Starve

Kelly

"Kelly!" Candy called from downstairs, "Get down here!"

Kelly rose from the chair she'd been sitting in in her room and grabbed the arm of it as her head started to spin. "I just got up a little too fast." she thought to herself as she righted herself and started down the stairs.

"What's going on?" she asked before she was even off the last flight of steps. She could tell by the tone of her step-mother's voice that she wasn't just looking for someone to talk to.

"What's this?" Candy held up an empty box of the cereal that Kelly's dad bought simply to keep Candy happy.

"An empty cereal box..." Kelly replied, knowing what was coming.

"And might I ask how it came to be empty?"

"Someone ate it." she answered simply.

"Would you like to tell me who ate it?" Candy sneered. It's not like it was an uncommon thing for her to do, but the expression was still twice as unappealing as her regular one and Kelly had to restrain herself to keep from laughing.

"I don't know."

Candy simply stood there for a few seconds, watching her step-daughter shift back and forth on her feet. Then, she turned, grabbed the full trash can, and flung it in Kelly's direction. The lid caught Kelly's eye but didn't do too much damage. She watched as Candy grinned, "Look at this mess you've caused Kelly. All of this could've been avoided too, now couldn't it have? If you hadn't eaten my cereal, I wouldn't have lost my temper. You know I've got a touchy temper now don't you sweetie?"

"Yes Candy. I'm sorry. I'll go buy you a new box once I clean this up."

"You bet you will you cow. It better be cleaned up by the time your father gets home too. I don't want him any more stressed out than he already is just trying to supply enough food to feed you." Candy left and Kelly immediately turned to the mess behind her. Candy was right. She was a cow. And her father was stressed about feeding the family. She was wrong about the cereal though. Kelly hadn't eaten it. Honestly, she hadn't. In fact, she hadn't eaten anything in five days.

Amanda

"Hey, toothpick, you mind?" a girl shoved past her in the hallway, knocking her sideways into someone's open locker, and laughed with the rest of her friends as she glanced back at her. Amanda simply clutched her books tighter to her chest as she gathered them off the floor and made her way to her last class of the day. The teacher, Ms. Johnston gave her a small smile as she came in and Amanda returned the favor, forever grateful for the small and simple act of friendliness.

She glanced around the room and realized that all of the desks were full. She was the last one to class because she'd had to stop and gather her books when the girl in the hallway shoved her and she'd fallen. She waded through the desks, hoping that she could find one, but had no luck. "Um, Ms. Johnston?" she managed to make herself audible, but just barely.

"Here Amanda. You can sit up here." the teacher pulled out an extra rolling chair and wheeled it to the front corner of the classroom where there was a small table that Amanda could write on. As she sat down in the chair, she noticed that it didn't sink like rolling office chairs do when people first sit down in them. Unfortunately for her, so did the rest of the class. a few giggles mingled as one of the guys spoke up, "What do you weigh now string bean? 20... 30 pounds? isn't that a record for you?" now the class burst out laughing and Amanda simply got up, gathered her things, and left the room. She knew Ms. Johnston wouldn't chase her down. Ms. Johnston knew why she never gained weight. She knew Amanda's father spent all of his money on his precious liquor and she knew her mother was gone. After she'd learned all this and seen the bullying that she put up with, Ms. Johnston had told Amanda that she could leave class anytime so long as she went to the nurse and didn't leave school. She'd even offered to tutor her everyday after school so she wouldn't have to go home to her drunken father for a couple hours. But Amanda didn't take the turn to go to the nurse's office. She kept walking, past the nurse's office where she noticed an overweight girl lying in one of the beds, "Lucky you." she thought to herself. She walked past the counsellor's offices and past the front office. She walked past all of them and didn't bother glancing back. This time, she went straight through the front doors with no intention of returning.