When she woke up Busi was disappointed to find her fat self. Her mother was home, in the kitchen preparing supper. “You forgot to fetch your brother and to take out the chicken pieces from the freezer,” her mother said, not in an angry voice. “First day of school is tiring I know. So how was it? I want to know everything.”

Busi reluctantly pulled up a chair and told her mother about her first day of school. She omitted everything that had to do with Thabo. The smell of food made her realise she was hungry, she hadn’t eaten since lunch.

Just then a thought occurred to Busi, she could do something about her weight! Yes, there was a way to make herself noticeable and attractive to Thabo – she would simply stop eating and she would lose weight. It was a brilliant idea; she almost laughed thinking how silly of her not to have thought of it sooner.

Later that evening, during supper, Busi pretended to be still full from a big lunch she had eaten earlier with her friends.

The next morning Busi woke up with a slight headache and a grumbling stomach. She decided to ignore the headache and ate only a slice of brown bread with black slightly sweetened tea to hinder her hunger. For lunch she only packed an apple and juice. Ordinarily she would have packed some of the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. Busi was cheerful as she went to fetch Lolo.

Lolo was surprised but happy that her friend had finally come to her senses. Busi didn’t mention her plan for losing weight; she knew Lolo would immediately strike it down as scientifically unhealthy, unnecessary and stupid. Thuli was equally happy to have her gal back to her normal self. As if by unspoken agreement the girls didn’t bring up the previous day’s event.

In class Busi tried not to think about Thabo, though it was difficult because he was sitting right behind her. Once, during a Maths class Thabo tapped her shoulder and asked her if she had an extra pencil for him. Busi handed him the pencil without even looking at him. After the Maths class he returned the pencil. “Thank you,” he said with a smile.

“Sure.” Busi took the pencil back without returning the smile. Later she had wanted to slap herself for being rude to Thabo.

During lunch, Busi made an excuse not to eat with Thuli and Lolo but did spend a few minutes with them so as not to raise any suspicions. She knew she had to be careful around her friends if she wanted her plan to go smoothly.

***

The following days Busi got away with only a slice of bread in the morning, an apple or orange and juice for lunch and little or no supper. She started to drink hot water with lemon juice in the morning and did jumping jacks and stomach exercises in her room. The headaches were becoming constant; she had to take headache pills smuggled out of her mother’s medicine drawer. The hunger pangs were severe and sometimes she would crawl into bed in tears from hunger. Her family was not rich but she had never gone to bed hungry.

In addition to the headaches and hunger pangs, Busi started to experience mood swings – one minute she was happy and the next sad or angry; there were moments when she had an immense need to scream at the top of her lungs. She also started to doze-off in class. Pearl had to poke her, hard, several times to keep her awake.

Thuli and Lolo began to suspect something was amiss with their friend, but on confronting Busi she denied everything, blamed everything on ever-increasing school workload. “I really want to get good grades, gals. You both know what’s at stake,” was her response.

Busi found it easier to get away without eating at home – her mother was often too tired and sometimes fell asleep watching the television, before eating. She never noticed her daughter getting weaker each day.

Tell us what you think: Busi thinks her plan to lose weight is brilliant. What do you think?