chapter 6 part 2 - libbys downfall

First, driving rather too fast in her prized SUV, Libby hit a pothole and swerved head on into a letterbox. The x-rays revealed a compound fractured in her leg, putting her out of action for five months.

Two weeks later she suffered a break that was even more fatal to her sporting aspirations, when her parents finally ended their increasingly fractious marriage. There followed a furious contest for their only daughter's affection. A contest which Libby milked for all it was worth. Inevitably, food was one of the main battlefields. At weekends, Libby's dad would treat her to gormet meals at swanky restaurants, picking up the bill and even allowing her to drink wine. Her mom, the main custodian, would counter with huge stacks of syrup-drizzled pancakes every morning for breakfast and unlimited pocket money that Libby, frustrated at being unable to train, blew on snacks and fast food lunches with her friends. Even at weekends the former Mrs Chasmar (who'd reverted to her unmarried name of Miss Burton) would overfeed her beloved daughter, hoping she'd be too full to enjoy the expensive restaurant meals with her father. But this was to underestimate Libby's appetite, and her cunning. Returning from an evening with her father, she'd wax lyrical about the wonderful food, ensuring her mom redoubled her own efforts in the kitchen. At the same time she'd dab her lips at restaurant dinners and remark casually to her dad about how wonderfully filling mom's cooking was, prompting him to order her a second dessert.

With no sporting success to boast of, the devious diva would spend evenings with her schoolfriends in restaurants and bars, bragging about how perfectly she was playing her parents against one another.

But there was a catch. With her injury precluding any form of exercise, and her two chief sporting motivators competitively spoiling her, it was only a matter for time before those exquisite meals and oversized homecooked dinners began to settle on smug little Libby's lean, well-built figure. Gradually, biceps drooped into bingo wings. Thighs that had been laced with muscle softened into smooth cylinders of fat. The gluteus maximus that was the source of her explosive hurdling power became... maxissimus. Her ribs and semi-six-pack abs smoothed into a sleek stomach.

Yet on an already sturdy field athlete, these alterations were unshocking - almost understandable for a girl no longer able to train. The equivalent of an excessive case off season overindulgence. Certainly Libby put them down to the normal and inevitable result of her injury.

Then her belly betrayed her.

One morning, with no apparent warning, it seemed to the whispering student body at Libby's school that their injured queen bee's thick but solid stomach had poofed out by magic overnight, becoming a firm, high potbelly that forced up her tops and strained her shirt buttons. From that day on, Libby seemed cursed to put on weight around her belly. It was as though all the huge meals and snacks she consumed remained undigested in her belly, building up a big, permanent food baby. Rumours of pregnancy abounded, but of course there was only one culprit: greed (assisted perhaps by a genetic predisposition to store fat about the stomach). And in truth the rest of Libby was growing fatter too - just not at anything like the pace of her swellign tummy.

By the time Libby's ankle had recovered it was too late. Far too late. She trained diligently, but couldn't bring herself to curb her now excessive eating habits. And though still strong, she had packed on so much blubber that even the run up for the javelin left her winded. Hurdling, likewise, was out of the question, while the high jump became impossible, Libby's coaches wincing in unision as she took her run up, fat slab of a belly bobbing up and down as she puffed and huffed and then jumped into or in some cases even under the bar.

Citing stress and family difficulties, her management team pulled her out of the 2013 competition altogether. Bitter and furious, Libby threw some of the most epic tantrums of her life.

And of course, there was only one sure way to calm her down.

Thus had the once undefeatable heptathlete ballooned into the overspoilt ball-bellied bully who now lounged in the bed, moving her jiggling arms up and down constantly to pass yet another massive calorific overload into a tummy that swelled forward so firmly that it actually seemed to be hovering just above Libby's mightily meaty thighs. And each mouthful seemed to push the purple top up, revealing another few milimeters of that wide, bronzed dome of overindulgence.

It took a particularly piggish belch from Libby to bring Amy back to reality.

"Any more ketchup?"

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Author note: Finally back with an update! Sorry for the huge delay. This part is really to introduce Ashley and Antonia's two other housmates: Amy and Libby (the latter being the girl in the thumbnail). There's more to come soon, wherein the details of Antonia's devious plot will be revealed. Please let me know what you think. :)