It was hard, seeing Mum and Gran so worried and knowing it was because of her own actions. She’d never meant to hurt them, but she was powerless to make it any better.

She’d become immune to their pleading, their lecturing. The phrases they used to try and scare her held no power over her.

These days, it felt like she was an observer in her own life; as if she were hovering somewhere close without actually being part of herself.

At one time, if she’d had to describe how she felt about her life, she would have said it was like a kaleidoscope of colour inside her head. She loved so many things: music, dancing, reading, school, animals… There wasn’t enough time in the day to do all the stuff she enjoyed.

But now? Now everything in her head was grey. Plain, dull grey, no colour, no bursts of excitement. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked forward to anything; life was just one big ordeal.

She found she had a talent, though. She was brilliant at covering up how she really felt, and had also become a very good fibber, covering her tracks so it was virtually impossible for her mum and gran to track what she was actually eating.

She preferred to think of it as fibbing, not outright serious lying.

She didn’t like lying to the people who loved her the most.

She felt certain that one day, if she lost enough weight and looked the way she should do, the pain would stop and she’d be back to her old self. Then everyone would like her again.

One day.

In the meantime, she had a constant battle to hide the true extent of it all from Mum and Gran.

She opened her wardrobe door, stood back and stared into the full-length mirror. One of the tricks she’d learned from the Internet, where there were forums to help people like her, was to pin her clothes, use belts on her jeans and wear baggy tops with two or three layers underneath, so it was more difficult for people around her to see how much weight she’d really lost.

It was easy to spend hours on the Internet in her bedroom now without her mum knowing. She’d smuggled in her dad’s old laptop he’d left behind – he had a fancy new iMac now that Joanne had bought him – and Mum hadn’t even noticed it had gone from the kitchen worktop.

Mum was always so busy with work, with trying to be the best. Maisie’s Internet use was completely off her radar these days.

She shrugged her dressing gown from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

Her face contorted in disgust as she scanned her misshapen body.

Her hip bones stuck out, but she didn’t really notice them. She was too distracted by the soft pads of flesh just above them. She thought this was what people meant by the term ‘muffin top’.

Her thighs were too pale and seemed to balloon out at the sides. They were so fat and wide compared to her ankles. That couldn’t be right, could it?

Her skin was blotchy, and if she rubbed it, dry flakes would slough off like fish scales. She felt like one of those shedding amphibians they’d learned about in science.

When she’d tried on the swimsuit to go to the swimming party a few weeks ago, she’d seen Piper’s mouth drop open and the glance that had passed between her and her mum.

They’d obviously been shocked at just how fat Maisie still was. Her swimsuit gaped despite its elasticated legs and neckline, but it couldn’t disguise the fact that the flesh underneath was like swollen lard.

Piper’s arms and legs were long and slender, and she still had a faint tan from their holiday in Gran Canaria earlier in the year. Maisie could see that her swimsuit fitted like a glove, hugging every inch of her perfect body; no lumps and bumps there to reveal.

Piper kept trying to get Maisie to jump into the pool like she was doing, but she knew it was only so they could see how big her legs were and have a good laugh about it.

She made a point of swimming up the other end and keeping out of their way, counting the minutes on the massive wall clock until she could finally get dressed and go back to Joanne’s apartment to spend some time with her dad.

After the swim, they’d had to go up to the café overlooking the pool, where the party food buffet was. Joanne ordered her a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows without even asking Maisie her preference.

‘I have a stomach ache,’ Maisie told Joanne when she encouraged her to drink it.

Stomach aches were the best because adults couldn’t prove you were lying. Even teachers had to give in and let you sit out of PE if you grumbled about the pain for long enough.

When they got back to the apartment, Joanne told them to go and put their wet costumes in the bath while she had a quick word with Maisie’s dad about something. She looked meaningfully at Piper as she said it.

‘They’re talking about you, you know,’ Piper said spitefully when they were alone. ‘Your dad thinks there’s something wrong with you, with the way you look.’

Maisie felt like crying, but she jutted out her chin and said nothing. She knelt by the bath and began wringing out her swimsuit, inhaling the chlorine as the water dripped down.

‘Nobody even likes you at dancing any more. They all want to be my friends now instead.’ Piper tugged the swimsuit out of Maisie’s hands and threw it on the floor behind her, standing over her, hands on hips. ‘What’s wrong with you and your crazy mother? Are you both going mental or something?’

Maisie turned, picked up the wet swimsuit and lassoed it in the air as she stood up straight, enjoying the feeling of satisfaction when it hit Piper in the face like a big wet fish.

As Piper began to wail, covering one eye with her hand, Maisie turned and walked out of the large bathroom and across the landing into the spare bedroom, where she calmly closed the door, sat on the bed and waited for the brown stuff to hit the fan.