Paige
At first glance, 14-year-old Paige is a mouthy, moody teenager getting chubby on a diet of awful food. But behind the tough exterior is a heartbreakingly vulnerable young girl coping with a disengaged single mother and a depressed older sister.
The trio live in a cramped basement apartment where they are constantly stepping on each other’s last nerve and turning to convenience food for comfort. Paige's mom, Gail, works hard to support her daughters but after a long day she has very little left to give. She is exhausted, stressed and ill-equipped to offer her daughters adequate supervision or emotional support.
She maintains that if the girls want to get healthy, they’ll have to do it themselves. But, left to their own devices, her largely clueless daughters tend to fall back on what they know best – quick and easy junk that fills the void.
This street-smart family is wise enough to know that their lives are seriously off-kilter. Chelsey felt like a social outcast in high school and dropped out in the tenth grade. Paige, who feels self-conscious and isolated at school, is poised to follow in her sister’s footsteps.
Gail knows that there should be more to life for her girls but she just doesn’t have the emotional, or physical resources to offer. She is too weary and preoccupied with surviving to offer her daughters positive encouragement. It’s time for all of them to experience some success in their lives, and learning how to eat properly, exercise and feel more energetic is the first step.
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