Free Excess All Areas by Mandy Baggot Page A

asked.
    Emma took hold of both her friend’s hands and squeezed them tightly. And then she let go, slowly reacting to what Freya had actually said.
    ‘ Sorry? Did I hear you wrong? Did you say you were going on a date with him?’ Emma asked, looking at Freya.
    ‘ Oh yes, I accepted,’ Freya replied.
    ‘ But why? Normally you would have called him something extremely rude and told him you would rather poke your own eyes out than date him.’
    ‘ You are so in tune with my vocabulary, even after all our time apart. It’s impressive.’
    ‘ Freya be serious. You’re not going to go are you?’ Emma asked.
    ‘ Yes I am and I’ll tell you now, it’s going to be a date like he’s never had before. I’m going to show him that no one, no matter who they are, no matter how much cash they have in the bank, no one makes a fool out of me. I’ve done it before and I will do it again,’ Freya stated seriously.
    She took a deep breath and held the thought.
    ‘ Freya, don’t think back about things. It’s all behind you,’ Emma spoke, as if reading Freya’s thoughts.
    ‘ I know, it’s just events keep stirring things up all the time. Just when I think it’s really all gone, something like this reminds me and I get angry like I was before,’ Freya answered her.
    ‘ You’ve come so far. You were right, they are all arrogant, childish and pathetic and we shouldn’t have joined them for dinner,’ Emma stated.
    ‘ Well, it’s done now. Why don’t you get us some more drinks and sign me up for the karaoke,’ Freya suggested with a smile.
    ‘ Are you sure? We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, it’s your night,’ Emma reminded her.
    ‘ Exactly. It’s my night and nothing is going to spoil it. I’ll do something by Cher,’ Freya told her.
    ‘ OK,’ Emma agreed and she picked up their glasses and went towards the bar.
    As soon as she had gone Freya’s smile dropped and she took off her glasses to rub her eyes. She felt drained and sad, but most of all disappointed. Disappointed with herself. Why did she let these people get to her? She had worked so hard to become the person she was today yet not only could she not succeed in changing the one thing that seemed to matter to everyone, her appearance, her weight, she still let herself be bothered by it. She desperately wanted to be slim and have the confidence that being slim gave you, not just have the big girl bravado she had now. But it was hard.
    The comfort eating had started when she was sixteen. It was an accessible vice and food had been one of her only friends during a traumatic period of her life. Food had always been there for her, never let her down, always left her feeling satisfied and never asked any questions.
    She liked nice tastes, who didn’t? But Freya knew she liked a lot of nice tastes a lot of the time and she didn’t want to spend her life eating Ryvitas or eating ten trifles and chucking them back up again thirty minutes later. That was what her mother had done and probably still did. Freya had been a disappointment to her in so many ways.
    She wiped her eyes and put her glasses back on her face. Nicholas Kaden and his fancy friends had chosen the wrong person to mess around with this time. He didn’t know what she was capable of.
    Emma returned with the drinks and Freya hurriedly replaced her smile.
    ‘ How many people before me on the karaoke?’ Freya asked her.
    ‘ Two, including Samos from the kebab shop so you have real competition,’ Emma told her as she passed Freya her glass.
    ‘ Let’s have a toast,’ Freya started, holding her glass aloft.
    ‘ What to?’ Emma asked.
    ‘ To Gene and Bob - may they both retire to daytime television and guest appearances on Sue Thomas F B Eye ,’ Freya spoke.
    ‘ I’ll drink to that,’ Emma agreed and knocked her glass against Freya’s.
    ‘ And as for Mr Kaden - well he’s going to get what’s coming to him,’ Freya added and took a swig of her drink.
     
     
    It