golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter twenty-five

saturday, march 21
     ben facetimed eliana as she was putting her makeup on for the second day of the meet.
"hi!" she answered.
"what's up, sweetheart?" he was laying in bed, and though she could only see from his shoulders up, she could tell he wasn't wearing a shirt.
"just making myself pretty, you?"
ben scrunched his nose. "you're already pretty."
"is that your boyfriend?" cally asked. eliana smiled. "yeah, it's ben. do you guys wanna say hi?"
cally scooted over to where eliana was and looked at her phone. "aww, he's cute. not as cute as the redhead, though."
"it's facetime, cally. he can hear you."
ben bursted out laughing on the other end of the line. "are you talking about sky?"
cally nodded, her eyebrows raised. grace rolled her eyes and pushed cally out of the way. "hi, ben. i'm grace."
"hey, weren't you on the london team too?" he squinted at her.
"yeah!" she grinned and turned to sophie. "he knows who i am!" she stage whispered. sophie poked her head into the frame and waved to him. she and grace went back to their bags, and eliana heard sophie whisper to grace. "i would totally-"
"hey!" cally turned around and eyed the two of them. "gross. we don't talk about each other's boyfriends like that."
ben stopped talking and raised his eyebrows.  "uh, do i wanna know?"
she shook her head. "i think your fan base is expanding." she giggled.
"awesome." he said sarcastically. just as she was about to say something else, cally tapped her on the shoulder. "you might wanna put him away, easton's coming."
eliana turned to her phone. "can you be quiet for like, three minutes? we're not really supposed to be on our phones in here."
"oh, yeah, sure." ben nodded. she blew a kiss at him and covered her phone with a jacket. coach easton knocked on the door and came in. "hey, girls. about an hour until we head down to the gym, okay?" he looked at eliana. "can i talk to you, el?"
she got up and followed him out of the room.
"you told the team about our agreement." he said, obviously angry.
"what do you mean?" she asked.
"i think you know what i mean, eliana. they keep trying to sneak you food. don't think i don't notice."
"you never said i couldn't tell anyone."
"i didn't say you could, either."
"look, they figured it out themselves. it's not my fault they want me to eat."
"i hope you aren't over 88 pounds. it would be a shame if you had to suddenly drop out of the competition."
"that's ridiculous. the károlyis would never let you pull me."
"i knew you were difficult, but i didn't think you were stupid." he leaned down to her ear. "i suggest you check your weight before i do." he checked his watch. "i'll be back here at 11:15."
eliana held it together as she walked back into the room.
"what-" cally stopped talking when she shot her a look. eliana grabbed her phone and smiled at ben.
"what was that about?" he asked.
"oh, just some logistics." she lied. "usual stuff." she paused. "hey, i'm gonna have to go."
"me too, i have to get ready to go watch my girlfriend win her competition." he grinned at her. she gave him a small smile. "i'll see you afterwards, okay?"
"good luck, sweetheart." he hung up, and the tears started rolling.
"oh my god, el, are you okay?" cally rushed over to her.
"he told me he was gonna pull me if i wasn't under 88." she sobbed.
"what?" cally said.
"he can't do that." sophie added.
"i feel like i'm gonna die." eliana continued. "i haven't eaten anything in weeks. just fucking juice and crackers."
"you're gonna be okay." cally reassured her.
"what are you at?" grace asked.
"i don't know." eliana looks around. "is there a scale in here?"
sophie looked around the corner. "oh! over here!"
they all crowded around as eliana stepped onto the scale. "please, please, please..." she whispered to herself.
80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89...
more tears streamed down eliana's face.
"just spit in a water bottle!" grace said. "i think that's what wrestlers do."
eliana shook her head and brushed past them to the bathroom. she kneeled in front of the toilet and stuck a finger down her throat.