Competition

Friday hangout

Regina's pov

By 7'o clock, everyone including Rebecca was here and I had a host of activities for everyone!

" Okay guys do you want to paint candles first or do the three minute painting switch?" I asked with enthusiasm.

"I like to paint so I'm fine with either" Rebecca tried to chime in.

"No ma'am, in this group we don't do the whole I don't care thing, we make decisions!" Em jokes.

" Oh okay let's paint candles." Rebecca responds shyly.

Painting candles is nice everyone is distracted from whatever might be bothering them and most of them turn out nice, we each have two plain white candles and little pots of melted down colored wax that we add onto the white candles with a paint brush! It's a nice activity, perfect to pass time.

" Look at my ocean themed candle!" Lee begins to boast proudly. It's a cute candle decent waves of teal, royal blue and green

" Well mine Chinese lunar new year themed, it'll be a gift to my mom." Cate displays her red and gold candle. She's always thinking of her mom and giving her little gifts.

" Oh wait that's so cute !" Rebecca says to Cate.

Mine is simple just little rainbows, and Emma's has simple flowers on it lots of color for the both of us. Emma and I are pretty simple and organized in general, I blame that on ballet. We weren't taught to be hectic and messy.

After we get through the second candle it's about 7:45. We box them up and the other girls put them in there bags.

" I'm going to grab some snacks from the kitchen" I say, " grab the stuff for painting Emma!" I shout as I walk to the kitchen.

I always try to not center are hangouts around food, I've noticed it makes Emma super anxious, I feel like the same used to happen to Lee but since track season began, not so much. As for Cate she would copy whatever anyone else ate but the food I picked always gave her stomach problems and she'd be in the bathroom for 40 minutes after a meal. So I settled on some fruits, and other safe snack options. I'm not sure what Rebecca likes but that doesn't matter it's only her first time hanging out with us, she'll have to adapt.

Plus you can have fun with friends without it having to be about what you are going to eat.

I grabbed the medium sized glass bowls, one full of blue berries, one with black berries, and one filled with crisp red apple slices.

I added lots of green grapes, small red and white cherries, and both sweetened and UN sweetened gronala. I was able to find the cucumber and strawberry sandwiches I had made yesterday, as well as some almonds and cubed watermelon. Lastly I grabbed everyone a celery juice. You might think you need to have chips, popcorn, and chocolate candy when you hang out with friends. But I don't fruit is still sweet, and filling. I'd rather have a celery juice that doesn't spike my glucose levels than a monster.

" I brought out snacks if anyone is interested!" I yell as I come back out to the sitting room.

I sit everything down on the large marble coffee table and then plop back down into my soft white chair between Emma and Lee. The perfect place for me to be.

" Thanks !" Cate and Rebecca yell at once.

We begin our painting swaps and they really are fun since we have five people here, they all start out somewhat peaceful but eventually that changes I tried to keep all of them cute though. In the end we had a ballet dancer with a burning sky from Emma, a mountain set lake with frogs from Lee, a field of yellow and orange donut flowers from Rebecca. A doctor's office with a dying patient from Cate and a party from me.

The girls and I laid the paintings together and took pictures to post to our stories! Lee has 1000 followers on TikTok but only a few hundred everywhere else. Cate and Emma are big on Instagram and I just post for fun. I don't care about followers.

Bye 8:37 we were done painting so we all lay down and started the Real housewives of Beverly hills together, at Rebecca's request.

I swear the girls in these kinds of shows are so skinny!

" Hey guys, I was asking Cate yesterday, she said to ask you guys today but I'm far from thin like the rest of you, but I do play soccer I don't know if all of you knew that. Anyway I see you guys around at school and non of you weigh above 130, I was wondering how you stay so thin?" Rebecca says while enjoying another cucumber sandwich.

The group pauses, Emma freezes mid strawberry sandwich. I can feel the tension.

Lee is the first to reply.

" Well I'll be honest I used to be stick thin and anorexic, I got all my calories from food no liquid calories and ante super processed food, but after multiple attempts at recovery that didn't work or me I started weight lifting when track began again. Now I eat real food, almond milk, and fruit juices plus now I'm a protein warrior. I'm not as thin as I used to be but I'm a great runner and I can do lateral pull downs at my body weight" lee smiles and gives Rebecca's hand a pat. " Plus I intermittent fast, I don't eat from 12-10 it's a great option for me!"

I take a sip of my green juice still absolutely flabbergasted. I can't believe she was bold enough to actually ask that. But lee's response was true so I guess everyone feels comfortable enough to chime in.

"I work out a lot, so does Regina. " Emma begins, " not just hours of ballet but running every morning in my home gym plus I eat super healthy, very minimal when it comes to processed food. I cook everything myself however if it doesn't look "beautiful."" She puts air quotes around the word beautiful, "I don't eat it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist."

" I just eat in a nutrient rich calorie deficit this way I'm still strong for my meets and still have energy for gymnastics but I eat below what I would need to eat to maintain my weight. Generally I eat whatever I want though" Cate says as she finishes off her juice.

Everyone looks at me, really I'm not sure what to say I've never had any trouble staying thin and eating what I like, most of the group knows that.

" Well for me, I eat what I want then I just work out a lot. I drink loads of water too. I'm not actively trying to loose weight. " I look at Rebecca, yes she's fat, no amount of clothing can hide it. She looks maye 260 pounds at about 5'1 ish I understand why she's asking this but it's still odd. Like hello we basically just met.

" Do you want to loose weight?" Emma asks as she moves from the chair and hops on the baby pink sofa next to Rebecca.

" Yes of course! But I have no discipline, after school I come home and eat after practice I come home and eat it's just piles of food. I'm not lying. " Rebecca sighs and takes another meger sip of her green juice. I watch her swallow it with a wince.

Cate's eyes light up. " I don't know if you've tried this but maybe just count your calories to start? Don't change what you are eating if you don't want to but just count the calories do you can be aware ?" Cate suggests.

Lee chimes in .

" That's a good idea just so you can be aware. With that awareness you'll realize you are eating way to much. " She says with a smile as she stands up to straighten out her green strappy dress of the day.

An idea springs to my mind.

" We could help you try and loose weight, like a bit of a project it could be fun! Each month you could try tops from a different one of us, exercise, nutrition, weight management everything! Plus Cate's mom is a personal trainer and my mom loves pilates so I have a membership I could share with you!" I start to ramble on. " It'll be a little competition on who can help you lose the most weight and how? It could be fun!" I say.

The whole group turns to look at her in anticipation.

" Yea sure!" She says giving Emma a hug.

Why do I get the feeling the other girls will regret this?