Mask of A Legend (4 page)

But Legend stood firm, stunned at the fact that Jenny defended herself, even though she does it every day. The pond stench was now fuming.

At that moment, with every breath she took in, Jenny became Legend’s hero, hoping that she could say the right words to get rid of them before they say the wrong ones. The time was up to fifty seconds, and Legend panicked, never dealing with these brats for more than twenty, but only once being harassed by Dina for one minute that felt like infinity.

“Make me, tub of lard!” shouted Dina. Suddenly, the bell rang and caused Legend’s hands to go directly over her ears. Perhaps Legend covered her hearing to block out the loudness of the bell, but her subconscious knew that she was trying to block out Dina’s high-pitched, annoying, ignorant-filled, senseless, fire-breathing, poisoned-fanged voice. The time was up to seventy seconds and Legend’s eyes grew glossy, breaking the record of dealing with Dina and not being proud of it.

Dina and her friends marched away from them just as fast as they came, and Jenny just stared at Dina’s back, giving a look of a person being on the borderline of insanity. The rage, blended with sadness, scampered through Jenny’s mentality, the fury and melancholy brought about by the wicked names. But she didn’t let down her tears and allow her tough image to fade. Instead of crying, Jenny said, “What a bitch….” She turned to Legend and smiled. “Just because she’s a model, she thinks that she could call anyone names. Dina is such a bitch.” Then Jenny walked in through the entrance and held the door for Legend. Stopped here.

News of a baffling nature was brought to Legend’s attention, enthralling the shock, breathing in Jenny’s voice and exhaling anxiety. “I didn’t know she was a model,” said Legend. She wiped her tears away before Jenny saw them; they embarked on walking up the school stairway with this antagonism still in them. But the more stairs they climbed, the more this feeling of rage left them, as if they were exhaling it through their mouths, and sweating it through their flesh. However, the news would be a birth of some altered perception on life for Legend, creating a road for her that she never thought she would travel, forgetting about the sweat and exhaustion that the staircase gave to her, and following her mystical spirit that pushed her to receive more information about Dina.

“Well, she isn’t yet. There’s some sort of a model search coming to Chicago tomorrow, and they’re gonna choose girls to go to some hotel next month,” Jenny explained.

“What’s going to be at this hotel?”

“Well, I guess, as Theresa told me before she moved away last week – oh my God, I miss her − once these girls get invited to go to this search next month, they’ll be placed in a five-star hotel where a whole bunch of top modeling agencies will be, and then they’ll choose the girls who they want. I guess it’s like a dog show. Anyway, Dina’s going to it tomorrow, she’s been bragging about it to the whole school. All of her bitchy friends are going, too. You know damn well that they’re gonna get chosen, or invited, whatever, to go to the main event next month, and that pisses me off!” They entered the fourth floor and walked down it while trying to catch their breaths from the climb. “You know, I hope they do get chosen, that way we won’t have to put up with their name-calling crap…. They’re losers, and if they get chosen, and discovered, knowing them, they’ll definitely drop out of school to become some loser, want-ta-be supermodel that weighs fifty pounds and eats once a week!”

“I heard about that model search.” Legend suddenly paused and waited for Jenny to talk about the model search more, but she didn’t. Not wanting Jenny to get suspicious about her questioning, nor desiring to know that Legend was even interested in the search, Legend inconspicuously tried to grasp as much information as she could for reasons that not even she knew about. Some force inside her whispered, demanded that she get more knowledge about this topic. “So, they’re going to choose girls tomorrow to go to this modeling thing?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Why, are you thinking of going to it?” Jenny began laughing a bit, stopping right next to their classroom door, and continued giggling toward Legend’s eyes.

“Why, what happens if I said ‘yes’ to that question?” Legend portrayed antagonism in her words and looked away from Jenny and then lingered her head back to her.

“Well, do you want me to be truthful?”

“Yes,” Legend answered, opening up the classroom door. She was terrified of Jenny’s near future reply. Jenny was the type of person who was honest and truthful always, and Legend’s eyes feared her potential honesty on the subject, forcing her to feel sick, noticing that the acid in her stomach was climbing up her throat. She prayed in silence for Jenny to lie, for Legend wasn’t ready to hear the truth from someone she loved so much, trusted with all of her heart. But she swallowed the acid down and waited in the silence for words of truth.

“Personally, I think you’ve got the figure for it … but you don’t have the face. I’m sorry, Legend, but you told me to be truthful!”

Normally, all hope would be lost for Legend’s self-esteem, remembering past words of her mother’s voice, doubting Legend’s looks out loud with the scent of liquor in her yells, or how her father always hid Legend from past guests that came to the house, or when she visited his work, how he would have all baby pictures of her, and no recent ones at all. And now, hearing it from her best friend normally would cause tears to exit and all hope to be lost. But for some reason it wasn’t, as if something inside of her, a small, silent light, was trying its hardest to grow brighter; a light with no identity; a beacon that was fed up with being ignored.

They entered the noisy classroom. Sunlight shined in through the huge bay windows, casting an angelic light over all the chatter-filled students. Walking down the middle aisle of the room, they heard silent echoes that included their names, conversations of what Dina said to them in front of the school with laughter to follow. But they ignored the ricochet of comments directed toward their backs.

“I know, it’s alright, I wasn’t gonna say ‘yes’ anyhow. I just wanted to know. I hate those model searches anyway!” Legend words held hesitation. They both sat down in their seats when, lo and behold, Legend noticed Dina sitting right in front of her. Dina began discussing the model search to her friends while they all waited for the teacher to enter the room. Legend listened in on the conversation, perceiving Dina flaunting her beauty and showing her conceitedness to her friends of a persona-like dominance. Because Legend was a recent victim of Dina’s bullish qualities, she didn’t listen too closely, made sure to keep her distance, for if Dina felt Legend’s eyes on her, she surely would start the harassment again.

“It’s going to be so exciting, that supermodel Stephen Drakson is going to be at the search next month. He’s, like, a zillionaire. I can’t wait till after tomorrow. The model search is next month, and I’m going to finally get a chance to show my beauty to the whole world, including Stephen Drakson,” Dina said to her friends; they all listened closely with smiles on their stuck-up faces.

“But there’s going to be a lot of beautiful girls there. Stephen Drakson might not notice you,” a girl dared to say; Dina’s eyes bugged out.

“He’ll notice me. As a matter of fact, I wrote a fan letter to him, saying how much I adore him, plus I gave him a picture of me. In the letter, I pretended it was one of my friends, and signed it a different name, saying that ‘my beautiful friend, Dina, would be a perfect catch for you, Mr. Drakson’. This way he won’t think that I’m an obsessed fan or something. I know damn well he’ll notice me at the model search. Besides, he’s practically the only reason why I’m entering it,” Dina said. “He’s every girl’s dream to have as a husband, and I’ll get him!” Noticing breath hovering over her shoulders, she suddenly turned her head away from her friends and noticed Legend listening closely in on her conversation. “What are you looking at, ugly bitch?” asked Dina; the whole classroom began laughing.

“I was just listening about the model search you were discussing, that’s all,” responded Legend. Dina laughed with wickedness in her giggle.

“Why were you listening? What, are you gonna enter it? Do you actually think that your ugly ass is gonna become a model?” Legend formed tears that shielded her blue eyes. “Listen, Legend, you’re too ugly. Just study your astronomy books or something, that’s what you’re good at. Girls like you are only good at one thing: nothing!” And the silver spoon was crawling deeper up her purse to a point where Dina was almost, but not quite, possessed.

Legend started to feel that word ‘ugly’, instead of hearing it and seeing it. That word was called to her so many times that it manifested itself to become a physical word, instead of just vocal. She sensed that word hit her like a fist, causing her psyche to form tears of wretchedness, depression; she was so nauseous of everyone calling her that name. In the past, she sacrificed looking in mirrors, blocked out the evil names from her mind, attempting to avoid her supposed ugly image. But now, the words that Dina delivered she was feeling, like a sharp sensation that got sharper every second she breathed out, and a new type of emotion emerged from her gut that Legend never felt in her mentality before: rage.

My name is Legend….

Saying her name over and over again in her mind, she prayed to a god that she would have the valor to say it out loud, so great, that it would be deafening to any angel that heard its brilliance.

My name is Legend. Okay? Legend.

No one ever called her by her real name, apart from Jenny and her mother, everyone always called her pessimistic words that had an evil cling to them, rhyming in a way that would crush Legend’s soul and give bruises to her heart. This was Legend Conaway’s burden, encumbrance that followed her everywhere she went, even when gazing into her own imaginary mirror of silence, suppressing her hope that one day prosperity would shine upon her.

Legend became distressed, tormented, as Dina just looked intently at her, waiting for a reply from Legend, knowing from past incidences that no words would come from her whimpering mouth. But Legend’s misery initiated her voice to go into hibernation, shock, it caused her vocal cords to seize, paralyzing her mind like it always did. She didn’t know how to react to that nauseating name, after all these years of having it called to her, she still didn’t know how to handle it. Her innocent face, with supposed repulsiveness engraved on it, carved into her benevolence, showed a negative smile; she didn’t know how to react to that name. She gave a smile toward Dina, only because she didn’t want her to see her soft side, to distinguish her pain, to see her tears that were already beginning to shield her eyes and naturally protect them from the sin they witnessed. She turned away from Dina, understanding that a tear was establishing, ready to fall from her right eye, not yearning at all for anyone to see its form as if Legend knew the tear stretched from her soul that would scream at Legend to trust it by blaring out what she felt. As she turned her face away from Dina and the other girls, the tear fell from her eye, and Jenny saw it through the sunlight hitting the drop, making it sparkle, making Jenny mad toward Legend’s soul’s leakage.

Jenny stared at Legend; she looked intently at it with hatred in her eyes; she knew Legend was feeling rage for the first time. The loathing grew heavily in Jenny’s mind, seeing another tear fall from Legend’s left eye; this time, Dina caught sight of the tear. Jenny turned to Dina, got up from her seat, and walked up to her, asking with aggression, “Why don’t you shut your rich, bitchy, conceited ass up? If you don’t, I’ll shut it up for you….”

“Listen, fatty, just because ugly over here can’t defend herself doesn’t mean that you have the privilege to step in,” said Dina, standing up and facing Jenny with revulsion in her ogle. Legend formed more tears as Dina continued: “Legend is beyond ugly, and you’re beyond fat. If the both of you became one person, you would be a fat, ugly bitch.” Legend’s tears broke and poured out from her eyes, instead of just dripping. She felt that word hit her again, this time it was like a hammer striking her head, and causing a stiff, burning sentiment. Legend felt vulnerable, only for the reason that her soft side caused her to be naive, innocent, forced her to be gentle, too soft for these malicious girls to withstand without trying to break it. She didn’t know how to fight, didn’t know how to defend herself by calling a foul name to Dina. Legend had no urge to know how to call nasty names to others; she knew how it felt. But, Jenny wasn’t that tolerant when it came to vile names being called to her, and her best friend. So Jenny pushed Dina in the chest, watched her fall off her chair and onto the cold, tiled floor, like a statue of a tyrant collapsing to its death, hoping it would shatter into oblivion.

She got up from the floor and stared at Jenny, recognizing Jenny’s height, weight and strength; she was tougher than Dina. But Dina couldn’t back down in the battle, the battle for honor, the fight that she started. So, Dina’s friends grabbed a hold of Jenny, and Dina punched her in the stomach. Legend saw the only person who ever stuck up for her fall to the ground, and that invoked Legend to build anger in her mind and allow the innocence to hide for a moment. “You bitch,” Jenny said after Dina kicked her in the chest with one of her steel-toed boots. Dina then turned to Legend and gawked at her tear-filled eyes.

“You’re a cry-baby also, and you’re pathetic. If I were you, I would have taken a razor a long time ago and shaved my wrists really hard,” Dina yelled out; the class laughed harder. “Legend, you’re a whore, a slut, a skank, an ugly, useless person whom God created only for our amusement!” The fury in Legend’s mind grew more. As Dina kept on calling Legend names, and the class laughed harder, Jenny got up from the ground and walked up to Dina’s back. She tapped Dina on the shoulder and she turned around. To the same extent, Dina turned around and Jenny punched her in the nose, stimulating blood to squirt all over Legend’s angered but gloomy-filled features.