chapter vii

When Philbert opened his eyes, he still felt hungover. He wondered if people could get hangover from eating too much food, but when he started looking at the crumbles all over his bed, he guessed that yes, it was possible and it was exactly why he felt like skipping school in that moment.
His mobile was resting on his overstuffed belly. He took it and burped for a while before checking the notifications.
He felt asleep in the middle of some conversations on Pigler. He couldn’t remember anything if not that Scott warned him about Carl. He was about to check the unread texts he got after he passed out, but his eyes met the virtual clock.
Phil was about to be late for school. He groaned while standing up, putting a hand on his belly. It was so bloated, and he felt aroused. Quite annoyingly, he reached his wardrobe and looked at the side mirror.
He was still thin, but the stomach made Phil look like he was pregnant. Starting to caress the belly, the Piggy felt a new sensation. He liked what he was seeing.
Philbert Beese was always quite unsecure. He has never felt beautiful, or even cute. He would see his own reflection and sighs in disappointment: his nose was just a bit too big, his skin was not as clear as his peers’ ones, his lips were thinner than what you’d expect by looking at his parents’, his mullet was just an attempt to keep his bushy black hair in order. He didn’t like his small shoulders mixed with a bigger hip circumference, nor did he appreciate his nipples being redder and bigger than normal. Everything in him just felt… wrong.
But this time, whether it was for the drug or the hypnosis or whatnot, Philbert liked what he saw, as if he had just received a 10-years-younger makeover.
He had to focus on dressing up and divert his gaze for avoiding the temptation of spending hours in front of the mirror. He wondered if he had just experienced what Scott felt every time he woke up and went to one of the three huge bathrooms of that enormous downtown Los Angeles villa he owned, the one he saw in some videocalls. He understood that when you feel sexy you don’t need a lot more to be confident.
He picked the first trousers he could find and struggled a lot to bend over as its belly was like a cushion that limited his movements. His back hurt, he felt greasy and sweaty but it was too late to take a shower. After some attempts, he managed to put the feet in the trousers and bring them up through his hips. He could easily lace the first buttons, but the last one – the closest to the stomach – couldn’t be sorted with the same instantaneity.
Philbert put the biggest jumper he owned, a baseball hat and called it a day.
He went downstairs, his mother was reading the newspaper on the kitchen table. Her black, thick hair were fixed in a long ponytail that made her look younger. She looked too focused to see his only son coming in.
Phil was in no mood to chit chat. He was hungover, late for school, and looking like a hot mess. He opened the fridge to pack his lunch. When he found himself in front of all that food, his vision went blank. He felt the pulse to eat all of it and oink like crazy. He tried to bring himself to at least get some milk to make a fast breakfast, but something stopped him. He couldn’t bring himself to eat yet, which was super confusing to him.
Mom told him he was about to be late for school, without even looking at him. She was right, Philbert had to get going or he would have skipped the beginning of the first lesson of the week. He rushed to prepare a couple of sandwiches – four instead of the usual two – and left the house.
As soon as he closed the door and crossed the front garden, his belly started aching. Like, a lot. Embarrassed and confused, Phil just kept walking towards the bus stop, a few meters away from his home. Somehow, he knew this would have happened and played in advance: that’s why he prepared two extra sandwiches. He ate the first one in a simple bite, but he was still super hungry.
When he got on the bus, he realised he was so hungry that he had finished the fourth sandwich without even noticing.