Death's Contest Entries

The Right Size - 3 (StopBodyShaming)

•ANGIE•

Making sure that she didn't look like she had been crying, Angie exited the stall, the white skirt in hand. She had made up her mind to get the skirt. She was going to wear it tonight, at her mother's birthday party.

It never once occurred to her that she hadn't bought a present for her mom at all.

As she stood in line waiting for her items to be checked, she kept chanting to herself in her head.

I'm not fat. I'm not fat. I'm just a bit curvy. I'm not fat...

She hadn't realized that the cashier was calling for her attention and she looked up, startled and embarrassed at fazing out like that.

Blushing a little, she put the skirt on the counter and searched for her wallet in her clutch purse. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the cashier looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She looked down at the skirt and then back up at her, like she was judging her for buying something like that.

Angie ignored her and continued to rummage through her purse and fished out her wallet from all the mess. Thankfully, when she realized that she could actually afford the skirt with her money, she smiled and pulled the green notes out.

Talk about lucking out.

"For a friend?"

Angie looked up and saw the woman behind the cash register packing her skirt. She nodded towards the skirt. "For a friend?" She repeated again.

Was that meant to be offensive?

Angie knew that the woman probably didn't mean anything by that but the simple question hurt. She had said it in such a way as if she was sure that Angie couldn't possibly buy the skirt for herself, like the very idea was laughable.

Angie shook her thoughts away, realizing how stupid and over exaggerated she sounded.

She smiled slightly and put the money down on the counter. "It's for me actually."

At that, the woman looked at her again but this time in surprise. "Oh..."

That was all she managed to utter before she put the cash in her register and prepared the skirt.

Angie didn't miss the stare the cashier had given her. There had been surprise on her face and then her eyes had quickly roved over her body with that judgmental gaze. This time, Angie wasn't mistaken. The cashier really did think that she wouldn't fit in the skirt.

What could she say to her? Should she say anything at all? After all, it wasn't the cashier's fault that she wasn't thin. It was nobody's fault but hers. She was like this. She shouldn't be like this.

The cashier handed her the bag with her newly purchased skirt but Angie didn't feel happy at all.

She took the bag without making eye contact, humiliated and hurt and rushed out of Zara.

•ALEX•

Alex wasn't very good at getting people presents. Last year, she had gotten a friend of hers a fake ID and other one of her friends received multiple pokings from her on Facebook. Granted, it was pay back for all the times her friend used to poke her almost every day just to tease her so she decided to get even on his birthday by blowing up his notifications.

She didn't have much experience with gifts and at the moment, she couldn't get her mother anything extravagant so she took the easy way out.

She got a chocolate cake from a bakery with white icing on it that said, 'Holy crap! Mom, you're old.'

And she stopped by a stationary store on her way home to get her a birthday card. With the card in her hand and a box in the other, she made her way home.

It was late afternoon when she got home and she got in through the back door to avoid running into her mother. While she ran across the kitchen and into her room, she briefly wondered what Angie had gotten mom.

She shut her bedroom door by gently nudging it with her shoulder and it closed with a click. She set the cake box under her bed along with the card and started to search for her cell phone.

Her aunt had told her a few days ago that she was planning to surprise her mother on her birthday by flying here today just for this occasion. Alex was pretty excited to see her aunt again because she was a pretty cool woman with a good sense of humor. But she couldn't say the same thing about her grandmother who was coming along with her.

She was a good woman but because of her old age, she always said what was on her mind and didn't care about what other people would think.

The last time she had visited, she had commented multiple times on Alex's new hair cut and suggested that she get surgery and have a penis instead of a vagina. Alex had nearly lost it and had almost snapped at her. Her mother had intervened however before things got too messy.

So yeah, she wasn't Alex's most favorite person in the world but this was mom's birthday so she was going to keep her cool.

Alex dialed her aunt's number and she answered on the third ring.

"Alex, I'm in the taxi right now and I'm on my way," her aunt, Melissa said as soon as she picked up. "You make sure your mother isn't looking out of any windows so that I can come up and ring the doorbell."

Alex nodded, smiling. "Right, right. Got it."

"Alright, see you soon. Bye, Al."

"Bye."

She put the phone back in her pocket and went out to search for her mom when the back door opened and Angie stepped in. She was holding a Zara bag and Alex's gave a low whistle. That caused Angie to turn around instantly and she jumped when she saw Alex.

"Fancy..." Alex whispered walking towards her. "What did you get her?"

Angie clutched the bag closer to her, not allowing her sister to look inside. "Nothing."

"That's not nothing. Come on, is it a shirt?" She asked, this time tugging at the bag which caused Angie to pull the bag away from her.

"Cut it out, will you?" She said irritably which caused Alex to frown.

What's gotten into her, she wondered silently.

Before she could ask what the matter was, Angie turned around and walked into her room, locking her bedroom door and leaving a completely confused Alex standing in the hallway.