Victoria, an Empowered Woman

I guess this tale would have never existed if I hadn't had the bad luck to meet him, Alen Miller, the most popular guy at Santa Elena High School. This is my story, the story of how a girl who suffered unjustly the worst humiliation of her life at the hands of a jerk who took advantage of her feelings ended up being the badass in a male-dominated and unequal world full of guys who think they're gods. My name is Penelope Villanueva, or well, at least it was back then.

As I said, it all begins on that fateful day when destiny had the blessed whim to cross paths with that Neanderthal who would cause so much harm in my life. Son of very important people, captain of the soccer team, exactly the typical popular muscular guy who had the world eating out of his hand, with a shining future, the desire of all the girls in that institution. And when I say all, I must include myself (unfortunately).

In those days, I was just one among many. I have sporadic memories of kissing the picture of Alen Miller that I had stuck on the wall before going to sleep. Obviously, all of this was a secret that only my best friend Ingrid knew. A sweet girl who was my faithful companion throughout the school year. Very short, dark-skinned, slightly large and thick glasses, hair tied in ponytails, and a wide knowledge in all the subjects taught at school. The cruel portrait of a nerd, although I never dared to question her about her appearance because she was the only person who truly wanted to be my friend. No one else wanted to hang out with an overweight girl, like I was back then. I had to wear my mother's clothes to save a little money, taking advantage of the fact that we were exactly the same size. My white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes lost their attribute status when accompanied by my weight. I don't think there's anything wrong with being plus-sized, but I suppose young people can be very cruel at times.

My best friend and I used to sit near the school's football field to watch the players exercise on the ground. From a safe distance, we admired our respective crushes. Coincidentally, both of them were important players on the team representing the educational institute where we studied.

It was there, sitting on the grass under the refreshing shade of a huge tree, where we gave free rein to our adolescent fantasies about those boys who seemed so attractive to us at the time. Daydreaming about the hypothetical and almost impossible scenario of those boys noticing our insignificant existence... You know, that kind of silly stuff we're ashamed to remember when we're adults. I remember that afternoon was no different from the others. As usual, we were sitting in that specific place from where we always admired our not-boyfriends with the typical spontaneous sighs that accompany each of the crazy fantasies our feminine heads can invent. When something with a likelihood of happening close to zero actually happened right before our acne-filled noses.

"Are you ready for this?" asked one of Alen's friends while holding a ball in his hands.

"Let's do it!" replied the brute Alen Miller, shaking his body a bit as if preparing to do something he didn't want to do.

"All right!" exclaimed Alen's teammate, kicking the ball with force and aiming it to fall right where we were sitting.

"What an idiot you are, Lyon!" I shouted with disdain after putting my hands up to prevent the ball from hitting my face.

When I looked up again, the first thing I saw left me amazed. I couldn't believe that the most popular and desired guy in the whole school was walking straight towards me. It didn't matter if it was just to retrieve his ball, the simple fact of seeing his silky hair gently swayed by the breeze was enough to make me sigh. What the hell was I thinking when I was sixteen?

"Ingrid... Am I dreaming?" I grabbed her arm tightly but kept looking at the horizon as Alen Miller himself approached casually.

"No, friend... I see him too!" Ingrid exclaimed with excitement through one side of her mouth so that only I could hear her.

"Ladies, would you kindly return my ball?" he asked with that detestable smile, although I must admit that back then, it seemed perfect to me.

Okay, pause. At that precise moment, I didn't know it, but I was standing in front of the man who would cause me the worst embarrassment of my life. That guy you see there with his perfectly sculpted face and muscular arms. How I wish I could shout at my past self and say, "Run, run as fast as you can!"

"Here you go." I handed the ball back to him, and I could smell that exquisite cinnamon scent emanating from his sweat. My flushed face betrayed how excited I was, and my voice broke into a sigh as I couldn't stop looking at him.

"Thanks!" he said before turning around to leave, but just before doing so, he glanced back at me and asked, "Your name is Penelope Villanueva, isn't it?"

"Eeeeee... Yes, that's me." I could barely speak due to the immense shock of the fact that the boy of my dreams knew my name. Perhaps I had an orgasm at that moment, but I had no experience in sexual matters.

"Do you have plans for this weekend?" He spoke while I was lost in a cloud, far away from this planet. I didn't care if he could see my expression of stupidity as I admired him so indiscreetly.

"No" I replied in a sigh, releasing the air from my lungs as I was infatuated with him.

"Perfect, then I'll pick you up around... One o'clock, sound good?" He winked his left eye, causing a little heart attack in me, you know, that tingling feeling in your chest when you touch your pocket and don't feel your phone. And like that, he walked away with his ball in hand. Ingrid and I immediately looked at each other's faces, jumping with excitement. It was the most incredible thing that had ever happened in our lives. Little did we know everything that was about to happen.

I had eagerly awaited that Saturday, the entire week. I must have tried on at least fifteen different outfits, searching for the perfect one to accompany the man I thought was the boy of my dreams. The biggest problem was always my size. When you have the body structure I had back then, it's always challenging to find the perfect clothes for a special occasion. My huge arms, abdominal rolls, and excess weight killed any trace of confidence within me. Fortunately, I had a good friend by my side, who always found a way to boost the self-esteem that was so scarce in me. The big day finally arrived after so much anticipation. The look we ended up choosing was a beautiful fuchsia dress with white flowers, handmade by my own mother. I tried to convince myself that I shouldn't let the mean-spirited teasing from horrible people who enjoyed making others suffer and laughed at my way of dressing affect me, but the sad reality was that each one hurt. However, that day, I decided