Read Online Shrink to Fit by Dona Sarkar - Free Book Online Page B

next weekend, you’ll be a stick.”
    â€œMore like a tree stump.”
    â€œNo more negativity!”
    Negativity? It was the truth!
    Leah suddenly missed Jay. His friendship. His one-liners. He would be making fun of the whole situation with her by now. Instead, she wanted to be a “girl” and had to act like it.
    â€œCome on, let’s go to Forever 21. They always have the cutest dresses around this time.” Shazan led the way into the clear-glass store with mannequins wearing sheer, slouchy clothes in the window. Leah had always walked by and glanced in curiously, but had always felt too self-conscious of going in. Seemed that only skinny Asian women frequented the store.
    â€œAhh, I don’t know about this,” Leah muttered as Shazan smiled at the greeter and headed toward the back of the store. “Isn’t everything a bit…sparkly in here?”
    â€œOh my God, strapless is totally back!” Shazan ignored Leah and fingered a slinky, fitted dress.
    â€œOh, goody. Bra fat.”
    â€œShut up, Leah! God. This is adorable! You have to try it on.”
    â€œHell, no!”
    â€œLook at this!”
    â€œUh, Shaz—”
    â€œLook. You need a dress. Now just do what I say!”
    Within twenty minutes, Leah’s arms were piled high with shimmery, floaty dresses, eyes rolling toward the ceiling. Shazan had a similar pile.
    â€œYou’re so lucky the dressing-room line is short today. Come on!”
    The girls got rooms next door to each other and both pulled the curtains closed.
    Leah tried on the first dress, a shimmery black straight up-and-down number. It highlighted her newly toned arms nicely, but the narrow, straight cut seemed to make her hips even wider. Leah frowned. Pass.
    â€œLet me see!” Shazan’s singsong voice was insistent.
    Leah shyly pushed back the curtain and noticed Shazan was wearing a similar dress but in a snowy white. She looked like a goddess with her chocolatey curls piled atop her head.
    â€œHmm…” Shazan frowned.
    Leah could practically hear her thoughts. The dress is cute, too bad her butt’s so damn big.
    â€œTry the pink one. I think the flare will balance you out more.”
    Leah practically tore the skinny dress off, the tight fabric suffocating her. God, she hated this. How could she have felt so confident and beautiful the night of the benefit? She had had so much more to lose.
    She slipped on the “pink one,” a strapless lavender dress with a ballerina skirt. She couldn’t even get the dress zipped up the back, and the flimsy skirt made her legs look like wooden blocks.
    Tears welled in her eyes as she pried the dress off.
    â€œLeah?”
    â€œOne sec.”
    The next dress, a pale green one-shoulder thing, wouldn’t even fit around her thighs.
    â€œI think I need a bigger size. For all of these.” Leah heard the dejection in her own voice.
    â€œOh.” Leah could hear Shazan’s tone change. “Really? Let me see what I can find.”
    Leah sat on the floor of the dressing room, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. She was a mess. What had she been thinking? Sitting in geometry staring at Jennifer’s head was better than this torture.
    â€œHey.” Shazan slid a pile of satin and lace through the curtain. “I got all the larges I could find. Try these on. I know one of them will fit you.”
    One of them. That was her. The largest of the large.
    Leah finally settled on a corseted red dress with a halter neck and a flared skirt in the largest size the store carried. She slowly exited the dressing room, wishing she had come alone. Why did she bring someone to witness her humiliation? And Shazan of all people. Perfect Shazan.
    Shazan, meanwhile, had purchased half the store. Leah watched enviously as her friend threw one tiny top after another onto the cashier’s table, followed by the white goddess dress.
    Not fair.
    As the cashier rang up