hissed Miranda, fixing her bleached hairdo, - “she really should make a stop by the salad bar.”
“If I looked like that, I wouldn’t eat anything but water”- Jenny giggled, covering her heavily lipsticked mouth with her hand – “In fact, I would dare to show in public anyway”
Ellie clenched her fists and lowered her gaze as she walked by the girls who didn`t bother to speak quietly. She quickly grabbed her microwavable dinner. The package said “Only 450 calories!”. She felt stupid, so she slouched and tried to hide herself in her enormous coat. It was hot and she was sweating. After facing the judgmental look of the cashier, she felt like she had done some unspeakable horrific deed. She quickly left the shop to go home, feeling she was about to get an upset stomach. The perfectly mowed lawns and two-faced flawless houses seemed to laugh at her hysterically. The fit, well-dressed husbands and groomed, polite children seemed to stare at her. Even the hot summer air felt disgusting, sticking to her skin. Ellie slammed the door behind her and breathed heavily. She knew this feeling as long as she can remember: the pangs of guilt were seeded in her head when she was just a child.
She stood in front of her mirror. A girl was looking back at her. A fat girl, with a nose fit for plastic surgery, and still – a girl. Her mother gave her a certificate on her 12th birthday. “Nose jobs are in, sweetie, don`t you want to be like the normal girls?”- she exclaimed desperately. Her mother would cry and beg her to go for a run. They were the only family in Pleasant Town that didn`t fit in. Ellie didn`t want any of this, and yet she couldn’t help feeling revolted by her body, frustrated by her inability to do her hair and makeup like she was shown, scared of the disgusted looks of by-passers. With time, she learned to blunt those feelings and to suppress feeling anything at all.
The next working morning, Ellie splashed her face with water, and put on her gigantic unflattering overalls. Quickly finishing her dry breakfast roll, she made it outside the house. There was Miranda, walking her tiny pitiful dog. There was something strange about her: she didn`t have any makeup on, and her hair wasn`t glued together with hairspray. When she noticed Ellie, her eyes widened in amazement, and she squealed:
“There you are! Well, don`t you look amazing! Ellie, how do I gain ten pounds? What should I eat?”
Ellie was astonished by how sincere she sounded. Feeling mocked, she swallowed down her feelings and kept on walking.
“Ellie, Ellie!”- a young girl approached her. She was out of breath. – “I so desperately want to know how you get that careless look of yours! I feel so stupid and out-of-place, I was hoping you could help me.”
Humiliating, she thought to herself, ignoring the girl. She decided to stop by the magazine stall. She was startled. The captions screamed out at her:
“Glam is OUT, careless is IN!”
“How to gain twenty pounds in just two weeks!”
“Broccoli is the new diet-sin. Choose cake instead.”
“Stretchmarks: your secret to a perfect body.”
Then, she saw a picture of her placed on the cover page with the caption:
“Ellie McCarthy chosen as the most beautiful woman of Pleasant Town”.
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