chapter 4: envy

The time from homecoming to the week of Halloween was madness, absolute madness. Not only was excitement building on campus due to the closeness of Hallowweekend, but one late-night when Evelyn was grabbing a slice of pizza with Adrianna, Kendra, and Hope, her school flex account went dry!

Such an unfortunate setback meant that Evelyn now had to dip into her precious debit dollars in order to satisfy her hungry late-night desires. While the food on campus was relatively cheap, Evelyn found it more economical to start going to the grocery store on Mondays to buy her ‘study fuel’ in bulk.

Unfortunately for Evelyn’s waistline, ‘study fuel’ consisted of cups of ramen noodles, mac and cheese packs, buttery microwavable popcorn, and plenty of smores supplies. Before she knew it, the chesty young college coed had become a master at crafting cheap and savory late-night delicacies. Adrianna, Kendra, and Hope all agreed that Evelyn’s microwavable smores tasted on par with anything any of them had ever crafted with a roaring campfire.

In preparation for Halloween, Evelyn decorated her dorm room with fake cobwebs and pictures of ghosts, witches, and all manner of ghoulish creatures. For her part, Adrianna was happy to contribute a big bowl of fun-sized M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way Bars, Take-Fives, and Kit-Kats.

Evelyn was on cloud nine. She was even being super productive with schoolwork, so she’d have plenty of time to hang out with her friends on Halloween and Hallowweekend! Although, what exactly the group was going to do was still an open discussion…

“Come on guys! Trick or treating will be fun!” Evelyn urged desperately. The lukewarm reception to her idea was admittedly bumming her out a little.

“We’re too old to be trick or treating,” Adrianna waved off Evelyn’s suggestion yet again, as she played with the crumbs on her empty lunch plate, “besides everybody’s going to dress up Halloween weekend anyway. So, what’s the point of getting all costumed up on a Thursday?”

“Actually, that bar on main street is offering half price on all drinks if you show up in costume Halloween night.” Kendra added in Evelyn’s defense for a change. Normally Kendra just went along with whatever Adriana said.

“I thought Thursday was trivia night?” Hope muttered a bit confused.

“Thursday is trivia night, but since it’s Halloween they’ve also got the drink deal.” Kendra informed her.

“Halloween trivia sounds fun.” Evelyn added supportively, before sneaking in, “We could go trick or treating before trivia!”

“Why do you keep pushing this?” Adrianna blurted a bit fed up with Evelyn’s excitement.

Evelyn couldn’t understand why Adrianna was in such a sour mood today, but she earnestly tried to make her case, “I love Halloween you guys, it’s my favorite holiday. I love dressing up. If you don’t wanna do it because of the costumes, then do it for the free candy.”

“No, no, no! We already have a bowl of candy in our room!” Adrianna fired back.

“That’s been empty since Tuesday. Besides, this is FREE candy we are talking about.” Evelyn responded hoping her enthusiasm would rub off on her friends.

“No more candy for me! I’m officially on a diet starting right now.” Adrianna countered stoutly, as she crossed her arms in irritation.

“Come on, you look great!” Evelyn praised trying to cheer her up.

“I said I’d deal with my weight if it became a problem.” Adrianna reminded her, while she stood up, lifted up her shirt and let her beer belly hang out, “I’d say this gut is a pretty f*cking big problem!”

“Can I diet with you?” Kendra interjected, as she pinched her love handles and complained, “I’ve put on 10 pounds since the semester started. I feel so fat.”

“That’s nothing!” Adrianna boasted sticking out her tummy as far as she could, “I’ve put on 17 pounds!”

“Wow, that’s impressive.” Hope muttered trying not to laugh. She even had to cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.

“It’s not impressive, it’s disgusting!” Adrianna loudly proclaimed, as she plopped back down in her seat and covered her belly under her shirt again.

“Whatever,” Hope responded, while rolling her eyes toward the chesty blonde at the table, “How much have you gained Evelyn?”

“I… I haven’t gained anything.” Evelyn stuttered in astonishment that Hope would ask such an insinuative question.

“No way, your boobs look like they’ve gotten bigger.” Hope pointed out, as the attention at the table turned toward Evelyn’s expansive cleavage.

It was at this moment that Evelyn regretted wearing such a tight tank top today.

However, before Evelyn could utter a word in her own defense, Kendra jumped in and sighed, “I wish my weight went to my boobs instead of my fat butt.”

“Wish my weight went to my butt instead of my gut!” Adrianna vented as well.

‘The grass is always greener I guess,’ Evelyn thought to herself, while she added, “I would trade having big tits for a little chub on my tummy in a heartbeat.”

“You don’t wanna be part of the itty-bitty titty committee. Trust me.” Adrianna quickly countered.

“Yeah, I would! The big jug club sucks!” Evelyn fired right back totally serious. Her sincerity, mixed with the envy of all the other girls at the table, caused Hope to cover her mouth again to keep from laughing.

Catching the giggles from her, Evelyn began to crack up.

“You making fun of me Evelyn?” Adrianna accused with visible exacerbation from Evelyn’s last statement painted all over her face.

The hilarious look was what sent Evelyn over the edge to release a little giggle, “Hmhm!”

“Oh, you think something’s funny boobs?” Adrianna blushed, covered her big beer gut with her hands, and growled, “Tell you what, we’ll go trick or treating with you before we go to the bar on Thursday, but all the candy Kendra and I collect is gonna end up in your bag when we are done. We fatties gotta stick together, but a skinny-mini like you can eat all the free candy her heart desires. Is that a fair deal?”

“Fine by me. I have self-control. I can ration my candy.” Evelyn responded competitively, sensing the challenge in Adrianna’s voice.

The busty blonde couldn’t help feeling a little full of herself, with Hope being so skinny and Kendra and Adrianna looking so chubby, there was no disputing that Evelyn was now the most sought-after girl in their group. Although, such a distinction didn’t mean much, Evelyn was still off the dating market thanks to her long-distance boyfriend. A man that, as the semester went on, she found less and less time to text and chat with.