Picture This by Jacqueline Sheehan

tight, skin pulling over her pelvic bones. Three hundred sit-ups took her into the great swamp of unknown land, and it sometimes meant she had to find Cooper and press her body up against his black, furry bulk before her heart would stop racing. But three hundred was the goal, and she was there.
    Melissa looked in the mirror. She saw an enormous face looking back, fat and horrible. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought off the image. Melissa decided to try what Tess had suggested. Tess was old, she didn’t know how old, but grandparent old, and yet not like a grandparent. Tess was white-haired and oddly gymnastic, with rubbery bones and joints.
    Tess had said, “When I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirror and say, ‘Good naked morning. My name is Gorgeous Goddess Babe.’ ”
    â€œGood naked morning. My name is Melissa.” She’d work up to the gorgeous babe part.
    She sat down and gripped the sides of the chair and shook. Some days were harder than others. She had bailed out of the world of restricted eating. Now, if it would just leave her alone.
    She put her camera in her pack and headed for the ferry. She had a part-time job at the YMCA for the summer, checking people in, handing out towels. But once she was done, she was free to take pictures on the streets of Portland. It was the last week in June, and the summer stretched out long and broad before her.

Chapter 9
    â€œH ave you decided if you’re going out for cross-country again in the fall?” asked Rocky. Her young neighbor had just returned from a run with Cooper. She hoped that Melissa would say no, that she would allow her body to continue to soak in the food that she had denied herself during her junior-year affair with anorexia. But she knew better than to state her preference. Melissa’s battle with restricting food had been nothing short of heroic, and Rocky was her staunch admirer.
    â€œI’m not sure. There’s other stuff I want to do, like with photography. Mr. Clarke has said I could be his assistant for senior year. And I might still have to go look at more colleges, like I haven’t looked at enough already.” Melissa put the glass in the sink.
    â€œHow are we going to break it to Cooper that you’ve got one more year at home and then, whoosh, you’re out of here?”
    â€œIt’s a good thing that a human year is seven years in dog time. Do you think that’s true? Or does it just make us feel better because their lives are so much shorter than ours?” asked Melissa.
    Rocky didn’t want to think of Cooper getting shortchanged in any way, but it was true with dogs. No sooner did you start to really love a dog than you started counting the years that were left. Cooper was five, and already she wanted to slow down the clock.
    â€œI don’t know, but I’m pretty sure they don’t fret about time the way we do. Hey, when am I going to get to see the ‘Dogs of Portland’ photo show by the famous photographer Melissa? Everyone except me has seen it. No fair. Your mother told me it was gorgeous.”
    Melissa squirmed so much that she was in danger of sliding out of her shoes. “I’ve got it on my laptop. I could go get it. I mean, do you have time now? Or are you too busy?”
    â€œThe only thing that might happen is that Isaiah would come over and remind me for the tenth time that the truck needs to get repaired so it can pass inspection. Other than that, my date book is free for the rest of the night. Wait, I actually have food in the fridge. Would you and your mom want to come over for dinner?”
    â€œThis is Mom’s yoga night, and it’s her one non-negotiable time, which is sort of adorable. She thinks she has to be totally available to me at all other times. I had to practically force her to go to this class, which she has been dying to go to for a year. She won’t eat until she gets home at eight-thirty, later if