The Bikini Syndrome | WATTYS2019

» ten: 'how to lose fat in only one day'

"Okay, and what," Holly asked, wrinkling her nose, "am I going to do with this?" She held up the teal bikini between her thumb and index finger, as if it were something contagious.

"Wear it, of course," Zara said, flapping her hands dismissively.

"When? I'm at work everyday!"

"Then explain what you're doing home right now," her friend said wryly.

Holly muttered something unintelligible under her breath, and for the world knew, it could have been a curse or an excuse.

"You haven't been outside once this summer, and June is almost over. Work doesn't count, and I barely dragged you out of the house today," Zara continued to coax.

"But-"

"No buts. Tomorrow's Sunday. I'm going here bright and early and dumping you into my car, then we're going to go to the beach and enjoy ourselves."

"But-"

"Nope!"

"I-"

"Nope! You're coming whether you like it or not! And you can bring that boyfriend of yours if you like."

"Boyfriend?" Holly was genuinely confused. When had she ever had one of those, especially since she wasn't allowed to have one?

Zara huffed. "That guy you work with?"

"Oh. No. Way. That's not happening."

"Your mom won't be there," Zara said nonchalantly.

"That's not it. I can't invite him, even if I wanted to."

"What do you mean?"

"For one, I don't have his number."

"Are you serious?"

"Um, yes?"

Zara sighed again and looked at her nails, shaking her head sadly at them, as if she was holding a conversation with them about disappointing Holly was.

"All right, girls' day out it is, I suppose. I'll drop by Kaya's house tonight and let her know. Wanna come?"

Holly shrugged. "Not really."

Zara nodded. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow morning. If you aren't up by six, I'll drag you out of bed."

"Bye bye, sleep," Holly said under her breath sadly.

She waited for the sound of Zara's silver Toyota to start up before grabbing the bikini and starting up the stairs, two steps at a time. She had to try it on, more out of desperation then excitement.

Would it fit?

Would she look too fat?

Would her thighs squish together?

Would she look any good in it at all?

She threw off her clothes in a frenzy and managed to clasp the top in less time than it normally took her to devour a bag of chips (on a really bad day).

The material felt cool and silky against her skin, and as she padded to the bathroom, she, a person who was definitely not religious, prayed under her breath that it would fit and the fat hanging around her stomach would just somehow disappear.

Of course, nothing so good happens in real life. But she could still hope.

The mirror shattered that a matter of seconds, however. She walked in, saw her reflection, and had to control her urge to want to flee downstairs and take a knife to her skin, as if she could really cut the excess flesh off.

She'd do nothing of that sort, she knew. But she wished that she could actually do that and it would work.

Holly sighed and went back into her room, throwing herself onto her bed. She flipped over so she was staring up at the ceiling. I'm going to the beach tomorrow. There's no time to do anything. I wish I'd exercised or eaten less or done something, she thought in frustration. She whipped out her phone and Googled, more from curiosity than actually wanting to do anything, how to lose fat in only one day.

She didn't think there would be anything so ludicrous, of course. Holly was pretty sure she was a reasonable person, and she'd like to think she wasn't one of those girls who would throw herself into crazy diets just to be skinny. She was still eating all right. Just not as much as she did before.

But as she scrolled listlessly through the first page of search results, something caught her eye: Lose Weight Fast - Shed Those Extra Pounds!

It sounded so tacky, but the small description right under the hyperlink mentioned something about juice cleanses. If it involved fruit or smoothies, it had to be healthy, right? And plus, all the celebrities were using these things.

She tapped the link.