Chapter 4- The Side Effects

Again, thank you so much for the positive reviews, you guys, it honestly makes my day. The funny thing is that Waterloo Road isn't as popular as Harry potter because I wrote a fanfic for Harry Potter and it had over 900 views. Whereas, this fanfic has had nearly 200 views, even though I feel like it is a better story and is written much better than the other one.

As the days passed, I carried on my jog every morning and I stopped eating entirely, telling Sam and Josh that I wasn't hungry or I didn't feel very well. It had been a week since I had decided to do something about my increasing weight and I was in the bathroom one morning and something caught my eye.

In the corner of the room, was the scales, just sitting there waiting for me to use them. My mom had bought them two years ago, in the hope she'd lose some weight after giving birth to my now 3 year old brother, but she had never really tried to exercise or go on a diet so she only gained weight instead of losing it. The scales hadn't been used ever since my mom had bought them and they had just been sitting there ever since.

I was drawn to them, wondering how much I actually weighed, I knew I was disgustingly fat but I didn't know an exact figure. I had weighed myself about six months ago for something to do, and I had been 9.5 stone then, but I had no idea what I'd weigh now. I grab them off the side and place them on the floor cautiously, wondering if this was the right thing to do.

I had been conscious of my weight recently anyway, and hadn't eaten anything for days, wouldn't weighing myself make it only worse?

'Oh well, there's only one way to find out' I think, taking a deep breath and placing both my feet on the scales and closing my eyes nervously.

I'm scared to see the result, part of me wants to find out just how bad it really is, but the other part doesn't want to see because I know I'm only going to be upset about the result.

I open my eyes, my hands shaking and peer down at the scales, my eyes zooming in on the number in black and white infront of me.

9.1 stone

Oh god, I had lost 4 pounds since before, but I was still a fat cow. I still needed to lose more, I wanted to be a lot skinnier, for my collarbones to stand out and my stomach bones to show like all the models on the catwalk. I WOULD lose the weight I needed to, I would be prettier and skinnier and hopefully Josh will like the new me more than the fat, greedy pig I was.

I'd lose the weight so Finn couldn't tease me about being 'big-built' or 'curvy' anymore. I'd show him, I'd show everyone that I could be attractive and skinny if I wanted to be. I'll prove them all wrong and they'll have to apologize for what they have all said to me in the past because it wont be true anymore.

My mom calls me from downstairs and I quickly shove the scales back where I found them, and run down to see what she wants. I then leave the house, on my way to school, spotting my elder brother, Shane infront of me.

"Hi, sis" he says, walking with his girlfriend, Kaitlyn. They've been together for 8 months now and their relationship is still going strong, she's always coming round to our house and going out with Shane. I don't mind, but when they snog infront of me, then it's disgusting.

"Hi" I say, smiling at Kaitlyn.

She smiles back at me and I enviously notice the way her cheekbones stand out and how her school uniform fits her perfectly, showing off her figure and how skinny she is.

Shane waves goodbye to me and they both walk off, holding hands.

Yuck, I think before running off to find Sam and Josh in form.

It's PE today, and all us girls are sent off to the changing rooms. I panic, watching all the other girls take off their school shirts, showing their slim bodies and their good figures. I don't want to get changed infront of all the other girls, I don't want them to see how fat my body is and the way my legs wobble when I move.

I walk up to the teacher nervously, my breath catching in my throat.

"Yes, Lauren?" the female PE teacher asks kindly.

"Miss, please can I get changed in the toilets?"

"Why?" she asks, confused as to why I can't just get changed there like all the other girls were doing.

"Umm.. I'm on my period Miss and I don't want everyone seeing my pad" I say, coming up with an excuse on the spot.

"Ok, Lauren but be quick, everyone else is almost changed."

"I will, thanks Miss" I say, grateful that nobody would have to see my body and how fat I had gotten.

I hurriedly shut the cubicle door and strip my shirt and skirt off super quickly, changing into my PE kit and tying up my shoes before stuffing my uniform in my bag and going out onto the field where everyone else is already warming up.

I take my place next to Sam, and copy the teacher, shivering from the cold air. After the warm up is over, we have to play football next to the boys.

I panic for the second time, worrying about Josh seeing my fat legs in my PE shorts. I look over to him, and he's waving at me, I wave back nervously and follow the other girls onto the pitch, shoving a purple coloured bib over my head.

Me and Sam are on the same team and we all pass the ball to each other, trying to reach the goal at the other end of the pitch. A girl called Rosalie tries to pass the ball to me, but I miss it and get shouted at by the rest of the team.

We carry on playing the game, the boys playing their game right next to us.

Whilst I'm playing, I feel overcome with dizziness and the ground tilts to the side slightly. Everything around me becomes very blurred and out of focus and I feel myself lose balance, and fall to the ground completely.

"Lauren!" Josh calls my name frantically from behind me.

That's the last thing I hear before I black out.

Hi, so I left this chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger… hehe. I hope you enjoyed it, please do review. I really like writing this story and unlike the other stories I've written, I'm motivated to continue it. Even though I spend up to an hour writing each chapter, it goes really quickly, and doesn't seem like that long x