Melody

• Age Twelve •

I had only been to one slumber party. I was nine and it was fun. It was that age where everyone in the class was invited to birthday parties because it was what you had to do. So, of course, my parents let me go. There was cake and other desserts that most of us weren't normally allowed to eat. We played games like freeze dance, Twister, and musical chairs. We watched a movie and then went to bed, all of us whispering into the night.

So, naturally when a group of girls I had been hanging around invited to me to a sleepover I decided to go. While everyone else was mean to me, they weren't. They weren't all that nice either, but it was okay to be around people that were not insulting me all the time.

Leslie dropped me off at Elaine Wilson's house. I knocked on the door, wide-eyed, heart pounding. I held my overnight bags in my hand as I stood there and waited nervously. Elaine was the one to open the door and she smiled as she saw me. Her brown ringlets hung around her face, framing her bright blue eyes.

"Hi Melody, come on in," she said. "You can just toss your stuff there. We're going to watch a movie while we eat dinner." Elaine pointed to a pile of overnight bags by the door, so I put my stuff there.

"Okay," I said quietly.

I followed her into the living room, where the four girls in there were set up with TV trays. There were two boxes of pizza on the coffee table and a vegetable spread.

"Melody's here everyone!" Elaine said. I received less than enthusiastic greetings, but they were engrossed in the movie. Aubrey, ruler of the girl group, was there, eating her slice of cheese pizza neatly, but her plate was filled with cucumbers and carrots. The three other girls were Emily, Zoe, and Kim. I sat down where Elaine told me to and grabbed a slice of pizza.

When the movie ended, Aubrey stood up and smiled as she looked around the room. "I have a game idea!" she said. "We're going to play doctor."

"What's that?" asked Kim.

"We are going to make you all your healthiest selves!" Aubrey explained. "Of course, I'll be the doctor because my mom has taught me all this stuff." She never let anyone forget that her mom was a highly celebrated personal trainer. "Elaine, you can be my assistant, but you still have to participate."

"Okay," Elaine said hesitantly. Since no one seemed to disagree, I felt the pressure to play along. We went upstairs to Elaine's bathroom and each crowded around scale.

Zoe was the first to stand on it, and Aubrey read the number out loud. I didn't miss the blush that dusted Zoe's cheeks as she heard her weight come out of Aubrey's mouth.

"That's not bad, but you could probably drop a couple pounds..." said Aubrey. "Run up and down the stairs three times and then do twenty jumping jacks before we try again. Next!"

Kim stepped onto the scale and Aubrey nodded.

"That's good Kimmy. You're super skinny. My only recommendation would be to eat some veggies and chips. Wouldn't want to see bones," Aubrey said. "Report back to me when you eat some. Who's next?"

"Me, I guess," said Emily as she moved forward. While Kim disappeared to get food, Elaine, Aubrey and I watched as Emily got onto the scale. Aubrey read the number out.

"So, you're doing okay. You could lose a little too... Try running up and down the stairs once and then fifteen jumping jacks," Aubrey said. "It's your turn Melody."

When I stepped onto the scale, I tried to hide the disappointed look on my face when the number was significantly larger than everyone else's. Aubrey read that number out as Kim and Zoe came back into the room.

"Oh, Didi, you could definitely lose a lot. Let's try thirty jumping jacks and run up and down the stairs ten times. And you have to skip the junk food tonight. Especially the chips," she said. I nodded. As I left the room, I could hear her weighing Zoe, while Kim crunched away on a carrot. "Ooh! Zoe is down one pound! Drink some water and do another round of stairs! This time we'll add push ups."

I started my jumping jacks and blinked away the tears in my eyes. I felt uncomfortable and jealous of the other girls. The only upside was that I now knew how to lose a couple pounds. Maybe I'd look like one of them one day. Maybe then they'd stop singing that cruel song and calling me Didi.

I called Leslie an hour later from the hall closet to pick me up. I told her that I felt sick, but really, I just wanted to go home.

If this was what sleepovers were like, I didn't ever want to go to another one.

***

Who wants to do a sleepover tomorrow night?

Emma Murphy; 6:23pm

I'm down!

Alani Reynolds; 6:30pm

Sorry, I can't.

Family thing.

Melody Reese; 7:30pm

Aw! Maybe next time!

Emma Murphy; 7:32pm

Yeah!

Melody Reese; 7:40pm

There would definitely not be a next time. Though I knew Alani and Emma were not Aubrey and her friends, I just couldn't bring myself to stay overnight with them. There'd be too much junk food to turn down and too many questions avoid. I was certainly not a slumber party type of girl.

___________

Author's Note: Poor little Melody! This chapter was short and quick but it was kinda weird for me to write because this actually happened at a sleepover that I went to! LOL kids are so weird right? But at least we get to see some more into Melody's life with it!

As for the next few chapters, to Melody:

LOL

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