chapter 4

Megan obediently followed Hilary as she led the way to the girl's boarding house.
"Right," Hilary said. "Rise and shine at 7, breakfast is at 7.30 and then we do outdoor exercise until lunch at 12. After lunch we work out in the indoor gym until 5 then we have dinner. After that it's group therapy and nutrition class then we have the evenings free to do, y'know, whatever. Family therapy is at the weekends."
They stepped into the girl's boarding house. It was painted the same insane shade of pastel pink as Hilary's clothes. The room was bare except for four pink beds neatly covered with pink sheets. All the beds were empty except the last one. A girl sat on her side, balancing her considerable weight with one arm and flicking through a fitness magazine with the other. Her expression fluctuated between boredom and disgust she quickly skimmed through the pages. She didn't even look up from the magazine when they entered the room but Megan couldn't help looking at her. In fact, she was transfixed. She was the biggest girl she'd ever seen in person. She had long auburn hair that fell down her back and over her shoulders in swooping mermaid waves and bangs that framed a porcelain perfect face with just the soft hint of a double chin. Taken alone her face would not betray the immense scale of her body. She wore the same pink blouse and skirt set as Hilary but in a much larger size. Her soft, pillowy arms spilled out of the short sleeves, their alabaster pale skin traced by silver stretch marks. She was surprisingly flat chested but what she lacked in breast she more than made up for in belly. It was pendulous and large, peeking out slightly from under her shirt. She also carried a lot of her weight in the wide spread of her ass and thighs.

"This is where we sleep," Hilary's voice interrupted her rapture. "And there's a very strict rule that we don't consume any food in this room."
"You mean like our meals?" Megan asked.
"No, she means like stuffing. You get caught in the throes of gluttony and you're out of here," a mocking voice said.
Megan looked up to see the girl staring back at her with an amused look in her green eyes, the distasteful magazine now abandoned at her side.
"I...I...don't..." Megan stammered.
"You know, stuffing, bingeing, eating until you feel like you're going to burst or pass out but you've still got to have little bit more because it just feels so good too," her face was serious but her eyes danced with laughter. "Or maybe you don't know anything about that."
"Never mind Gemma, she's a spoiled brat," Hilary said, leading Megan out of the room. "Come on, I'll show you the chart. Step one was easy, admitting you have a problem, and we all passed yesterday. Megan, I'm fat. See how easy it is?"

An hour later Megan arrived in the group therapy room feeling exposed and humiliated in her hospital gown that didn't fasten at the back. The other True Directions patients were already gathered there sitting in a circle, the boys wearing pastel blue and the girls in pink. Megan realised with horror that the chair in the centre must be for her. She walked awkwardly with one hand clutching the back of her gown closed, to her embarrassment everyone applauded when she took her seat.
"It's time for you to meet your fellow soldiers in this war," Mary said. "We'll go around the circle and everyone can introduce themselves."

Gemma stood up first, "I'm Gemma, I weigh 392 lbs and I like being fat. A lot." She winked at Megan.
The wink sent a shock through Megan that started out as the sensation of fluttering butterflies but quickly sank like cold nausea in the pit of her stomach. She had never felt so excited or so frightened in all her life. She couldn't look at Gemma but she could feel her mocking eyes penetrating her as if they could uncover her every secret, her every lie.
Hilary was next, "I'm Hilary, I weigh 266 lbs. I love fashion and I'm fat."
A nervous looking boy who wore a skull cap over his dark hair stood up. His limbs her almost scrawny but he had a prominent belly and double chin, "I'm Joel, I weigh 290 lbs. I'm a Jew and I'm... f-f-fat..."
Next was a Goth girl who stood up, glaring at Megan. She had accessorised the True Directions uniform with a dog collar that hung heavy around her thick neck and black lip stick on her plump lips as a rebellion against the pastel pink. She was almost as large as Gemma but her figure was more solid, less curvy and she carried more weight in her breasts which strained against the buttons of her blouse. "I'm Shannon, I weigh 368 lbs. I like pain and I'm fat."
Another boy with sandy hair and lightly tanned skin stood up with a surprisingly light and extravagant flourish despite his large size. He was soft and womanly all over with a particularly ample pair of man boobs that quivered as he moved, "I'm Andre, I weigh 420 lbs. I'm an actor, a singer and I'm fat." He sat down with a little bow.
The next boy who stood up had the look of muscles turned to fat. His arms looked strong but their muscles were hidden by a thick layer of flab. He carried most of his weight in his belly which a considerable pair of man boobs that had once been
toned pecs rested on, "Dolph, 450 lbs. I'm a Varsity wrestler and I'm fat."
The final boy stood up. He had the chubby baby face of a spoiled child who had grown up to be an obese adult, "My name is Clayton, I weigh 388 lbs. I work in retail and I'm fat.