Life In Miniature by Linda Schlossberg

Author:Linda Schlossberg [Schlossberg Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780758262844
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2010-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

21

The girls’ locker room at school is a strange place, with a strange smell all its own, a combination of shampoo and dirty sweat socks and girls throwing up their lunches. There are mirrors everywhere, metal lockers, no windows. I imagine that this is what jail is like.

Lainey and I are getting ready for gym class. We are surrounded by girls of all shapes and sizes. Some of them walk around casually in their bras and underwear, but those are only the girls who know their bodies look good, who have filled out nicely, as my mother would say. Most of us try to cover up while we dress, hiding behind towels or locker doors.

Lainey stands with her butt facing the mirror, twisting around to get a look at it. “Do you think I look fat?” There is only one right answer to this. “Of course not.” Lainey groans. “I’ve got to go on a diet.” Our gym uniforms are green and gold, the school colors. This is the first year we’ve had to wear them. Our parents were sent a note that said, “This measure will promote team spirit and will ensure that your child is modestly dressed.” You’d think it would make us all look the same, but now, with the uniforms, it’s even easier to see how different we all really are. The girls who are completely flat-chested look even worse next to the ones who are lucky enough to need sports bras. I feel shorter than ever when I wear my uniform, though at least my breasts are starting to grow, and this balances things out a bit.

I sit down on the bench and wait for Lainey to finish getting ready. “I think you look really skinny,” I offer, but she’s still staring at herself in the mirror, not paying attention to me.

I steal a look at Jenny Tucker, who last year had no breasts at all and came back from summer vacation with a whole new body; tanned and curvy, but still slim in her tight-fitting designer jeans. She is now one of the most popular girls in our class. We used to be friendly, even worked on a history project about the Salem witch trials together, but after the summer she stopped talking to me.

I watch as one of the other girls asks to borrow her hair spray. “Let me think about it,” she says coolly, studying her nails.

Our gym teacher, Ms. Crenshaw, walks into the locker room. She blows her whistle three times, shrill and sharp, and the sound echoes crazily in the small room. “Hurry it up, people!” she says. There’s a mad rush of bodies as girls struggle in and out of clothes, tug on their shoelaces, put on an extra bit of eyeshadow in case the boys’ soccer team is using the field for practice. Lainey takes off her favorite sweatshirt, the one that says JCC SUMMER CAMP–STAFF on it, and stuffs her sandals into the double locker she shares with me.

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