Storytelling for Week 2: Mercedes St. Romane

You could say she had that "It-girl" quality about her. All of the girls wanted to be her, and the boys - well they didn't so much as hope as to date her, but rather vied to be near her. Yes, Mercedes St. Romane, with her long dark hair, cerulean eyes, and full red lips, was strikingly beautiful. Her beauty escaped the notice of no man - young or old - so that she felt the constant gaze of her male classmates and her male professors alike. However, though her beauty was exceptional, Mercedes lived  her life alone on an unpopulated island, for her female peers resented her trance-like effect on men, and her would-be suitors were far too intimidated by her charm to deign to approach her. One such female classmate of Mercedes, Johanna, hated Mercedes with a vehemence which surpassed all reasonable understanding. Before the arrival of Mercedes to St. Olympia High School, Johanna had been the object of the envy and affection of her fellow classmates, but in the presence of Mercedes St. Romane, she was made a pauper in the company of a princess.

A Beautiful Looking Girl

Johanna sought to undermine everyone's high opinion of Mercedes, so that she too would experience a fall from grace. She bullied her meek stepbrother, Charles, into assisting in a plan that would humiliate Mercedes in front of the entire school.
"We'll Catfish her!" exclaimed Johanna deviously, "You'll pose as her secret admirer and contact her through her Facebook. You'll make her fall in love with you, invite her to Senior Prom, and then stand her up! She will be humiliated in front of the whole senior class!" Poor Charles, forever seeking to avoid his sister's anger and wrath, complied.
Charles did as he was told and messaged Mercedes, expressing his secret love for her, and Mercedes, who had begun to view her beauty as curse and was desperate for affection, replied gratefully.What his vindictive stepsister did not know, however, was that Charles was playing no part -he indeed harbored deep feelings of love and passion for Mercedes, but had been to shy to ever even speak to her. So out of this initial exchange blossomed a deep and caring friendship and eventually, a romantic relationship. The two never met - Charles deterred every request of Mercedes' to meet in person, and Mercedes was so happy to have a true friend, that she never pressed the issue. Mercedes didn't even know the name of her new found love, for Charles had set up a fake Facebook profile that bore a false name and a profile picture of a cat. St. Olympia was so big a high school that the two never crossed paths accidentally, but every now and then Charles would journey to a part of the school to which he would not normally venture in order to catch a glimpse of his beloved. It did not escape the notice of her fellow classmates that Mercedes walked with lighter step and smiled more frequently and the boys mourned at the prospect that she must have, at last, taken a boyfriend. The girls whispered fervently, supposing this boy must be in college or go to school in another town for no man in St. Olympia would accept the honor of dating Mercedes St. Romane and keep quiet about it. Thus, the whole school was a-chatter with speculation about the nature of Mercedes' mysterious boyfriend.

Mercedes' Invisible Boyfriend

Author's Note: This is a retelling of The Mysterious Husband, an installment found in the Cupid and Psyche unit. In the original story, the goddess Venus becomes enraged because people have stopped worshiping her and her beauty in favor of that of the young girl Psyche. Venus demands that Cupid, her son, make her fall in love with some vile creature but he takes pity on Psyche and instead shoots himself with one of his arrows, enticing him to fall in love with Psyche. He takes her as his wife, but she is not allowed to look upon his face. I changed this to a Catfish-esque hoax to give the story more modern context and also to make it more relatable. The entire unit deals with the main themes of the destructive power of both envy and curiosity. Both cause untold misery for Psyche as the story progresses.

Bibliography: "The Mysterious Husband."Apuleius' Golden Ass. Trans. Tony Cline. 2013