Melody

Carson walked me to the art room once I calmed down. Ms. Foster's curious and concerned eyes seemed to burn holes into my skin, so I managed to force a small smile onto my lips to greet her.

"Hey Miss," I said quietly.

"Hi Ms. Foster," Carson said, closing the door behind us.

"Hey Melody, hey Carson," Ms. Foster replied. "How was your break?"

"Great!" Carson said, while I sat down and pulled out my sketchbook. I began drawing, while Carson and Ms. Foster chatted lightly about their holidays.

Carson took out his lunch and pushed some fruit towards me. I glared at the fruit and pushed them away immediately, before going back to my drawing. I heard Carson sigh, but he didn't say anything as he ate his lunch.

The bell soon rang, as the lunchtime drama had taken up most of our free time, and Carson had to head off to gym. He squeezed my hand softly, before getting up.

"I'll see you after okay?" he said quietly.

"Okay," I nodded.

Carson then left the room and I could feel Ms. Foster watching me.

"You okay hon?" she asked. Though tears welled up in my eyes again – that stupid knee-jerk reaction when someone asks that question – I nodded.

The classroom door soon opened, and students filed in one by one. They all gave me weird looks as they entered, confirming my belief that they did know. Jenette walked over to me and smiled.

"Why so glum... Didi?" she asked, making a couple people around her chuckle. I rolled my eyes at her but didn't respond. Emma ran into the room and sat next to me.

"What happened at lunch?" she asked.

"Rose happened," I said quietly. The bell rang and Ms. Foster cleared her throat.

"Okay class! I hope your holidays were great. Grab an easel and some paper, we're going to talk about texture!" She said.

Everyone got up and crowded around the easels, trying to get their hands on one first, despite the fact that there were enough for each of us. I waited a moment before heading over there as well.

"You shouldn't be mad because everyone knows you were fat. Guys like you girls with a little something to hold on to," a male voice said. My head whipped around to face who it was coming from. Diesel stood next to me with a smirk on his face. He gave me a once over. "You're looking a little bonier these days, but I think I could work with you," he added slapping my bottom as he brushed past me.

I stood there, horrified at what had just happened. I couldn't find my voice, let along my feet to move and that made me furious with myself. Had I ever done, or said anything to make him think that was okay? Maybe my not saying anything made him think it was.

"Mel, are you grabbing an easel?" Emma asked, holding one.

"R-right," I said and swallowed hard. I picked up an easel and followed Emma over to where we would sit during the lesson.

***

That night, I went down to the basement and ran on the treadmill. Though a voice in my mind told me to stop, my feet wouldn't do what they were told. I kept watching the numbers on the treadmill tell me how many calories I had burned, but I couldn't stop thinking 'I'll stop at the next hundred.' I only stopped when I really wasn't able to see straight, and almost fell off the machine.

I dragged myself up the stairs and into the kitchen to get some water. As I drank from my glass, Mia walked in and wrinkled her nose.

"Ew, you're all sweaty," she said, opening the pantry.

"Oh, screw you!" I scowled.

"Excuse me?" Mia huffed.

"You know, you're the one who didn't want anyone knowing we were stepsisters, but after for your stupid party, everyone at Alcott knows," I said.

"What do you mean everyone knows?" She said.

"You invited people into my house, that hate me as much as you and your mother do. What do you think was going happen? They did some digging and everyone knows about Didi," I sneered, slamming the glass down on the counter. I didn't miss the appalled expression on Mia's face before she blinked it away.

"Guess that's reason to keep exercising then, isn't it?" Mia said, grabbing some pretzels and strutting out of the kitchen.

***

The next day was worse as the news spread like a virus. I was wearing a pair of ripped boyfriend jeans, black boots, and a black, off the shoulder shirt, but even fashion couldn't make me feel invincible against all the rumours and drama. Everyone was staring. Even people who were trying not to gawk couldn't help it, their eyes pierced into me like swords into a magician's box. It left me feeling like the poor sucker the magician roped into standing inside. Trapped and anxious.

I also had my oral presentation today to make matters much worse. My knees shook as I walked up to the front of the room and though Mr. Garcia was giving me a warm smile, ninety-nine percent of the class was giving me the exact opposite response.

"Hey, look! It's Didi!" Kylee whispered loudly from the front row. The people around her laughed and I could feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

"I heard she got liposuction to get where she is now," Nora shot back. They were close enough for me to hear, but out of earshot for Mr. Garcia.

"Melody, you can start whenever you're ready," he said. I glanced over at Carson who gave me an encouraging smile and took a deep breath.

"A-appearances rule the world," I started, trying not to let my voice shake, though the rest of my body certainly was.

"And hers is slipping," a guy said under his breath, creating snickers around him. I swallowed hard, looking down at my cue cards.

"In – in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden would like everyone to believe he is a much different person than he is," I continued.

"As would you," the same voice muttered. I glanced up at Carson who was glaring in the direction of whoever spoke but couldn't bring myself to see who it was. Either way, I already wished the day would be over.

____

Author's Note: FRIENDS! Paper Thin made it to #23 in the Teen Fiction list, and is now at over 190,000 reads! I am faaaa-reaaking out! This is so exciting and I am so, so, so grateful! Thank you for all of your lovely comments, for voting, and of course reading! I'm so happy to share Melody's world with you all!

Special Shoutouts this chapter go to: safia3, -loserr, VelaSterling, AlizaElite, Madney123, hiyaxhay for voting and/or commenting! :)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I made sure this one was longer than the last! Some drama is sure coming out over this secret! What do you think about it? What about Diesel? Mr. Sleezeball? And Mia's offhanded, and mean comments? (Though she's been tamer this chapter.)

What do you think might happen next?

Keep voting, commenting and reading! Thank you all! <3

Ps. I don't know if I mention this enough, but if you guys find yourselves doing any of this things that Melody does (such as over exercising or not eating), please talk to someone! It's not healthy, and you are worth so much more than that number on the scale!

Here's Melody's outfit: