Bikini Body

Chapter eight:

For the first time in forever, my day wasn't as bad. I didn't have to deal with Bree, which was the only reason why everything was good. The only letdown was that I had to take my History book. My backpack felt extremely heavy. If my shoulders hurt yesterday, they totally beat the record today. I literally felt like they were going to fall off any second.

I had lots of homework to do. Almost all of my classes had makeup work for me to do. Plus the work they assigned today. My plan was to lock myself in my room with all the snacks I wanted and pull out an all-nighter. In the middle of working on an essay for English, my phone buzzed. I knew it was a text because my phone vibrates when I get incoming messages. After a few moments, my phone sounded as if it were going to explode. I read the messages.

"Hey! How about you cut the fries and order a salad for once, fatty?" one read.

"You should be on My 600 Lbs Life!" another said.

"I wish I was blind because it makes me wanna puke looking at a fat person like you," another message read.

I read the next message... then the next.... then the next.

I was shocked.

I didn't know any of these people. Why were they saying horrible things about me? My phone vibrated again. I didn't look. Then it virabted a second time. I looked. This time, it was a call from my sister, Zarah. I answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, little sis!" a cheerful voice chirped. "How are you?"

"Good," I said, trying to keep the enthusiasm on point. "H-how's everything? Where are you?"

"I'm in L.A. now. Did you just come back from school?"

"I did. I'm working on my English essay," I told her.

"Hey, listen," she said, "the agency gave me some time off, and I decided... that I'm going to spend time with you and Mom!"

Suddenly, everything felt happy.

"No way!" I squealed. "You'll see me, but not Mom, though."

"How come?" Zarah sounded disappointed. It then occurred to me that she didn't know about our mother's new flame.

"She has a new boyfriend and she hasn't been home in a while," I said. Well, that set my sister off. She told me to expect her later in the evening. She was going on the first flight back home. After, she hanged up. I tossed my phone away and laid back on my bed, content. I was going to see my sister, that was the best thing ever! But that feeling of contentedness faded away when my phone buzzed some more. More messages. Now they were worse:

"Hey, big girl! How's your weight been?"

"Wanna go to the movies? Or all you do for a date is go out to eat?"

My phone chimed more. In all, I had received back fifty texts. All from people I didn't know! I bit my lower lip and tried to hard to not let the tears I was desperately trying to fit back. I bit so hard, I tasted blood. I didn't know what to do.

Should I message these people back? I thought.

I shook my head.

No. it'll only get worse if I did. I sucked it up and continued to do my essay as my phone kept buzzing constantly. I tried to ignore it, but how can you ignore random people who were constantly texting you and saying bad things? Who in the hell was doing this? Why? Who were these people? What gave them the right to call me names and insult me? How dare they! I decided to handle the situation the mature way and blocked them. There. That ought to do it. Then I got back to working on the rest of my homework.

Zarah called me again saying that the only available seat for her was at a twelve a.m. flight. I probably might still be up by then. I had a ton of homework left to do. Thanks a lot, teachers! The only class I didn't have homework was in Dance. Well, except to buy new leggings. It was almost ten o'clock when I finished all of my regular homework. I already had my essay done and submitted. It wasn't the best essay, but I was just glad I got it done. That was all I cared about. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I had to finish my makeup work or else I'd be doing it in detention. After taking a short break, and after swallowing a Monster, I went back to work.

I felt someone shaking me. "Abby?" whispered a voice.

I grumbled in response.

"Abby, wake up," the voice said. The voice added, "FYI, you're drooling on your homework, sis."

My brain was now waking up. I felt that my mouth was open. I closed it. Slowly, I opened my eyes. There was a girl standing over me. She had the most beautiful smile on her face, her pearly white teeth possible to blind someone if they could. The girl's bleached blonde hair was up in a perfect ponytail. It amazed me how beautiful she was. It amazed me that a girl so beautiful like the one looking down at me, was looking at someone like me. She was more beautiful than Bree.

"Zarah?" I mumbled sleepily. "What time is it?"

She looked at her phone. "Four thirty... a.m."

I shot up.

My homework! Oh, no! I knew that I was going to be dead.

"What?" Zarah asked, a little taken aback from my sudden reaction.

"Damn it, my homework!" I rubbed my eyes. I brought the sheet I was working on earlier to my face. I hadn't done any of the problems on it. My stomach did flip-flops. "How long have I been asleep?"

Zarah shrugged. "I don't know. I got here about five minutes ago."

I groaned. "My teachers are going to kill me! There's no way I'm going to get all of this done in, like, three hours!"

Zarah put her hands on my shoulders and shook me. "Girl, relax! It's not the end of the world. Go back to sleep. I'll do your homework for you."

I looked up. "Really?"

"Yes! You're my little sister, I'd do anything for you."

I hugged Zarah. It was our first hug in a long time. I felt Zarah's skinny arms wrap around me. I was practically swallowing Zarah with my fat ones.

My eyes felt like there was sand on them. I was exhausted. I felt dead. I didn't want to go to school at all. How was I going to pay attention looking like this? Maybe I was better off staying at home than in that hellhole. Seemed like a pretty good idea-- sleeping in all day, doing nothing. Every teenger's dream right there. What prevented me from doing so was the aroma of coffee filling the air. Feeling like a zombie, I forced myself out of bed and dragged myself into the kitchen.

I found Zarah wearing an apron and pouring milk into a mug. When she saw me, she gave me a cheerful good morning and handed me the cup of coffee. Then she opened the fridge and took out the egg carton. She asked me, "Scrambled or over-easy?"

I looked at her, surprised. "You can cook?"

"Yep." She was proud. "I can cook eggs, bacon, pasta..."

"I think I'll take my eggs scrambled," I told her.

I watched as Zarah on the stove and crack eggs. In a matter of minutes, two plates of perfect bacon and eggs were finished. My stomach growled. I couldn't remember the last time I had a breakfast like this.

"Do you need a ride to school or do you wait for the bus?" Zarah asked as she took a bite of bacon.

"I ride the bus," I informed her. I took a bite of egg, half-expecting to spit it out or choke on it. I didn't. It was good. "Wow! You really can cook!"

Zarah chuckled. "Thanks. Plus, I finished your homework. You're gonna get all A's on it, I guarantee it."

"Thanks for doing all this, sis," I said, sincerely. "I really appreciate it."

Zarah only smiled in response. After clearing out our plates, I smoothed out my clothes and put my hair up. Just as I stepped out of the house, my phone chimed. More messages. I didn't bother to look.