chapter 4

Laura tried to be the perfect daughter that summer. She helped around the house and tried to eat healthy. She was dying for some pizza and beer. Her sister was working at a local grocery store so she wasn't around as much as usual. Laura decided to try and find some friends. It wasn't going well until one day Laura was running some errands for her mom (and binge eating a dozen donuts) and she ran into an old classmate. Shelley and Laura had gone to school together for years but didn't really spend time together. Shelley appeared to have put on the freshman 15 herself.

Laura smiled and called out to Shelley. Shelley was noticeably surprised to hear Laura' s voice come out of this overweight person. The girls hugged and Shelley asked how Laura had been. Laura smiled and said she felt great. Then she joked that she obviously wasn't doing much gymnastics these days. Shelley laughed too and invited Laura to lunch at her parents pizza place. Laura was very happy to accept the invitation.

They shared a pizza between them with two large cokes. Laura found Shelley easy to talk to. She admitted that she ate pizza almost every day at school. Shelley said it was funny. Since she grew up around the pizza shop, she hardly ate it unless she was home and needed a free meal. She did add that she obviously found plenty to eat. The girls had a great lunch and made plans to get together the next day. Laura managed to finish her dozen donuts in the car and pulled over at a gas station to throw the box away.

After a few weeks Laura and Shelley were hanging out almost every day. They both loved to stuff themselves with food so they made great friends. Laura's parents didn't want her to stress herself with working so they gave her an allowance. Her Dad called it a stipend to make it sound more grown up. She thought that was funny but Laura was happy to have food money. Almost one hundred percent of her allowance went to food. Plus she still ate full meals at home. She had built up quite a stash of food at home. Her parents never invaded her privacy so that was nice. She could have her bedtime sweets.

About 2 weeks before school started, Laura was scheduled for her physical. Her mom had to work that day thankfully so she didn't go along. Everyone at the office knew her and they all noticeably stared at her puffy stomach and huge ass. When it was time to weigh, Laura stepped gently on the scale. She had weighed 90 pounds when she started her senior year of high school. What did she weigh now? It was an old school beam scale. The nurse started the bottom slider at 100 pounds and the weight sunk like a stone. She was over 150 pounds! The nurse kept moving the slider to the right. 160...170...180... Laura gasped. The weight almost went to 200. She weighed 198 pounds. She had gained more than 100 pounds since her accident.

She was in shock but strangely proud of how her body had grown. When the doctor came in she was surprisingly light hearted. She asked about Laura's pain and walking ability. Laura was honest and said she couldn't really walk far and that she still needed daily naps. She did tell the doctor that her pain was better but much activity in her day made it worse. The doctor told her to keep trying to be more active and maybe to try swimming. She also told Laura she was sure that she would start making healthy choices with food. It is always hard for people who go through such a significant injury to keep weight off.

Laura left and was strangely starving. She went to the donut shop and ordered two dozen and a large frozen coffee. She drove to the park and stuffed herself with all of the donuts and the coffee. She loved her life and she loved eating. Maybe she could try swimming to be a little healthier but she wasn't going to slow down any time soon.

When she told her mom that the doc recommended she try swimming to exercise without harming her back, her mom signed her up for the local aquatic center. There was one problem. The only bathing suit she owned was much too small now plus it was not the kind of suit you would go swim laps in. Her mom offered to take her shopping for a workout suit. Laura wasn't excited about shopping with her mom, especially knowing that she had trouble finding a one piece suit last time but she didn't have many options.

Laura and her mom started at the store where she bought her suits for triathlons. The women that worked there knew Laura's mom and politely told her that none of their racing suits would fit such a curvy girl. Thank heavens she didn't have to try those on. The woman recommended another shop in the mall. As they approached the store, it was obviously a fat person store. Even the mannequins were big. When they enter the shop, I am nice plump girl greeted them and asked what she could help them with. Laura said that she wanted to find a swimsuit she could swim laps in. The girl took a look at Laura's bottom half and said that it would be best to start with measuring her.

The girl didn't tell Laura what the tape said but smiled and said not to worry, they had some suits made for pear shaped girls that didn't have huge tops. Laura noticed that her mom looked uncomfortable with the mention of Laura being pear shaped. The girl led her to a rack and told her to look at the 2xl. Laura looked skeptical but the girl assured her these sixes were crazy. She took a few suits in a dressing room to try on. To her surprise the bottom of the suits fit perfectly. As she wrestled the straps up, she could tell the top was a little loose. She liked that her perfect boobs we're not squished in. You could look at her in that suit and know that she had round perky boobs and she loved it. She got the 2xl. Mom treated her to some other clothes in the store as well. All of her bottoms were 1xl or 2xl. She thought that 2xl might help her get longer use out of them.

Laura went to the aquatic center by herself and paraded around in her suit. Her boobs were not restrained at all in the loose top and would bounce as she walked. Her thighs rubbed together so much now, it could be uncomfortable if she walked too much. She would swim some and then go to the open pool and float for a while. She could float so much better now. She probably didn't burn much weight off but it made her parents feel better. She usually went to lunch with Shelley at the pizza shop most days after she swam so it wasn't a surprise that she didn't lose any weight.

As summer came to an end, Laura promised to keep in touch with Shelley. They had one last sleepover and took some selfies. Laura looked so huge in the photos. This was the first time she'd taken a real look at a photo of her recently. There was her slim face and tiny shoulders. Next were her braless boobs followed by her obviously bloated stomach and wide hips. The baggy top she had on didn't hide her size at all. Shelley said she looked healthy. Laura was going to stick with that label. Healthy.

On the flight back to school, Laura sat next to a good looking guy. He was a little heavy set but definitely not fat. He had blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He introduced himself and she did the same. They chatted for a while. He had just graduated from college and was relocating to New York for his first job. Laura explained that she was a sophomore and was heading back to school. The two hour flight was filled with laughing and swapping stories. Brady had been a star football player in high school but didn't do much besides eat and drink in college. Laura couldn't believe it. She told him she was an elite gymnast all her life and she told him about the accident. He asked if she had any photos of her gymnast days. She pulled out her phone and showed him her last championship. The tiny, flat chested, muscular girl with the long blond pony tail was almost unrecognizable from the girl he was talking to. He blinked a few times and said she looked much better now. She giggled and thanked him. When they landed, Ava was there to meet her and drive her to school. Laura introduced Brady to Ava. After getting their bags, Brady hugger Laura and promised to call her once he settled in. As he turned to walk the other direction, she noticed what was most likely a college beer belly. She thought Brady was adorable.

The girls caught up on the drive there. Laura confessed to Ava how much weight she had gained last year. Ava asked her how she felt about that. Laura smiled and said she knew it was strange but she actually loved her bigger body. Ava smiled back and said that was good and she told her she had a surprise for her. Lucy and her new boyfriend had already moved all of Laura's stuff into the new dorm and they were having dinner at Lucy's that night. Laura was so happy. She knew that meant beer. Oh how she missed beer! This was shaping up to be the best day ever.