Life of Zizes
'LAUREN!' That unforgettable, high-pitched screech of Lauren's Mom flooded down the stairs to Lauren's basement room.
'Lauren! Upstairs, please. I am not going to keep shouting at you. Ugh, I hate this. LAUREN. . . NOW!'
Lauren Zizes swung out of bed, wrapped her duvet around herself, slid into her slippers and slowly made her way into the kitchen.
On the counter there were five empty cereal packets, the extra-large family size ones.
'I only got these last week.' Her mom looked up at her only child, somehow at least 5 inches taller than her.
'No, Jane … Mom.' She replied. 'I got them, remember? I've done the shopping for the last 2 years, haven't I?'
'Well, yes. I suppose so.' A sad look passed over her face. 'Look, it's just… I want you to be happy. I love you so much, my gorgeous girl, and well… I don't know. Are you happy?'
'Mom.' Lauren could sense that her mother needed comforting so proceeded to squeeze her hand tightly where it lay on back on a chair. 'I am so happy. Why wouldn't I be?'
'Its just that, well, I was, um, bigger, when I was your age and I know how hard it can be. I can bear the thought of you facing those, um, horrid kids, well, I …'
'Mom, come on. I wrestle. Who would even try and mess with me? Plus, I know I'm smokin' hot, right? I don't need other people to make me feel good.'
Her now tiny mother smiled: 'Of course, honey. You know I think you are the prettiest girl in the world.'
'Uh-Huh. I'm gonna go downstairs and sleep for ten more minutes, then when I'm back up we'll make waffles, 'kay?'
Back in bed, Lauren smiled at her mother's concern. Maybe a few years ago she would have been affected by the comments and looks but things were looking up. As a member of Glee Club, she was finally getting invited to non-wrestling parties and Puckerman, yes, Noah Puckerman was chasing her.
Determined to keep up her cool persona, she had held him off for as long as possible. However, she had finally given in and kissed him. She really should have tried it earlier, this whole liking guys thing, she would've done if she'd done how nice it felt, that clichéd butterfly feeling. She knew that given the chance, some creepy psycho-analyst guy would say that she had taken so long to admit her feelings because of her deep fear of rejection. Well duh! Who isn't afraid of rejection. But it wasn't because of her weight. Why couldn't people understand that she was happy the way she was, who cares if she's a bit bigger than everyone else. Lauren didn't even realise that weight was a problem until everyone else seemed to think it was a problem.
Whatever. Haters gon' hate, right?
Her alarm pulled her out of her own thoughts. Time to start another day.
'Let's do this thing' she thought as she sat up. 'Bring it, McKinley'.