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32: Elle's Hell

This last week of dance was hell to say the least. Every day after school was dress rehearsal and everyday something would go wrong for me. And Cara and Wendy had something to do with it.

I don't know what they have against me at present, but whatever it is, I'll be glad when this whole ordeal is over. Everyone has been stressing more than ever over this Nutcracker since the company is performing and the head of the company will be there looking for new girls.

Of course it is a dream of mine to dance professionally but is it really necessary for all of us to kill each other in order to get the special title?

When Rosie dropped me off from the rehearsal, we had just finished ranting on about how Olive owned the Mirliton dance surrounded by thing 1 and 2. It was a nice refresher to have after ballet and I thought the day was going to get better since mom promised to make soft tacos tonight.

When I walked in however, my happy bubble popped when I saw on the table not soft tacos but instead Lentil soup and apples.

"Mom!" I yelled out, dropping my bags by the door and walking into the kitchen.

"Over here Elle!" Mom's voice called out from the living room. I walked into the living room to find Mom folding laundry onto the sofa. On the other chair sat Cody, on his phone. A happy little grin was on his face again confirming what I already knew.

"Texting Sara, Cody?" I asked innocently, walking over to him. As I neared the chair he locked his phone and spit his tongue at me.

"Maybe. Why does it matter to you?" He asked back. I shrugged, giving him a devious smile. At the name of Sara, Mom perked up and turned to the two of up bickering with a small smile.

"Oh Sara! How is she?" I rolled my eyes at my mother's enthusiasm. Mom had a special liking to Sara out of all of Cody's girl dolls. I think it had to do with the fact that Sara was the least slutty nor did she have random piercings and tattoos all over herself. Sara in my mother's eyes was "normal".

"She's good. She told me Elle fucked up again at rehearsal." Cody said with a smirk as he looked my way.

"That Bitch." I muttered under my breath. Mom glared at Cody for cursing and then at me when she heard what we both said.

"Come on you two, let's start dinner since Elle's home." Mom started, putting down the laundry in her arms.

"Oh yay! Healthy food." Cody commented as he entered the kitchen. I looked down at the gross soup in front of me and looked up at my mother with puppy eyes.

"Why no soft tacos?" I asked sadly. Mom placed glasses of cold water with lemon on the table and then sat down.

"Your dance teacher called." She began. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom! Don't change the subject. I am not in the mood to hear what my dance teacher had to say. I want to know why there are no tacos on this table!" I replied. Cody chuckled.

"She wasn't changing the topic fatty." I glared down at Cody while mom gave Cody a dark look.

"Elle your teacher is worried about how you will look at the performance tomorrow. She says you ate a lot today. She wants me to make you go on a strict diet starting today until Monday." Mom finished. I stopped glaring at Cody and fixed my gaze instead on my mother. She had a sad look on her face but obviously if she followed through with the request she must believe that I have gained weight.

"What does today's meal have to do with me losing weight for tomorrow? The performance is tomorrow mom! I won't lose weight by tomorrow!" I replied, my voice stricken. Mom sighed.

"Elle.. she thinks that it you eat less this weekend and stay on mostly water diets you will look fine. She also wants me to tell you that you need to add another hundred crunches to your sit ups in the morning and night." She added. I glared down at my soup annoyed.

"I fucking hate Arabian." I muttered.

"Elle! Stop cursing at the table!" Mom snapped back. I didn't look back up from my soup, nor did I eat it. Mom kept pushing for me to eat but I remained quiet.

If she wants me to lose weight then I will. Just watch.

After five minutes of mom bickering at me to finish my dinner, she gave up and Cody, having already finished two bowels of the soup, slowly moved his spoon toward my dish and started to eat my soup.

At first mom slapped his hand away from my bowl but then I pushed the entire bowel of soup away from me and toward Cody. By that point, there was nothing mom could do to stop Cody because he immediately grabbed the bowl and gulped it down happily.

Mom gave another deep sigh and quickly finished her soup before going to the kitchen to clean up. When she left, I left the table and walked upstairs to my room where I jumped on my bed and sat there glaring at my black backpack waiting for me to do homework. Of course I never actually do my homework so it was pretty amusing to think that the backpack looked tempting for tonight.

I was halfway through my second math homework that was way overdue when my door opened. I quickly grabbed my big Elephant pillow and threw it across my room toward my door.

"Hey! Stop throwing huge elephants at me!" Cody called out, trying to dodge the huge elephant. I stood up about to shove my brother out of my room until my brother held up something that made me freeze.

In one of Cody's hands was a big bag of steaming Olive Garden Breadsticks. In the other, a bottle of Hard Lemonade.

"Where did you get those?" I asked, wide eyed at my brother. Cody rolled his eyes and threw the bag of breadsticks at me. I of course ran and caught the breadsticks like a dog grabbing a bone. I quickly retreated to my floor where I started stuffing my face with breadsticks. Cody sat down opposite me and poured two glasses of the lemonade and watched me with amusement as I stuffed my face.

When I finally slowed down my eating phase I looked over at my brother who was still watching me with amusement.

"Why did you do this?" I asked him slowly. He chuckled.

"Why do you think? I hate when mom makes us go on those stupid diets. Not fair. Plus you gave me your soup so I felt like I should get you something." He replied. I looked down at the strong lemonade and then again at Cody. Cody guessing what I was about to ask and rolled his eyes.

"No I did not steal it nor did I take it from down stairs. One of Finns older brothers runs the alcohol store on Fridays. He lets me get stuff then." Cody informed me. I nodded.

"Fine. But Alcohol is full of calories." I started. Cody laughed.

"Yeah, says the girl stuffing her face with breadsticks." I chuckled realizing he was right. Cody picked up his red cup and I did the same.

"Cheers my hypocritical anorexic sister." Cody said amusingly. I glared his way.

"Cheers my man whore of a brother." Cody winked before we downed the first of many glasses of hard lemonade.