-Four Weeks BCC-

With the familiar warm lump of Skittles, her mom Nika's chihuahua pinning down the blankets Brooklynn rolled over lazily in bed, her long hair clinging to her face like a veil. Spitting a few strands from her mouth with aggravation as she did. Almost immediately afterwards the teen felt the danty footsteps of the dog walking up and over the comparative mountain of a girl as Skittles sought to reclaim her position right up against Brooklynn's stomach. Smiling with secret adoration, though she had maintained for years her hatred 'the rat' Brooklynn pet the minute canine, scratching behind her big floppy ears earning a joyful whimper, and much trembling characteristic of the breed.

"Morning." the girl muttered with a yawn.

Stretching Brooklynn reached blindly, hand tapping first the bed, then air, and finally her nightstand in search of her phone. When at last her fingers brush the cold smooth surface of the screen she reflexively grabbed hold of the device like it was a lifeline and pulled it towards her. Clutching it tightly to her chest Brooklynn began reviewing her plans for the day. It was the weekend, so she didn't have much in the way of responsibilities except maybe walking the dog, and taking out the trash. Stretching again, this time more luxuriously than before Brooklynn curled around Skittles content with the fact that she could spend the entire day in bed if she wanted to.

Gradually drifting back to sleep she couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something, something important. After trying and failing to remember what it was the teen gave up trying and blissfully gave into slumber once again.

Moments later she jolted upright in bed, sending the frightened chihuahua tumbling to the floor where she lay sprawled. "Oh my God, Skittles I'm sorry!" Brooklynn gasped leaning over the edge of the mattress and scooping up the dog who seemed very sorry for whatever she had done to deserve being thrown out of the bed, tail wagging despite being tucked between her legs.

The poll! Brooklynn thought frantically to herself as she unlock her phone. How could she have forgotten about the poll? Today was the big day after all. Logging into her diversified range of social media accounts Brooklynn hastily scrolled through comments, fan letters, and follower notifications until she found what she had been looking for. The results of all the tallied votes charted out in neat little bar graphs with percentages recorded below them. Ravenously devouring the results, a broad grin breaking out on her face the teenage influencer leaped out of bed and rushed down the short hall to the bathroom. Filled to the brim with excitement she gave her teeth a quick once over, neatened up her hair a bit, and wiped the lingering drool from her chin before she started streaming.

"Good morning Brooklanders, it's your girl Brooklynn- woop woop!" she called enthusiastically, holding her phone at arm's length, ensuring that it was facing her at a flattering, downward angle. "I hope you're all as pumped and excitied as I am because today is it the big day! Do-do-do-do!" the teen said keeping up the hype as she made her way, backwards, into the kitchen where her moms caught off guard were enjoying their morning coffee. Nika wiped the cream cheese icing from the corner of her mouth, eyes wide with embarrasent as she stared at the phone. "As you can see it's my mom's month this month, let's hear it for online school enabling this new, incredible visitation schedule! And if you're new to the channel TLDR: divorce, totally chic lesbian glow up for my mom, and I still travel with my dad, but enough about me, let's talk about you, and more importantly let's talk about what you voted for! Ladies can we get a drumroll please?"

Still smiling Brooklynn watched as a little apprehensively at first the two women began drumming on the table, quickly building momentum. "That's right, the results are in, I asked for your opinions and you gave them! The winning color is: Flaming Flamingo! That's right Brooklanders say goodbye to my drab dishwater brown and hello to bright luxurious pink!" she announced energetically, roughing her free hand through her still bedraggled locks.

"Hurray!" Candice, her bio mom cheered leaning further into frame.

"Boo, I voted for Jaded Jaguar!" Nika said through a mouthful of food, gesturing with a thumbs down to the audience.

"Well folks, we got some mixed results here!" Brooklynn laughed into the camera as her step mom loudly demanded a recount. "That's all for now, see you ladies and gentleman real soon, and when I do it will be at the salon where this girl is gonna be on fire!"

Beaming brightly as she stopped filming Brooklynn couldn't help but get a flutter in her chest as she saw all the hearts and smiley faces rolling in, and comment after comment began forming an orderly queue below her vid. "Can't wait to see the new look! :D" said one, "Your moms are too cute! How did you luck out with 2 great fams when I can't even get one #fosterkid looking forward to the pink!" read another, "I voted for Purple Python, but you'll look cute no matter what color you dye your hair! :-*" read one more.

Brooklynn felt, loved, accepted, worth while when she saw all of the wonderful things people were saying to and about her. It was a warm comforting feeling that seemed to wash over her like a wave. Still standing in the middle of the kitchen she happily basked in the glow of their affection giggling, or smirking to herself as she absorbed line after line of text from her followers.

"So, we're chic now?" Nika asked head propped on her hand, fingers drumming her cheek irritably. "Your chic lesbian moms... You know you don't always have to be 'on,' and you don't have to put us on the spot either."

Brooklynn who was listening better than Nika was probably aware felt a pang of guilt, her smile fading some as she made her way to the table and slid into a chair, eyes still locked on the screen as she did.

"You're only upset because she caught you stuffing your face!" Candice chuckled before an uncomfortable expression crossed her face. Catching the look out of the corner of her eye Brooklynn shifted in her seat uncomfortably aware of how her parents were now looking at her. Pretending not to notice the girl began tapping out replies to her followers, her mom realizing the taboo of what she had said too late. "Besides, you can't be too upset, she did just call you my glow up." Candice went on quickly trying to save the conversation.

"That's because I am your glow up." Nika said in a matter of fact tone. "She's just stating facts at this point."

There was another moment of silence before Nika cleared her throat. "Sweety, all I'm saying is if your veiwers were really fans I'm sure they'd like you for who you are, not just all the fancy places you go, or stuff you review, or the crazy things you do because they tell you to. Because doing all of that makes you just another internet personality. Why don't you show them the real Brookie-Wookie?" she asked her tone gentle but probing. "Come on, do the thing." the woman smirked after a second, reaching over and tickling the girl's side. "Do the thing!"

"No!" Brooklynn laughed squirming away. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Aw, but you'll always be my little Brookie-Wookie! Come on, do the thing, for me?" Nika pleaded her tickle attack going two handed.

"Ok, ok!" Brooklynn conceded, but only after nearly dropping her phone. Still giggling it took a moment to compose herself enough to do it. Taking a breath, cheeks sore from trying to surpress another bout of laughter Brooklynn let out a gargling like call before cracking and subcoming to a fit giggles, both of them forgetting their previous irritation in an instant.

"Yay! My favorite little Wookie!" Nika, who had convinced Candice to get matching lightsaber tattoos, shouted hugging her tight with affection.

"Here," Candice chuckled watching them with love in her eyes. "They're nice and hot." she announced pushing a large plate of cinnamon rolls towards her daughter.

Brooklynn hesitated, staring at the sweets, a sudden bout of anxiety kicking her in the stomach, and causing her heart to race. She couldn't eat that! She thought, panicked as she looked at the sticky, sugary rolls. If these were Pillsbury brand, she thought, which they usually were at her moms' they'd be about 150-160 calories a roll, she reasoned trying to recall what the nutritional guide on the little cardboard cylinder said. Then if she had creamer in her coffee that was an additional 40 calories a tablespoon which would throw off her whole- Brooklynn forced herself to stop thinking eyes squeezed tightly shut. Breathe, she told herself as she unconsciously touched the MIC-KEY button that was hidden under her pajama shirt.

Candice cleared her throat before softly asking, "You, aren't calculating again are you?"

"I'm fine." Brooklynn assured her with a dismissive smile before quickly snatching one of the rolls from the plate. You can do this, the teenager thought to herself, trying to get amped, though the thought of actually eating it nauseated her. It's all in your head, just eat half, it'll be ok, she continued to reason with herself. "It's just really sweet first thing in the morning and I was wondering if we had any cantaloupe, or grapefruit?" she heard herself saying, a familiar response, one she could tell had let her mothers down.

"We might," Nika nodded getting up to pour herself another mug of coffee, getting one for her daughter as she did so. "But, not until after you get some real food in your body. I can make eggs if you'd rather."

"No I'm ok," Brooklynn said accepting the piping hot beverage, very aware that the creamer was being not so subtly nudged towards her from across the table.

"You better enjoy that coffee," Candice said after a minute. "It's the last of the good stuff until payday, all we've got left is instant."

"What?" Brooklynn gasped hand flying to her heart as though she had been mortally wounded. "Are you for reals? Mom, come on, you knew what a teacher's salary was from first hand experience. How could you go and marry Nika knowing you'd be living in squaller and poverty for the rest of your life? I mean, how could you do that to me!"

"Not much of a glow up now, am I?" Nika chuckled, a sense of relief washing over the women as after her little display Brooklynn began pulling apart her cinnamon roll, slowly eating it one coil at a time.

Taking notice of how her parents were looking at her from time to time as the trio chatted Brooklynn couldn't help but feel guilty for the stress she had put them under. The teenager wasn't exactly sure when she stopped looking at food as food, and when it became a malevolent force pressing down on her with a crushing weight of catastrophic fear and dread, but somewhere along the line it had, and when it did everything around her shifted somehow, including the way she perceived herself.

The first time she was hospitalized Brooklynn had only been thirteen years old. It had been her last year of middle school and she had put all her energy into that year. Her academic success, and reputation as one of the popular girls only added to the immense pressure, and need for perfection that she had put on herself. This left her with a constant feeling of inadequacy and self doubt that manifested itself in her relationship with food.

At first she started her channel at the suggestion of one of the eating disorder rehab counselors as a means of tracking her progress towards a healthy weight, and to inspire and give hope to others. It worked, for a while, but then the comments started flowing in, images of girls and even some boys looking to achieve lower and lower weights, challenging each other, making it a competition. Brooklynn looked at their thin, withered forms and enviously saw only beauty. After a drastic relapse she'd not only had the GI tube surgically placed, but has lost all internet access, living in her mind, as dismally Amish.

After she had been discharged Brooklynn begged, and was finally allowed social media again, but only on the condition that her login information was forefit. Under close supervision her videos had a moderate following, one that she tried to maintain a candid look into her ongoing struggles with, but nothing noteworthy by internet standards. That was until the following summer when Brooklynn's dad decided to take her on a photoshoot in Maraco and she started filming the adventure. Her channel started picking up, and so did her self esteem. She deleted all of her old videos, and rebranded herself, from that point on everything changed.

"I was thinking, on the way home from the salon we could pick up a few things from the store," Brooklynn said sneaking a piece of cinnamon roll to Skittles who was begging beneath her chair. "Because I wanted to do some easy hacks while I'm here. I'll pay!" she added quickly hoping that the answer would be yes.

All of her traveling and most of her product reviews happened when Brooklynn was with her dad who had a much more sizable bank account. When she was with her moms the young influencer's veiwership always took a noticable dip, but nothing that the channel couldn't recover from. As a result she did mostly hacks and debunking vids to keep things fresh and momentum high.

"If you destroy my kitchen again, I swear!" Candice said firmly, an accusatory finger pointing at her daughter.

"Your kitchen?" Nika asked brow sharply arched, earning a cheeky grin from Brooklynn as she watched the exchange.

"Our kitchen." Candice corrected.

"Our?" Nika murmured over her coffee, voice barely audible as she locked eyes mischievously with her wife.

Candice sighed resigning herself to losing this one. "If you destroy Nika's kitchen, I swear you're grounded for the rest of the month!"

"Love you!" Nika beamed.

"Love you too!" Candice replied in a playfully sarcastic tone. "We'll see. Why don't you go get dressed, I want to get this dog and pony show over before it gets too much later."

"Hey!" Brooklynn scoffed quickly downing the last of her now tepid coffee. "This isn't a 'dog and pony show!' This is high quality original content and entertainment!"

Dashing to her room the teenager shuffled through her drawers locating her favorite, most supportive bra, even if the underwire did bite from time to time, a frilly but not overly obnoxious hanging-around-the-mall type blouse, and a pair of skinny jeans. Changing in a rush Brooklynn was careful to keep her back to the mirror in spite of its recent reinstallation to her room before bounding back out only to find Nika spreading out folders on the couch.

"You're not coming with?" Brooklynn asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Nah, sorry Wookie, not this time. I've got a lot of grading to do. Besides I really like my current aesthetic." Nika smiled up at her from where she sat. "When it's mani-pedi day, I'll be first in line though."

"I'm sure you will be." Candice said giving her wife a peck on the forehead before heading out the front door.

"You know we could always put off those randos on the internet until tomorrow and you can hang out with me, and your mom, put on some music jam this out together then have a movie marathon the rest of the day?" Nika offered. "Come on you're really gonna just abandon me? What happened to my number one collator?"

"She learned about child labor laws!" Brooklynn snarked, sticking her tongue out as she headed for the door, scooting Skittles back with her foot as she did.

"Fine just leave me here, by myself, all alone!" Nika called her volume raising as the two made their way out of the apartment and down the hall earning laughter from both of them.

Brooklynn and her mom walked at a comfortable pace, talking casually about school, boys, and new tv shows, over the loud, dull roar of traffic. Candice who had initially been apposed to the idea of online schooling for her daughter was now very keen on the subject and deeply impressed with what the highly motivated young woman had been able to accomplish working at her own pace, which for Brooklynn meant working far ahead of her peers. It wasn't long however before they reached the salon, they each got checked in, and sat in a chair.

"Hey Brooklanders, it's me again, as promised, and here we are at 'Kinky's,' a salon near my moms' apartment. They work with all hair types as the name implies, even though I know what you were really thinking, for shame my Brooklanders!" the girl joked with knit eyebrows waggling her finger at the camera. "I don't think they've been having much luck these days though, what with bigger more commercial spots opening up around town taking business away from them, so let's see if we can't get them trending huh?"

When a woman approached Brooklynn to beging work on her hair the teen turned the camera towards her saying. "This is..."

"Steph..." Steph said with a perplexed expression.

"This is Steph, she's going to be our guide to fabulous world cotton candy, bubble gum, and of course flamingos today. Smile, you're going live to my 27 million followers!"

"Oh, my God!" the woman gasped covering her mouth and walking away.

"Oops!" Brooklynn shrugged, waiting a few moments before a tall gentleman approached her chair. "Hi!" the girl smiled.

"Hi," he replied before leaning down and waving at the phone. "Hey all, hope you're ready to see a little magic," he said with catching enthusiasm. "But I can assure you, unlike what you might see in Vegas, this is not an illusion, it is one hundred percent, real and one hundred percent Jeremy!" he added with a wink.

Brooklynn and Jeremy fed off one another giving great banter and creating one of, in Brooklynn's opinions best livestreams date, being sure to grab stills of the teen at various stages of what Jeremy referred to as "the process" along the way. Still giddy from the encounter the girl burst through the living room door with a "ta-da!"

"Oh, wow!" Nika gushed getting up and coming to play with her daughter's hair. "It's still so soft!"

"Isn't it?" Candice asked running her fingers through it as well. "And smell it I love the shampoo they used. Now I wish I'd gotten a wash. You like the bob?"

"Looks great on you hon!"

"Guys, guys this isn't a petting zoo!" Brooklynn said squirming away. "Jesus! I'm gonna get my charger, brb!"

Walking to the outlet her charger was plugged into Brooklynn was briefly startled by her own reflection. Oh yeah, she thought pausing to examine herself in the mirror, this was going to take some getting used to. Brooklynn hesitated to look away, her attention captured by what she saw as a strand of hair fell to cover one eye. Sweeping it back and tucking it behind an ear the girl was struck with a strangely euphoric feeling, one she hadn't felt in a long while. Wow, she thought smiling to herself, I'm actually kind of pretty. It was a nice feeling, one Brooklynn hoped would last as she shifted her hair around in her head, positioning in various styles.

It was then that her phone chimmed. Looking down the girl noticed an email, one she had almost dismissed as junkmail advertising discounted vacation rates, until she noticed that there weren't really any images in the letter, not like an ad would have anyways. She reread the address of the sender, "PR Department?" Brooklynn muttered sinking distractedly into the chair at her desk as she started to read the email.