Young Annabelle Series: Young Annabelle, the Truth About James, What My Heart Wants (32 page)

CHAPTER
26

The next day, I sat on my bed in my pajamas staring out my window watching the sun rise. I woke up early today, barely getting any sleep last night, not with the way James and I had left things last night.

I didn’t know what we were at the moment.

Were we together or was last night the final nail in our relationship coffin? That thought plagued my thoughts for hours last night.

I wished he’d just been honest with me from the beginning.

Did he want me or did he want Donna? Because he could have her, all he’d have to do was leave me alone and I’d be on my merry way moving on to cuter and better things. It’s not like this girl here was doing so badly in attracting cute members of the opposite sex.

Dean anyone?

James ruined any chance of that relationship. He’s so selfish. He could have at least let me go. I could have had a decent, trustworthy boyfriend by now. And I had let him ruin things again.

Again!

Inhaling a deep breath of clarity, a bitter laugh escaped my mouth.

Back to square one, didn’t I lea
rn anything from my past experiences with him?

Shaking my head at myself, I bounced off my bed and headed towards my closet. Today was a new day. A day where the past didn’t matter, where old Annabelle, the one who would never let a boy, especially a cute one continuously disrespect
her.

At least I hoped that’s how the old Annabelle would have acted. James was my first ‘boyfriend’, but that shouldn’t have mattered. I had my integrity to keep intact.

I snapped my sliding closet doors open. They collided with a bang to my left, showcasing a closet filled with clothing that for the last week had become too loose on me.

I needed an outfit, one that would show James that I, Annabelle Simms, could care less.

Loud knocking interrupted my quest for the perfect revenge outfit.

“Annabelle?” Mom called from behind the door.

“Yes?” I called back.

“I’m coming in.” Mom announced.

“Okay.” I said warily.

Mom slowly opened the door. She was still wearing her pajamas, a basic aqua blue shirt and short set. She entered my room with a shopping bag in hand.

“What’s that?” I stared at the bag, transfixed. She placed the bag on my bed, showing me the front which said ‘Marshalls’ in big letters.

“You bought something from Marshalls?” I asked her as she stood grinning, practically jumping with excitement.

She wiped the grin off her face, looking apprehensive now. “Now, don’t be mad, I know I’ve been giving you a hard time about your weight and dieting these last few months. I know, psycho mom.”

That’s true!

I tilted my head to the side, crossing my arms. “Okay.”

“Okay, well I bought you brand new clothes, a few sizes smaller.” Mom explained timidly.

“When?” I looked at the bag confused.

Mom looked away, seeming guilty. “At the beginning of summer.” She answered slowly.

“What!” My jaw dropped. “You bought me clothes before I started losing any weight. How would you know how much weight I’d lose and what size I’d be?”

“Well I kind of hoped and guessed you’d be a certain weight by now. I mean I’ve been pushing you a lot.” Mom explained, wide eyed.

“You have!” I snipped, rolling my eyes. I eyed the bag, wishing I’d felt more repulsed by her pre-weight loss shopping expedition.

What if I hadn’t lost that much weight by now?

What would she have done with all those clothes?

Return them?

Embarrassed that her failure daughter couldn’t squeeze her fat ass into them?

I should be repulsed by every single piece of clothing in that bag. I really should. But I ha
d no clothes that fit me right now, considering practically everything in my closet was extra-large, and I wasn’t an extra-large anymore.

“What size did you buy?” I asked her slowly.

She clapped her hands repeatedly, obviously excited that I’d given dress up time the go ahead. “I’m so happy! I bought you so many beautiful things. I know you’re just going to love them!”

Mom emptied the bag, clothing spilled across my unmade bed. She quickly sorted everything into piles. She bought me a few pretty tops, in medium. A few jeans in a size (gulp) six and four pairs of shorts (gulp) also in a size six. Last out of the bag was a tight looking violet sundress that went to my knees and a fitted jean jacket.

“Mom, I don’t know if I’m going to fit into these.” I pointed the explosion of clothing.

“I know you have your worries, I did too at the start of the school year, but this last month I don’t know, you’ve switched into high gear and the weight loss is much more obvious!” Mom explained hyper-like.

Gee, thanks!

I stared at the clothing, not knowing what I should do. If I attempted to try them on and failed to squeeze into them, it would be horrible.

“Well I kind of was hoping for a favor from you.” Mom asked, sounding apprehensive again.

I sighed, feeling a little harassed. “And what would that be?” I asked warily.

“Please – please, can I watch you go on the scale – pretty please! I want to be there for the momentous occasion!” Mom pleaded with her hands clasped flatly.

That request would have angered and annoyed me a month ago. Now I didn’t really care anymore.

“Whatever.” I mumbled, making my way out the bedroom and into the bathroom where my scale was.

“Thank you – thank you – thank you!” Mom screeched, running behind me.

I tapped the scale and it read zero. I got on and the numbers went up and down a few times before settling on the magic number.

150 lbs?

“Oh my God!” Mom screamed, grabbing me and pulling me into a tight hug. “I’m so happy.”

Was she crying?

“What’s all the screaming about?” Dad yelled from their bedroom.

“Mom! What happened?” Charles and Katherine called from the hallway.

“Nothing – nothing! Sorry, sorry, everyone go back to sleep.” Mom sniffed, releasing me from her tight cocoon.

Ugh, finally, I could breathe again.

Mom wiped her tears away and faced me. “How? You lost more weight these last two months than the entire summer?”

I knew why. I’d been barely eating this past month. It’s kind of hard to worry about food when your mind was always busy elsewhere. Like James and whether or not he really wanted to be with me.

“I’ve just been eating salads at school and I don’t drink as much pop. And I walk everywhere, so with that, it all came together finally and my body lost the weight.” I explained nonchalantly.

“Do you know what that means?” Mom chirped.

“What?” I walked out of the bathroom and into my room.

Mom followed behind me, stopping beside my bed. “That means, you’re passed a size eight, you’re a size six! The clothes will fit you!”

Yay?

*~*~*

For the first time, in a very long time, I wore shorts. They were a plum color that stopped a few inches before my knees, practically mid-thigh. They belonged to mom’s pre-weight loss shopping. They were a size six and just like she said, they’d fit.

And surprisingly they weren’t snug around the waist either. I paired it with a simple black short sleeved t-shirt that went past my hips, covering part of the shorts. Mom wanted me to wear one of the new tops she bought, but I still had my own style and since my black t-shirts still looked cool on me, I decided to pair the shorts with them.

Something old and something new.

I liked short sleeved t-shirts that went past my hips. It’s my thing. Whether mom approved or not was not my problem. I may have
lost the weight but I had not lost my own style and taste.

“Anna!” Jenna screeched by our usual spot at the bottom of the stairs outside school. She quickly eyed my bare legs
. “You’re wearing shorts!”

“Yeah?” I looked away, embarrassed. “It’s not a big deal.”

Instead of stopping in front of her, I turned and trekked up the stairs quickly, skipping steps.

“Wait up hot legs!” Jenna laughed, catching up in no time.

Damn she was fast!

She linked her arm through mine and pulled me to a stop when we were inside the hallway.

“Let me see!” She demanded, scanning my legs. “Love it!”

“That’s great!” I told her, exasperated and slightly embarrassed by her little ogling display in front of everyone. “Can I go now?”

“You may, but you have to tell me everything.” She ordered.

“Tell you everything about what?” I asked. Our lockers were not close but we shared the same bathroom.

“What happened with James? Did he text you?” Jenna asked.

I looked away and answered. “Yeah.”

“And?” Jenna pushed.

“I think it’s over.” I murmured, looking at the ground.

“That’s great!” She exclaimed.

I snapped up. “What?”

“He’s an asshole and he didn’t treat you right!” Jenna stated.

Silence

“Whatever, I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go to class.” I told her.

Jenna smiled, moving backwards towards her locker. “It’ll be okay, today is going to be a great day!”

“Why?” I asked, eyeing her confusedly.

“When that douche ex of yours see’s you and has his ‘oh shit’ moment, I want details girl!” Jenna laughed. She turned around and skipped away, leaving me stunned.

She was taking our maybe breakup too happily. She should be sympathetic towards my feelings!

But that’s Jenna for yah.

With that, I shook my head and headed to my locker. I grabbed a few things, exchanging some notebooks and text books before hearing the first animal call.

The
Kings of the hallway had arrived. I checked the time on my cellphone, with ten minutes to spare, how punctual of them. I slammed my locker shut, took a deep breath and prepared my psyche for first contact with James since our disastrous text session last night. How would he treat me, would he even react?

I didn’t know.

I was still confused!

Behind me the crowd of energetic students thickened, screaming and shouting as the threat of the first bell loomed over us. Finding courage, I snuck a peek down the hallway, finding the lively crew of pretty and athletic people huddled a row of lockers away from Mr. Doors’ classroom.

That was good. I wouldn’t have to walk by them to get to class and I wouldn’t have an awkward eye contact moment with James with Donna hanging off his every word.

I still had no idea what was going on with us. Were we over? Or was last night’s text fight a result of the heat of the moment?

I was thinking we were over. He hadn’t texted me, apologizing for his disrespectful behavior. He was probably happy that he was free to flirt with Donna more openly without the worry of me finding out and giving him shit about it later.

Great, just great.

I made my way to class, zigzagging around students. Surprisingly when I made it to class, it wasn’t empty. There were only three seats left. One in the middle row next to the window, and two in the back also next to the window. Normally I would have gone for the two in the back and James would have taken the seat next to me. It would have been the only time during school where we could be together without the worry of being ‘caught’.

But not today.

Because that fool did me wrong!

A small fire erupted surprisingly in the pit of my stomach, giving me courage, giving me power.

I chose the middle row. James could sit by someone else today. He’d lost that privilege too!

I sat with my back to the wall underneath the window, crossing my toned legs, showcasing them without worry to my entire classroom.

I wasn’t embarrassed. I was proud of my legs, they looked good. And the added bonus, James would have to walk past me and I hoped he got a nice look at what he missed out on.

He ain’t touching these babies anymore. And I’m not just talking about my legs. That’s right, I looked good in my simple black shirt too. It wasn’t as tight as pre-weightloss, but it still hung nicely on top of me, showcasing one of my amazing assets.

I chuckled quietly to myself, shaking my head at the sudden burst of confidence.

I didn’t know where all this courage came from. But I hoped it never went away, I was going to need it.

A body passed through the doorway and my heart jumped, but quickly resumed back normally when I realized it was not James but a boy named Frank. I didn’t know him that well even though he’d been here since freshman year. My school was big, he probably didn’t know me that well either. 

The warning bell rang. There was still no sign of James, not that I was looking. I glanced at the doorway once more, this time James walked through the doorway, right as the final bell rang.