Blemished, The Read Online Free PDF

I could cope with: the uniform, the classes, and the way they looked at us. But to stand and serve them the food I had prepared always seemed the lowest of the low. I thought about the way Dad cooks for me and the intimate feeling you get from sharing food. It should be personal, and with love. Not forced.
    “Ew, mash? Calorific. Gimme an apple,” said the one in front, her voice too soft and drawling, soaked in honey. The tone of her voice did not match the attitude of her words.
    As I handed her the apple I couldn’t stop myself staring, I never could. There was a perfect symmetry to her face and flawlessness to her skin that seemed so unnatural. She had large blue eyes and thick eyelashes. Our hands touched briefly and she recoiled.  
    “She’s tipped for London,” Angela whispered into my ear as she walked away. “She’s gorgeous. I think she can make it.”
    “Why do you care?” I responded. “What does it have to do with us?”
    She looked shocked. “Area 14 hasn’t had anyone accepted for years. We’d get extra food. And better TV.”
    “Yeah, of course.” I frowned, wondering if Angela really believed that.
    I kept my promise to Billie, dishing out soggy vegetables and pork chops to the GEMs with a frigid smile on my imperfect face. I stayed polite and subservient just like a good Blemished girl should.
    “Elena’s coming,” Angela said in a hushed tone. “Don’t worry, she won’t do anything here.”
    “Are you sure?” I said. My palms itched and I longed to be anywhere but there, anywhere but about to go face to face with the bullies who almost drowned me.
    Elena approached. Around her huddled the other girls – the girls who had just stood there and watched. Elena fronted them, their ring leader and tallest by several inches. She had dark hair which rippled in luxurious waves to her slender shoulders. She pouted with down-turned, full lips. She glared at me with oval eyes, an icy shade of blue.
    “Rumour is her genes are based on an old film-star,” Angela whispered in my ear.
    “Hey, it’s the new girl. Did you enjoy your shower, Blem?” Elena said to me, her mouth twisting into a cruel smile. The girls behind her laughed. To her right stood a curvaceous blonde, to her left a caramel skinned girl with red hair and behind her a tall and very skinny girl with black hair.
    I swallowed. “What would you like to eat? Pork chops? Mashed potato? The vegetarian option––”
    “Screw the vegetarian option.” Elena leaned forward so that our faces were close – between us the food, lights and mantel. “I don’t know…What would you eat?”
    “Well, maybe the pork-chop.”
    She turned to her friends, acting up to an audience and loving every second. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Maybe the… potato? But, you know, I really can’t decide. Maybe if you tried it first?”
    “Me?” I fiddled with my headscarf, wanting to back away.
    “Yeah, you!”
    “I can’t e-eat the food.” I stuttered.
    “Then smell it,” she replied. “Get right down there and smell the potato.”
    “I-I don’t want to do that.”
    Elena’s face turned rigid. “If you don’t do it I’ll tell Murgatroyd that you hit me.”
    “What?” I said, aghast. “Why would you do that? I’d be arrested.”
    She said nothing, only stared me down. Behind her the girl with caramel skin clapped her hands in delight. Abject humiliation for me turned into great entertainment for them.
    Tears pricked my eyes but I held them back. Heat tingled in my cheeks. Next to me Angela stiffened but like the other Blemished girls – she didn’t speak up. I didn’t blame them. I leaned over, moving my face closer and closer to the potato.
    “This is amazing,” Elena said to her friends, “she’ll do anything I tell her!”
    The familiar sensation prickled at my finger tips and I knew this time I couldn’t hold it back. My mind focussed into one singular thought which ripped through my anger. Just as my nose reached