45 Pounds by Kelly Barson EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Authors: Kelly Barson
- Publish Date: July 3, 2014
- Language: English
- Genre: Literature, Teens, Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Pages: 272
- Price: Free
- ISBN: 0142422657
I LONG FOR THE ROOF TO CAVE IN AT KEEHN’S department store.
For a bomb threat. Or even for a simple power outage. Anything to stop the
torture of swimsuit shopping with my mother.
“What about this one?” Mom holds up a tiny orange polka dot bikini.
Skimpy. They are all skimpy.
I stare at her. Is she crazy? That is not going to fit me. And even if Keehn’s
did have my size, it would be a crime against humanity to show that much flab
in public. Judging by the look on the practically concave saleswoman’s face—
the one who scanned me up and down and is now comparing my measurements
to the orange Band-Aids with strings my mom is holding—I am not the only one
who thinks this.
“What?” asks Mom.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and pretend to browse. It’s not worth going into
it. I don’t want to make a scene. Besides, Mom has no clue. How could she?
Even when she was eight months pregnant with the twins, she wore size medium
maternity clothes. I was twelve then, trying to camouflage my growing curves
under large tees. She shrieked about how she had never worn a medium in her
life and referred to herself as a cow. Ever since then, I’ve removed all the size
tags from my clothes.
She holds it up to herself. “It’s so cute.”
“Go for it,” I say.
“I would, in a heartbeat.” She pinches the skin on her flat belly. “If it weren’t
for this paunch. And these stretch marks. Nobody wants to see that. Hideous.”
Paunch? Yeah, right. Nobody wants to see outright flab, either. I have eyes. I
know that I’m bigger than she is. If she believes she’s hideously fat, what could
she possibly think about me? I don’t say any of that, though. She’d call me a
smart-ass. Maybe I am. But I’m hungry, and tired of pretending to look for
something I’m never going to find.
Then she leans in close, still holding the bikini, and puts her arm around me.
I’m sure she thinks she’s being discreet, but people are watching. She whispers,
“With a little effort, you could be in this suit in no time. If you want, I’ll get it
for you. As incentive.”
Incentive? More like a daily reminder of what I’m not.
“No.” I pull away and untangle two hangers. “It’s okay.”
“We could go back to Weight Watchers,” she suggests, still whispering.
Been there, done that—four different times since I was ten. I’d lose a little,
only to gain it back and then some. Besides, who is she kidding? We both know
she’s not allowed to join, because she’s not overweight. She’s not even on the
high side of her normal range. We means I join and she polices every morsel I
put in my mouth. No thanks.
“What if I—”
“No!” I cut her off.
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB
