Sweet Revenge [sample - now a published book available on Amazon!]

two

"Hey Grace, are you here?" Will cries out when he returns from school. He gives me a bright grin, his cheeks red. Soccer practice, I presume.

"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen." I say, licking my fingers. I turn the blender on, and it immediately starts spinning the contents of my drink around its body. And then the lid shoots off. I scream as the contents of my smoothie (if I can even call it that) covers the entirety of the kitchen.

Will looks at me in shock. "Grace, what are you doing?"

"Attempting to make a smoothie." I reply feebly. "But I have no idea how to work this machine."

"God Grace, mom is gonna freak." He tells me with wide eyes, whilst running his hands through his hair. "And since when do you like tomato juice?" He picks up the carton of tomato juice and eyes it. I shrug my shoulders.

"I love tomato juice. Mmm." I say, rubbing my belly. He raises an eyebrow and looks at the rest of the ingredients laid out on the table.

"Why did you mix tomato juice and milk?" He fake gags and laughs at me. "Smoothies tend to have fruit in."

"I don't know. Milk is good for your bones? And tomato is a fruit, I looked it up." I say, beginning to feel stupid.

"What are you doing, Grace?" He questions, cocking his head to one side. God. Having an overprotective brother really has its pitfalls.

I throw my arms up in the air. "What are you, an inspector?"

"No, but last night, I vividly remember you deciding to make yourself a pastry instead of avocado salad because you - and I quote - 'hate avocado so much you'd rather eat raw chicken'." He folds his arms and takes a seat next to me.

I am stumped. Yes, I do remember saying that.

"Alright, alright. I want to eat healthier. I whanf to loophse weyht." I mumble.

"What?"

"I whanf to loophse weyht." I mumble again. Twirling a piece of my hair around my chubby finger.

"Grace, I can't understand what you're saying." Will sighs impatiently. I shrug my shoulders and try to leave the room, but I'm stopped by a tight grip on my sleeve.

"Grace...tell me."

"I want to lose weight, okay?! I hate having people laugh at my weight. I don't want to be laughed at for my last year of school. I don't want to cry after school most days. And I definitely do not want to have to leave school because Lucas Keith bullies me to no end!" I burst out.

Will looks at me in bewilderment. "So, it was him who made you cry. I am going to kill that..."

"Will! That's not the point!" I grab a sponge and begin to mop up the mess. I'm too embarrassed to see his face.

"But Grace, you're beautiful the way you are." He says kindly. I throw my arms up in frustration.

"No, I'm not! Will, what you don't realize is that I have no friends because no one wants to get on the bad side of Lucas." And it's true; I can't remember the last time I had a friend. And last time I checked, doing someone's math homework is not the equivalent of friendship.

"My friends like you!" He shouts.

"Only because they have to, or you'd make their life a living hell." Will opens his mouth to speak. "Don't protest, you know you would."

"Okay, okay. And how exactly are you planning to lose weight?" He raises his eyebrows at the remains of my healthy drink.

"Eat healthier, exercise more." I say, folding my arms. Sounds easy enough.

"You have no idea what you're doing, Grace. You can't mix tomato juice and milk." He shakes his head. I groan.

"What am I supposed to do then? I don't know good diet foods!"

"Did you not think that you could maybe look up 'diet plans'?" He asks me, a smirk drawn on his face. I try to keep a grumpy face, but soon I have to join in with his laughter.

"Look Grace, I can understand that you want to lose weight. But you need to be serious about this. Don't go overboard, diets can end badly."

"Okay, Will."

*

I type furiously on my laptop.

Diet plans

I search. Lots of things come up. I click on the first one and scan my eyes over the entire document.

The Ketogenic diet

The Ketogenic diet involves the reduction of carbohydrates in the daily diet. It works when the body ends up in in ketosis, which is a stage where fat storage is used as energy. This diet is useful for people who want to lose weight quickly. Common breakfasts for this diet involve eggs of any kind. Soups high in protein are popular for lunch, and dinner should be high in protein; meat or fish accompanied by a large portion of vegetables.

Sighing, I print it off and stick it up on my wall. If you're going to go for it, you've got to go full out.

**