Curvaceous by Sara Imes (ereader that reads to you txt) 📕

“Tag you're it!”, shouted Emma.

I laughed and chased after her, my brown hair flying crazily in the wind behind me as I chased after my sister. Her strawberry blond curls blowing in the wind as she ran faster, her long legs bringing up dirt and mulch. Even though she was an inch taller than me, I could still easily outrun her. I pushed my legs to make me move faster until I was inches away from her. She turned around and squealed with laughter. I tagged her and was about to sprint off running the other way when Emma called for a break.

“Wait”, she said breathlessly, her hands on her knees. “Let's take a break, I wanna talk to you.”

“Ok!”

We both walked over to our favorite two swings. Emma claimed the blue one as her’s while I had the red one. We both sat down and automatically started to swing our legs slowly, letting them feel the late summer breeze. Emma looked up at the sky, the sun making her strawberry blonde hair shine gloriously.

“Y’know when we get to high school we are going to rule the school.”

That was Emma’s dream. Most thirteen-year-olds weren’t thinking about high school yet. They were either thinking about going to Justin Bieber concerts or crying about Zayn’s leaving One Direction. But no. Emma wanted to be Queen B once we arrived at High School.

“Yeah.”, I said. “Every guy will want to be with us and every girl will want to be us.”

We both laughed, but after a few minutes we fell quiet, listening to the sounds of the wind rustling the trees. Even though Emma was one year older than me, we were going to be in the same grade. I jumped slightly when I felt Emma’s hand touch mine. I looked up to see Emma looking at me. She looked sad.

“Carsyn, can you promise me something?”

“Of course. Anything for my big sis.”

Emma took a deep breath, it looked like she was going to cry. “Promise me, not matter what, that we’ll share this dream together. Please.” Emma was squeezing my hand painfully now. Even though I didn’t want her dream, well at least not as much as Emma did, I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I said: “Of course, Em.” I  interlaced our hands together and held them up to show Emma. “No matter what, I promise that we’ll be the hottest, popular girls in High School.” Emma smile returned and she squeezed my hand, less painfully, this time.

“I love you, Carsyn”

I smiled and said, “I love you too, Em”

In silence, we both swung in our favorite swings, our hands still interlaced.

The dream melted away as I blinked my eyes open. Out of all the things to dream of, why did I have dream of that memory? I swung my legs off the bed and felt something furry rub against my feet. Munchkin. Munchkin is my orange and white American Shorthair. She meowed and looked at me with her blue eyes.

“Hey pretty girl.”, I said. I leaned down and scratched under her belly, where she liked being scratched the most. She purred happily and followed me to the bathroom. I smiled as I remembered the day I got Munchkin. She was just a little kitten, mostly skin, and bones from her previous owner not feeding her properly, but when she looked at me with her big blue eyes, I instantly fell in love. I was six when I got her. Ever since then she’s been, my little baby. She meowed as I turned on the shower.

“Yes, yes I know. I don't want to go to school either, my little Munchkin. Maybe you could go and take my place.”

Munchkin looked at me and walked out of the bathroom. I laughed and followed her, walking into my walk-in closet. I flicked the light on and went over to the “red” section.

I picked up a red Of Mice & Men tank and black ripped skinny jeans. After I collected what I was going to wear, I grabbed a towel and went back to the bathroom. A few minutes later, while I was brushing my teeth, I was thinking about the Forbidden Dream, as I decided to call it. That was five years ago, when Emma and I, still had that strong sisterly bond.  I wonder if we can ever have that again…

My thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on the door that made me and Munchkin jump. Munchkin hissed at the door. No, she was hissing at the person at the door. Emma.

“Come on Carsyn! I am not  going to be late for my first day of the senior year because you're taking all day!”

“I'll be right out! Be patient for once.”

And after that, the thought of us having our bond again was gone. After I finished brushing my teeth, I put my hair up into a tight ponytail as I always do and stopped to look at myself in the mirror. Maybe I'm the reason her dream didn’t come true…

Emma wanted both of us to be the hottest girls in school and I screwed that up. I leaned into the mirror more, trying to get a better look at my features. I had long chocolate brown hair that reached the small of my back, light caramel skin, a plump heart shaped face, chubby cheeks, slightly arched eyebrows, long thick eyelashes, full red lips, and slightly slanted grey-blue eyes. I hated my eyes the most. Most people were fascinated by my eye color, but I hated them. They weren't normal. They weren't… beautiful. Neither am I, I thought. I didn’t have a flat stomach, instead, I had one of those “Slightly skinny, slightly not” bodies. I wasn’t skinny, and I wasn’t fat either. Just in the middle. I didn’t have those mile-long legs either. Instead, I had short, thick thighs. The only thing I didn’t totally lack in was the breast compartment. I wasn’t too heavy nor too small. I looked away from my not so perfect body and went downstairs.

Mom and dad were both at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Mom in her usual attire; high heels, and a tailored suit. My mom was the best realtor in North Jackson, a town we recently moved into in summer with the population of twenty thousand. In the short time we’ve been here, she already sold over one hundred houses. My dad was a vet, the job I wanted to have. But too bad she isn’t the best mom, I thought. I went to get my favorite Pop-Tart, Chocolate, when something snapped at my legs. I looked down and saw Pookie, my sister's feisty chihuahua.

“Ow! Pookie go!” I nudged the dog gently away with my foot, making him snap at my legs again.

“Pookie!”, my sister called.

I turned to see her running down the stairs, jumping off the second one and picking up her dog. He immediately calmed in her arms.

“Don’t touch Pookie!”, Emma shouted at me. She was wearing her usual attire. A tight light blue crop top that made her dark blue eyes look lighter, tight white short shorts that definitely did not  follow the dress code, and her naturally curly hair was flowing like water down to her elbows. I looked at her flat stomach and curvy long legs and wondered how we were ever related. Everyone wondered that too. At every school I heard “How come one sister's hotter than the other one?” and “Are they seriously sisters?” and “She must be adopted.” But over time I got used to it, and seeing the contrast between us, I started wondering too. Especially about the adopted question.

“Carsyn”, my mom said, finally realizing my presence, snapped at me. “Are you really wearing that for your first day of senior year?”

I sighed. It was always like this. My parents never noticed me. They only noticed Emma. The beautiful daughter. The popular daughter. The Perfect daughter. I always seemed like the Invisible Girl to them.

“Yes, mother I'm wearing this to school.” I wanted to add if you don’t like it then build a bridge and get over it, but, of course, I didn’t. I didn’t feel like going to school in a bad mood today over an argument about clothes. Mom rolled her eyes and took a sip from her coffee mug and turned to Emma. Her eyes sparkled with love and admiration, something mom hasn’t looked at me with in a long time.

“Oh, Emma you look very nice today. If only your sister could learn from you..”

“She’ll never learn mother. Besides, she can’t be as flawless as me.”

They kept talking like I wasn’t in the room. And that hurt the most. Way more than them talking about how I'm not the most beautiful girl they've ever seen. I turned my back to them as if to make their words melt away easier and started to open my Pop-Tart when mom’s voice stopped me.

“Carsyn, I forgot to tell you, your Father and I have decided to limit your intake to food. I- I mean we think it’s best if you slow down on your food. Just in case by the end of the year, you can’t fit into your graduation gown.”

Of course, this wasn’t a parent decision, it was mom’s decision. I didn’t turn around to face them. I couldn’t. I felt my face get hot and I heard Emma snicker but didn’t try very hard to cover it up with a cough. I could taste tears at the back at my throat and the wetness build at the back of my eyes, but I pushed them down violently. I will not let them see me cry. I will not give them the satisfaction. So I shoved my Pop-Tart back in its box. Turned, making sure none of them saw my face and went to the closet to grab my Harley Quinn bookbag.

“I'll drive myself to school.”, I mumbled as I grabbed my keys off the pegs near the door. As I opened the door behind me I heard from Emma say, “Good, I won't have to be seen with you at school and there will be more room in the car.” I sighed and slammed the door shut and started walking down the steps to my red Mustang Convertible and stopped in front of the car. Memories were rushing back to me. Back before we moved, me and my friends having played Bring Me The Horizon’s new album That’s The Spirit and us laughing as I sped down the empty highway at three in the morning. When I came back from the memories I found myself smiling as opened the car door. As I got into the car, I wished I could still talk to my old friends. But mother, no Carrie, as I took to calling her when I wasn’t at home, said they were bad influences on me. As I put the keys in the ignition, I thought, new school, new memories.