Bikini Body

Chapter one:

It was just a normal afternoon. I had just gotten off the bus. My backpack was hurting my shoulders. Inside I had my Trigonometry book, my binder, and school laptop. I swore it weight over one hundred pounds. At least I didn't have to bring my History book home-- that's until tomorrow.

Thank God.

As I got closer to home, I noticed the mailbox's red stance was up. I opened the mailbox, hoping if there was anything. Taxes and phone bills, mostly-- until I saw it. Under all the envelopes, was the magazine issue my mother has been waiting for all month. Bikini Body was a popular magazine. it focused on celebrities, relationships, fashion, and make-up. I reached for the magazine. Lo and behold, my older sister-- Mom's favorite-- was on the cover. She was wearing a white bikini, posing alongside two other models that wore different color bikinis. With big letters, overpowering the other models' name, Fiona Brite and Cheryl Moss, was my sister's name: Zarah Newman. I shoved the magazine between the letters.

My mother wasn't home. She was with her boyfriend, whom I haven't met yet, for the week. I hadn't seen Mom as much since she met her boyfriend. Always off somewhere while while I'm here, stuck in school. It was just me, myself, and I-- just the way I liked it. Zarah let me have her old room when her career took off and moved out. Her room was bigger than mine, and father away from Mom's. The first thing I did after setting my backpack down was to check the bathroom scale.

 I avoided looking at the mirror.

Even if I did looked in the mirror, I'd see the same thing people see when they look at me-- a chubby girl with no chance of making the cheer leading team, with legs that looked like sausages and feet flat as the floor; if that wasn't enough, the girl had zits all over her face, threatening to explode like a bomb any second-- with weighing a grand total of 255 Ibs.

And her sister's a model on the cover of the hottest magazine. A secret I was supposed to keep from my peers at school. No one knows that the Zarah Newman is my sister-- and no one ever should. According to Mom, it would mean the end of her career 'as we know it'. That was her biggest fear-- not Zarah's-- Mom's biggest fear. I did myself a favor and threw Bikini Body to the recycling bin.

That night, Grace, my best friend, called me right before I went to sleep. She said she needed help on one of her Geography assignments. Unlike me, Grace was thin. She used to look like me... then, somehow, she was as skinny as a broom stick. Grace told me that she'd never felt so free in her life. In her words, she left like she was walking on the moon. I know I'd never go to space and walk on the moon, but if Grace told me how she lost weight, I'd be walking the whole universe weightless by now.

"Hey!" Grace suddenly exclaimed as she was doing her homework. "I got the issue of Bikini Body!" I heard pages flipping over the phone. "Thank God that Zarah Newman was voted to be on the cover-- she's gorgeous!"

"She's alright," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. Not even Grace knew that Zarah was my sister. "She looks like all the other models that appear on there."

"I bet everyone in school will have an issue in their lockers!" Grace squealed.

I scoffed. "I'm not sure everyone will have an issue of Bikini Body. Some people just... don't care."

"Abby, everyone cares!" Grace sounded offended. "The legs, the clothes, the fact if you're stupid or not-- it matters!"

"But why?" I argued. "If we're not careful, Grace, we're gonna turn into those narrow-minded bullies that are everywhere in our school!"

"So, you're calling me a narrow-minded bully?" Grace accused.

This was something I hated about Grace-- she jumps to conclusions and take things personally. Usually that made for a lot of arguments. If Grace is mad you, stay away. She really knows how to hold a grudge, guilt-tripping.

"No!" I told her. "I'm just saying--"

Grace interrupted, "That I'm a narrow-minded bully. Wow. Rude. Some best friend you are!" She sounded as if she were about to cry. I knew she was going to hang up.

"Grace--"

"Don't talk to me!" Then she hang up.

I knew Grace... this was going to blow over like every other thing we argue about. Ever since I've met Grace, she'd always been trying to fit in with the crowd. Especially the popular crowd. Every person's top thing on their list. But then, it just ends badly and everything just sounds silly looking back, like, three weeks later. But I knew three weeks wasn't enough for our school to get over some big drama.

I couldn't get what Grace said out of my head.

Abby, everyone cares! The legs, the clothes, the fact if you're stupid or not-- it matters!

I had to agree with Grace on that one. Suddenly, it did seemed that everything mattered. Why? Why does it matter? it was like I was asking the meaning of life sometimes.

Hey guys!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING! If it interests some of you, please check out my fanfics Snowbound and Queen Of His Heart! They are Harry Styles and Zayn Malik fanfics if that motives you :)