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Fitting In MAG
I wouldn't ask for a dressing room. My mom always asked for me.
The evening before I had repeatedly risen from my seat and piled on excess noodles suffocated in meat sauce. Then I licked my bowl with the buttered garlic bread, leaving no evidence of the four servings I had inhaled. In the morning I would be forced to lie on my bed and suck in my stomach just to button my jeans. I dreaded school shopping. The sale rack, with its slender size markers, knew my number continued to bloat.
I learned how to eat from my dad: fast and without thinking. In our house, the dinner table involved battle, with the children on defense. One false move and our dinner would be snatched off our plates without warning and gobbled up by our father faster than we could blink. We soon learned to keep a hand up while devouring our chicken strips, and if Mom decided to cook that night we needed to hurry and get seconds before it was gone.
Only one pair of jeans I tried on fit. I lied and told my mother I could button every pair but only needed the jeans that lay guarded in my hands. We walked to the checkout.
I kept my head down as we passed a group of girls. They whispered. I glanced up only long enough to know my place. Their eyes cut at me, hands cupped over their mouths in secrecy.
***
The recess bell rang and I followed two girls in my third grade class out past the monkey bars to the fenced grassy area. We all wore the same clothes that year: khaki pants and polo shirts. Everyone was the same, or that was the idea.
“I like your pants. Where did you get them?” Marcy asked Alicia. I nodded in agreement, thankful they had removed their cupped hands and I could hear the conversation.
“Really? I like yours better,” Alicia replied.
“We should trade. What size are you?” Marcy asked.
“I don't know …” Alicia said, finding the tag in the back of her pants. “Seven.”
“Me too,” Marcy said.
***
I hid in line as I held the jeans, tag folded in so nobody could see the number inscribed on it was 12. I am not a size seven.
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This article has 349 comments.
I don't really think the point is that she's big and that it's a bad thing, I think it's that because of the way she looks she feels uncomfortable and has really low self confidence, and that it doesn't need to be that way. It's about how many pressures there are from the media and peers that affect young girls nowadays.
It's not that she's too young and it's her own fault. Which it isn't, little kids can't necessarily change their diet. I don't understand what you mean by "too young" either. That's kind of the point, that even young kids are effected by the media and peer pressure.
wow, good job! I mean, I can kind of relate, but I'm super skinny, which is bad. sometimes my mom thinks I might pass out.
Hey, please check out my story, Love or Drama (It's called Love or Romance but its supposed to be called Love or Drama), also the chapter where Brittney arrives in seattle and meets nikki, matt and kim is chapter 2. The chapter where they all talk about stephanie is chapter 3. TeenInk.com/fiction/romance/article/228711/Love-or-Drama-Chapter-2/.
this is really good. i like it. it can really connect with everyone, even if it isn't over the issue of eating and pant sizes. i really did enjoy this :)
and i know most people (including myself) may get annoyed with people advertising their work, but my new memoir "Gotta Love Support" just got posted, so if anyone has spare time, please look at it! i have a lot of pride in this one and i don't think you'll be disappointed if you read it! thank you so much and good luck to all of you!
