Perfect

Chapter 4

We arrived at mass slightly early, so there were seats left for us. I spotted Carrie and Suzie sitting together and whispering furiously, with the odd shriek of delights coming from one of them. A little, old woman sitting beside them looked annoyed.

"Hey, Em, why don't you join your friends?" Mum asked and nudged me forward to sit with the girls. Harry had already gone and joined his friends.

I walked forward and when Carrie saw me, she jumped out of her seat and gave me a warm hug, and Suzie gave me a quick one.

Carrie was wearing a pair of light blue denim jeans, with a cute low-neck, long sleeved purple top.she also had a few bracelets and a small cross necklace on.

On the other hand, Suzie wore a very short, tight denim skirt with a tight blazer with only a small bracelet on. Her eyes were heavily outlined with black eyeliner and red lipstick was around her Hollywood smile.

"Hey," I said, forcing a smile on.

"Oh, gosh Emmie!" Carrie said, linking her arm in mine. "Can you believe that our friend might become a model?" She whispered the word model as if it was sacred.

"Well, I think I can," I replied before smiling at Suzie. "You're becoming a model?"

She blushed. "Maybe. I have to come in after New Years and then we'll find out."

"Good luck," I whispered to her just before mass started. We went to our seats and I took off my coat because of the heat inside the church.

"Wow, Emma," Carrie whispered to me. "You look really skinny."

"Really?" I replied, amazed that the results were already visible.

"You look the same to me," said Suzie, smirking slightly.

"In the name of the Father, and the Son-" the priest started and we were silent.

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I woke up with a start. It felt like I had slept for hours but I had gone through too many Christmas's to really believe that.

"1:58 am" the clock read and I leapt out of bed, feeling wide awake. It was Christmas morning!

A lot of people say my family is weird because of the fact we get up super early on Christmas. But it has become sorf of a tradition for us.

I gently padded down to Harry's room. I opened the door and snuck over to my big brother's bed.

"Wake up," I whispered, nudging him. He just groaned and rolled over.

"Wake up!" I whispered again, this time louder, and shoved him. He yelped and fell from his bed.

"Wha?" he said, still half asleep.

"Its Christmas!"

His eyes widened and suddenly, he was awake. He stood up, the blankets falling from him, and ran downstairs in an awkward fashion, with me in procession.

"Presents," he said and ran towards the sitting room door. We both stopped for a moment and opened the door together. Inside was filled with different presents. An invisible dividing line between mine and Harry's gifts was quickly put in place before we rummaged through the gifts.

"What did you get?" Harry asked, fooling around with a pellet gun he obviously had gotten.

"I got a Lady GaGa and Glee CD, a hair straightener, 7 books, I think that's an iPhone and...a camera, you?"

"Pellet gun, DVDs and CDs," he grunted before diving back into his presents. I knew he got a lot more, but I also knew that I wouldn't get information from him if I tried.

"Cool," was my reply, and I opened one of the books to read. Barney, who we had woken up, ran towards me. I sat on the ground indian style, and he sat on my lap. I stroked his head as I read.

We always skipped breakfast at Christmas so that we had space for dinner. I was going to skip breakfast anyway, so it didn't really matter. My headache was getting worse now as I had barely eaten since Friday, the day we got off school and after my little binge.

"More spuds?" Mum asked as we sat around the table. This year, Nana and Grandad couldn't make it because they were on holidays in Australia. Mum had bought them the ticket last Christmas as a present.

"No thanks," I said. I was pretending to eat most of my food by placing bits on a napkin that was on my lap. At the end of dinner, I would throw it away. This was another tip from one of those thinspo sites.

"Sure?" Mum asked, inching the bowl of potatoes closer to my plate slowly.

"Sure," I said, pushing my plate away. "Im stuffed."

I got up and walked to the sitting room briskly before feeling guilty for eating the tiny bits that I had. I already took Barney for a 2 mile walk, so there was really only one other way to stop this guilt.

I ran upstairs into the bathroom. I knelt on the floor, tucking my hair be hind my ears before thrusting two fingers back my throat. It was horrible, of course, but it also produced another feeling. A feeling of control.

I stood up and undressed before getting on the scales. "120" it said.

I climbed off them, and smiled.