Once upon a  time, there was an incredibly hideous duckling of muddy brown feathers who lived amongst the most beautiful of ducks to ever be seen. But the four most beautiful of them were named Billy, Willy, Nilly, and Shelly. All ducklings lived by a pond deep in the forest. They were all happy except for Eugene, but why, you may ask?

    Well, Eugene was the same ugly duckling as previously mentioned, and because of this he was bullied by Billy, Willy, and Nilly. Shelly was different, Shelly cared for him. Shelly was nice and understood him, but none listened, and she never helped.    

I feel so bad...

Hahaha

    At first, Eugene didn’t care, but as he grew up the bullying got worse and worse. He would show his collection of rocks to anyone who would look, but Billy and Willy would constantly make fun of him while Nilly would sneak up and steal his rocks, throwing them in the pond. The rocks would never be found as they would lay deep down at the dark pits of the water.

    It wasn't much longer until he started talking with Shelly. Shelly never bullied him but she never stood up for him either. They’d go around the forest together looking for beautiful rocks for Eugene to keep. Sometimes they’d find none, and sometimes they’d find a whole basket full of them. 

    After a while, Shelly left for another pond, leaving Eugene all alone. Eugene was bullied more and more just for his looks, especially since Shelly wasn’t around. 

    “Why am I so ugly?” asked Eugene to his reflection in the pond. 

    He didn't understand why he had to look so different from everyone else. Even though he may have looked different on the outside, he had a beautiful personality. Though nobody understood it. If only they could see through his looks.

    “I know, I’ll take some of these fruits and dye my feathers!”     He said aloud to himself as he squashed the yellow figs under his feet and rolled in it. He found a comb and brushed through his feathers as they were messy too. He looked back at his reflection and smiled. “I finally look normal now!!!”    

    The new and improved Eugene returned to the pond to see if the other ducks would finally accept him. Once he got there everyone playing in the grass. They all stopped to look at him. 5 seconds later, it was all laughter. Eugene didn't make himself look better but worse. Pieces of fig were all over him and just splotches of yellowness remained.