Une Fleure Fanée

Week 14 Part 3 (Tuesday)

     Ah, pyramid. What a horrible day. I want to go back to sleep. Instead of emptiness filling me, Mom is in my room. I scream in shock and she screams back. Why is she in my room? I'm supposed to be getting ready. I also look at the time. Seven in the morning?

     "Mom, the pyramid's started! My alarm didn't go off!" I exclaim.

     "Pyramid's being delayed a day. Don't worry, you didn't miss it. But I have some news. You, the girls, and Brady are all going to hang out for the day, and at the end of the day, we're going to a private screening of The Angry Birds Movie 2! Isn't that fun?" she asks me, and I immediately start thinking about how much food I'm going to eat.

     "Yeah, sounds fun!" I lie back, immediately feeling cold once I start to pick an outfit to get ready.

     "We're leaving at nine o'clock to be there by nine-thirty, so take your time," Mom informs me, and I begin going through my dresser.

     Sweatshirts and baggy jeans. Perfect. I grab a brown sweatshirt that has pale yellow writing saying, Los Angeles. I also grab some high-waisted boyfriend jeans and some white chunky high-tops.

     I grab some gold jewelry and some butterfly clips. I do my skincare, take my meds, and straighten my hair. I add some butterfly clips and put on my jewelry. Once I'm done, I start to think of how much I'm going to be eating.

     I'm not going to go under 150 calories today. I'll be able to skip breakfast, but I bet the girls and Brady will make me eat. The plan is to eat the lowest-calorie option, no matter how bad it tastes.

     I do my makeup, including examining the humongous bruise on my ribs, and cover my cuts before I go into the main room, and I look in the reflection of the fridge pretending to look for something to eat. You're going to look so fat at the screening, Lilliana.

     "Do you want any breakfast and did you take your iron pill?" Mom asks.

     "Yes, I did take my iron pill and I'll just get something at the mall," I respond.

     "Alright, let's go," Mom says, grabbing her purse.

     I grab my phone and I walk with Mom down the steps to the lobby. I guess no elevator today. I feel so cold and weak and tired, and the tingle in my wrist is bugging me so much. The razor is less than a foot away from me, but I have to abstain.

     The drive to the mall is twenty minutes, so we listen to this old 1990s radio. This stuff was on when Mom was, like, in college? The only decent one on the radio is "Fantasy," by Mariah Carey, which Mom and I jam out to.

     Eventually, we make it to the mall and Hannah and Gia are already there. They're wearing normal outfits that don't look like they're in the dead cold of winter, but I'm very cold like I'm in the dead cold of winter.

     "Hey, Lilly. How are you doing?" Joanne asks.

     "Cold, but I'm doing great!" I lie, and she gives me a smile before letting me go hang out with the girls.

     "So basically we can hang out in the mall until four-thirty. What do we even do?" Hannah asks.

     "We can get ice cream, the food court, candy, toys, clothes!" Gia exclaims.

     "Will our parents give us any money?" I ask.

     "Hey, guys!" Brady exclaims behind us, and we let him join us.

     "What's the estimate on how much money our moms will let us borrow? Let's make it a competition," Gia asks.

     "Fifty bucks. That's a lot of money," I guess.