Girls under Pressure

Blurb

Girls under Pressure is the second book in the Girls series, written by Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, a noted English author who writes fiction for children. It was published in 1998, the sequel to Girls in Love and followed by Girls out Late. It is aimed at pre-teen and teenage readers.
Like the rest of the series, Girls under Pressure is told from the viewpoint of Eleanor "Ellie" Allard, a chubby thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her father, her stepmother, Anna, and her little half-brother, Eggs.
The story starts where Ellie and her two best friends, Magda and Nadine, are Christmas shopping at the Flowerfields Shopping Centre. While they shop, they notice a large buzz of an event going on upstairs. Nadine wonders if it is television. Magda replies, "Wow, I hope so" and steers the other two upstairs.
It turns out to be a modelling competition for Spicy magazine, which Ellie discovers after seeing a lot of pretty and thin teenage girls getting their photos taken. Ellie stares in horror as she realises what she has been in the queue for. She witnesses Magda and Nadine being photographed, seeing how Nadine is "model-girl" thin.