chapter 1 (cont.)

Carmen's Mom, Gloria Mendez, used to be the splitting image of her daughter. Brown eyes, chocolate brown hair, toned but curvy, the whole package. She was queen bee and everyone worshiped her like one. She used this power to get ahead in life, seducing nerds into doing every assignment in the syllabus, being that one classmate who did nothing in the group project, you name it. Anything and everything to make sure she succeeded in life with minimal effort.

Safe to say, when high school became college she soon found out that lab work after skipping Chemistry classes for 3 years did not work out well. Thankfully for her, whilst in the midst of failing college tests and playing beer pong she hooked up with a rich man, Carlos Mendez of the "Mendez Munchies" restaurant dynasty.

Admittedly in hindsight, she only started to go out with him at first for his riches, but Carlos eventually won her over over time with his kind soul and immaculate cooking skills, which she simply just could not stay away from for long. Carlos was successful in taming the beast that was Gloria's fiery personality and ego, helping her transition into a loving, caring and passionate partner; perfect wife material. And it certainly helped from Carlos' POV that she grew increasingly rounder around the hips as the months they spent together flew by.

Carlos didn't want to admit to the love of his life at the time, but he had fantasized of seeing his lover grow larger and larger with any type of greasy food he could serve her each day, his love growing higher and higher as the scales struggled to keep up with his growing gordita goddess.

Upon happily marrying in the Summer of '95, Gloria longed for solace away from the bustling city life of Chicago where they had been living in. She wanted settle down in a nice town on the outskirts of the state, to settle down and have a family. They decided on a nice neighborhood in a modestly growing town called Riverside Falls. There she soon gave birth to two beautiful daughters, Carmen and Isabel as Carlos also opened a new Mendez Munchies established in the area. Since the birth of their eldest child, Isobel, the family has been living in an apartment above the restaurant, where Carlos can keep his wife stocked with greasy goodness whenever she so pleases.

Fast forward to present day, and the effects of married life and parenthood on Gloria's body were quite evident to say the very, very least..

--

"She's here! She's here! Everyone get ready!"

shouted Emma Holding, the other midfielder, sending everyone into a panic.

"You should've listeeened!"

Carmen said smugly.

Among the chaos in the corner of her eye, Carmen saw her protege, Sasha Williams. Sasha was Carmen's brand new freshman m̶i̶n̶i̶o̶n̶ apprentice, and she was looking pretty nervous and confused. It was clear to Carmen that the 2nd choice striker of the team was desperate for some guidance.

"You feeling ok, Sash'?"

asked Carmen, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I-I'm feeling alright, just a bit nervous, y-y'know? One wrong step and I could be off the team!"

The young blond said worryingly, grateful for the one person she knew here had arrived to comfort her somewhat.

Sasha was aware of Carmen's, well, 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘺 attitude and reputation before accepting her offer upon meeting her in her first week at Brookside. Like Carmen before her, Sasha was one of the hottest middle school prodigies around, earning herself a sports scholarship free of charge to enter the school. But even she knew being a freshman in a predominately Senior team was gonna be a bit daunting starting off. That's why she took up her offer in a heartbeat, in the hopes of improving under the wings of the star player. How lucky! And as a bonus, she was for 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 gonna be viewed as one of the cool and popular kids alongside the queen bee of the school.

"Naaaah you'll be fine. I always got leeway on these coaches since, y'know, I'm the 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘳!"

Carmen said with an arrogant pose.

"As long as you stick by me, you'll 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 leave this team. Just look at my friends over there. Tati thinks offside is that dude from Migos"

Carmen said more quietly as she reassuringly rubbed Sasha's shoulder again, referring to the three girls sharing a cigarette between themselves.

"Oh my.."

Sasha gasped.

"Oh yea and by the way, my favourite Starbucks order is a Java Chip Frappuccino. I'm just saying.. but like.. you might need to memorize that maybe? Byeee!!!"

Carmen said before turning back away to her cronies, snickering once again as she snatched Tati's cig and began to suck up.

"Sooo.. Anyhoo gir-"

Suddenly, all the bickering goes silent as the doors fling open to find the new coach of the soccer team. She surveys the room seeing each girl of her squad.

"Hey, you there! Turn around right now so i can get a good look at you"

The feminine voice said, strong and sternly.

Freezing in shock, Carmen slowly turned around, with the cig still lodged in her lips.

"Heeeyy coach!.."

She croaked, dying a little inside.