"Why are you eating so much, Victoria?" It was a simple question, nothing out of the ordinary as a teenage girl. But coming from Tori's mom it was the same nagging question she was asked any time she picked up any sort of item that was meant to be eaten. Tori instantly swallowed the chewed up food in her mouth before placing the fork down on the plate that was still half-filled with her dinner. "I didn't eat lunch at school today, is all," she lied before clearing her throat. "I'm full now though, it was great," she continued the lie, plastering a fake smile on her lips to please her mom. Once the older woman returned the smile, Tori was anxious to excuse herself to go back up to her room.
No matter how hard she worked out with her trainer or how many calories she removed from her daily intake, Tori was still unsatisfied with her body. Her ruse was to always go on and on about how much time she spent with her personal trainer but that was working her muscles more than it was helping her lose any of her weight. The girl was obviously in a very fit body, however being in pageants for years always made her secretly self-conscious despite the fact. That mixed with her overbearing mother caused her to start this nasty habit of hers, one she couldn't seem to shake no matter how much effort she put into quitting. She knew she wasn't ugly or that people didn't think she was fat, but with her mother always feeling the need to comment on anything she ate she couldn't help but worry about it deep inside.
Thankfully for her she had her own bathroom connected to her bedroom so there were never any interruptions - not that her mom would criticize her for doing such. In fact, she'd probably support her and encourage her to do it more often than not. She swiftly shut the wooden door and locked it, pulling a hairband from her wrist to put her hair up in a messy bun so it wouldn't get in the way. "You can do this, Tor. It's not like it's anything new," she whispered to herself as she entered her bathroom, closing that door behind her as well as if to cancel out any alarming noises she might have made that would cause her parents to come check on her. The tile was cold on her bare feet as she approached the toilet, remembering to grab her toothbrush from her counter before kneeling down in front of it.
Tori grabbed the sides of the porcelain toilet before staring down into the clear water, her mother's words running fresh through her mind. Throwing up was always one of her least favorite things about being sick; it always hurt her stomach and made her cry without being able to control it so needless to say she had to be very forceful with herself to have the courage to make herself do it. She hovered over it for a few more seconds before gently putting the bottom end of the toothbrush on her tongue. She closed her eyes as she pushed the object further into her mouth to trigger her gag reflex, her body slightly tensing up at the sensation. Instead of pulling it from her mouth she continued to hit the back of her throat with it until the familiar tingling feeling built up in her jaws and the partial meal she'd just had traveled up through her body. She quickly removed the toothbrush as her body hunched over and she threw up the contents of her stomach into the water below her.
Eyes clenched shut to hold the tears back and body trembling from the act, Tori pulled some tissue from the roll to wipe her mouth so that there was no acidic liquid left on her lips. She weakly pushed herself up from the toilet and dropped the paper into it before closing the lid and flushing it, not bothering to even glance at the undigested food that she was only able to enjoy for a few moments before feeling the need to get rid of it the fast way. She slowly went back to her counter, toothbrush still in hand, beginning to stare at herself in the large mirror on the wall. She let out a sigh, reaching for the tube of toothpaste so that she could get the bitter taste out of her mouth that only reminded her of moment of weakness.