If I'm being honest, I don't even know where to start.
I'm Bernice Gawugah. Fifteen years old.
Shy. Soft-spoken. The type of girl who people sometimes forget is even there.
And maybe that's safer... because sometimes being noticed hurts more.
When I walk through the school corridors of Beverly Hills Senior High, I keep my head down.
Not because I'm scared exactly.
It's just easier that way — when you don't have to wonder who's staring at you. Or why.
There's something about me that people don't see at first.
I have breast asymmetry — a rare kind.
One side of my chest developed; the other never did.
When I was younger, I thought maybe it would catch up. That someday, I'd wake up and I would look "normal."
But it never happened.
Add to that — my right hand is underdeveloped.
The fingers are small, delicate, a little bent in ways that make strangers stare too long before pretending they weren't looking.
I learned early how to hide — long sleeves, jackets, careful poses.
I thought maybe if I could just stay quiet enough, still enough, nobody would notice.
But people always notice.
I know some girls with differences call themselves "superheroes" or "warriors" — and I admire them.
But if I'm being completely honest with you...
I don't feel like a warrior.
I don't feel powerful.
Most days, I just feel tired.
Tired of pretending not to care.
Tired of trying so hard to love a body that feels broken.
But still... I have dreams.
Big dreams.
One day, I want to stand in a courtroom — head high, voice steady — and fight for people who feel small, like me.
I want to be a lawyer.
I want to matter.
Maybe that's why I keep going.
Even when it hurts.
Today is the first day of a new term.
A fresh start, I guess.
Even though my heart feels heavy, a small part of me hopes...
Maybe this year, I'll finally stop hiding.
Maybe this year, I'll finally learn how to be seen — the real me — without being afraid.