Behind the Mask You Mocked

Summary

I was born with the kind of face people couldn't help staring at, yet I suffered from crippling social anxiety.

To escape the weight of everyone's eyes, I spent years hiding behind a black face mask.

Naturally, that made me the school’s favorite freak.

They hauled my desk into the boys' locker room, scrawled "UGLY" across my gym uniform in permanent marker, and eventually cornered me in the athletic equipment shed, demanding that I take the mask off.

That was the day Damon, the new transfer student, kicked the door off its latch.