It was Thursday, and Madison had just finished her last final of her junior year and walked up into the top level of the sorority house where Anna's room was. On her way to her room, she walked past a still studying Anna.
"Looks like you drew the crap finals schedule this year." Madison said to Anna from the hallway. Turning around, Anna responded, "It always seems to break this way. The last two years I've had at least one Friday final. I'm going to be sooo happy when it's over."
"Too bad, some of us are going out tonight." Madison replied.
"That's not a shock" Anna said. She knew first hand that all of them had been constantly frequenting the bars and partying, and her bank account was a testament to that. From an extremely middle class family, Anna at times felt out of place amongst her girlfriends in the sorority, and Madison, Cassi, and Kelsey in particular.
She had already gone to Cassi's parent's farm once, and saw that although the family didn't control an agribusiness empire, they were clearly doing well. She had met Kelsey's Dad, Dr. Jeon, a surgeon. Then, from spring break her sophomore year, she remembered her awe as she stepped into Madison's house and saw how nice everything looked, and it's proximity to the beach. These girls were all of varying levels of privilege, but higher than her's. Perhaps that was why she was the only one who got queezy when she opened her credit card bill a few weeks ago. I know we were spending a lot, but not this much. She thought to herself at the time. Luckily, her summer internship was paid, but her budget was seriously strained by the many nights of bar tabs.
It wasn't the only thing that was strained. In the weeks since they had started drinking, Anna thought that she noticed her friends looking a bit more...soft. It was only something that would be noticed by a roommate-very minimal, but Madison and Cassi in particular seemed to lack their hard abs she was used to seeing when they all worked out together. She had no idea what they weighed, and did not give it much thought, but once in a while, she noticed. One person she never worried about in this respect was Kelsey. She knew that Kelsey's family was thin, and Kelsey was far to in love with her fit/sporty appearance to never put anything on. Whatever, they'll all work it off in the summer. Between the risk of gaining some weight and the money all of them were spending, Anna was increasingly happy that she would be in Dallas on the internship for the summer, earning money, and avoiding parties.
About 5 minutes later, Anna heard a door close, it was Madison, leaving to take a jog around the neighborhood and then through campus. She had kept up her running regine. She wasn't stupid. She knew that this level of partying was not good for her, so she tried to step up her workouts. A jog with the briskly paced Kelsey was always something to look forward to, and with the hot guys in the gym, she didn't mind making trips over there either. Of course, there were limitations. Whenever she was hungover, gym was usually out of the question, instead getting a burrito or something greasy from the cafeteria usually had to suffice, since it made her feel better, and during hangovers, she was in no mood to count calories, but that was only two-three days per week, she reasoned.
While jogging, Madison ran into Kelsey, who was just leaving the gym.
"Going out tonight?" Madison asked.
"You know it. Have to celebrate the end of finals." Kelsey said.
"You've done for a whole day now." Madison was correct in that, Kelsey had one of the better draws, being done on Wednesday morning, at the expense of an earlier study schedule than the rest of them.
"Well, after how much work these were, I think I deserve another night of going out with Powers' preeminent party queen."
"No complaints over here." Madison responded.
After a while, Madison finished her jog. Sweaty and exhausted, she got back to the sorority house and walked past Anna's room again, where she was still studying. She never quits...to have that kind of work ethic. Madison thought as she got into her room. Following a quick shower, Madison, not wearing anything except her towel, saw her scale on the floor. It had not been used in a while, since nothing felt tighter, but know this weekend was going to be one of indulgence, Madison decided it was time for a look.
137.9 was the number that starred her in the face.
...Oh...that's not good. Madison thought, as she looked at it, thinking it was about 4 pounds more than she expected. She looked at her stomach. It was flat, and still the envy of many, but it was indeed softer, and could not longer be considered six-packish. Better watch out for that this summer were her final thoughts on the subject, before trying to decide what to wear that evening.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author