Becky had to look over to see her head shaking, and there was a low giggle from behind them. Barb didn't sound mean or anything, but she was a bit different now than she used to be. Nicer, for one thing. Something had happened to her and she was gone for a few months. The word at school was that she'd gotten pregnant and went off to have the baby, but that didn't seem to be the real answer.
When girls did that, they gained weight. It was hard to hide all the changes. Even when they didn't breastfeed, their chests got bigger and their hips wider. Barb
always
wore tight fitting clothes, and if she was heavier now it had to all be in her legs, because it didn't show anywhere else.
That probably meant it was drugs. After all, she was doing
something
to stay so slim, wasn't she? It might be bulimia too. It would explain some things. Keeley and Darla were the same, always snacking and pretending that the food vanishing wasn't any big thing. Eve never ate around her, or if she did, it was in tiny little amounts. Hally used diet pills to do the same thing, not having much food, but keeping herself from being hungry all the time. It was an idea. So far will power had gotten Becky through, but that might fade over time, when she had to fight the last ten pounds off, for instance.
That would only be ten pounds more too, so she decided to keep it in mind. She was down thirty already. It was a process. That was a thing she kept having to remind herself, about fifteen times daily as her stomach tried to force her to eat. The idea was also one that the girls with her seemed to want to sabotage almost instantly.
Damn their pretty little hides.
Keeley twisted in her seat, then winked at her. It was a thing she did, and seemed like a cute affectation. It was almost as if she were trying to make everyone think she was older and wiser than she really was.
"I'm going to make a cake, what kind are we having?"
Becky groaned, and didn't hide it. After all, they all knew she was struggling with her size, and had been the whole time that they'd been hanging around together, so since before Christmas. Before Thanksgiving even. It wasn't fair for them to do things like that to her and she was starting to think it was on purpose. A trick to keep her fat while they got all the good guys, and Mitch kept checking out Keeley's butt in the hallway, not hers. As far as she could tell he never looked at
her
that way at all. Sure, she was feeling a bit bitter about the whole thing, but Keeley acted surprised.
"You don't want cake? I thought everyone liked it." She sounded just a bit hurt, and in the dark her face seemed that way too. It was hard to tell really, and might be her imagination.
"How about, I don't know, some nice
carrots
?
Celery
? Something that won't turn me into a blimp in the next two days?" There. She normally wasn't that forceful about it, but Hally sighed from the back seat and then made a thoughtful sound.
"I... Kind of agree. That or we all need to take up marathon running as a hobby. It's really hard to be around all that food and not eat it."
That got an odd sound from the driver's seat, and while Darla didn't take her eyes off the road, being a very good driver, she did speak.
"That's not a horrible idea. We could start a running club. Not to be too blunt, but some of us on the squad have gotten a little soft lately. That, and some time in the weight room would help more than starvation. I
guarantee
you that the girls going to nationals this year are working-out. Even if we don't have that caliber a group, it really won't hurt to put in a little more effort. Some of you might just make it on the college level, if you have a good base built up now." The words were more thoughtful than anything else, but Becky noticed the gaps in the words. She was good that way, from time to time. It came from growing up around drunks. You learned not to trust what anyone told you, after a while.
"Wait, aren't
you
going to be a cheerleader in college?" She'd be going, since her grandmother was rich. As in
so
wealthy that when god wanted a loan, he'd call her up.
As far as Becky could tell the girl and her whole family were a bit distant from each other, but it was her grandmother that actually showed up in her life, not her father. Her dad was off running some business in Japan or something. It sounded exotic, but he'd left his daughter all alone, which was sad. That Darla wasn't a complete drugged out brat, with a large complement of diseases, was a mystery. If it were a television show she would be. As it was, the girl was actually incredibly sweet. To everyone, all the time. She even took time to talk to the unpopular kids, and include them in her plans.
"I'm going to be a business major. Yes, I might get on the college team, but I'm not planning to go Ivy League. The fact is there are a lot of really good small colleges in the country and most of them kind of take whoever wants to carry a pom-pom. It shouldn't be that hard for me. But I get that paid for, guaranteed. It might be harder for Hally or Eve. Or you Becky. Not to be snarky, but even if you want to go and be a drama major, being in that kind of shape won't hurt. The sporty look is coming in, and women that can manage to look right for action movies might have a better shot of making it big, in the next ten years or so."
Becky scoffed and then tried to chuckle.
"Yeah, but I want to be a drama
teacher
, not an actress. It probably won't matter." To her it seemed obvious, but no one else even seemed to listen to her. Not at all.
Eve changed the subject nicely at least.
"I've been considering the military. Get in and become a Marine. I know, that probably won't be the only thing I ever do, but I don't have the grades for college really. Not unless one of you wants to help me fake some test scores in the school's computer system?"
That got a chuckle and Barb leaned forward, her head right between Becky's and Eve's.
"I can do that. What do you want to trade for it?" She sounded sly, like she was trying to be cute about it.
"I don't know? I suppose I
could
stop spreading those rumors about you having gotten pregnant? It's a lot better than the real story, but still, you might want me to lay off soon..."
Becky let her eyes go wide, since as far as she knew they didn't talk about that topic. Not ever. Instead of pouting or crying from the back seat there was laughter, from the front. It would have been mean, but Keeley just sounded tickled.
"I have to agree. You didn't
need
butt implants Barb. Missing all that school to get them was dumb. Now you're going to be there for another half year. Or are you planning to do summer courses to try and make it up?"
"That one. It was totally worth it though. Becky, have you looked at my ass lately?"
"Um, why
no
Barb, I
haven't
." She blinked in the dim interior of the van. The white seats looking slightly yellow under the street lamps as they made the last turn to get to Keeley's. It was so late that no one else was around at all. "Why, do you
want
me to?"
That got a warm hand pushing on her shoulder from behind. It wasn't hard, but it was playful, not flirty. That was good, because she still wasn't totally certain which girls in this group were "friendly" with other girls. She was pretty sure about Hally and Keeley, though they also had guys, or at least Hally did. Keeley had mentioned one, but Becky had never met him.
Darla was just a mystery that way. She always had a date for the dances, but didn't spend a lot of time with anyone except Keeley, Hally and Eve. Barb was around too, but there seemed to be a bit of distance between those two for some reason. It was like they were only acquaintances, not close buddies.
Eve loved guys. She bounced from one to the next so fast that it was almost a joke. She seemed to enjoy it though, so Becky tried not to judge. It reminded her a little bit too much of her own mother for comfort. At least Eve wasn't always drunk too. It made it so that she could be dealt with. Being a bit loose was better than that and sloshed all the time.
Barb settled and spoke, her voice rich and a little throaty, as if pretending to be interested in the idea.
"
Well
..."
That got everyone to make at least a bit of noise, except Darla, who pulled into the driveway of the nice ranch style house. It was new and had an interesting lawn arrangement. It wasn't a real lawn, being made of little stones and just a few plants, but it showed that someone that lived there liked nice things. Her apartment had a dirt patch in the front. True, in part that was her fault, but no one else there cared about it enough to ever do anything either. Her step-dad, Mike, was a lot like her mom in a way. Less drunk, and he slept with fewer other people, but they fought all the time. Her mother and him. Mike actually got along well enough with her, even when he was drinking, being a mellow person that way.
It took a minute to get in and everyone was quiet, because they didn't want to scare the neighbors and have the police called. Sure, that probably wouldn't happen, but Keeley practically tip-toed in, using her key and holding the door for everyone else. The place was well lit inside, mainly with the kind of lights that were actually designed to make things brighter, rather than the recessed kind that were meant just to make a place seem slick and new. It was really nice inside.
Clean for one thing. Keeley's mom had OCD, which meant she kept it nice, on a level that very few people would ever bother. It was much better than what Becky was used to. Drunks didn't clean that much really, as a rule. It was like it just didn't occur to them. Go figure?
Keeley, as she often did, went straight to the kitchen. Because that's what
all
the non-bulimic girls did, wasn't it? She stayed there for a while, but came out with a tray of sliced fruit and veggies with a dip that seemed to be made of spices and other vegetables. Her stomach growled at the smell, but no one did anything except try some.
"Here you go! This will actually burn off more calories than you can get from it, so it's totally diet food." Keeley passed it to her first, so she tried a piece of celery with the dip.
It practically exploded in her mouth. It was really good. Sweet and tangy at the same time, with just a hint of garlic.
"Okay," She had to wait and take another bite, closing her eyes as she did it. "Where's the trick? Is it made with pure fat or something? This is
sooo
good!"
That got Keels to sit by her, after passing the tray to Hally, who seemed to like it too. She let her leg brush against Becky's, but pulled back before she could stiffen or seem uneasy. It was a very casual thing. Probably not her flirting with her.
"Thanks. It's a new recipe that I wanted to try out. The trick is using Splenda and vinegar. It gives it a nice sweet and sour flavor. Now, we have snacks, so what do you all want to do? Movie marathon? Or we could go on a road trip?"
Eve giggled.
"Sleep? Then we can go shopping in the morning, and maybe see about finding some cute guys to distract Becky from her eternal problem." There was a pause and then Eve rolled her eyes. "You know Becks... Mitch Barris isn't even close to being in your league. You're
you
and he's a sci-fi geek. He tried to invite me over to play Dungeons and Dragons once. Can you imagine that?
Me
? If you hook up with him you'll end up a twenty-seventh level Troll."
Becky didn't say anything for a while and finally the other girl faked going wide eyed. She did it pretty well, as if being a snarktastic witch just came naturally to her. "
Oh. My. God.
You
are
a twenty-seventh level Troll, aren't you?" It was a little mean.
Also a little too close to the truth for comfort.
"I just thought..." She tried to let it go, but Barb, who looked way to cheery and perky not to be on drugs, shrugged.
"
She
just figured that the way to a geek's heart was through his twenty sided die. Naturally. The question there is, can a Cleric
really
get a warrior mage to part with his virginity by plying him with Cheetos and Mt. Dew?
Hmmm
?" It was less mean, but more playful and still sounded rude at the same time somehow.
Becky looked at her hard for a minute and then shrugged.
"So... you wanted me to check out your behind?"
Keeley smiled and then shook her head, turning the television on. Nothing seemed that good, not for a late Friday night and she really was feeling pretty tired. Smothering a yawn she tried to keep her eyes open. Normally she was in bed by midnight, but it was the weekend and work had kind of changed her schedule for that anyway. She let herself nibble on some more of that dip, trying not to take it all. It was good enough that even the people that never seemed to care about their weight had some.
"So, I should work out more? Do you think that would really help?" There had to be some reason why everyone else was thin and she wasn't. Maybe it was that? She wasn't a total lump, but she didn't spend hours in the gym every day either.
Darla nodded.
"Probably. We all should. I have some weights at my house, if you want to use them, and we can all go running. That way we won't need club memberships. We can start tomorrow, if you want?" There was an edge to her words, one that sounded a bit pushy, which probably meant that no one wanted to work out with her, and that she actually wanted a workout buddy.