1 Chapter 1: The Weight of Expectations

Life felt heavy on Amelia's shoulders, burdened by the immense weight of others' expectations. The mirror became her worst enemy, reflecting each perceived flaw and amplifying her insecurities. Society's beauty standards seemed to mock her pronounced curves, making her question her worth. She took a flashback to them when she was young and petite, but looking at herself now, she began to doubt if that was ever her, cause there's a whole lot of difference, she basically did everything worth doing but it never worked, she just kept getting endless ridicules. Amelia grew up in a world where her size was deemed undesirable, and she internalized these beliefs.

Each day, she meticulously crafted a facade, attempting to mould herself into the mould society defined as beautiful. Amelia devoted countless hours to changing her appearance, hoping this would bring the love she so desperately craved. From crash diets to excessive exercise, she subjected her body to relentless scrutiny, believing that only by conforming to these standards would she receive the acceptance she longed for.

But no matter her efforts, Amelia remained unloved - not by others, but by herself. The love she sought externally couldn't mend the wounds within. This realization plunged her into a dark abyss of despair. Though she ended up getting some words of encouragement she found them as mockery and despite that, she hated herself more than the word hated her, she made endless scars on her body due to the crumble of her mental health, and she started hating to see people smile or laugh, cause to her why should the word be happy if she wasn't. She took a trip down memory lane to when she was still in her junior year of high school, there was a guy called Dan who was her senior, but she never really liked Dan the way he claimed to dut someone she began to enjoy conversing with him and someone grew to like him but this Dan travelled and when he got back. Amelia found out that he had a girlfriend in school then who always made trouble for her, it all began to fit in the picture now and she realized how stupid she was, she decided not to be friends with Dan anymore but he didn't see it as an issue and always told her to mean words like " Amelia have you ever thought of losing weight? Amelia, why don't you try becoming skinny as my ex-girlfriend and then I promise that I will date you" At then, Amelia didn't think much of what he said and was only quite irritated because she could beat her chest and said she wasn't fat and yes she wasn't fat then, She didn't think much of him and led her life happy. Some years passed by and Amelia was already in her second year of high school she began to notice that she was adding some weight but she felt that there was nothing wrong with being thick, so she never really bothered but that year something bad happened that changed Her life for worst, Her father's death, it came so shocking that no one ever expected, she took a break from school for a while and when she got back, her life wasn't the same again. Returning to school after her father's sudden death was a painful experience for Amelia. The once-familiar hallways seemed alien, filled with sympathetic glances that only served to deepen her grief. She felt as though a piece of her had been ripped away, leaving an open wound that no amount of affection from others could heal.

Amelia's classmates, unaware of the turmoil brewing within her, continued to perpetuate the societal beauty standards that haunted her. They whispered under their breaths, snickering and pointing fingers, unaware of the devastating impact their words had on her fragile state of mind. Every taunt and snide remark cut like a knife, pushing her farther into a spiral of self-doubt and loathing. At one point, she developed an eating disorder it was considered an emotional and psychological condition but she didn't care anyway, if eating could make her escape reality then food was it. But she does get random comments about her size.

 There was a friend Sarah, who I thought I could trust but was wrong. Amelia wakes up on a random morning, looking in the mirror and feeling unhappy. But as she's getting ready, she gets a phone call from her best friend, Sarah, who's calling to invite her to go shopping for a new outfit for a party that night. Amelia's hesitant, but Sarah convinces her to go. As they're shopping, they start talking about their lives, and Sarah asks Amelia why she's been so withdrawn lately. Amelia tells Sarah about what's been going on, and how she's felt so alone and unhappy with her life. Sarah is sympathetic and understanding and tells Amelia that she's beautiful just the way she is. As they're talking, they notice a group of girls from their school nearby, and Ashley starts to feel anxious and uncomfortable. But Sarah encourages her to stand tall and be proud of who she is. Amelia nodded her head but inwardly she thought, what's there to be proud of about her ugly self? 

[The girls from their school notice Ashley and Sarah and start whispering and laughing. Amelia is about to run out of the store, but Sarah grabs her hand and says, "Don't let them get to you. You're awesome and don't need to listen to their petty insults." As the girls are whispering, a guy walks up - it's Jacob, a friend of Amelia's ex-boyfriend, He makes a snide comment about how he "never knew she was friends with the fat girl", which makes Amelia feel a pang of hurt. But Sarah steps in and tells Jacob to leave them alone. He smirks and walks away, and Sarah looks back to see that Amelia already run away; Ooh, now it's getting even more juicy! So Sarah had been pretending to be Amelia's friend but was making fun of her behind her back. After Amelia runs out of the store, Sarah goes back to talking to the guys and starts laughing at Amelia. Jacob went ahead to say, you guys don't know but my friend broke up with her because of her body size and constantly made fun of her and called her a fat pig at home, then, one of them said something like "It's pretty messed up that you pretend to be her friend when you don't even like her." Sarah frowns slightly unknown to her, he sneakily recorded their conversations and sent them to Amelia. Why? he did it to spit on her and make her feel pain not because he pitied her

~Amelia gets a message with the recording and hears everything that Sarah and the guys said. She's hurt and angry, but what could she do?