Chapter 5 - Sophomore Year

It was February the 15th, the day after Valentine day. Haley was finishing her third heart-shaped box of chocolate that she had paired with a bottle of wine. Earlier that day, Haley had gone to Wallmart and picked up a dozen boxes on clearance, as a gift to herself. She certainly needed them. This had been her first valentine's day where she hadn't had a date. In fact, she hadn't had a date all Sophomore year. After her break-up with Mark, Haley had done anything but rebound.

Her entire first semester had been a wake-up call for her. Gone was the ego and confidence Haley once had replaced by insecurity and shyness. Now more then ever, Haley knew she was unquestionably fat. She felt so stupid for letting it happen. All those times going out to fast food, those beers, those snacks, the countless trips to the dining hall, and never once stepping foot in a gym had landed the softer Sophomore in the body she now had. As her first semester progressed week by week, Haley found a very scary realization. She couldn't stop.

It hadn't helped that Haley was trying to get over being dumped, but it seemed that eating had now become a vice that got her through all of her problems. She knew she needed to be dieting and going to the gym, but it didn't feel like it was that easy. The diet could always start next week. Something was always getting in her way.

If she had a test coming up, she needed to go to the dining hall to study. If she saw pictures of Mark with his new hot girlfriend on Facebook, she needed to reach under her bed and eat an entire box of snack cakes to push him out of her mind. If she had trouble fitting into her old outfits, she needed to throw on some sweats and get fast food so she didn't have to think about all of the clothes she owned that she could never wear. If she heard a group of girls giggling, she needed to waddle to the nearest vending machine to get a candy bar so she could convince herself they weren't laughing at her. Food was her warm fuzzy blanket. It helped Haley escape the reality she had entered at the beginning of Sophomore year. For the few blissful moments that Haley was chewing, the pleasure of the food or the rush of the sugar made everything feel like it was going to be okay. When it was over, she regretted every bite, knowing it was doing the opposite of helping her situation.

As her Sophomore year had progressed, Haley became more of a loner. For a while her friends had reached out to her, trying to get her to come out and party. Haley wished she could, but was too embarrassed to be seen out at the party scene. Even though she went to a large school, she knew she'd always run the risk of running into Mark or the bimbo of a girlfriend he now had. It had only been two weeks before Mark had started dating again. That had hurt. Haley just hadn't wanted to start partying again. Not until she got her life back on track. Instead, she spent her free time watching Netflix in bed or eating at the dining hall. One by one, the friends that Haley had made Freshman year stopped texting her completely.

Now it was the dead center of February and Haley was staring at yet another empty heart-shaped box. Her tummy had screamed at her to stop a while ago, but Haley hadn't listened. Now she was living with the consequences. She could practically feel her belly growing as she cradled it in her hands. Where once there had been abbs, now she felt nothing but soft lard. A massive monument to her gluttony and laziness. It seemed to be growing bigger and softer every day. Without success, Haley tried to pull her top down but couldn't even get it past her much chubbier waist. Her old top seemed to serve nearly as a bra now.

The one and only perk of her gain that Haley liked was that her tits had grown a few sizes. Other than that, Haley was less than enthused. Haley's lower half continued to get hit with her poor eating habits. Everything was getting wider, rounder, thicker, jiggleier, softer, and fat. All that she could cram her fat ass into was yoga pants. Yoga pants that were practically see-through as they worked hard to keep the fat girl's lard contained. Yoga pants that showed her fat camel toe to the world.

She wasn't sure when it had happened, but at some point, Haley had developed a bit of a waddle. Tired of having her thighs rub together or her belly getting in the way of her steps, Haley inadvertently developed a method of movement suitable for someone of her proportions.

As Haley sat, contemplating opening a fourth heart-shaped box, she fretted to herself as to how bad she had let things get. Ever since she found out she had gained, Haley had avoided the scale. She already knew she was fat and hadn't wanted to know the dreaded number. Now she wasn't so sure. After months and months of burying her head in the sand, Haley knew that keeping herself from that number wasn't helping. She wanted a wake-up call. She needed the motivation to shock her into getting skinny again. Filled with all the confidence a bottle of wine could bring, Haley uneasily arose to her feet and headed for what she had hidden in the back of her closet.

Taking the scale out of the closet, Haley gingerly placed it on her bedroom floor. She wondered to herself how much weight she had put on, hoping it wasn't anything more than 50 pounds. One foot after another, Haley stepped on the scale. She closed her eyes feeling nerves twisting in her stomach. When all was settled. Haley looked down. Her eyes went wide, it couldn't be real.

She stepped on and off a few more times before she accepted the numbers. 229 pounds. Haley officially weighed 229 pounds. In just over three semesters, she had put on over 100 pounds of fat. Never before had Haley thought she would ever be over 200 pounds.. but this was insane. Instead of crying, Haley grabbed another box of Valentine's day chocolates and opened it immediately. She felt numb as she started eating at a voracious pace. The numbers swimming in her head were slowly being pushed away by the delicious chocolates. They were making everything okay.

When the box was empty, Haley was brought back to her situation. Glumly, she walked over to the scale and stepped on it, just to see if the numbers were real. Two hundred thirty flashed back at her. She was gaining weight by the minute.