chapter 1

"Come on Helen, do try to keep up."

My mum gently tugs on my arm as she leads me over the paved area leading towards the entrance of the Royal Charleston Fattening School. I know she's been trying to be as accommodating as she can, making allowances for my extra weight, but I guess nerves have finally got the better of her. I must admit that I have been struggling to match her pace, it's amazing the difference an extra 2 stone can make. I was fat six months ago, but now I really do feel very fat indeed, and I haven't even started at the school yet! These days they don't take any girls under 19 stone and at 18 years old that's quite a weight. I was one of the lucky ones because not many girls make it, obviously you have to be prone to fatten easily, but their also looking for the right temperament. They asked me all kinds of questions at the interview, and I had to come here for a whole day so that they could assess my character. Luckily I'm naturally a very passive person; they said I was very docile. I've also got the full support of my parents which you can't really do without, they've been preparing me for quite a while, teaching me how to act and behave so that it would become like second nature, and fattening me up from an early age so that I would easily make the entrance weight.

As we pass through the sliding glass doors and approach the reception desk I see some of the other young girls standing with their families in the foyer. There are no prizes for picking out the new pupils from the brothers and sisters seeing them off, the anxious expressions on their plump fleshy faces, their large well fed tummies and wide hips. As my mum sorts out my registration details with the receptionist, I compare my own size with other girls in the room and although I'm by no means the fattest, it's reassuring to see that I at least seem to be in the larger half. I'm thankful that mum persuaded me to tuck my top into my leggings to emphasise my size, which shows off the size of my belly and gives me a large visible roll of fat around my middle. I know they'll have plenty of time to catch up, but I'd hate to be one of the thinner girls right now.

We wait in the foyer for another half an hour while everyone arrives, and then eventually a thin middle aged woman who I assume is one of the teachers, calls everyone into the middle and welcomes us to the school. We all get a chance to say goodbye to our families and I turn to my mum and start to weep as I bury my face into her chest.

"I'm going to miss you." I can't help but sob.

"Oh Helen I know you don't want me to leave, but I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends in no time at all. You'll soon settle in, don't you worry."

After many tears, best wishes and fond goodbyes, those 20 or so, large and well fed girls amongst us reluctantly tear ourselves away from our families and friends and follow the teacher across the foyer and down a long corridor leading further into the school. There's a relative silence amongst us as we each contemplate the next three years that will change and mould us into the future fat women we are destined to become.