Don't Complain If You Can't Win

She threw her pajama t-shirt on the floor of her room after pulling it over her body to slide on a gray v-neck she got from a basket of clean clothes. Slipping the shirt on, she pulled her hair from out of the shirt's neck and grabbed a hair tie from her dresser. When she finished tying her hair in a pony tail, Leighton glanced at herself in the mirror and smiled. Her face seemed to be slimming down a little but that was the only subtle change in her body thus far and even still she was happy.

All the hard work she was doing for herself was going to pay off soon, and knowing that only made Leighton want to work even harder to attain her goal quicker. Everyday had become a routine for her, but one that she loved. She would wake up and go to school on the weekdays and head straight to the gym after, come home, eat dinner, do homework, jump on the trampoline for thirty minutes, shower, then go to bed. Weekends were basically the same except she would go for more runs and walks throughout the day and stay longer at the gym.

Though she keeps herself busy and active, she seems to stay energized through it all. Leighton never complained that she was too tired to do anything or say she'll just do it later. Everything she does, Leigh does it with a smile. She's much happier than she used to be, even when she gets tortured by the ignorant and arrogant assholes that tease every chance they get. Leighton learned to ignore them and not let it bother her, and what made her feel better was that they would get frustrated when they wouldn't get a reaction from her.

But because of her busy routine she placed upon herself, it gave her no time to hang out with her best friend although Courtney constantly told her that she understood when she'd ask to hang out but Leighton couldn't. It still didn't stop Leigh from feeling bad; Courtney was always there for her and it saddened her that she wasn't being their for her friend. And because of this, she invited Courtney to the gym.

A loud honk from outside her window tore her away from her reflection and she quickly snatched her tennis shoes from the floor to put on. Before exiting her room, Leighton snatched the white towel she took from the bathroom then quickly ran out of the house. There at the curb, Courtney sat in her car, drumming her thumbs on the steering wheel and smiling at Leighton when she noticed her gaining closer to the car.

"I can't believe you actually got me to come with you to the gym of all places!" she said when her friend opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.

"And hello to you, too, Court! How are you?" Leighton smirked as the sarcasm dripped from her tongue.

"Hi," Courtney replied and drove away from the the house. "I'm feeling pretty sleepy; who goes to the gym at ten o'clock in the morning? Any normal person would still be asleep at this time on a Saturday."

Leighton chuckled and changed the stations on the radio. "Are you done complaining yet?" Courtney rolled her eyes at her friend. "C'mon! Working out will be fun! I've seen some really good looking guys go there," she sang, trying to lighten the mood of her tired companion.

"Fine, but there better be someone nice to look at because I don't think I'll be able to stay awake," Courtney gave in.

This time, it was Leighton's turn to roll her eyes at her friend, but she did so with a soft smile. Leaning back in her seat, she sighed and listened to a radio station she settled on because it had Nirvana playing through. The moment she relaxed, her mind wandered to the future, not so much the distant future, but more of the near. She thought about how she would look after all of the time and effort she plans to put in during the summer and even after; she couldn't wait to reach her goal. It was something she wanted for a long time but never felt the need to do before. Now with the push of those horrible boys, Leighton figured she could get fit the right way so she could get healthy and be even more happier with herself; something that many people already noticed.

Small trees, street lamps, buildings, and people on the sidewalks zoomed by as Courtney drove just over speed limit to the In Shape City gym that Leigh went to constantly; music poured calmingly through the car's sound system which subtly pumped her up to go work out. She never failed to get excited about lifting weights or running on the treadmill; every time she came, Leighton thought highly of and very positive because she was doing this by choice. No one was forcing her to do so.

"Leighton!" Courtney whined as they hit the twenty minute mark on the elliptical. "I seriously don't think I can do this anymore!" she said breathlessly with beads of sweat trickling down her face and neck.

With a smirk amongst her face, Leigh grabbed her towel from the post on the machine and wiped the sweat dripping down her own face. "C'mon, Court, if I can do it you can do it. Drink some water and breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth," she told her friend, trying to stabilize her breathing while continuing with the motions. After another minute, Leighton heard the machine next to her stop. "What are you doing? We have ten minutes left!"

Courtney slowly came around to the opposite side of her friend she was on and plopped herself down on the gray carpet. "Correction: YOU have ten minutes left; I need a break!" she twisted open her bottled water and took a long drink.

"You're the best work out partner ever," she chuckled and shook her heard, not giving up on her exercise. "Are you going to run with me on the treadmill when I'm done with this?"

"What?" Courtney shrieked. "Leigh, we've been here two hours! Aren't you done yet?"

"After I run some miles, then yeah, I'm done."

She was hesitant to ask her question, but proceeded anyway. "And, how many miles do you plan on running?"

"Four." Courtney's jaw dropped. "Well, at least four, I'm actually shooting for five. But don't worry, I'm going to try to do that in less than an hour."

"Try?" she pouted. "I want to go home! I can already feel my body aching!"

"That's a good sign, Court. It's good for you bo-"

"Oh, my, God!" Courtney cut off her friend as she stared in the direction of the entrance to the gym.

"What? What?" Leighton asked, following her eyes to where her friend was gawking at. "Holy shit!" she stumbled and nearly fell off the elliptical. "What the- I've never seen him in here before!"

"Is, is that really Zack Merrick, Leigh?" Courtney stood up to whisper in her ear. Leighton nodded her heard with her eyes wide as she unintentionally slowed her pace. "He looks...wow."

Her eyes stayed glued on the boy she still seemed to have the biggest crush on despite all of his terrible, crude comments about her weight. It didn't matter how awful he had been to her, deep down it was difficult for her to not like him. She's cried and she's nearly felt depressed over what he and his immature friends has said to her, but even still, it didn't let the feeling dwindle away.

"Leighton, you've stopped," Courtney pointed out that her friend was no longer exercising but just standing on the machine, "and you're staring."

"Wha- oh, hmm, I just zoned out a little," she tried to cover it up as she continued on with the last few minutes she had on the elliptical.

"Are you not telling me a fine little detail?" she asked and rested her elbow where the digital screen holding calories lost and time spent on it were.

"What're you talking about, Court? What do I have to hide from you?" Leighton chuckled somewhat nervously and noticed Zack sit down to lift weights on the bench press.

"You're staring quite a lot; why's that?" a slight smirk was plastered on Courtney's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Leigh said as she finished up her thirty minutes and got off, wiping some more sweat from her face and took a drink of her water.

"I'm not dumb, Leighton. Do you still like Zack?" she questioned seriously.

A cough rose from her throat and she instantly began to choke on the water she just drank. Leighton pounded her chest for a moment then took a swig of her water to calm down before regaining her composure; she walked away towards the treadmills, taking the longer way to not pass in front of Zack. Courtney was hot on her heels not saying a word just to be sure they wouldn't be spotted by him. By the time she reached Leighton, Leigh was already beginning a small jog to start out her run.

"You completely avoided my question," she stated the obvious; Leighton had to hold in a smile, but it broke out when Courtney pointed at her and repeated her previous statement. "I can't believe you!"

"What?" Leigh asked stupidly, slowly bringing her speed to a comfortable five miles per hour.

"Why do you still like him?" she asked softly, calmly going to the treadmill next to her friend.

"I don't know, Court," she replied, her voice a little shaky from running. "I just do."

"Even after all he's done to you?" she started the machine but only putting it to three and a half mile per hour walk.

"Yeah, I mean, I can't help it," Leighton turned her head to look at Zack who had finished his bench press and was taking off his shirt. "I mean, look at him, Courtney. He's nearly perfect," she caught her breath for a second. "He may not be the nicest person in the world, but his looks and smile are hard to get over."

"I know he's ridiculously good looking, but, looks aren't everything."

"I know that," Leighton slowed down her pace because she figured they would be talking a bit longer and talking while running isn't the most comfortable thing to do. "Maybe things will change once I reach my goal."

"Wait a minute," Courtney hopped on the sides so the conveyor on the treadmill kept going, "you're not doing all of this for him, are you?"

"Absolutely not! This is for myself, one hundred percent. But I just thought now, when I can get to at least one hundred forty pounds, he'd give me the time of day, y'know? It'd be nice to be at this weight and have, you know, maybe him as a friend?"

"Leighton, come on! You shouldn't care about him! Zack and his friends are the worst guys I've ever met! You've done nothing to him, and he's horrible to you!" Courtney told her; she was only looking out for her friend because she didn't want her to get hurt.

"I know that. It's probably not gonna happen anyway; I don't know why I brought it up," Leighton muttered and turned the speed back up, coming to a run. "We'll leave after this," she told her friend.

Zack's shirtless self caught her eye again; the way his muscles contracted as he lifted the weights over his head and the way his perfectly chiseled chest and stomach looked as they slightly glistened with the forming sweat merely made her melt. On the outside, he was perfect, and she longed to see if he could truly be perfect on the inside, that is, if she could catch his attention in a positive manner once she got even more comfortable with her figure.