Chapter Two
Dear Diary,
Today me and Cassie started our diet. We agreed that we'll be the thinnest girls in school! I gotta do well with this, so today I ate an apple for breakfast (80), 5 crackers (125) with peanut butter (120) for lunch, then a grilled cheese sandwich and potato chips for dinner. I'm 5 feet tall and 99 pounds. I want to be 90! 90 sounds so perfect. I'm not sure what Cassie's goal is or how much she's eaten, I'd better ask her tomorrow. She's my best friend of course, but I will get thinner than her.
The first diary entry was littered with grammatical errors, but it got me hooked. All the girls at school were desperate to know how Lia lost so much weight, and now I could find out. Riveted, I read for hours through the night. Lia's life flashed in front of me as I turned those pages: losing weight, going to hospital, gaining weight, family troubles, and of course the way she did it all. When I set down the last diary as dawn was breaking, I felt ecstatic.
I knew that the day would bring more torment from the other girls at school. Their cruel comments – "stupid", "ugly cow", "loner" – would no longer matter to me. Because I knew something they didn't.
I knew Lia Overbrook's secret.
"As you know from the letters you received last week, today is your yearly weight checkup."
The whole of the eighth grade had been called into the gymnasium to be weighed and measured. I'd completely forgotten, and I was now dreading the number on the scales. Weird – I'd never really thought about my weight before. I was maybe a little larger than the other girls, but that was because I'd hit puberty sooner. I was taller than most girls my age, and had a more "womanly" frame as my Mom said, but I wasn't overweight. Anyway, I was happy, right?
"Naomi Summers."
I began the walk of shame towards the nurse's table. Feeling everyone's eyes upon me, I stood up straight to be measured. 5'7". Then, my heart sinking with dread, I stepped onto the scales.
"145 pounds."
What the hell? I almost slapped the nurse; it took all my willpower to just walk away as she called the next name. How dare she say it so loud! The popular clique giggled and whispered as I walked by. I made a futile effort to block out their voices, but a petite redhead snickered one word that I couldn't ignore.
"Fatso."
After struggling through the day, close to tears, I ran home from school. As I flopped down on my bed, I was embarrassed at how out-of-breath I was. A 5-minute jog had made me exhausted! Staring at the curve of my belly, as round as a beach ball, I came to a conclusion.
I had to lose weight, and I was going to do it Lia's way.