Chapter 3 - three

Well into the winter my stylishly concealing clothes failed. My slender face plumped out and my chin sagged. I tried extra-hard to keep my hair looking smooth and even grew out my bangs to slim my face. Everyone pretended not to notice that the infamous Linds wasn't the school's hot girl anymore. People treated me with sympathy. I felt like telling everyone to shove it.

In the afternoons I holed up in the factory and binge ate until it hurt. Sometimes I even forced myself to eat beyond reason just to see what happened. I started sneaking into other departments and grabbing boxes and bags of food to keep me occupied while watching the flow of chocolate. I mindlessly wrapped strands of my hair around my fingers and munched. My clothes felt rather restraining, creasing my gut through the middle. At least I had an excuse to get a new wardrobe. I didn't want any slimming back lace; I wanted pinstripes that wrapped around my belly to accentuate its curves.

That would have been absurd, so I decided to stick to conservative black shirts that hid chocolate stains. I never took off my big puffy pink jacket. I didn't want anyone to see what was underneath.

After awhile, Martha began to think something was up.

"Baby, what are you thinking, draining conveyor 5 of half its supply. I thought you almost quit because you'd get fat. If you keep doing your job like you have been lately, we'll go bankrupt and you'll balloon up even larger than yours truly. Are you ok at home, sweetie? Is something going on?"

I thought of what it would feel like to be even larger than Martha and didn't even respond to her complaint.

I walked off in an imaginative daze, feeling a burning in my crotch. This was getting weirder by the day.

When I got home, I went to the fridge and continued my pig out. I was on such a sexual high that I forced myself to cram bite after bite of leftovers into my mouth. I put a few pizzas in the oven and put on a movie. An ice cream carton, a pizza, and half a bucket of old KFC later I felt ready to throw up. But I loved it. I daintily polished off each bite as though I were a princess who was fattening up to demonstrate her wealth to her suitors.

...

By spring I was fat. One morning before school I looked at myself in the mirror with a cringe of delight. My belly hung over in a large swell of fat. My boobs were bigger than they'd ever been. Their shape was still very nice, and their new mass didn't make them any less perky. My thighs were lined by a new layer of fat. My ass was no longer tight. It sagged slightly with the new fat deposits it had taken on. My arms were no longer slender. Instead, small droops of flesh formed on my underarms.

I put my hands on my belly and jiggled.

My mom opened the door to make sure I was awake. She let out an, "Oh my god!" My mom was a marathon runner. There wasn't an ounce of fat on her body and there never had been. She was even more of a conceited bitch than I used to be.

She ran into the room and let her eyes wander over my naked body. She tried to hide her shock. She pushed her pointer finger into my belly and it sank into my soft gut.

"Honey, how did this happen? What have you been eating? I didn't want to say anything, but you look... pudgy."

"Mom! Shut up!" I started to cry.

She hugged me with regret.

"Oh I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to be so frank. I just don't want you to stop caring about your health. You have a long important life ahead of you."

"I know mom, I'm not sure how this happened."

"It's ok, we'll go to the mall right now and get you some clothes to hide your baby fat until you can work it off. I'll schedule you with my personal trainer Marcelo twice a week. He's a miracle worker."

Something told me she was right. If I wanted to help the squad win regionals, I would need to be in top shape. I had to think of my team.

"But mom... there's something wrong with me..."

"No there's not baby, everyone gains a few pounds when they stop growing."

"No... you don't understand..."