Late at night, Shunshun barged into my room. Hair damp from her shower, she carried the scale.
"Weird. I ate so much today, but I still lost weight." She placed it on the floor and stepped on it. 48.5 kg. Down another 0.5 kg.
She tilted her head, thinking, then grinned. "Must be my super-digestive system! I'll eat double tomorrow!" She bounced out, completely oblivious to the data notebook on my desk.
I turned to a fresh page and drew a second downward curve.
The taste of revenge was sweeter than I'd imagined.
Monday morning, Shunshun twirled three times in front of the full-length mirror. She put on a brand-new school skirt, taking the waist in another inch.
"Yuanyuan, can you see my knees?" she asked me.
"What?"
She lifted her skirt hem triumphantly. "They say people with a perfect figure can cover the distance from their crotch to their knee with a sheet of A4 paper held vertically." She grabbed a piece of paper and held it against her thigh. "See? Completely covered! Want to try?"
I silently packed my schoolbag.
"Boring." Shunshun pouted, snapping a few selfies in the mirror. "I'm going out with Ding Kai and the others for hotpot after school. Go home by yourself."
Ding Kai. Captain of the school basketball team. One of Shunshun's loyal followers. Last life, he helped her stuff diet pill ads into my desk.
"Fine." I shouldered my bag and left first.
Half the class was already there when I walked in. A few girls snickered loudly as I entered. Scrawled across my desk in permanent marker: "FAT PIG ONLY."
Shunshun came in behind me. Girls immediately swarmed her. "Shunshun! That ten-person portion of BBQ on your weekend stream was insane! How do you *stay* so thin?"
"Born with it, I guess." Shunshun flipped her hair, her gaze sliding towards me. "Unlike my sister. Gains weight from water." The stares felt like needles stabbing my back.
I silently wiped the words off my desk and pulled out my textbook.
The fourth period was PE.
The teacher announced today's test: the 800-meter run.
Amidst the groans, Shunshun raised her hand. "Teacher, it's my time of the month." She never broke a sweat in PE.
I stood on the starting line. Whispers circled me. "Look at that fatso. No way she finishes." "Bet she quits halfway."
The whistle blew.
I focused on my breathing, keeping a steady pace.
The first 400 meters, my lungs burned. At 600 meters, my legs felt like lead.
But I didn't stop.
In the last 50 meters, my vision blurred. I stumbled and fell.
Knees scraped, blood beading.
Amidst the jeers, the PE teacher, Xi Shengyang, ran over. In his thirties, he was one of the few male staff who didn't fawn over Shunshun.
"Can you stand?" He crouched beside me.
I nodded.
He helped me up, handing me a water bottle. "Go to the infirmary for that scrape." Then, lowering his voice, "I saw your 'Metamorphosis Diary'. Keep it up."
My head snapped up in shock. "Are you… NoReturnDate?"