They Mocked The Wrong Girl

Emilia has spent the past year in the gym, shedding the weight that hormonal drugs once piled on her, and no one at Oceaton U knows it. Her so-called best friend Wendy Shaw, however, posts an old photo of her on the campus confession wall and promises the whole school a spectacle: Emilia must hand a love letter to the untouchable Jonathan Riverson. Wendy then steers the meeting away from orientation to Bamboo Park, where a group chat called 'Witness the Heavyset Confession' waits to film every angle of her humiliation.

A courier delivers an XL neon-pink tutu dress with a cartoon pig on the front, and Wendy insists she wear it or lose her friendship. Emilia returns it to sender, ties her hair into a ponytail and slips the letter into her canvas bag. Her mother tells her she need not prove her worth to anyone. Emilia answers that she is not playing along — she is ending things.

At five thirty, Wendy's audience gathers among the fake mountains and wisteria pergolas. Emilia lets them laugh a little longer.