Having your CAKE

Pastries were out, the gym was in... Could Becky finally put the past behind her?

- Steve Burford

The time had come for a new start. Giving up wine during the week had been hard, but she’d done it. Giving up the cakes had been harder, but she’d done it. Just. Taking out the gym membership had been the hardest. That was when it had all begun to unravel...

It was supposed to have been a step forward, but the second Becky entered the changing rooms of the Venus and Adonis Health Club, she felt as if she had stepped back in time.

‘Becky French! Is that you?’ squealed Janice Parker.

‘We haven’t seen you since school!’ shrieked Susan Gregg.

Alice Trent smiled slyly. ‘You haven’t changed a bit.’

And suddenly Becky felt unbearably self-conscious. The way she’d felt 20 years before as plain Becky French, the 12-yearold who never had the ‘right’ clothes or made the ‘right’ friends.

‘Hello,’ said Becky weakly. ‘You haven’t changed either.’ Which wasn’t true. Janice, Susan and Alice, looking toned and trim, were even more attractive.

By the time Becky nervously emerged from the changing rooms, the three women, dressed in skintight, exotically coloured leotards were already furiously twisting and stretching in front of floor-to-ceiling mirrors. She saw them take in her baggy T-shirt and jogging bottoms.

‘So,’ said Janice, bending so low her nose was practically brushing the floor, ‘how have you been keeping? Married?’

‘No,’ said Becky, desperately wishing there was someone else she could talk to.

‘Boyfriend?’ Susan enquired, alarmingly lifting one leg up to a high bar.