THIRTEEN
Bubblegum
At this point I should have gotten real help--not the kind I sought out instead.
My palms are sweaty and my heart is pounding. I want to throw up. Actually, I might. It’s physically painful to walk up to Evelyn, but a slender girl like her must the secret of skinny.
I stepped onto the scale today. 141 pounds.
Too much.
She’s chatting with Jade at her locker, the inside of which is plastered with glitter-slathered bubblegum-pink wallpaper. It’s a messy locker, books and love notes crammed chaotically inside.
“...the long basketball shorts he wears are the worst. And he’s so ugly! Just tell him you’re not ready to date again yet,” Evelyn is saying.
“What about Adam?”
“No! He’s so emo. That eyebrow piercing is a night--” Evelyn finally notices that I’m standing right next to her. She gives me a false pageant smile the color of bubblegum. Brightly, she says, “Hi, Chubs!”
I feel a hysterical urge to cry. I decide to get right to the point before the tears start. “I--I want to be skinny,” I whisper. My throat constricts. “I want to be pretty.”
Jade and Evelyn look at each other, sharing an amused expression for a minute, like they’re remembering an inside joke.
Evelyn replies, a little too suddenly, “Oh, sweetie, I think I can probably help you--”
“Thank you!”
“--on three simple conditions.” She glances at Jade, tapping her chin elegantly as she thinks. “I know!” She sounds unnaturally joyful. “One, you forget everything I’ve said to you in the past, and so will I. This will be a new leaf, sweetie.”
“Of course. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.” If I’m being sarcastic, it’s subtle enough that none of us detect it.
“Two. You do one, no, two essays for me.”
What? “But you’re smart. You get Bs and a couple Cs, don’t you?”
“Yeah, ‘cause my parents pay me for every passing grade I get. I don’t like doing essays, so you have to do two of them for me.”
I sigh. “Okay. What’s your third condition?”
Evelyn hesitates, uncertain for a second. Then she flashes me her straight white teeth and says, “You give me your ring. The one from your...dad.”
I stare at the black stone of my ring. It flashes so teasingly.
...Don’t...take all of it back...
“Yes,” my ring seems to say. “Give me up and get skinny. It’s simple. Slip me off your finger, and it’s a done deal. Your precious father won’t even notice.”
I wince as I take off the ring. It’s like giving up a piece of my heart, I love it so much. Reluctantly, I drop it into Evelyn’s waiting hand. “Done.”
...Oh, no...
“Excellent.” Evelyn closes her fingers over the ring. “C’mon, girls. It’s lunchtime.”
At lunch, all Evelyn takes from the lunch line is a small salad and 2% milk.
“What do you have for lunch?” she asks, gesturing at my lunchbox.
“Um, a sandwich, an apple, and a cookie,” I say shyly.
“Wrong,” Evelyn says. She tosses me her milk. “This is what you have for lunch.”
I glance at Jade, who nods.
“That’s not a lot,” I note.
Evelyn pats my shoulder kindly. “Hon, you’re doing the liquid diet for a month. Unless you don’t wanna be skinny?”
My eyes widen. Right on cue, my stomach rumbles. “I’ll starve. Won’t I?”
...Yes, you will...Take back the ring and quit while you’re ahead...
Evelyn snorts. “I did it. Jade did it. Do we look like we starved?”
I look at the two, standing next to each other with their hands on their hips. Maybe their hair colors are different, but they’re both like stick figures. Both are sharp-edged and slim enough to snap in half with a mere gust of wind. In this way, they’re identical.
“No,” I say. “No, you’re both beautiful.”
Evelyn gives me a bubblegum-pink smile. “That’s what I like to hear.”
YOU ARE READING
Spectrum
أدب المراهقين>>>>TRIGGER WARNING<<<< Alanna Moore has been the ugly, fat girl for as long as she can remember. Evelyn Pry is slim, trim, and beautiful. Who better to ask for advice? Evelyn tells her to eat less. And Alanna realizes that starving herself isn't so...
