Bon Bons to Yoga Pants

Chapter 17-People Eater

"Why is bubblegum pink? Seems like a strange color, right? Why not purple? Or orange? What's up with pink anyway?"

Rachelle asked her stream of questions the next day while smacking loudly next to my ear, popping bubbles every ten seconds with her obnoxious wad of gum that looked suspiciously close to the shade of pink my sister wanted me wear as her bridesmaid.

"To annoy you," I responded. "Can you give me some breathing room?"

Rachelle sat almost on top of my lap in the cafeteria the morning after my shameful eating binge. She wore a Rainbow Brite Halloween outfit that she'd found at a plus size costume store two years before. She'd donned a bright blue top, a matching skirt trimmed with white fur that was far too short for anyone of our size, and pulled her hair into a high ponytail with a piece of rainbow ribbon. Extremely bright rainbow tube socks went halfway up her calves, but couldn't make it any farther, so they'd rolled down to two different lengths.

"Sorreee," she sang as she scooted over, eyes narrowed on the other side of the room. "See that guy over there? The one that looks like he's wearing a toupee? I want to ask him on a date. He looks like he could eat a lot, then I wouldn't have to worry about holding back and would get free food. I'd probably make out with him, too."

She motioned to a group of IT nerds on computers, with headphones and microphones, submersed in a video game world. I couldn't imagine playing video games in a college cafeteria. But then, I never used to be able to picture a time in my life when I'd willingly diet, so the universe played all kinds of tricks on people.

"Go for it," I said, adding in a mumble, "in fact, do it right now so I can get this done."

Smack. Pop. Pop-pop-pop-pop-POP!

"Rachelle, cut the symphony, will you?"

She scowled. "What's got up your butt today? Is it because you're still eating rabbit food? You need a good dose of Little Debbie medicine."

I popped the mental visions of Fudge Rounds that danced in my head. "It has nothing to do with my salad," I muttered. Rachelle lifted an eyebrow, clearly detecting my blatant lie. I'd bought a salad for lunch again, only this time I opted out of the Ranch dressing and found a balsamic vinaigrette instead. "Vinegar speeds up your metabolism," Mira had told me the night before as she drove me home. "I'm going to start taking a shot of it every morning."

The thought made me want to hurl. Eating it in a salad hurt enough.

"Look," I said with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm trying to go through this registration before my next class. My advisor Miss Bliss gave me a few online classes I could take to beef up my resume for that internship, remember? I have to do it now because I work tonight."

"I remember. I gave it to you and by so doing practically saved your life," she retorted. "And yet there's still no gratitude."

"I said thank you."

"Nothing says thank you like sharing a Root Beer Float with me."

"I already told you, I'm not going to—"

"Ah ha!" she screamed, lifting a finger into the air and drawing the perturbed gaze of a cafeteria worker our direction. "You are on a diet, aren't you? Traitor to the big girls club! TRAITOR!"

I grabbed Rachelle's flailing hands and forced them back to her side. Thankfully, the ringing of my phone saved me out of a forced confession, so I recklessly answered it without looking at who called. "Hello?"

"Hey, is this Lexie Greene?"

I pressed a finger to my other ear and turned away from a chorus of whoops from the gamers on the other side of the room. "Yeah," I said. "This is Lexie. Who is this?"