Fluffy clouds dispersed through the dim sky. Tiny glistening stars decorated the dark heaven. Beneath, this canopy, I was leaning on an old black bench next to a shelter beside my house looking at the stars and hoping for something that other people had. I closed my eyes to face the tumultuous thoughts flying chaotically through my mind. Hours and hours passed while my eyes remained closed. Hours and hours passed. Until I solved the problems; then, "That’s it!" I shouted happily to welcome the sunshine of a wonderful morning and to celebrate the success that would soon be mine.

I liked her. She was cute. Her charming narrow eyes and her glowing complexion drew me in at first sight. She was friendly and open. Not only was her appearance attractive, but her mind was attractive too. I had met her in a summer school a few weeks before. Her house was close to mine, but I would not meet her in the summer school again. The summer school course was over.

Only in the evening did she and her mother ride past my house on a motorbike. It was usually six o’clock. She sat on the seat behind her mother. She talked and laughed brightly with her mother showing her lively character along the way. Her smiles drew my heart into her control every time I saw her, so I would do all my work early and get ready to watch her from a distance everyday because I was ashamed of my shape. I was chubby, like a jar or a pig.

"A Fat Pig!...A Fat Pig!...A Fat Pig!..," echoed in my ears to remind me of my appearance everyday. My friends used the words to tease me. I knew the truth, but I could not accept it. One day in summer school, I was in a class with my friends, including her, when someone called me "Pig! Pig!" and everyone laughed. I tried to think that it was just a joke, but I could not. The situation injured my heart. I was embarrassed because she was there. The embarrassment let me try to overcome myself when I was leaning on the bench the day, and I had promised myself that I had to change my shape within a month, and that day I would show her who I was.

My heart was trembling like an earthquake, fifteen days later, when I was in my bedroom. The blood was pumping through my body. I felt like the earth was whirling and everything was moving. I could not control myself. My legs were so weak. My hands did not have enough energy to move. I could only sit on a chair and listen to rock music in my bedroom. I had power only for breathing and thinking on the soft blue chair. I was hungry. A huge roast turkey, a barbecued piglet, and a big plate of fried rice were floating in front of my eyes; besides that, the smell of food made my mouth water. I had not eaten food for so long. I was famished and exhausted.

"Stop! Don’t think of going into the kitchen to get food!" I scolded myself and forbade the thought.

"Why?" asked the other side of my mind.

"You should not eat now. It is almost time for bed. You should control yourself because tomorrow your weight will be one pound less and you will succeed sooner," answered another thought.

The goal always encouraged me to overcome my hunger. It also influenced me to persevere and to fight the discouragement from the exhaustion. I played basketball, soccer, and ran every day for a month. I refrained from dinners and dieted at the other meals. I did everything to overcome the words my friends had teased me with. Finally, I won a significant prize. My body changed!

I am not plump anymore. I am 34 pounds thinner and 3 inches taller. I have more self-confidence, I am not shy, and I have learned how to control eating and exercising to make my body healthy. Nobody can tease me and call me "A Fat Pig" from now on. I can be proud of what I have achieved; however, she has left. She moved to live in another province a week ago. She is far from me. I usually sit beside the road as if to watch her every evening, but I never, never see her. She has never come back again. I can only watch motorbikes at six o’clock running past my house in the dusk every day. I hope that one day I will see her and show her who I am now.