Hi everybody, for this prompt, I thought I'd change things up a bit, and write it in form of a story.
Andrea cried herself to sleep every night. She would wait till she thought everyone was asleep then she'd let the waterfall free.
I used to sit by my door listening to her. My heart broke for her each night.
Mum had always been passive, never having time for us. Always busy with work.I couldn't really blame her. She was a single mum trying to raise two girls. I knew it was not easy.
Andrea and I had different fathers. Andrea's father had been overweight and I guess it was something related to genetics but Andrea was overweight too.
Andrea was in her senior year of high school. She wore baggy clothes to cover her body. Anytime I accidentally caught a glimpse of her skin there was always a scar there.
I mentioned it to mum and she'd always say thesame thing.
"Andrea is a big girl, she probably got injured while playing sports or something like that". Then she'd dismiss me.
A year went by. I was finally starting highschool. I was so excited even more since I was going to be attending thesame school as Andrea.
On my first day, classes went by a breeze and soon it was lunch time. I headed to the Cafeteria with a girl,Amy who I met in English class. We found an empty table, sat down and started talking when someone shouted, "Andrea, the fat cow is here to add some extra pounds". Everyone started laughing. Luck seemed to not be on my sister's side because at that very moment she slipped, fell to the ground, her food spilling everywhere.
I rushed over to her trying to help her clean up.
Someone spoke behind me,"What are you doing?".I looked back to see a girl with too much makeup on her face, scowling.
"I'm helping my sister", I glared at her
"How can you be related to someone like her, you're a pretty little thing". I chose to ignore her. I knew I was pretty. I'd been told countless times. I turned back to helping Andrea but she pushed past me and ran out.
I laid in my bed that night, thinking how long the bullying had been going on, probably her whole life since she had always been overweight.
After that, Andrea became determined to loose weight and by her senior year, she was the barbie girl we both used to make fun of. Her decision to loose weight was a good thing, except things changed, she changed. She joined the cheerleading team. From the bullied to the bully.
We had drifted apart during those months she started her weight loss journey.
She was out for cheerleading practice when I went into her room to borrow a top. A cute guy asked me out and I couldn't find anything decent to wear in my closet.
I was browsing through her clothes when something caught my eye. I went over and it was sack bag filled with food. Food Andrea was supposed to have eaten. She was slim enough, she didn't need to be loosing more weight.
Later that day I told my mum about it.As usual she was passive about it.
I started noticing how Andrea hardly touched her food. And she was becoming more toned. My mum wasn't listening to me so I took the issue to her Cheer Coach. My sister lost it with me because she was benched for a week.She was told to eat and rest.
A month later, I was at home studying for test. Andrea had a cheerleading meet so she was gone for the weekend.
My mum rushed in, telling me to grab my coat and shoes, Andrea had fainted while she was mid air. She was a basket girl.
We made it to the hospital and after waiting for what felt like eternity, we were able to see her.
The doctor told us my sister was Anorexic and it was advised that she be committed to a facility that dealt with people with eating disorders.
I didn't see much of my sister for the next couple of months and whenever I went to visit her she refused to see me. She was eventually cleared to go back to school. She rejoined the cheerleading team picking up where she left off with her horrible friends and get hatred for me.
**
Andrea was not getting well. She was faking it and eventually her body shut down.
Mum and I don't speak, maybe if she had paid more attention, my sister would still be here. I never even got to say goodbye. It's been ten years since I lost her.
I became a guidance counselor because let's face it there's always going to be an Andrea that will eventually become a mean barbie girl. It's an endless cycle.I help children see that there's a way out of becoming a bully or being bullied. I'm planning on opening a foundation to help emotionally repressed children. I know bullying isn't something that can be eradicated overnight but I'm dedicating my life to be the start of a change.
This is the story of a close friend, I had to change all the names. Bullying is bad, when we to enlighten kids that it's not okay to bully, it can scar people. Everybody's has had their fair share of bullying and I'm pretty sure nobody felt good about it. I needs to stop.