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The Month before Homecoming
Introduction
For generations in high school, students were defined by their physical appearance, weight or
beauty. One could either be considered a “jock," a princess, a nerd or a bully, but time has
changed jocks now play video games, and princesses run the country. I thought we were living
in a brave new world a place free of judgment and labels. But every so often there is always one
moment in high school that changes your entire perspective of life. This happened to me in my
senior year, just about two months to the homecoming. I was walking the hallway with my best
friend Kylie one of the hottest girl in school and an aspiring designer. You know the one every
boy in school wanted to take out on a date.
I did not think much of the difference between Kylie and I until one school night party by
the school's self-professed beauty queen Elizabeth Devo at her house when my neighbor Sam
Barbara walked up to me and told me I was Kylie’s “Duff (designated ugly fat friend)”. This was
because every boy in school would come to me asking after Kylie and not me because they
considered me her gatekeeper. With two months to homecoming, I had no prospective dance,
partner. It is not like I cared much, but being told the truth to my face hurt like hell. Later that
night in my room, I lay awake flipping through my computer on the various meanings of the
“Duff”, trying so hard to convince myself that I wasn’t one.

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As the days went by, it was becoming harder and harder to deny the truth. Without Kylie,
I ceased to exist in the corridors of the Simlaw High school. It felt as though my friendship with
Kylie utterly defined my existence. Just like in the second season of Batman when the villain
falls into the bag of acid and becomes a joke, this was my bag of acid. My only best friend made
me a "Duff", and the realization of that made me so mad. It became apparent that Kylie was
using me to make herself look good. I immediately ended our friendship. Sam made me see the
school differently, and I was not happy about it. It apparently did not matter which group one
belonged. My need for a sense of belonging in the school made me lose my self-esteem. It felt as
though I was going through the five stages of depression after a divorce or the loss of a loved
one.
In the weeks that followed, I felt alone with no friend. My neighbor Sam Barbara was
there with me every step of the way and made me realize that the universe had given me the gift
of invisibility, a license not to care what others thought of me. Later that month I realized who I
was and decided to own my personality and become the best weirdo I could be. I made up with
my best friend, Kylie. I also realized that it was not such a bad thing being someone else’s
“Duff” because there is always that one person who’s better and talented than the other. And that
should not affect how we look at ourselves. I did not care anymore that I was Kylie’s “Duff” or
had no date to homecoming, I still showed up for it. It was all about living the moment and
enjoying myself.