Fat.

Chapter One - Donuts, Coffee, and Awkward Silence

Chapter One: Donuts, Coffee, and Awkward Silence

"Aimee. Car. Five minutes. Do you hear me?" My mother ordered, her voice echoing from downstairs.

I rolled my eyes. "Jeez. I'll be down soon." I called back, slightly annoyed at how conscious of time my mother was in the mornings.

I could hear her sigh in the room below me. Maybe I shouldn't have spent so long taking a shower.

Before I could unlock the bathroom door, I could hear my twin, Max and his friend, Mikey walking up the stairs.

Oh God no. Mikey's giving us a ride?!

"Pepsi is better than Coke," Max sang. I could hear their conversation through the door.

"Crap, crap, crap," I muttered. All I was wearing was a towel.

I could hear frustration creeping into Mikey's voice. "Fine I give up, but chocolate is way better than vanilla," The sound of their footsteps on the carpet ceased, telling me they'd stopped. I decided to grasp the opportunity handed to me.

It was risky but I had no other options.

I daringly opened the bathroom, clutching the towel around me, and dashed into my room. As I closed the door behind me and let out a deep breath, relaxing slightly.

That could've gone very wrong, and I'd have never been allowed to forget it.

I glanced over to my bed, where my alarm clock lay, the big hand rested at the five, and the smaller one on the seven.

She wasn't kidding when she said I had five minutes.

I frantically searched my drawers for underwear and a shirt and then rummaged through the back of my closet for my uniform. I stopped flipping the hangers back when an ugly mud green blazer and red shirt caught my eye.

I quickly flung them over my shoulder and picked up my green school skirt.

Funny. It looks smaller than it did last June.

I pushed that thought out of my mind and started getting dressed. When I got to the green skirt, I unzipped it and made an attempt to pull it up. Except I couldn't quite pull both sides of the zipper together to close the skirt.

I held in my breath and sucked my stomach in and tried again. But this time when I tugged the zip, the material ripped.

NO!

I did the only thing I could think of. I put on my fuzzy grey pajama pants, leaving on the rest of my uniform, as I walked into the hallway and over to Max and Mikey, where they stood chatting to one another, holding their schoolbags, dressed in the same uniform as me, since we all go to the same school.

The guys turned around when they saw me approaching, Max laughing as he took in my attire, Mikey just raising his eyebrows.

My brother looked at me and shook his head. "You are so not going to school like that." His chuckling made his dark brown hair, gelled to perfection, bounce slightly.

"That's the thing." I responded coolly. "We need to talk."

I dragged Max over to the door of my room. "I need to borrow your old pair of pants." I murmured.

Max's eyes widened. "Your ones don't fit?"

I shook my head. "Nope,"

"I'll be back," Max muttered and hurried into his room.

I looked over at Mikey, who was just standing there, his mouth zipped shut. His normally dirty blond hair was a slightly lighter shade in the light pouring through the window. He didn't notice me looking. He was completely absorbed by the music playing on his iPod.