The Whale - 18. Part III, chapter 2

- II -

I started following ("spying on") Luke right after Christmas break. I was so careful, Mata Hari would weep with jealousy. He was going to some auto shop almost every day, because apparently, he worked there since the end of November. I was surprised that he went there almost every single day. It was like he was trying to get as many hours as he could. Well, I thought, he wants to make money, that's all. Nothing's wrong with that. I was trying my best to figure out if there was anything between him and Connor who came back to school after Thanksgiving break. I tried my best, but I couldn't follow him all the time. They seemed to act the same now as they did back in September, and I seriously thought that there was nothing there. I mean, they couldn't be that good at hiding it, could they? So eventually, I decided to stop following Russell around, and concentrated on running and working out even more. I knew that there was some school party right before the spring break, and I wanted to make sure that I looked good for that. I decided that I would go down to at least size six before that. Four, if I am lucky.

I was working out so much lately that my mother kept shaking her head in disbelief. She asked me a couple of times if I had a crush on someone and that's why I was so crazy about getting thin, but I would just roll my eyes at her. I wouldn't admit my feelings for Luke to nobody. Even Roxy thought by now that I didn't care about him, and it made her happy.

On Friday of the week before the spring break, Connor announced that she would be leaving for a week.

"I am going to Denver," she sighed. "I have to take a class that I need for my certification. I talked to Steve, he'll substitute for me."

I immediately looked at Luke. He looked almost indifferent and I sighed with relief. Then I thought I saw something like regret and annoyance on his face, but I just slightly shook my head. I am seeing things. Luke and Faith had nothing going on between them, I was sure of that now.

*****

I asked Roxy to go shopping with me that night, and she immediately agreed. Roxy loved shopping. She was chattering nonstop when we got to the mall. I was beyond ecstatic when I managed to squeeze myself into a size five pants. Not three or four, I thought, but not six either! Golden middle.

"You look awesome, Amy!" Roxy said sincerely, and I critically looked at my reflection.

It was funny that even now, after I was a lot smaller, I would still think of myself as fat. I looked in the mirror and saw the same baby elephant who tried to hit Luke with her tray in the cafeteria.

"You don't think I am fat?" I muttered and Roxy rolled her eyes.

"No, dork," she snorted. "You are not fat! I still can't believe how quickly you lost all that weight!"

"Yeah, well..." I muttered, feeling very pleased. "I run for, like, three hours almost every night and I work out at least four times a week... Plus, I don't eat anything with fat or sugar in it."

"Ugh," Roxy shuddered. "The results are awesome, but it sounds worse than a boot camp!"

I laughed at that.

"I was really hoping that I would look good for this party... You going, right?"

"No," Roxy shook her head, and I stared at her in disbelief.

"Why?!" I exclaimed and she shrugged.

"I don't care about that kind of parties... I mean, there will be music, booze, and a hell of a lot of fighting."

"Fighting?" I muttered with a frown.

"Of course," Roxy snorted. "All our guys will get drunk and stupid... What do you think is going to happen?"

"Well," I shrugged. "I am going. I have never been to anything like that before, and I am not going to drink, so it should be fine."

"Not gonna drink, huh?" Roxy asked slyly, and I just looked at her.

"Roxy, alcohol makes you gain weight," I said patiently, and she just rolled her eyes.

Of course, I didn't really care about the party per se. I only wanted to go because I was hoping that Luke would be there, and I'd be able to get to know him better, and hell, maybe even make out or something! I mean, we are both single, legal age people... He had his birthday back in November; mine was in February. So everything felt great. I never said anything to Roxy, because I knew she would start hissing at me again. I couldn't figure out why the hell she cared so much about this whole thing. It was really obvious -- to me, at least -- that Luke and Connor were never an item and that it only existed in my head, but Roxy was thinking otherwise for some strange reason. So I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to get into a fight with my best friend.