Shrink to Fit by Dona Sarkar

worry about.
    Victoria was gone in a puff of perfume.
    Why had she done it? For just two minutes of incredible happiness, she was going to gain back a week’s worth of hard work.
    She was so stupid.
    â€œI’m a moron,” she muttered and forced herself to sit up. Maybe there was a way to undo it. Some workout she could do tomorrow or some food she could not eat that would undo it.
    She logged in to her e-mail account to see if DietDiva had responded. No answer yet. She surfed to the ANArexia Web site to see if DietDiva was online.
    She skimmed over all the old posts and was disappointed to see there were no new diets to try.
    Two members online for chat.
    Why not?

    I feel so full tonight. I got dessert. I can’t believe I did that! I’ve been so good.

    She hit Send and waited. Nothing.
    Oh, well, she was just about to go to ESPN.com when a blinking window caught her eye.

    Hey, BBGirl! I know what you mean! That same thing happened to me last night! I was at graduation and I couldn’t help but have a piece of cake! God, I feel so bad!

    The girl’s name was Wannabe.
    Excitable. Jeez.
    What’d you do? Leah typed back.

    When I feel that full, I just make myself throw up. No more worries!

    Leah blinked. Throwing up? Disgusting, yet…obvious. It was so obvious. If she overate, she could get rid of it. Just like that. So easy.
    Thanks, she typed slowly. She logged off.
    Throwing up on a regular basis was a problem. They’d learned all about it in health class. A disease. You could die from doing that.
    But she wasn’t doing that here. It was just a onetime thing. It was like being sick. She’s eaten something bad and had to get it out of her body.
    She flipped on the light switch in the bathroom. Already she could see her cheeks were puffing back up. No wonder Cillian had dumped her. He’d realized there was no way he could be seen with a fat girl like her in his field. She let these calories sit in her body and she would be a hundred and seventy pounds by morning. No. Not a chance.
    She stuck her finger down her throat and leaned over the toilet.

nine
    Fight Club
151 lbs
    Leah should’ve felt sick on the drive from O.C. back to L.A. The stop-and-go traffic and the way Alfreddo kept caressing Victoria’s leg as he drove should have made her ill and dizzy.
    But it didn’t.
    She’d never felt so fantastic in her life. A hundred and fifty-one pounds. Despite the dessert eating, she had lost around five pounds over the course of the weekend.
    Her mood darkened for a second, thinking of Cillian, but she tossed those thoughts out the car window along with a sugar-free gum wrapper.
    â€œWhy don’t we have dinner together tonight, girls?” Alfreddo turned around just in time to watch the gum wrapper bounce down the freeway. Instead of a lecture about a litter-free earth, he smiled that Cheshire cat grin of his. “Me and the two loveliest ladies in L.A. at the Ivy.”
    Food again! Could no one think of anything else? No way was she eating in front of people again. She was not going to have another dessert shoved down her throat.
    â€œYeah, I have homework,” Leah said at the same time as Victoria accepted the invitation saying, “Alfreddo, you’re a doll. We would love to.”
    â€œMama, really. I’ve been gone all weekend. I have a geometry test tomorrow and I’m not prepared at all. I need to read this book for English that’s really boring, and—what, you want me to fail school and have to repeat the eleventh grade?”
    â€œJust you and I tonight, darling, then,” Alfreddo purred and put his hand back on Victoria’s leg.
    Victoria gave Leah a look in the rearview mirror. “When I get home, I want to see all the homework you’ve finished.”
    Leah rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she muttered.
    Twenty minutes later, the Benz pulled up outside the Mandevilles’ house. Leah noted the