The Girl He Called Ugly

The first time we video called, my allergies were so bad my face swelled until my eyes were two slits.

My boyfriend of three months laughed at me from the other side of the screen. [Baby, I don't care about faces.] [Whatever you look like, I like it.] Then, on the flight to surprise him early, I found the post. [To get back at the Lux who ganked me 9 times, I made a smurf and dated her on purpose.] [When she shows up all excited to meet me, I'm going to stand her up.] He mentioned the allergy video too.

And the two "modellevel" photos he said she'd pulled off the internet. The whole comment section was guessing where those two "modellevel" photos came from. Only I knew.

I took them myself.

And three days later, this boy who said he didn't care about faces would post a stolen photo in a group chat with two thousand people in it and offer money for the girl's number.

That face in the photo was mine too. Chapter 1 The post kept going. [Just picturing her showing up all happy makes me laugh.] [Ugly is one thing.

Ugly and stupid is another.] [Breakup revenge countdown starts now.] My fingers shook. My brain quit on me.

When I first opened it, I could still tell myself not to jump to conclusions. Plenty of girls play this game. The further I read, the worse it got.

He may as well have typed my name. I main Lux. I spend all day on Summoner's Rift hunting people down. Soren and I met in a game.

Application season had just ended, acceptance letters had just landed. He added me first. The timing matched. The server matched. The only thing missing was my name in print.

Soren wasn't very good at the game. He had a way of getting under your skin anyway. Clear voice. Always half laughing, lazy about it. Generous, too.

Second day we knew each other, he was dropping limitededition skins into my account like they cost nothing. We played together long enough that I started to feel something.

So when he asked, I said yes. It happened on its own. My family is relaxed about almost everything. Dating was the exception.

No boyfriends until application season was over, and my parents guarded that rule like federal law. So this was my first relationship. A mystery box, bought online.

I clicked into his pinned post and realized I'd hit the jackpot. Cars that cost more than houses. Watches with names I had to look up. And a face that could book campaign work.

You could tell just by looking. Old money. The kind you can't buy your way into. My best friend and I studied that post for an hour. She squinted at the screen.

She didn't mean anything by what she said next. She said it into existence anyway. "Rich boys need to date online?

Why does this smell like a catfish to me." Then she looked over at me. "Never mind. A girl like you is out here dating online too. Big world.

Weird things happen." That line ran around my head for a whole semester afterward. It came true in a way neither of us saw coming.

She scooted closer, ready for gossip. "So how far have you two gotten? Has he seen a picture of you?" Chapter 2 I thought about it. "He never asked.

I never sent one." My grid stays empty. Stories only. And once League got its hooks in me, even those were nothing but postgame screenshots.

The last real photo I took was on New Year's. After we made it official, Soren was careful with me about everything. He just never asked what I looked like. He didn't seem to care.

My best friend sat up straight. She went back to studying his selfies. "What if he's the catfish, though? Set up a video call, Laney.

Verify." "Better to check now than find out with your suitcase in your hand." Fair point. So Soren and I set a call for that night. He agreed right away.

First time seeing each other live. I spent the whole afternoon getting ready, checking my makeup in the mirror again and again, too keyed up to sit down.

I ate one of the new pastries from the bakery downstairs to settle myself. It had white peach purée in it. I'm allergic.

Ten minutes later I was heavy and fuzzy and asleep on my bed. The ringtone woke me up. I answered half asleep and looked at the screen. A pale, goodlooking guy filled the frame.

Exactly like his photos. High nose bridge, mouth already curving, something reckless in the smile. Then the little window with me in it. My face had swollen.

My eyelids had squeezed my eyes down to slits. My lips wouldn't close. Me: … It was horrifying. I jerked the camera away and started explaining. "Sorry.

Sorry, I had a reaction tonight. I don't look good." He paused for half a second. Just that half second. I turned it over in my head a lot of times afterward.

Then his eyes crinkled and the smile went deeper. "It's fine, baby. You don't have to explain." "I don't care about faces.

Whatever you look like, I like it." Two sentences and the humiliation drained right out of me. I actually believed him. That's the part I still think about.

Afterward I didn't want him picturing the wrong thing. I picked two selfies I actually liked and sent them over. A long pause. Then a voice note came back.

He sounded so patient about it. [Baby, don't be insecure about your looks. To me you'll always be the cutest.] I didn't catch anything strange back then.

I thought I'd landed a gentle, thoughtful, oneinamillion boyfriend. It took until right now to hear it properly. He thought I'd stolen someone else's photos to trick him.

Listen to that patient tone again. There was a sneer sitting under it. He thought I was lying to him. I thought I was in love. We were both very sure we were right.

The comment section was packed with people there for the show. Plenty of them had sense, too. The jokes and the callouts kept stacking. A message popped up on my phone.

Baby: [Are you almost here?] I swallowed and took a breath. Me: [Yeah.] My thumb went to the share button. Send him his own post. Make him look at it.

His next message came faster. [Congrats.

You wasted the trip.] [Remember that ranked game on May 26, 2026, 11:15 at night?] [I'm the top laner you ganked 9 times.] [You made me miserable for one entire game.] [I dated you to mess with you.

You get that?] [We're done, ugly.] My thumb was still sitting on the share button. [By the way. Those two photos you stole? They're pretty.] [Bye.] He blocked me and deleted me.

The post that had all but printed my name came down under the weight of everyone piling on. Then he deactivated the account. Start to finish, he moved so fast I never got a word in.

I lowered the phone and sat there. Saying it didn't hurt would be a lie. Chapter 3 My first love, the one I actually meant, turned out to be a revenge project start to finish.

We landed. I pulled my suitcase out into arrivals. White dress. Heels I couldn't really walk in. Soren had said he was coming to pick me up. That's the only reason I wore them.

The sun came straight down on my scalp and cooked it. I looked out at nothing in particular. The tears just ran. If I'd known, I would have ganked him a lot more than nine times.

I checked into a hotel for the night. Then I couldn't hold it anymore and texted my best friend.

Me: [I got demoted this morning.] Her: [Demoted to what?] [Why didn't you invite me to ranked?] Me: [I mean Soren dumped me.

Blocked and deleted on everything…] Two seconds of nothing on her end. Then a video call. We stared at each other through the screen. "What is wrong with him?" My eyes were red.

I kept it short. "He thinks I'm ugly." Silence. "He looked at that face and said ugly? Is he—" She tapped her own temple, the way you do when someone is clearly not all there.

I told her everything and kept hiccuping through it. "I put this place as my top choice so we'd be at the same school." "Movein is in two days." "Being down bad ruins lives." She swore the entire time I talked, until her voice cracked.

She stopped to drink some water. Then she sighed, and she sounded like it hurt her. "Don't be sad, babe. I just got a top50 jungler account on our server this week.

I'm going to carry you through everything." I holed up in that hotel and played for two days straight. The ache thinned out and went away. I got myself together. Checkout today.

Movein day at Halstead. The orientation leader at the gate was very enthusiastic. He grabbed my suitcase out of my hand while pitching me on his club.

September sun, and it was brutal. I pushed my cap back and took off my sunglasses. "Thanks, I'm good." His smooth talk stopped dead.

His face went redder than mine. "You—you don't have to join. Helping freshmen move in is just what we do!" "Which building are you in? I don't have much going for me but I'm strong.

Let me carry it over." I told him my room number. Somebody behind us made a small sound. "I'm in that room too. Want to walk together?" I turned around.

A quietlooking girl in blunt bangs and blackframed glasses. I gave her a friendly smile. "Sure." She froze for a second. Then, quietly: "You're so pretty." A fourperson suite.

Two bedrooms off a shared common room. Bangs girl and I were the last two to arrive. Everyone was easy to be around. One of the girls added me to the campuswide freshman GroupMe.

Everyone's nickname was their name plus their major. I searched it for Soren. Nothing. I couldn't tell if that was a relief or not.

Good news, I didn't have to share a campus with my ex. Bad news, he'd lied about that too. Maybe he was never going here at all.

That whole thing about picking the same school was something he said to have something to say. At least Halstead was already on my list. So I hadn't lost that much.

I was still spiraling when the freshman chat went off. Somebody posted. [Saw someone on the main quad today.

If you know her, send me her contact.] [I'll make it worth it, Cash App.] A photo came right under it. It was me. Two thousand people in that chat.

Two thousand people looking at that photo. Whoever took it had no idea who he'd just photographed. And I had no idea who he was. I started to reply.

Chapter 4 He'd already deleted the photo. [Thanks, found her.] The chat was still going, everyone joking around. [Who is she, that Vance takes one look and asks for a number?] [He deleted it too fast, I didn't even get to see.] [Am I the only one who cares who gets that money?

Vance pays out, it's never small.] The guy hunting her down was listed in the chat as Kellan Vance. He replied to the newest message. [Owner claimed her.] I sat there confused.

Then I checked again. My message really hadn't sent. Outside the bedroom door, my suitemates were talking over each other. "Kellan Vance is kind of a big deal.

Supposedly hot and his family has insane money." I'd been lurking in that freshman chat for weeks, so I knew exactly who he was. "You're so lucky, Dani.

He came to you for your number." "Does he like you?" Dani was the girl with the bangs. There was a little smile in her voice. "I already added him." That's when it clicked.

She was in that photo too. We'd been walking side by side. I was the one facing the camera. She was on my left, mostly behind me. He was looking for her. I deleted what I'd typed.

Honestly. Blur out the bystanders next time. I almost embarrassed myself. Kiara kept going, and now she sounded confused. "Wait, no.

I'm pretty sure he has a girlfriend." "He used to say it in the chat all the time, that he had to go play games with his girlfriend." I was looking down at my schedule.

My finger stopped. Plays games with his girlfriend every night. …Funny. My ex played games with me every night too. I shook my head. Two thousand freshmen on this campus.

Things don't line up like that. "They probably broke up," Dani said softly. Dani became the first one in our suite off the market, and it took her about a day.

She started a skincare routine. She started learning makeup. Her desk filled up with bottles and jars. She liked coming over to talk to me. Always the same subjects. Makeup.

Outfits. I looked at the plain tshirts and jeans in my closet. "Are you sure you want to be asking me?" Serena snorted from across the room. "What's Laney going to tell you?

Her whole look is carried by her face.

She could wear a trash bag." Dani turned and looked at my face, and something complicated moved behind the envy. "Must be nice." Kiara sent a curious look our way. "Dani, you and Kellan are together.

How come you two never go out?" Dani pulled her hand back. She lowered her head. The corners of her mouth dropped, just barely. "No rush. I'm still peeling from Welcome Week.

I want my skin back before I see him." "Fair," Kiara said. The outdoor stuff during Welcome Week had just wrapped, and everybody was peeling. Except me.

I had surgery earlier that year, so I got a medical exemption. And I hate the sun. I could count my trips outside on one hand.

Kiara pushed. "So right now it's basically an online relationship? He really does like you, then. One look and he locked it in." "Yeah. We went to the same high school, actually.

But…" Dani paused, then pressed out an embarrassed little smile. "I used to be bigger. And quiet.

He probably didn't notice me back then." "Ohhh, that explains it!" The two of them had made it official a while ago. They just never went public.

Kellan Vance was in the freshman chat playing benevolent king. He posted a twothousanddollar giveaway: react within a minute, and he'd Cash App random amounts to the winners.

Everyone else thought he was in a good mood. Only the four of us knew he was celebrating a sweet new relationship. I never post in that chat. I just watch.

My thumb slipped and I reacted. And my name went up in front of two thousand people. Delaney Bai. Business school. Chapter 5 The notification came up fast. Worst luck in the room.

Two thousand dollars in that giveaway and he Cash Apped me twentyfive cents. A minute later, Kellan Vance tagged me in the group chat. Just me. [Give it back.] Me: ???

I didn't learn any of the next part until much later. Dani gave me some of it. He gave me the rest, at a point where he was desperate enough to explain everything. So.

He was looking at a name he knew far too well. Delaney Bai. Business school. He'd dumped that girl a few days earlier. The ugly one. The one who stole photos.

He'd honestly stopped thinking about her.

Back when the relationship was still real to him, they had agreed to go to the same school, and the major and the name were both things I had screenshotted and sent him myself.

That's why he never questioned it. It was me. And I couldn't have recognized him. The name he'd used with me wasn't his.

Going by how clingy I'd been, he figured I was about to turn into a problem he'd have to manage.

Then his priority notification went off. princess_dani: [What's going on with you in the chat?] He sent back some excuse and sat there watching the box, waiting for her to answer.

The way he told it, he and Dani were kind of meant to be. Delaney Bai had stolen Dani's pictures to pass them off as her own, and days later he ran into the real one on a lawn.

Better in person. She just stood there and the whole quad arranged itself around her. He took the photo without deciding to.

Not one piece of that story ever struck him as strange. princess_dani: [I thought maybe my suitemate did something to annoy you.] His ex and his girlfriend, same suite. [Is she in your room?

Is she ugly?] princess_dani: [To my taste… she's average.] He laughed out loud at that one. [You're so cute, baby.] His girlfriend was so kind. Holding back like that.

A lot of people reacted to enter that giveaway. I was the only one tagged and told to return it. With no reason given.

I filed it under rich people problems and sent the twentyfive cents back without changing my expression. You'd think it was twentyfive thousand.

Then I decided to go buy half a cold watermelon and cool off. Dani was in the middle of a conversation with somebody and she was in a great mood.

She saw me heading out and called after me. "Laney, are you going to the shops out back? Could you grab me some peaches?" "Not really. I'm allergic.

My face swells up like a balloon." "Oh, okay." She took that in. Her voice went light. "I'll go get them myself later, then." The noon sun made my head spin.

I pulled my cap low and put my sunglasses on. Covered from the top of my head to my chin. I didn't take any of it off until I was inside the store.

Then I felt a whole row of eyes land on me. I touched my face. The cap and the sunglasses were still in my hand. My whole face, just sitting there lit up in the middle of the store.

On the walk back with the watermelon, Kiara texted me out of nowhere. [Babe, you're about to be famous.] She'd forwarded a post from the campus crush page.

Several stolen photos of me, sitting right at the top. You could tell from the angles that whoever took them had shaky hands. [HELP?!

Who is this, what's her major, is she a girl or an actress here filming something?] The comments were going strong. Chapter 6 [Is she a freshman?

I was at every single Welcome Week event and I never saw her.] [Nobody's skin looks like that after a week outside.] [A face like this and none of us have heard of her?

Has to be a freshman. Is she taken? I don't care what gender, I'm raising my hand.] [Taken is fine. Can I get added anyway?

More admirers, more prestige.] [+1 to the guy above] The one that stood out was Kellan Vance's. Three words. [Taken.

Don't bother.] Kiara is blunt, and she read that and had no idea what she was looking at. She replied to him directly. [She's not?] [She's my suitemate.

Single.] When I got back to the suite, Dani was the only one there