Chapter 1

I turned off the phone, rushed into the bathroom, and studied the girl in the mirror.

In the glass, rolls of fat shifted on her stomach and her skin was rough.

But her body was healthy.

All her ribs were intact, and her chest rose and fell normally.

Her knees carried a lot of weight, but they had not been deformed by years in high heels.

I stared at the mirror and the tears came.

"This is amazing..."

So this was what it felt like to be healthy: breathing without pain under my ribs.

So this was a normal life: eating until I was full without having to make myself throw up.

A girl didn't have to hurt her body just to please other people.

There was a knock at the door.

"Eleanor, are you awake?"

Eleanor's mother, Marianne Brooks, pushed the door open with bread and warm milk in her hands.

When she saw I was crying, she set the tray down.

"Does something hurt? I'll take you to the hospital!"

She pulled me into her arms and put a hand on my forehead.

I froze.

The day my fever hit 106 degrees, my mother, Vivian Vale, summoned the family doctor, but not because she was worried.

There was a dinner that night, and she was afraid a hospital stay would keep me from meeting the right people.

And yet the mere sight of her daughter crying frightened Marianne this much.

I held her hand and said quietly, "Mom, I'm fine."

Hearing me say it, her own tears spilled over.

"How long has it been since you called me that?"

She wiped her eyes and pushed the breakfast toward me.

"Is it still the people online, saying those things about you?

"Those little bitches have filthy mouths. I don't read any of it. As long as you're happy, you can be as big as you like and you're still my baby."

Something in my chest went tight.

So Eleanor had the one thing I wanted all along.

She just didn't think it was worth anything.

The phone buzzed again. I opened it.

Eleanor had sent a selfie.

In it, she was wearing my face and my nightgown, smiling wide.

[Your parents sent a gown over for me, and Carl came to pick me up for dinner.]

[Corinna, are you going insane with jealousy yet?]

I looked at that familiar face in the photo and laughed softly.

She thought she'd stepped into heaven.

She had no idea that the pretty shell she was wearing had rotted through a long time ago.

I didn't answer her again.

I picked up the sausage sandwich and took a bite.

The savory flavor filled my mouth.

I ate in big bites, like someone who had never tasted anything good in her life.

Eighteen years.

This was the first time in my life I'd eaten a sausage sandwich without hiding.