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GOTH GIRL, QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE

its earthy tones and tiny green sparkles. Let’s see how the mindless
hordes like that. Those witches won’t get the best of me today.
When I finish my new look, I admire it in the greasy school
bathroom mirror. Not bad. I reach into my satchel and dig around
for my decade-old phone. It’s the most I could afford on the
monthly allowance I get from my social worker. The Edgar Allan
Poe case I found for it is one of my prized possessions, however.
The patron saint of goths stares up at me with his perplexed eyes,
accented by his pinched tortured-poet brows.
I take a few selfies and upload them onto my Instagram,
@GothQueen_13. I have followers from all across the goth spec-
trum. While I’d categorize my look as Nu Goth, since almost every-
thing I own comes from thrift stores, I try to incorporate Victorian
Goth aesthetics whenever I can—without the price tag. Hey, not

every goth queen can afford ball gowns and corsets. A little sec-
ond-hand velvet here, a nice vintage choker there, and I can look
like the modern version of any classic gothic literature heroine.
On Insta, I add a caption about not letting the bullies win. My
fans love it when I post about being myself in the face of ignorant
buttheads, even if they don’t know what my real adversity looks
like. Aka: the foster care sob story.
When I’m done, I scroll through comments from this morn-
ing’s look.

LiZZ13: “OMG you’re like a dark LOTR elf!”
BloodFeud29: “What shade of lipstick is that?
It would go perfect with my fae aesthetic. ”
LizardsRQT: “Seriously, how do you pull off
masterpieces EVERY SINGLE DAY?!”

Reigna_NYC: “DM me. I’m your mother.”
. . .

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