahaha”
“Keep dreaming loser”
“As if any girl will even look at him”
Simon walked up to Jared in a confidence I’d never seen him with.
“If I get the most beautiful girl in town as my date to the prom, I get to beat your ass and you will NEVER bother me again, bet?”
He extended his hand to Jared, gesturing a handshake. Jared laughed in his face and spat on his hand “It’s a deal!” he cackled.
In the weeks leading up to prom everyone joined in on the joke. They kept asking Simon who he was taking to prom.
“Hey Simon, who’s the mystery lady you are taking to prom huh?”
Although he’d declined to answer several times, a week before the prom he said “She’s a chinese model”
Needless to say, the joke only inflated after that. I’d sensed that Simon began to feel a little popular, not realising that he was the butt of the joke.
But I could feel Jared feeling tense somehow. Jared went dress shopping with me and bought me a luxurious silk gown. He’d never gone dress shopping with me at our previous School Dances. He even hired a celebrity make-up artist before the big day. At the time, I chose to believe that it was because he was in love with me, but it was obvious that Jared had begun feeling a bit anxious.
The fateful day arrived and our previously dull school hall was lit up with blue lights and fancy decorations that contrasted beautifully with my emerald green dress. Everyone remarked at how stunning I looked. The moment Jared laid his eyes on me, he stuttered “You are the most stunning girl in the world” I sensed that all apparition had left his body.
We enjoyed for a while, danced to our favourite song and drank the spiked punch with vigour. But soon everyone started whispering about Simon’s presence, or lack there-of.
“Coward probably chickened out, remind me to beat his ass tomorrow babe” Jared winked at me.
The chatter died down when Simon made way into the hall “Come along honey” he stuttered, nervous as a mouse. A woman with long dark hair appeared. At first, I couldn’t make out her features but when she revealed her face, parting her soft brown hair, I was horrified.
She had the exact same face as me.
Before words could form into my mouth, Jared spoke for me
“What the fuck? You fucking creep!” He yelled and lunged towards Simon, beating the crap out of him. I was frigid in shock and I stood there, unsure of what I should do. Just then, my doppelganger made her way towards me.
As she grew closer, I could make out her face more clearly. The first thought that came into my mind was “She looks wrong”. There was a strange feeling of wrongness. Here she was, the spitting image of me, but something about her was just wrong. Her movement was rigid and mechanical, her eyes staring deep into my soul, yet nothing seemed to linger behind them. I was paralyzed with fear and confusion. She soon grabbed my hand and I felt a shiver go down my spine. “Let’s have a chat while the boys figure all of this out” she tilted her head, smiling, yet, unfeeling. I was still reeling from shock as she guided me toward the bathroom, her hand gripped around mine.
We entered the bathroom, all four of us, on account of the mirror. She turned around and locked the door. “What’s going on?” I managed to piece together. She looked at me, her face as beautiful as mine. I wondered if I looked this dead. She didn’t answer me. Instead she reached down to her purse and opened it. Inside her hand reached for something, revealing a flask. I mean yeah, I wouldn’t have blamed her for wanting a drink. I was buzzed myself.
But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. She jolted the liquid at my face causing me to flinch.
It felt like hot needles were puncturing my face, and the pain spread quickly, radiating from the impact. My eyes watered involuntarily, and I struggled to keep them open as tears blurred my vision. With each passing moment, the pain intensified, becoming unbearable. It felt like my skin was on fire, and I can still sense a burning sensation spreading through my cheek and forehead. As I tried to assess the situation, my hand instinctively reached up to touch my face, only to be met with searing pain. I pull back in shock and horror, realising what had happened to me.
The bitch threw acid on my face.
From what I could make out, she calmly opened the door and walked through the crowd of girls that had gathered outside the bathroom. All of the girls with glittery dresses that sparkled right into my eye came to my defence, hurdling around me as I screamed in pain. The boiling pain turned to anger and as soon as I could somewhat make sense of my surroundings, I ran toward where she was headed. Out into the hall. There I saw her, sitting beside Simon as he wept from the pain that Jared had put him through. But throughout the crowd of wide eyes that gasped I could only see the bitches face. The face that was MINE.
I pointed at her and yelled “THE BITCH FUCKED MY FACE UP” and cried in the most horrible shriek that still echoed in my ears. Simon looked up at her, utterly horrified.
“What the fuck did you do?”
She replied, nonchalantly
“You said my objective was to be the most objectively beautiful girl at the party”
That was the last thing I remember before I fainted.
When I awoke in the hospital, I saw my mother above me, sobbing uncontrollably.
It was later explained to me that the bitch was a robot designed by Simon’s father’s engineering firm. She was the latest AI technology, manufactured in China. After this incident, the firm offered me 10 million dollars to hush up about this incident, also paying for my medical bills and reconstructive surgery.
I slowly opened my eyes, groggy and disoriented from the anaesthesia. As I blinked away the haze, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror beside the bed. What I saw made my heart drop into my stomach. It was me, but it wasn’t. The face staring back at me was a grotesque caricature of my former self, distorted beyond recognition by the reconstructive surgery I had undergone. My eyes were too far apart, my nose was too small, my lips too full. I felt a surge of panic rise in my chest as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. This couldn’t be real, it just couldn’t be. I looked away from the mirror, hoping that when I looked back, the face staring back at me would be my own once again.
But when I looked again, it was the same horror show. I wanted to scream, to cry, to demand that someone fix this, but I couldn’t find the words. I felt numb, disconnected from my own body.
But you know what the most fucked up part is? After the firm realised what a mistake it was to create a social humanoid robot, they switched to a more lucrative product. Sex robots.
They showed me a preview of the ad, I saw my face plastered on a screen.
“Guaranteed satisfaction from the most beautiful face in the world, order yours now!”
The robot on all fours, winked.