Making Lila Fat Again

Chapter 1

Lila had always been the big girl in high school. It wasn’t just the word people whispered behind her back, it was a label that clung to her no matter how good her grades were, no matter how sweetly she laughed, or how hard she tried to blend in.
But graduation was a turning point. College wasn’t in the cards yet, so she stayed home, working long shifts at the local café, walking everywhere instead of taking the bus, and little by little her body began to change. By the time her old classmates came back from their first semester away, Lila was almost unrecognizable.
For the first time in her life, men actually noticed her. Not in the mocking way boys in high school had, snickering at her size, but with double takes and lingering glances that made her pulse quicken. Even guys who once wouldn’t have spared her a glance now seemed eager to be around her.
That was when she saw him.
Ryan Matthews. The star quarterback, the one whose smile had made every girl in school melt. Back then, he had barely looked her way, except maybe to laugh along when his friends did. Lila froze when she spotted him at the grocery store, his tall frame still broadshouldered, his confidence radiating the same way it had in the hallways.
He blinked at her, almost not believing what he was seeing. “Lila? No way…” His eyes ran over her, openly, shock flickering across his face. “You look..different.”
Different. That was putting it lightly. She gave him a careful smile, half proud, half nervous. “Yeah, well… I guess I’ve changed a little.”
Ryan chuckled, shaking his head as though she’d played a trick on him. “A little? You dropped, what fifty pounds? More? Damn, I barely recognized you.” He said it like it was an achievement, but there was something else in his tone too. A note of disbelief. Maybe even disappointment.
From that day on, Ryan started appearing more often. At the café during her shifts. At the gym where she walked on the treadmill. Even at the park, where he’d “coincidentally” be jogging laps. At first, Lila thought it was sweet, that maybe he was finally noticing her for who she was.
But slowly, she realized his compliments had a strange edge. He’d grin and tease, “Don’t get too skinny now, Lila. I always thought curves looked good on you.” Or he’d bring her milkshakes from the café, insisting she “deserved a treat after all that hard work.”
And though Lila laughed it off, deep down she wondered if Ryan was really interested in her now… or was he attracted to fat Lila?