Vanessa

I've always been drawn to chubby girls, or as I like to put it, the “ones with a little extra.” I began noticing them at a very young age. I couldn't stand the way they were picked on. No one would play with them. They were heckled by the boys, pushed and shoved. Girls wouldn't play with them either. It was awful. So I started talking to them. I discovered that big girls are just as cool as anyone else. Maybe cooler.

There was one such girl in my 4th grade class. Her name was Vanessa. Not only was she a bit more than chubby, she was dirty and very poor. Sometimes she smelled. Her long auburn hair was often knotted and wild, like she'd been in a fight. I sort of befriended her, but she didn't really like to talk much. She mostly just sat with her head hanging down. Some days I'd slip her a few dollars from my allowance. She would whisper thank you, but I could see it pained her to do so.

When it was time for P.E., the class most often chose kickball. The teacher would appoint two captains from a slew of begging hands stretched high in the air. The captains would then begin picking their players. As you can imagine, no one ever chose Vanessa. And when it was coming down to the wire, there was a savage excitement in the classroom. Who was going to get stuck with her? And when she was the last one standing, she unhurriedly walked over to join her team while the whole class booed and cawed. “Ew!” some would sing out. She'd whip an ugly expression and stick out her tongue at everyone. One can only imagine the heartbreak going on inside her. Nobody wanted her. She was dirty… and fat… and poor… and couldn't kick the ball worth a damn. Our teacher, Miss Shermock, tried her best to stop the class from badgering Vanessa. She even threatened us one time if we made a single sound. But she always gave up eventually, having to get us outside on time.

I'd had about enough of this happening over and over, so I decided that the next time I was appointed captain, things were going to change. When it was my turn to pick my first player, I chose Vanessa. The entire class drew a breath in unison. Vanessa's head snapped up in disbelief. She hopped from her desk and dashed over and stood tall next to me with her arms across her chest. She held her chin up and tilted her head as if to say, "Whatcha gonna do now?" 

Something amazing happened that day. When it was Vanessa’s turn to kick, that ball sailed up and over every kid's head and way out into the field. Both teams roared in disbelief, and Miss Shermock jumped up and down, winding her arm around and around, screaming “Run Vanessa!” All the kids were screaming too. When Vanessa rounded third base and saw that she was going to make it, she began laughing and laughing and laughing so hard she stumbled across home plate. Everyone was cheering while she held her fat belly and laughed some more. From that day on, every single time Vanessa got up to kick, the ball would land so far out of reach no one could ever get to it in time. It was always a winner. 

Vanessa became the star kickball player of the 4th grade class that year. Whenever it was time for kickball, it was a fight to see which captain got to choose first. Everyone wanted Vanessa on their team.