Such a Pretty Face by Ann Angel

Author:Ann Angel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2007-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

J. James Keels

I got hair on my chest,

I look good without a shirt . . .

And I’m goin’ out west

Where they’ll appreciate me.

—Tom Waits, “Goin’ out West”

I was nicknamed Ape the first day of ninth grade, in the locker room.

The showers were lined up in a row, shooting out scalding water. I wore a white T-shirt, and hairs poked out like tiny black quills. I passed stall after stall, each shower with a boy, herded in like cattle, under its gallows nozzle. I walked for an eternity, until I reached the end of the row, turned the faucet, and stepped into the spray. Praying no one would notice. Please God, I pleaded, don’t let them see me. I gazed at the empty lockers through the dense steam; everything seemed so far away.

Closing my eyes, I stood with my back to the others. I curled into myself, a sort of standing fetal position. My wet T-shirt clung to me; the white cotton revealed a dark pelt underneath. I felt the wet hair on my back, like a thin hump. I sensed their eyes on me, each set adding weight until I wanted to crumple to the ground from the pressure. I turned around and found only one set of eyes, staring right into mine.

Jason Keller, all-star quarterback, pointed and uttered his historic words—words that would follow me into my sophomore year.

Look at the Ape!

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