Heroes Wanted

Chapter 1

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Cindy Vortex was in need of a hero.

Everything around her was fake. She would have sworn that the potted plant on her desk was fake if it hadn't started to wilt from neglect. Her friends cared only about her popularity. They would brag about coming with her to some party or sitting next to her at lunch. Her parents cared only about her grades. They would brag about raising a daughter who was not only academically gifted but athletically gifted as well.

They all wanted to use her to prove that they were better than others by association. Cindy was convinced they never truly cared about her, and that they never would.

Everything around her was fake.

But so was she.

Wake up, get dressed, and pretend that she actually gave a damn about her peers. It was draining to play the part of the popular high school queen. Smart, athletic, and beautiful. She'd be mean to the people they expected her to be mean to. Nice to those whom she was supposed to be nice to.

True, this heroine comes off like quite the bitch to some, but that was the price of her popularity. And true, she was scheming and short-tempered at times. But isn't everyone the same?

To put things in perspective, her unruly side had become much less apparent since her younger years when she'd take out frustration from parental pressure on the people around her. She had figured out soon enough that acting out only resulted in more pressure from her parents to be perfect.

From then on, anger she felt was regularly hidden. Sometimes she thought the anger she felt during her childhood was good for her, at least she expressed real, strong emotions then.

Cindy's only solace was her dog, Humphrey, who was getting on in his years.

He'd been with her since she was a toddler. And since then, she would tell Humphrey about all her problems. About how much she hated her friends who could never keep her trust and her parents who never bothered to connect with her. She told him how free she thought she'd be if she could just tell everybody to fuck off. That she wasn't their doll to be shown off. An accessory.

It broke her heart to know that he would be gone soon, too. Signs of aging were apparent in the way he slept during most of the day and rarely ate. She didn't think she could take it if he left her.

Cindy Vortex's greatest fear was to be left alone. She grew up craving love and acceptance from her parents and never receiving enough of it. And, despite wanting to be left alone most of the time, she hated feeling that way. It scared her. She needed the constant reassurance from others that she was mattered. That someone wanted her. She thought that the moment people discovered how imperfect she was, they'd leave her. So she continued to be the queen of the fakes, the most fake of them all.

At least she could hide and breathe for one moment before summer vacation ended. In this moment, she could take off her plastic crown without anyone seeing.

Just a lonely girl and her dog. Alone but not really alone. Alone but still wanted. And that's how she liked it.

No heroes necessary.

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I'm going through this story again and reediting it in the hopes of restarting it. Please bear with me. There will be a lot of constant updating because there's a lot to fix. The mostly updated chapters will have the title "Heroes Wanted" on them. If you read further than that, the story might not make sense. Hopefully, it won't take years... Cheers.