“Confidence”

Jessica’s POV
“Click! Click!”

I was taking selfies when notifications suddenly popped up my phone. Oh my gosh! This
is so irritating! Why is it so hard to be this pretty? I ignored the notifications and went to my
walk in closet to find my #OOTD for school. Anyway, I am Jessica, 4th year student and of
course, the prettiest and most famous in our school, St. Philomenas Academy.

“You really look so gorgeous, Jessica.”

“Such a pretty girl!”

“Surely no one can beat you!”

Praises and compliments emerged as I walk towards my friends. We were about to go to

“Oh my, Jessica, your beauty is not enough to attract him. Hahaha!” Donnaly said. I left
Donnaly and rushed to my seat.

I noticed that my teacher wasn’t there, yet. The happening earlier flashed in my mind
again. I felt sad and rejected. Like how can he ignore me?! The pretty and famous Jessica?!
“Hmp! You’ll see, Al Ian! I will never give up until you notice me! I promise!” My thoughts
were interrupted when someone called my name. “Hey, Jessica! Are you deaf?” Somebody
grabbed my arms and I was surprised to see Alexia. The second prettiest and second most
famous girl in our school.

“What’s your problem, Alexia?”

“You are the problem! Someone told me that you are flirting with Al Ian! You know he’s
mine!” Alexia shouted in frustration.

“Wait! I am not flirting with him! I just said ‘Hi!’ ”

“Oh stop denying please! I know that you like him! You want to get his attention! Well,
sorry Jessica. You may be the prettiest and most famous girl in our school, but you will never
ever have my Al Ian, so back off!” Alexia left our room and our teacher came in right after.

“Alright class, good morning! So the adviser of Section B is on leave and I am assigned
to facilitate their role play. So instead of suspending our class, I’ll just let you watch their play
and give your own review about it, okay?” What? Section B? That’s where Al Ian is, right? Is
this destiny? Thanks, God! You’re really the best! We went to the next classroom and saw my
pretty baby love. I was about to call him when I saw Alexia going to him and hugged him. That
girl! Their play started and I must say that Al Ian is a good actor. “Congrats!” He glanced at me
for a second and uttered, “Thanks!” I saw Alexia in my peripheral vision stomping her feet. Well,
sorry Alexia, but I am not scared of you. Our class ended and I was on my way home. I was
scrolling through Facebook when a post suddenly caught my attention:

Alexia Nicole Biason ● 5 minutes ago

Such a shame! The “prettiest” and “most famous” girl is a flirt and wants to
be a side chic? Eww! Cheap!

500 reacts ● 97 comments ● 68 shares

What?! She’s such a brat! I hate her! I bet no one would believe her! Well, of course
because I am Jessica! Everyone loves me! I just ignored her post and went to sleep. The next day,
as I walked in the hallway, everyone’s looking at me while whispering. I was about to enter our
classroom when Alexia and her friends blocked my way.

“Look who’s here! The crazy side chic a.k.a. Jessica, the great!”

“What are you talking about? You know what? I don’t have time for these nonsense
things!”

“Ha! So you’re now denying what you did? Everyone, listen. This girl you call the
prettiest is flirting with Al Ian, my boyfriend. Such a shame, right?”

I tried to run, but one of her friends spilled some slime on my head. The crowd said,
“Ohh!” Oh my gosh! They are getting into my nerves! Her other friend threw a pail of flour at
me, and Alexia pulled my hair, and slapped me so hard. “You deserve that Jessica! Next time,
don’t you dare come near Al Ian or else you’ll regret it. Are we clear?”

Alexia and the crowd left me in the hallway while I cried silently in the corner. Instead of
going to my class, I decided to go home. After cleaning myself, I browsed my Facebook and saw
the video of the commotion that happened earlier with a caption, “This is what side chics get.” I
scanned the comments and saw a ton of hate comments about me. What did I do to deserve this?
I cried and cried all night until I fell asleep. The next morning, I was deciding if I should go to
school or just skip it again. In the end, I decided to just go accept all their hate and disgust. All of
them were staring at me, I felt so ashamed, but when I was about to run and break down,
someone held my hand, and stopped me from running. “Do you think running away from them
would solve the problem?” It was Al Ian. I was stunned and speechless as I stared at him.

He called everyone’s attention, “To everyone here, I am warning you that whoever hurts
this girl again, I will tell it to the Dean. And to clarify things, Alexia was and will never be my
girlfriend, and Jessica was not a side chic.” Everyone was silent not until we heard Alexia run
away and cry so hard.

“Thank you, Al!” I said.

“No worries, Jessica. I’ll do anything to protect you.”