Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 96(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 96(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
She gaped at me like I’d just admitted to stealing a Prius.
“You’re giving up on your health, just like that?”
“I’ll eat the salad, too.”
“Why even bother?” She pursed her lips, accentuating the fine wrinkles around her mouth. For someone so preoccupied with health, you’d think she’d know better than to spend all afternoon baking under the sun until her cheeks resembled dried apricots. “You might as well replace the lettuce with potato chips, for all the good it’ll do you.”
“I don’t think that’s how nutrition works, honey,” my dad said with a chuckle. I smiled around a mouthful of pasta, thankful for his effort to lighten the mood.
“This isn’t funny, Douglas,” Eloise snapped. “April, I’m sorry you no longer see yourself as a worthy investment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“It means your father won’t be paying your tuition this semester,” she said. “If you won’t invest in yourself, then you shouldn’t expect others to invest in you either. Not until you’re ready to take your future seriously.”
My dad looked just as confused as I felt, but he didn’t speak out against it.
“Eloise,” I said, “the fall semester starts in two months.”
She shrugged. “I guess you’d better start saving.”
“That’s not nearly enough time to save up.” I’d been working part-time as a barista since my junior year of high school, so I did have some savings. But not nearly enough to afford a semester at Vanderbilt. It was too late to apply for scholarships, and my dad’s income alone put me far above the threshold to qualify for federal aid.
“How about this.” Eloise clasped her slim, crepe-papery hands. “If you can lose ten pounds by September, your father will pay for the fall semester. It’ll be a good incentive for you.”
Slack-jawed and disbelieving, I looked to my dad to inject some sense into the situation. “Dad, are you hearing this?”
My father chewed his food slowly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His track record for standing up to my stepmom wasn’t great, but I couldn’t imagine he’d let her cut me off without talking to him first.
“It’s never a bad idea to think about your health, sweetheart,” he said. “Ten pounds isn’t so hard. What is it, a few less cookies a week?”
Eloise ate a bite of her salad, but there was no hiding her triumphant smile. I’d pushed back, and she called my bluff, and what’s worse, she’d pressured my dad into backing her up. The ultimatum was simple: lose weight, or we’re cutting you off. My dad wasn’t going to fight her on it, because fighting her would mean taking my side against hers.
Maybe I could have lost the weight if I’d committed myself to the task. I’d lost and regained the same ten pounds a dozen times before. But I was done letting Eloise dictate my relationships with food and my own body. So. My parents cut me off two months before the start of my freshman year.
I needed another job. Something that paid good money—fast.
“What time will you be out by tomorrow?” Eloise asks, still haunting my bedroom doorway like the Ghost of Fad Diets Past.
I swallow the anger drummed up by the memory of that awful exchange.
“I’ll be out by six,” I say.
“In the morning?”
I sigh, folding the red bra and gently placing it in the box beside me. “Yes, in the morning.”
“That’s rather early for you,” she says, emphasis on you. “I'm surprised you found a place to live that quickly.”
“You didn’t exactly give me much choice—”
“Oh, stop!” She folds her arms across her chest. “We gave you a choice. Give up your disgusting little hobby or find a new place to live. You chose to leave.”
I did choose to leave, just like I chose not to lose those ten pounds. By the time my parents found out about my disgusting little hobby, I’d already made enough money to afford tuition and car insurance. I’ll have to stretch my income a bit farther to afford food and rent, but what Jonathan’s charging is nothing compared to what I’d pay to live on campus. I’m already saving a ton by taking all online classes.
“You can’t imagine how embarrassing this is for your father and me,” she says. “And I hope you know those men who pay to see you naked are all laughing at you behind their screens.”
I rub the spot between my eyes where the headache I don’t need is already brewing. “I told you, I don’t get naked on camera.”
“Why would anyone pay their hard-earned money just to watch a fat girl read smutty stories in her underwear?”
As much as I don’t want her words to affect me, I can’t help but flinch. The question on its own is a fair one, though not for the reasons Eloise is asking. The thing is, if you’re not going to get naked on camera, you have to find creative ways to grab people’s attention.