Best of Women

Pippa

           

Watching Mia mope around the house was painful to watch, but I had to back Lin up.  She was putting her health in jeopardy all because of some silly notion she had that losing weight would help her do better.  Mia refused to come out of her room and refused to talk to Lin.

She was still holding out hope that Lin would let her compete in the upcoming meet.  She threw herself into doing as much training as she could without going to the gym.  She ran every day every school, did conditioning, and lifted weights.  I had to hand it to her – she was determined.

The Friday night before the meet, Eva was staying over at her teammates' house and Mia was stuck alone in her bedroom.  After school she'd come straight home and gotten into her sweats, then curled up on her bed listening to music.  Lin ordered everyone pizza as usual, but Mia refused to come out.

Lin had pretty much had it with her drama.  After everyone had gotten a couple slices, I loaded up a paper plate with a plain cheese and discreetly took it back to her bedroom.  Her eyes were closed as she laid on her side.

"Mia?" I called, but I knew she couldn't hear me with her earbuds in.  I walked over and touched her arm.  Her eyes flew open.  She sat up and took out her earbuds.

"Thanks," she mumbles as I handed her the plate.  Mia had slowly started eating more until she was almost back to normal.  She picked up the pizza and took a bite as I sat on the bed.

"Do you think it's about time to forgive your dad?" I asked her.  She looked at me like I was nuts.

"I'm never forgiving him," she said.  "He's ruining everything."

"Mia, don't you think you were taking things a little far?" I asked her.  "How much weight did you lose?  Seven pounds?"

"And I got more rotations in the air," she pointed out, taking another bite.

"What if you just ate less junk food?" I asked her.  She eyed me.

"Says the woman who just handed me a piece of greasy pizza."

"A slice of pizza every once in a while won't kill you," I said.  "I mean the junk food after school and in the evenings.  You know that sort of thing isn't good for your body.  Maybe you'd have more energy if you ate healthier."

"You sound like Dad," she told me as she chewed.  I guess I was starting to come into this whole parenting thing.  I mean, I didn't want to take on all the responsibility, but I did almost everything a real parent did.  I tried to make sure I didn't overstep my bounds.

"Well, your dad's right," I told him.

"So you're on his side?"

"Mia, we're both on your side," I countered.  "We want you healthy and happy.  You were being really irresponsible with your health.  Your dad was right to pull you out."

"Fine," she said shortly, obviously wanting this conversation to be over.  "I just want to be alone."

I nodded and stood up.  "Are you going to the meet tomorrow?"

"Why would I do that?"

"To cheer your sister on?"

She sighed and didn't say anything.  I closed the door and went back to the living room, where everyone was sitting around watching a movie.  Rio was out for the night at his friend Justin's.  I picked up my plate and sat next to Lin.  He gave me a greasy kiss.

"Is she eating?" he asked me.

"Yep," I reported.  "One piece so far."

Lin nodded.  "I wish she would've done this when I'd asked her to.  Then we could've avoided this whole mess."