If you just met Felicity, you would think she is perfect.  First of all, she is utterly gorgeous. She has long sandy blonde hair that falls down her back and the most beautiful blue eyes that mesmerize you. She also is a 4.0 student that all the teachers adore. It almost seems that she doesn’t even have to try in school. Anyone who has eyes would assume that she is flawless. But assumptions are usually wrong, in this case they definitely are.

Underneath her seamless persona, she has an extremely difficult life. Felicity has no family and lives completely alone. After a long school day at school she walks to her tiny diner that her parents owned before they passed away in a car accident. She works till midnight and has sleepless nights of studying until she knows everything forwards and backwards.
She takes care of herself and in the end when she goes to school people still make snarky remarks about her saying, “Wow, how is she so perfect and how does everything about her seem so easy? It’s not fair.” Comments like this seem so weird when you look at the full picture.
Summertime in California; the best part of the year for Felicity. She actually gets some time to herself and doesn’t have to worry about the stress of school. She was working at the diner one cool Friday morning when a girl about her age walked in. The click of her heels bringing Felicity out of her little dream world. She peered over her shoulder. The girl was the polar opposite as her in appearance. She had jet-black hair and piercing green eyes. She was tall and lean and had a fierce look about her that was a little intimidating. 
“Can I take your order?” Felicity stuttered. 
She wasn’t very good at social interaction if you couldn’t tell. Her whole life; people just stared and talked about her like she was some porcelain doll.

The mysterious girl slowly looked up at her with curiosity and said, “Aren’t you a little too young to be working such a long shift all by yourself?”

“Not really, I’m 18. Uh, uh what about you?” Felicity responded.

“So am I.” the girl said.

“I’m felicity.”

“I’m heather.”

Both girls didn’t know it yet. But this was the beginning of a life-long friendship. They have something in common that they have not even discovered about themselves yet.
Heather, being the nosy girl she was, invited Felicity to sit and chat with her.  Felicity closed up early so that she could talk to Heather. They chatted for hours. Felicity was ecstatic, she was making an actual friend. Someone looked past her looks and saw that she was a genuine person.
The girls exchanged numbers and parted ways. They later discovered they were going to start their senior year together. When September came around they met at the front of their school, Lady Wallace Academy.

Heather looked down at Felicity’s shaking hands. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Heather repeated for the one-thousandth time.

“Well, I am a little anxious. The social part of school has never been my forte.” Felicity said.

Heather just smiled. But Felicity did not know Heather was just as nervous.

The girls walked through the halls looking flawless as ever.
People’s heads turned and they whispered, “Oh great, another perfect goody-two-shoes. Just what this school needs.”

But what all the judgmental teens didn’t know was that both of these girls were tearing at the seams on the inside. Near the end of the day the whole school was buzzing about the new girl. Heather was different from Felicity in the sense that she is very personable. Heather got at least 10 numbers from 10 different boys and was invited to sit with the cheerleaders at lunch.   All the while Felicity sat back and watched her new friend slowly become more and more popular, without her. The girls met in the courtyard of their school at the end of the day. Felicity was beyond nervous that Heather would leave her in the dust now that she is basically popular.

Looking down at her feet Felicity said, “How was your first day”.
“The only thing that could have made it better was if you came and sat with me at lunch.” Heather said winking.

Felicity tensed up. Of course she wouldn’t go sit with Heather and the most popular girls in school, she is not very bold. She didn’t know what to say and started to play with her hair, a bad nervous habit she has had since her parents died.

“How about we do something right now. Maybe we can go to your house?” Felicity suggested.

“I—um— we can’t do that.” Heather stuttered. She looked like she just saw a ghost.  

They awkwardly stood there not wanting to go to their own houses. So in the end, the girls parted ways and they both took their separate routes. Heather took the bus while Felicity walked home. When Heather walked into her cozy home the first thing she saw was the pacific from her kitchen window. Her favorite thing in the world.

“Heather, sweetheart.” a frail voice called from the opposite side of the house taking her out of her trance.

Heather opened the last door in the long hallway with a fake smile plastered across her face.

“Hi mom. Are you feeling any better than yesterday?” She said with an attempt at a cheery voice.

“I would say the pain killers are starting to kick in. How have you been my little feather” Heather’s mom said before coughing repeatedly.

Heather’s mom has been in hospice with stage 4 throat cancer for the past week.

“Is dad home?” Heather asks with concern in her voice.

“Not since he went to the bar last night, sadly.” Her mother said.
Her father is a drunk driven by the stress in his life. It is a constant cycle of drinking because every time he comes home he is constantly reminded that his wife is slowly dying and he can’t do anything about it. So he drinks. This is exactly what Heather was worried about; Felicity coming to her house expecting some homemade cookies from a hospitable mother and a cheery dad grilling steak for diner. That is exactly how their life was before everything took the turn for the worst last year. Heather was jealous of Felicity; she was super smart, beautiful, and worked at a cute diner, and most likely has the most amazing parents knowing how great Felicity is. She started to expect so much of Felicity that she didn’t realize she was starting to do what she hates so much; making assumptions about someone without knowing the full story.
Their friendship grew while completely avoiding their lives after they go home back to their sad reality. One day when they were at Felicity’s diner, which has been their hangout spot ever since they met, they finally let their guards down.

“So, if it’s not too much to ask, how much do you get paid to work here?” Heather questioned not knowing what she was actually getting into.

“I actually technically own it.” Felicity said flatly. Heather’s eyes grew wide,

“Why didn’t you say anything?! Where are your pare…” Heather suddenly cut herself short seeing Felicity’s face pale.

“They died two years ago in a terrible car accident. I mostly take care of myself since I am 18. I am only telling you this because I just can’t hold it in any longer. You seem like you can take the heat; you are tough and perfect. It’s not fair. Everyone assumes that I am perfect but no I’m actually not. I’m broken.” Felicity said without a single breath in between.

She then went on to grab a near-by plate and smash it on the ground with a huff. A single tear fell down her cheek and Heather took it upon herself to wipe it off.

“Well Felicity. I don’t know if you want to make assumptions about me either. My father is a dumb drunk and my mom is terminally ill in bed and is going to die any day now. And well I thought you were perfect at first too but I guess we are both just perfectly imperfect. Our struggles make up who we are.” Heather said while tears fell down her cheek and onto her burgundy sweater.

‘Yea, perfectly imperfect. That sounds about right.” Felicity said.

“Did that feel good? Breaking the Plate?” Heather suddenly said with a subtle grin on her face.

“Amazing.” Felicity said almost mirroring Heather’s grin.

Heather then grabbed a plate off the tall stack that Felicity was drying and threw it across the room with a huge crash following. The girls were quiet as they slowly turned their heads towards each other. Their loud cackles broke the silence as soon as their eyes met. If someone walked into that diner at that very moment; they would most likely call it dysfunctional, but it is in fact just perfectly imperfect.