chapter 2 (cont.)

"Mama, Papa, we're home!"
Isabel exclaimed as they finished climbing upstairs.

"Isabeeeel! My sweet sweet daughter has returned home!"
Gloria squealed as she embraced Isabel, their bellies inevitably squashed against each others'.

"How long has it been my child?"

"It's only been a few months mama, calm down.."
Isabel responded with a blush and chuckle.

"Ugh, get a room."
Carmen scoffed before leaving the room as quickly as she could. She wanted to see where Dad was with her "favourite dish", anyway.

"Your travels treated you well, yes?"
Gloria asked, still holding her child's hand.

"Oh it was so great! Brazil is such a diverse world filled with wildlife! I was given the chance to study a rare species of bird that uses its claws to.. I've lost you, haven't I?"
Isabel paused her nerdy tangent.

"Oh no!!! I- Well um.. yes you have. But I'm still so proud of you, whatever you did there!"
Gloria said with another hug.

"And you're growing into QUITE the woman, too!"
She added, sounding utterly delighted.

"Haha, yeah.. well um, i gotta get all these bags into my room so.. yea, bye!"
Isabel said turning away, trying to think of what she meant by that confusing compliment.

Isabel locked the door behind her, letting out a big sigh of relief. The introvert was finally let alone to her devices, now she could finally let her hair down.
Laying her glasses onto the table, Isabel looked around her room. It looked so alien to her since leaving for so long. She definitely noticed some changes in here, Carmen had certainly stolen a bunch of makeup palettes from the dresser and Gloria had clearly infiltrated her base, messing up her perfectly messy room by "cleaning" and "organizing" it. Ew.

Whilst making herself comfortable in her bedroom again, she spotted the old tall bevelled window leaning by the windowsill.
"Hmm.."
Isabel began to remember Carmen's mean remark to her in the car, remembering Gloria saying how much she's "grown" recently.

"Surely it's not gone that bad.. has it?"
Isabel said to herself, tugging at her flannel self-consciously.

Well there was only one way to find out, and her curiosity had already made the decision for her. She dragged the mirror to a more centered position and eventually looked at her figure standing in the mirror.

One thing was apparent from the first glance, there was a pale fold of chub peeking out of the last button of the green shirt.

"Oh my.."
She said, concerningly caressing the flabby piece of belly that stuck out. She always knew she was a chubby girl, ever since being name-called tubby in elementary school. From age 6 to 21, she's always been noticeably thick, no matter what clothing she tried to camouflage it with. But she was only chubby, she thought. Nothing major, she thought. Not a lot of bevelled mirrors seemed to be in stock during her stay in the Amazon.

A small but noticeable second chin was beginning to fade in below her jaw, and it could be clearly seen from where she stood. Her cheeks look more bloated and round than she had ever seen them before. Her thigh gap was coming dangerously close to being obsolete. She even looked at her hands, and even they appeared noticeably rounder. Getting into a panic, she rushed down to the bathroom to find the weighing scale. It looked cracked, weirdly, but she didn't care, she needed answers.

200 pounds. The scale read 200 pounds. She's never been 200 pounds before.

She's always been a chubby girl, sure, but never two hundred freakin' pounds chubby. It was lenient to call her chubby. She is crossing into full on fat girl territory now.

"A-Am I a *** now?? Am i a *** like Carmen said?"
Isabel whispered, looking into the bathroom mirror.

But suddenly, a thought popped into her head.

"I mean, it's not THAT serious"
She said reassuringly to herself.

"What's that? Only like a 20 pound gain? Ha! Puny! Pathetic! I can lose it all if I try"
(20 pounds was lenient.)

Another thought popped into her head.

"Weeeeeeeell, i mean yeah, it's only 20 pounds. But on the other hand? It's ONLY 20 pounds. Is it really worth all the work to lose just 20 puny pounds?

That IS a good point, me"
Isabel responded, having a mini debate with the angel and devil within her head.

Surveying her body once again, things actually didn't seem all that bad! Her face was still the same face she's always loved before, just with recent, erm, "additions". She actually liked how her soft thighs pressed against the strong fabric of her jeans, and how her once small breasts for sure went up a few cup sizes in the past few months. Overall, the added weight has added many much desired things she has never really had before, so why lose it all? Why all the bother? It really isn't worth all the work.

"I feel... kinda.. sexy right now!"
She said with a growing smile, pushing her new-and-improved boobs up and down.

So she's "fat" now, big deal.