When Samantha was younger, up until the beginning of middle school, she was a fun loving child. She did not pay much attention to how she looked or dressed, and she was somewhat of a tomboy.
Until she got to middle school, that is.
When Samantha got to middle school, she originally didn't have many friends, but she did have a few. Not only this, but her friends were a tightly knit group. She was the type of person who had a few really good friends, as opposed to many artificial and one dimensional 'friends'.
She was happy with this.
One of her childhood friends was a boy that was a family friend. His name was Carl. He was a good kid, but didn't stand out too much.
There was a girl who was the leader of a clique. Samantha eventually came to know these girls as Slut #1, Slut #2, and Slut #3.
Long story short, Slut #1 was jealous of Samantha's friendship with Carl. It was nothing more than a friendship for Samantha, but to Slut #1 things seemed different.
"An ugly boyish girl like you... hanging out with him?"
Samantha had one day been cornered while she was walking home by the 3 sluts.
Despite being in middle school, they all wore so much makeup that you could scrape off a chunk of it, and each of their hair was either styled or perfectly groomed.
They wore fancy clothes, and expensive jewelry. To a passerby, one might think that they were in high school or even college based on what they wore and how they looked.
But they were of course, middle schoolers. Spoiled brats who's parents gave them everything that they wanted, without question.
After forcing Samantha to a wall, Slut #2 handed Slut #1 a cup of boiling hot ramen noodles.
The noodles were mushy, ground up, and filled with eggs.
"AH. AH. LET ME JUST TAKE A BITE OF MY DELICIOUS LUNCH. OOPS! OH MY GOODNESS! I CAN'T BELIEVE I SPILLED IT ALL OVER YOUR SHIRT!"
Slut number one said this, and after she finished speaking, thrust the cup forward, spilling the boiling water, noodles and mush all over Samantha.
Samantha's chest suffered from terrible burns, and she had to be taken to the hospital that day to have them treated. When she was asked what had happened, she said that she had spilled her lunch on herself.
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The next day arrived.
The 3 sluts looked at Samantha with smirks, teasing her as if to say 'serves you right'.
Rumors were then spread about Samantha.
Rumors that Samantha had sex with Carl.
Carl distanced himself from Samantha, and her other lifelong friends soon fell away to avoid rumors being spread about themselves.
Samantha became isolated, hated, and abandoned.
Every day, people would glare at her like she was some sort of whore.
The 3 sluts would simply smirk as they walked by her.
Samantha had no idea what to do, and she considered suicide many times over, but in the end decided that she didn't want her family to suffer because of her own problems.
So, Samantha moved away.
She started a new life in another city, and vowed to never allow bad rumors to be spread about her.
She vowed to become so popular that even if rumors were spread, that they would immediately be dissed as haters trying to dirty her reputation.
Samantha started dressing herself up with the small amount of money she had, and eventually worked her way towards being popular through acts of kindness towards others.
All the while, she had a deep hatred for people. She couldn't help but see the faces of the three sluts in every girl she smiled at who looked up to her, and she remembered the betrayal of Carl every time a guy seemed to be gawking at her.
She never wanted to feel the same emotions and feelings that she had gone through back then, and she tried over and over to forget about it, but the memories remained, and changed her forever.
But eventually, she had become exactly the person she had envisioned.
She was beautiful.
Kind.
Compassionate.
A role model for all.
And yet, all this was a lie. A lie in order to prevent others from being able to hurt her. It was not her true self.
She knew this on the inside, and she understood well that she was no angel. She was in reality, alone and helpless. She had succumbed to the pressure of society and merely become a part of the cycle.
But then Samantha had been transported to this new world.
She had met Trevor, Garett, and Ashley.
And all three of them seemed dead set on changing society itself. On making it so that even if society gives them a sinister glare- even if society wants to spit on them, insult them, spread rumors about them, beat them down, destroy their will.
Even if all these things happened, they wanted to still be able to pursue their own happiness.
They wanted a society free of the bonds of social status and popular opinion.
Samantha did not feel any sympathy towards the child that Ashley had hurt. That was because she saw nothing wrong with it, after being desensitized to such an event. However, right now, she felt an ultimate sympathy towards Berith.
Why?
It was because the child- Helen- reminded her of her innocent self, having fun and playing along without a care in the world, while Berith reminded her of her newly formed self, after being hurt, looked down upon, and suffering due to others.
Things didn't have to be this way.
There was no reason why social status should determine if a person is treated like shit or not.
Samantha knew this better than anyone, and yet it was social status that had ruled every action of hers until she came to this world.
When Berith threw up on Samantha, Samantha was painfully reminded of her past. Of the ramen noodles. Of the burns on her chest which still remained as scars.
But despite being angry and frustrated, she took Berith in her arms and hugged her.
"You must have been scared. Don't worry. I am here for you."
Berith seemed to be just as scared of Samantha as she was of Ashley, as she was shivering as Samantha held her. But Samantha didn't care. She continued holding Berith.