Pathetic Beauty
by Anna



Chapter 1:

So there I sat, on another boring day of Science class not paying attention and thinking about my favorite actor Haley Joel Osment and what it would be like to meet him. "Psst! Monica!" said my friend Elisabeth. "What?" I said. Elisabeth pointed to the teacher who looked like he was about to say something interesting. So I woke up from my dreams and looked at the teacher. He said, "Listen class, all of us are different in our own ways, today we will have a new student, he is very different from all of us in many ways. He has a very painful and personal past. I ask that you please just treat him like a normal kid. His name is Hal...uhh...Harvey Asment." And right then in walked probably one of the most pathetic looking kids I have ever seen. His hair was blondish and it was all matted down with sweat, he was wearing a ripped up green t-shirt with ripped up jeans that were practically falling off of him, with some poor excuse for sneakers and his left toe was sticking out of them. His skin was pale but very dirty. Overall, he was pathetic. Then he looked up. And I saw his eyes. Suddenly, I was lost in them. They were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. He looked at me for a while. And we stayed locked in the gaze. Then a cloud of sadness over took the beauty and he sat down.



Chapter 2:

It was lunch time and I was sitting with my usual group, Elisabeth and Brette. Brette had said something funny and she and Elisabeth were cracking up...but somehow I could only think of the pathetic boy, Harvey. Then he walked by our table justas I thought of him. Elisabeth and Brette looked at him and started laughing. I almost joined when I saw his pathetic self, but then he looked up, and there were those unmistakable beautiful eyes. Somehow, they seemed so familiar, likeI had seen them before. Then without thinking, "Hey! Harvey?" I said..."Come sit with us!" I told him. He just looked at me and there came the cloud of sadness and he walked away. Elisabeth and Brette exchanged a confused glance. "Umm hello! What was that Monica??" Brette asked me."What was what?" I asked Brette. "You were just totally staring down the new kid and then you asked him to sit with us!" Brette said, "Yea I know! What's up with you?" asked Elisabeth. "Nothing...it's just...have you seen his eyes...?"I asked my friends. "Um sure..." said Brette. "No," I said "they just seem so familiar and beautiful." "Right, well we gotta go," said Elisabeth motioning for Brette. And they left to another table leaving me there to think about Mr. Pathetic's eyes.



Chapter 3:

Next day in science, I saw him again. I couldn't do anything but stare at him. In science, since it's my least favorite and the most boring class, I usually just think about my favorite actor, Haley Joel Osment. But by looking at Harvey...for some strange reason, I felt like I was doing just that. Then it happened. Again. He looked up and I was lost in his eyes. This time it was a little bit longer before the sadness came in.



Chapter 4:

At lunch I went over to sit with Elisabeth and Brette, but they were with someother friends. Whatever. So I went at sat by myself, and took out my science book so I could review the lesson that I didn't pay attention to. Then I heard a voice, "Is this seat taken?" It was him. Harvey. Mr. Pathetic. Beautiful Eyes. Harvey Asment, talking to me. "Uhh sure I mean no yea whatever..." I nervously said. Harvey and I talked for a while. About nothing much really. Then I asked "So do you wanna do something afterschool?" For the first time since I had seen him, he smiled. "Sure!" he exclaimed. I asked if I could go to his house maybe and then he stood up and ran away. What did I do wrong?



Chapter 5:

I ran home from school that day. I didn't understand what was happening to me. I was one of the most popular girls inschool along with Elisabeth and Brette. We were all very rich and wore nice clothes and we were very pretty. Elisabeth had even done some modeling. I am very well liked among the boys at school and usually don't get turned down. But I didn't understand why Mr. Pathetic didn't want me. Well I guess I asked him to do something as a friend, but maybe he didn't know that? I couldn't understand! Today for the first time Elisabeth and Brette didn't sit with me. I sat alone. Monica Miggliaccio just doesn't sit alone. I was very mad. Then instead of going home I walked right over to Elisabeth's house. I had known Elisabeth from kindergarten and we had been best friends since then. I met Brette in 4th grade at my dance studio. It turned out she went to my middle school so in 6th grade, Elisabeth, Brette, and I became best friends. Now we are in 8th and things are pretty much the same, but I think I will always be closer to Elisabeth. Now I rang the doorbell expecting to find Elisabeth's sister answer the door because Elisabeth Brette and I don't think it's cool to answer the door. I don't know why. It was something Brette said. Brette and her family come from France, and she is the richest of us all. But instead of Elisabeth's sister, it was Billy Gilman some really cute guy from school who I went out with before. "Hey Monica, Elisabeth said you couldn't make it!" Billy told me. "What are you talking about? Couldn't make it to what?" I asked. "The party!" said Billy. A party? I thought. Why would Elisabeth have a party and not invite me. Then Elisabeth came to the door. "What's going on Lis?" I asked. "Oh I figured you didn't wanna come since you were gonna be with that geek from science." she told me like it was nothing. "Lis!! I can't believe you would have a party without me!" I screamed. Then Brette came to the door "Oh look, it's Mrs. Geek herself, where's dork boy?" Brette asked. I couldn't believe this. So I ran home crying.



Chapter 6:

When I got home I just layed on my bed and cried. My two best friends just threw a party without me and Brette totally put me down infront of Billy! Then there was this loser from who knows where that turned me down...but why did I care? I'm out of his leauge. He's your average dork, why would I even want him? That was the problem, I didn't know.



Chapter 7:

I got to school the next day and walked by Elisabeth and Brette. When I walked by, Elisabeth looked over at me but then Brette pushed her and started laughing. How is this happening? So I went to find some of the other popular girls from our bigger group. I saw Steph and Kimso I walked over. "Hey guys!" I said. Kim looked at me like I was crazy. Steph said, "Um, yea I don't think you should talk to us anymore...but hey there's a nice girl!" She pointed to Adri the biggest dork ever, laughed, and walked away! What happened to me?? "Hey! Wanna dosomethin after school??" asked...ADRI! WHAT! I couldn't believe this...people like Adri are to scared to talk to people like me, Elisabeth, Brette, Steph and Kim! Aah! So I ran away and almost knocked over some pathetic kid. Wait. It wasn't just some pathetic kid. It was THE pathetic kid! HARVEY! "Um, hey, I just wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry for..." I said. And then out of no where he stepped closer to me. And he kissed me. I couldn't believe it! The guy didn't know who I was and he just kissed me. I kissed back but before I knew it he looked up at me, in came the sadness, and he ran away.



Chapter 8:

Sitting in science, I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was sit there. I didn't pay attention at all and probably just failed a test. Oh well. Then at lunch...I walked by Steph, Kim, Elisabeth, Brette and a bunch of other girls' table. Brette whispered somthing to Kim, Lis, and Steph, they looked up at me and started laughing. So I went to an empty table and sat down. Then he started walking towards me. He just dropped a note on my table and kept walking. The note was very simple and scrawled, and it said:

M-
Meet me at the park after school.
-H

The park, huh? I could do that!



Chapter 9:

I sat on the grass at the park for about 20 minutes. Where was he? He did say the park, right? "Hey, sorry I'm late," someone said. I turned around. It was him. "Oh hey, it's okay," I said. "So...uhh...why did you ask me to come here?" I asked. "Well, I thought maybe we could talk a little bit," he told me. "Oh, okay, cool." So we talked for a while. Mostly about me. Everytime I asked him something he changed the subject back to me. So when I finished my practically life story all up until Brette Lis Steph and Kim laughed me away, I was crying. And he reached out to me and pulled me into a hug. And we just sat there and I cried and cried and he didn't say a word, but seemed to understand. I had never ever poured my heart out to a guy. But somehow it felt different. Then I stopped crying and I said "thanks" and he nodded and walked away.



Chapter 10:

The next day at lunch I just sat there and stared into space. Elisabeth Brette Steph and Kim sat at another table pointing and laughing at me. I didn't blame them, I looked awful. My hair was a mess and I hadn't changed my clothes from yesterday and I wasn't wearing any makeup. Then he walked by and dropped me another note. Another simple and scrawled one.

Monica-
It's my turn. Lake by your house after school.
-Haley

It's my turn? What did that mean? And wait, why did he sign it Haley? No, he didn't...he has messy handwriting so it just looks like that. Then Brette walked by and said "Did you forget to bring the trash out?" Oh man. I mean, this girl was really mean. I knew that. But she was never mean to me or Lis or any of our other friends. But now she was acting as if I was the average loser. Well maybe I was. But I had Haley, I mean Harvey, I mean...well, whatever.



Chapter 11:

I got to the lake and he was already there. "I want to tell you something. I have a lot of deep dark secrets. I have never told anybody. I somehow feel as if I can tell you. But I can't right now. We should get to know each other better." And with that, he walked away, and I sat there for about 4 hours not knowing what just happened.



Chapter 12:

The lake day was on Friday. When I got home, out of habbit I called Elisabeth. Every Friday night me Lis and Brette have a sleepover. But then I remembered that they hated me so I hung up. I stared at the ceiling. Then the phone rang, but I didn't care. "Monica!" my mom said. "Yea?" I said. "Phone call!" she told me. Phone call? It was probably Adri. "Hello?" Isaid. "Hey Monica" a voice said. It was him! Yes! "Oh hey Harv!" I said a little too excited. "Do you wanna do somethin today Saturday and Sunday?" he said. What? "Um, sure! what do you wanna do?" I asked. "Today maybe we could walk around the mall, and then we'll take it from there," he told me. "Okay cool! I'll meet ya there at 7?" I said. "Yea, okay," he said. Click. He hung up. What was with him?



Chapter 13:

I found him at the mall sitting on a bench. He motioned for me to sit down, so I did. We talked about nothing really again, school, teachers, kids, stuff like that. Nothing important. After about an hour he said, "Well I'm gonna go, tomorrow meet me at the park at noon and then Sunday will be the day," he said, and walked away. And Sunday will be the day?! Damn, this guy was a living cliff hanger!



Chapter 14:

At the park the next day, he asked meabout my interests. He asked my favorite actor and I said, "Well, I am totally in love with Haley Joel Osment! He's just so cute!" I said. He blushed. Wait. Why did he blush?! "What..." I said. "Nothing...tell me about your history now," he told me. I told him some boring stuff but when I did his eyes got amazingly beautiful again! Ever since before they were just cloudy. But when I talked about my parents and brothers and sisters his eyes just lit up with beauty. So I told him the story, "My parents met somewhere, went out for a while, and got married," I said as he smiled, "Nothin special," I said. When I said that in came the cloud of sadness! "Oh, well I'll see ya tomorrow for the day...meet here again at noon." And he walked away.



Chapter 15:

It was Sunday morning, and I was deciding what to wear. I didn’t know what he meant by saying "Sunday will be the day". And there was something about him that just seemed all too familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But he was just familiar. Well, whatever! So then I was walking to the lake, and I saw him he was walking ahead of me. He was sort of muttering to himself. I didn’t hear much but this is what I did hear: "Iguess I can...well...I don’t know if trust her, she mentioned liking me...I can, though...I can feel it..." What was he talking about??



Chapter 16:

I sat down on the grass next to him. He had some sort of weird mask on his face. I asked him what it was for and he said I would see. He was dressed nicely but I couldn’t see his hair or face,but his clothes were nice and neat for once! Wow! Then he said, "I think I am ready to tell you about my past, and about my present." "Okay," I said. "Well, here I go. I had a good life going for a while. It was just plain good. But things started changing about 2 years ago. My parents starting fighting, a lot. But I was still very well liked because nobody knew about it. I was very well liked and life was going good outside home. But my dad, he would come home late every night. My mom would ask where he was and he would just yell at her and tell her to mind her business. It was still bearable then. But then one night,he came home late. My mom asked where he was as usual. And then he just went crazy and started smashing everything, and hitting her in every way. She was scared and was crying. I was sitting in a corner with my head between my knees praying and praying that he would just stop and I knew if I said something, he would take it out on me. But it was getting worse, he was beating her harder and harder, and she was bleeding. She was screaming and crying. Then he pulled out the knife, and he started charging towards her with it. She was weak and scared and could barely move. I didn’t know what to do, and that’s when I saw my dad’s gun. And I grabbed it and closed my eyes and..." his voice started cracking and he was about to cry, I was also very close to tears. "I pulled the trigger about 4 times. When I opened my eyes I found out I was too late. My dad had already stabbed my mom. He could barely talk now he was crying so hard and I was too. It was so sad. She was lying on the ground with the knife in her chest and my dad...I had shot him. He was hysterically crying now and I didn’t know what to do or say. And so I ran away. I had murdered my dad. My dad murdered my mom. I had one sister but she was at a friend’s house. So I ran. As fast I could, as far as I could. Eventually I got to a bus station, and I came here, undercover. I’m now living with my aunt." "Undercover? As what?" I asked. "You’re not going to believe it but," he started to say. And then, it hit me. I knew who he was. Everything made sense. Why he signed the note "Haley", why his eyes were so familiar, why he blushed when I told him my favorite actor, why he said "I liked him", and everything else. The one person I had wanted to meet my whole life, was sitting right in front of me crying. "Harvey Asment" was Haley Osment! HALEY JOEL OSMENT! THE Haley Joel Osment! And then he took off the mask...and there he was. Haley Joel Osment. I couldn’t believe it. I could barely move. But all I did was hug him close as he cried, and I cried. We cried together. And for what seemed like days, I sat and cried with the one person I had wanted to meet all my life. This actor, who had a public life and always seemed so perfect. But then I learned that the Haley Joel Osment I had loved in movies like Pay It Forward and AI was really just the pathetic boy that walked into my science class that boring morning. And he had a beauty, very deep within, under his messed up life, I guess that’s why they call it, "Pathetic Beauty".



Epilouge:

Years have passed now and after that day I never really saw Haley again. Over time my "problems" passed and Elisabeth, Brette, Steph, and Kim were all friends with me again. But it didn’t really matter. I’m grown and happily married to that boy Billy Gilman from the party with two kids. I still occasionally think of Haley, because he has changed my life. He taught me not to care about the little things like fights with friends or not having a nice outfit or anything. I always wondered about him because after that there were no more Haley Joel Osment movies. It seemed the world just forgot about him. But I never did. And one day I got a letter from him, in the same scrawled writing from 8th grade. And here it is:

Dear Monica,
Hi. Remember me? It’s Haley or maybe you remember me as Harvey. I hope you didn’t forget about me like the rest of the world did. I don’t think that you did because you were always someone I could trust from the beginning. Incase you were wondering what happened to me, I’m going to tell you. And I trust that you are not going to go tell the media and that I won’t end upon VH1’s "Where Are They Now" but that is up to you. I just wanted to thank you so much for that day. I could never tell anyone that story because they might go tell the police or anything or they would tell their friends who I was. I knew you wouldn’t. And I thank you for that. I thank you for listening to me and for giving me the care and love I never had. After that day I packed up and left. I basically traveled for a long time until I settled in Oklahoma in a shelter until I was 18 and then I got a job somewhere. I go by Harvey Miggliaccio, I hope you don’t mind. So that’s what happened to me. Maybe I could see you again sometime. I imagine you’re married now with kids. I hope you are and I wish you luck. If you need to ever reach me call my cell phone 854.555.9876, and once again, thank you.
Forever,
Haley Joel Osment


I never called him, I didn’t need to, and he knew that. I never told VH1 or any media. I just kept that note with me forever. And when I die, I will be buried with it. Because it was the rest of my life lesson. To appreciate that I have a loving husband and beautiful kids. Because he will probably never marry, or maybe he will, but he will never be able to forget the horrible experience of his parent’s death/murder. I am very thankful now thanks to him. And by me listening to his story he kept saying he "owed" me for listening. He paid me back by teaching me the lesson of my life.

THE END