Anorexic Neighborhood

I was tired the day the new girls showed up at our school. They had moved from Ohio. The oldest one Veronica had a very unique sense of style. She looked almost gothic, which in our small school was rather foreign. She wasn't skinny, she was rather chubby actually. Still I thought she seemed interesting and she was pretty. Her sister Jenny, the middle child I guess, wore glasses and had really long hair. She was skinny and pretty, and I often found her staring at me, with a knowing almost cynical look on her face. My sister Nikki, who was still in Junior high made friends with the youngest sister immediately. Her name was Alysia and she had the same sense of style as her oldest sister, but she was much skinnier than both of them.

I was walking out of my science class when My sister and her new friend came dashing up to me all excited. "This is my older sister Ashley" Nikki told her. "The one you were asking me about". She looked at me and started talking really fast. Like if she didn't, she might burst. "Hi. I'm Alysia. I saw you sitting in the science lab. I was like oh my gosh she's so pretty. She's probably the bitch of the school though! Then Nikki told me how nice you were".

"Thank-you" You're really pretty too" I exclaimed. They went bouncing back to their building , My sister listening to her new friend talk a mile a minute. I decided today I wouldn't eat lunch at school. Instead I opted for a diet pepsi.

I was roaming the halls, and I saw Veronica in a group of random people. I decided to introduce myself. Before I could say anything. She got all excited and said "oh my God say something"! "Hi" I said kind-of quietly. "oh my God I love that" She said loudly. "You have the cutest little voice"! I immmediately grew self concious. I mean there I was dressed in pink, and some older gothic girl was calling me cute. I felt sick and dizzy from not eating lunch. I didn't care to be cute. I wanted to be thin.

Veronica looked at some of the guys and girls standing around her. "Are we aloud to leave campus for lunch? I really need a fucking cigarette!" "Yeah we can leave campus" A guy I knew named Luke told her. "Okay so who's coming with me?" She asked. Everyone standing around her agreed to go, except my friend Audrey who went into the lunchroom. "Ash are you coming" I looked at Audrey. I could smell the pizza in the cafeteria, and it was making my stomach churn. "No you go ahead. I'm going to roam the halls"

Everyone around me started clearing away. Suddenly I wanted to go with Veronica and everyone to smoke. I ran outside to catch up. "Wait! I'm coming too!" They all looked at me. "Okay" Veronica said. I wound up smoking two of her nasty menthols. I knew that they helped suppress your appetite, and nearly every runway model smoked to keep their weight down. I decided later I'd ask Luke to buy me some regular cigarettes. I didn't like the menthols. They made me dizzy.

We had to run back in as fast as we could, in order not to miss the second bell. I was heading out to P.E. when my Principal, Mr. Forest stopped me on the railing outside. He looked at me closely, and said someone who lived near the school had seen a bunch of kids smoking, and she called to complain.

"Were you smoking Ashley"? "No" I looked him in the eye, and I know he believed me. "Do you know who was"? " Just some of the older guys." I lied. "I don't know there names because I don't hang out with them" Another lie. He let me go on to P.E. I was so relieved. "See ya Mr. Forest"! I smiled and walked away.

On my way into the Gymnasium, my P.E. teacher stopped me. "Why are you drinking a diet coke" She asked. "I wasn't hungry today Miss Dean". "You didn't eat lunch?" Not anything?" "No'" I told her nonchalantly. "I have to go dress down now" She gave me a long meaningful stare, I just brushed it off. I didn't care what she thought. I was determined to lose weight. No matter what the cost...

(to be continued)