Chapter 19B - Kate

Kate returned to an empty apartment, exhausted from a multi-week stay with her family in Minnesota. Returning to the mid-west was like returning to a whole different world. Everything moved a heck of a lot slower, and life was a heck of a lot less complicated. Having been bullied over her weight for most of her youth, There weren't many great memories from her hometown to look back on with nostalgia, so Kate welcomed coming back to campus.

Just like the prior winter holiday, this one marred itself with extended family who hadn't seen her in a year. Everyone always flooded her with adoring comments of how slim and beautiful she had become or how great she looked now that she'd lost a bunch of weight. Though Kate knew it was an open admission that they thought she had never been beautiful before she was skinny, she gobbled the compliments up. Being fat her whole life, Kate grew up being deprived of positive comments on her appearance. As a direct result, even today, her confidence had never risen to align with the body she now had.

Throwing an overstuffed suitcase on her bed, Kate opened it and started unpacking clothes. The vast majority of the clothes were not for her.. they were for Nicole. It had once again come time for her to size as much of Nicole's wardrobe as she could. If her plan was going to continue, she needed to keep Nicole in the dark. Though this particular part of her plan was starting to get expensive, it was necessary. Kate was beginning to see the fruits of her efforts blossom and knew she was far from done enacting her revenge. Kate just hoped that Nicole hadn't lost any weight since they'd been apart.

Reputation, Popularity, Boyfriend, and Body. All of these things needed to be ancient history. Increasingly, Kate had gained interest in destroying Nicole's relationship with Carl. Ever since Halloween, the two individuals who spent the most time with Nicole started talking more casually and getting to know each other more. The more they spoke, the nicer of a person Kate found Carl to be. He was too good for her, and he deserved better.

As Kate unpacked her clothes, she came to the bottom of her suitcase and her heart rate increased. Being home in rural Minessdoa, Kate's secret fetish hadn't gotten a lick better. Just driving around the hometown and seeing the farms did nothing to douse her kink that had been resurging since Halloween. Since that night she had gone out dressed as a cow, Kate had spent late nights on fetish sites reading and masturbating to erotic stories about girls getting willingly and unwilling turned into dairy cows. Kate would imagine herself as the character in the story that continued to push Kate's fetish to limits she had never imagined.

Kate's heart rate had increased because she saw the latest Christmas present to herself at the bottom. It was a new tail that she had ordered from Etsy, much better than the cheap one she had squirreled away in her panty drawer. It was handcrafted, with wool, made with natural red hair at the end that matched hers. Kate took it out and attached it inside the rear of her belt loop. Kate walked over to her bedroom mirror with quivering legs and building arousal, turning her butt towards it. Moving her hips back and forth, she simulated the movement of her fake tail while she flushed at her actions. It was hard for Kate to stop herself from rubbing her crotch over the front of her pants, softly moaning as her eyes fixated on her backside. With each rub, she willed a real tail to grow from her own tailbone so she could raise it high in the air like a true horny cow.

While Kate got lost in her embarrassing thoughts, she was shaken out of them, feeling a buzzing in her pocket. Breaking her concentration, a flustered Kate grabbed her phone a saw a few texts from Nicole.

Nicole: Hey, When are you getting back?! I'm going to the mall soon and wanted to know if you wanted to come. (11:04 AM)

Nicole: Well... since you didn't answer me.. LOL. I'm at the mall now. Headed to Lululemon to get some new fitness gear. I'll need a second opinion on my picks when I get home. (12:32 PM)

Kate froze at those words. Exercise gear? Shopping? There was a lot there to worry about, as Kate felt her plan was in jeopardy. Yanking the tail off her backside, Kate stuffed it away in her drawer and worked quickly to replace Nicole's smaller clothes with the oversized ones. Damage control was underway. Besides the clothes, Kate had always had a backup plan ready to go, hoping she'd be able to be convincing enough for the airhead.

Shortly after Kate finished, she sent a text to Nicole but didn't get a response. Waiting a whole hour, Kate started to get worried, fearing the worst. While she waited, Kate got a text from Carl that made her smirk. The seeds she had planted were starting to bloom. Kate enthusiastically replied to his text of concern.

Midway through Kate's text conversation with Carl, Nicole came bursting in the door, and Kate could instantly tell something was wrong. After Nicole saw Kate, she started crying and moved to embrace her roommate. The hug almost took Kate off her feet, but she held firm. If there was one silver lining here, it was clear Nicole hadn't lost any weight over the holidays.

Tenderly, Kate patted Nicole's back. "What's wrong, honey. It's okay, you can tell me. Did Carl say something to you?" Nicole was resting her head on Kate's shoulder, finding comfort there.

She was beginning to let up on the tears. "No, it wasn't Carl" There was a long pause, "I'm... I'm... I'm fat." Nicole was wailing again at what she had just admitted.

Kate's heart sank. The party was over. Everything Kate had worked for was done. Nicole was going to start dieting, would be hitting the gym, and Carl was going to stay with her.

No, Kate knew she was better & smarter than this. This would not be the end. Kate was cunning & intelligent. There was a way out of this—time for Plan B.

Kate put her hands on Nicole's shoulders and pulled her away from the embrace. "What?!"

With a half confused, half sorrowful look, Nicole looked up at Kate. Her crying had stopped. "... I'm fat."

With her eyebrow raised, Kate looked right into Nicole's eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Nicole wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "I'm fat. Aren't I?"

With that small bit of doubt, Kate knew she had her. "No! Who told you were fat?"

Though her personality was neither happy nor sad, Nicole pressed on. "I saw myself in a mirror. I mean, look at me. I'm fat. Right?" Taking a few steps back, Nicole pivoted her body as if she was displaying prime evidence.

Shaking her head, Kate kept the lies coming. "Well, you'd better get that mirror checked out cause all I see is Nicole. The same skinny Nicole."

She was a little more at ease, but Nicole still seemed unconvinced. "But I saw it with my own eyes." She looked down at her belly. "Can't you see my tummy? It sticks out now!

Blankly staring at Nicole, Kate poured another lie down her throat. "Yea. I see a flat stomach if that's what you're talking about. I can also see your ribs."

Slowly, Nicole started to move her hand towards her belly, as if she meant to touch it. Inches from contact, she seemed to have a change of heart and flinched her hand away. Instead, she bounced several times on the heels of her feet. "Did you not see that? Did you not see that.... jiggle? It's fucking huge and gross, Kate!"

Putting a hand over her mouth, faining a shocked face, Kate sprang her trap, "Oh dear. Nicole, I don't see anything. Are you okay? I mean, I've been worried about you for a while now, but this is too much. It's gone too far now."

Genuinely confused, Nicole scratched her head. "Wait? What are you talking about?"

Kate performed, starting to cry. A trick she had learned growing up as the only girl in a family with two brothers. "You've just been losing weight since we started living together, Nicole. Too much weight. I don't...I don't know what to do... and now this. I've been trying my best to keep you away from the truth, but it wasn't enough. I knew you'd have to face it someday. Nicole....I think maybe you have an eating disorder."

Nicole stood there, dumbfounded. Seemingly unable to process what she had just heard. "What? no...no, I'm not. That's crazy. That's absurd." Her voice filled with doubt at her denial of the preferable reality.

"I'm sorry, Nicole. At first, I just thought you were losing weight, but if you think that your fat, then that confirms it."

Standing there blankly starring into space, Nicole looked as if she was starting to believe it. Of course, she wanted to believe it. Kate knew that Nicole would rather be too skinny than too fat any day. "It just can't be, though. I mean, I saw myself. I feel bigger all over. How can I see myself one way but look another way?"

Kate moved close and touched Nicole's shoulder. "That's exactly what an eating disorder does. It creates a false perception of yourself. It creates a version of you that you'd fear to see."

Nicole was still standing there looking lost. "But I eat all the time.. don't I?

Shaking her head, Kate tiled Nicole's chin down, so their eyes met. "Not nearly enough. You convince yourself that what you eat is a lot. It's not. And now I think you have body dysmorphia. If you see yourself fat when you're clearly skinny, then all of what I'm saying is true."

There was a long pause as that statement sat there for Nicole to process. Kate watched the gears turn in Nicole's head and hoped that her roommate was as dumb as she knew she was. Suddenly, something clicked in Nicole's mind, and Kate knew that her work was over. "Oh, Kate. You have to help me! I never thought I'd have an eating disorder or body dysmorphia. This is terrible! This is awful! What do I do?"

Kate hugged Nicole, who had started to cry again. "There there. Everything is going to be fine. I'll help you through this, but you're going to have to listen to me from now on. No matter what you see, no matter what you think, you have to know that you're not fat. You are a beautiful skinny girl, and everyone knows it."

Even through the tears, Nicole smiled. Her vanity was consuming Kate's words. "Thanks, Kate. I don't know what I would do without you. You're an amazing friend. What.. What should I tell Carl, though?"

"Tell him nothing. Act as if everything is normal. We'll keep this a secret between you and me until you get better. That means you're going to have to start eating a lot more, and you cannot go to the gym until you're healthy again. I can't have.... No, I won't have you waste away."

kissing her on the cheek, Nicole nestled into Kate's shoulder. "Okay, Kate. Whatever you say. If you can help me get better, then I'll do as you say."

"Go get changed into something more comfortable, and then we'll talk more." Kate sighed a massive sigh of relief as Nicole walked away. Going to her room, Kate laid down on her bed and decompressed from the stressful situation. The biggest acting stunt of her life had worked. Kate had not underestimated Nicole's naivety, paired with her arrogance. A dangerous pairing that combined seemingly to convince Nicole that she wasn't fat and never could be. For the introverted Kate, the ceiling almost seemed to be spinning in circles as she looked up from her bed. The pure mental dominance she had enacted over Nicole was unprecedented.

Moments later, Nicole nearly came running in. "Kate! My clothes feel loose on me. These clothes have never felt this loose! You were so right! It's all be in my head!"

She was wearing extra-large sweatpants that were practically falling off of her. Nicole had one hand on the elastic waistband to keep it up. Nicole was also wearing an extra-large t-shirt. The material did not contour to her body but looked pretty loose on her. Due to the combination of Kate's ingenuity and Nicole's gullibility, This crisis had been averted.

Together in Kate's room, the two went over the causes of eating disorders on the internet. Stress, relationship anxiety, fear of gaining weight, etc., etc. Nicole felt each of these rationales applied to her. This further cemented her new warped perception of herself. Not only did Nicole think she was still skinny, but she now thought she was underweight.

After the research, Kate brought her into the kitchen. There she concocted Nicole a prescription of chicken Alfredo pasta for her false malady. She stood over Nicole, making sure she ate until she couldn't physically eat anymore. After dinner, Kate helped Nicole to bed since Nicole had become overburdened with the fattening food. As Kate pulled the covers over Nicole, she couldn't help but feel accomplished. Even though this was legitimately the evilest thing Kate had ever done, She still felt justified. In Kate's mind, Nicole deserved this. Kate looked down at the sleeping fool, who had instantly fallen asleep, and smiled. "Sweet dreams, fatso."