I walked with my head in despair. Would I ever be as good as those girls I saw on stage? I had been dancing forever so why wasn't I as good as the other girls? Then I looked down and remembered that that was why. My giant belly stuck out like a sore thumb in my dance group. I slowly shuffled back to the dressing room, it was time to change for my next dance. I hesitated. I didn't want any one to see me in my nude leotard. Closing my eyes and hurrying as fast as possible, I tore off my costume and I tried to put on my other one just as quickly, but it would never be fast enough. I know people had seen my big, fat body. I'm sure they saw fat ripple as I went to change my tights. I knew they were looking at my giant love handles in disgust. I gulped and quickly shimmied into my costume. When it was ordered my teacher warned me that this was the biggest size it came in and if I got any bigger I would not be able to keep dancing. I looked in the mirror. My costume was much tighter than the others. Where other girls looked slim and beautiful I looked like a husky walrus. It didn't help that I towered a foot above all of them. My teacher poked her head in. "Ready to go girls!" I took one last deep breath and looked in the mirror. This costume had a huge whole in the back that made my love handles look even worse than normal. I sighed nothing I could do now. I followed my teacher out of the dressing room. I kept my head down. I felt as if I could hear the girls from other studios snicker and comment as we walked past. I put my head down and hurried to catch up with my team. Even though I was first out of the dressing room I always fell behind the group. I could never get my awkwardly large body to move fast enough. I finally caught up to them, out of breath. I reached up to wipe the sweat of my forehead. It was so embarrassing. I sweat over the smallest amount of exercise. As soon as I got there it was time to line up. We went back stage with the other groups we were competing against. They looked at me and smirked. I could feel the hate in their voices as they wished me good luck. I felt so bad my team had to be treated like dirt when I was really the only problem. Finally, the judges called our number. Unconfidently I walked on the stage. I got to my formation and looked at the judges they gave me that sympathy smile I knew too well. I tried to shake it off, the music was about to start. I didn't even have to worry about shaking it off as soon as the music started I was another person. I was as light as a cloud and as cheerful as a bird. I was unstoppable. I posed confidentially. Then I looked in the audience and saw everyone doing that sympathy smile. Do I really look that bad when I dance? We rushed off the stage. My teacher was ecstatic she was thrilled with our performance. She took out her phone so we could all watch the video. I watched noticing all my imperfections. I bounced all over the place. I grimaced as I saw myself attempt to stand off the floor gracefully. My rush from being on the stage was all sucked out as I remember that I will never be as good as the other girls. Another team from our studio was to perform next so we hurried back to the stage, this time sitting in the audience. We arrived and I realized it was full of dancers from other studios there to support their teams. The dance onstage wasn't very exciting so I began to look at the other dancers seated in the audience. When I realized they weren't all twigs. In fact there were a bunch of girls as big as me! I sat there and wondered about this phenomenon I had never realized before. All this time I thought I was the only one. In that moment I realized the problems I had must be a problem for others too. And for once in my life I didn't feel as alone.
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