Chapter 1 - Part 1

The students tittered as Grant reached for the maps above the chalkboard. He could feel the blush starting as he pulled down both the maps and his shirt, which had ridden up over his rounding gut. I knew I should have picked up some new work clothes at the big and tall store yesterday, he thought. *But I just bought this shirt a couple of weeks ago! I thought it would last longer.* There was no denying it – if he was going to be gaining this fast, he needed to buy clothes two sizes bigger rather than just one. He sighed and turned back to the class. “Homework for this weekend is to create a map of the Middle East, labeling major imports and exports, and with a short history of each country.” While the class gave the expected groan, something caught his eye. “And Jessica, you can give me that note you just got from Tori.” Jessica rolled her eyes as she handed the folded paper to him. He opened it to find a drawing of a grotesquely fat man dressed as he was, with the caption ‘Mr. Parker the Hutt’ written underneath.

He turned to Tori. “Did you draw this?” he asked quietly. Tori squirmed and nodded. “See me after school lets out.”

“I can’t, I have drama rehearsal until 4:30,” she said sullenly.

“Then you’ll come in after that.” The bell rang as he turned back to his desk. “I’ll see the rest of you on Monday.”

As the students filed out, Grant dropped heavily into his chair. It was a noticeably tight fit, and the springs groaned at the sudden load. He looked again at the note in his hand. It was really quite a good drawing - lots of detail in the rolls and folds of fat, the curve of the triple chin, the bulging tightness of the clothing. *Not too far off,* Grant thought as he looked down at his huge belly and rubbed it thoughtfully. The idea aroused him, and without thinking he reached into his snack drawer. Just that morning, he’d brought in 4 boxes of Hostess pies and 2 boxes of king-sized Snickers bars. His stomach rumbled in anticipation, and Grant was amazed that he was hungry again so soon after lunch. He usually left the school campus to hit a few of the many fast-food places in the area. Today he’d had large combo meals from three different places, and stopped at a fourth for a huge ice-cream shake. And yet here he was only two hours later wolfing down pastries. He always hoped that none of the high-school students that he saw out on his lunch break ever compared notes and realized that he had been seen at three or four restaurants on the same day. *Of course, if they see me like this,* he thought looking at the note, *I guess it won’t matter too much how I got that way.* He got busy grading papers, continuing to munch as he wrote.

4:30 came much more quickly than he had expected. As Tori came into the classroom, Grant realized that he had a mountain of wrappers from his ‘snack’ piled up on his desk. He swiped them all into the trash, and motioned for her to sit at a desk near his. As she slouched down into the chair, Grant noticed that her short t-shirt rode up over a little pot belly of her own. *Wait, I thought Tori was a cheerleader. How’d she get so chubby?* He recalled that Tori had recently been released from the squad. He’d thought at the time that it was due to her declining grades, but looking at her plump face and tight waistband he wondered if she’d gotten too fat to cheer. Grant tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, but he found it hard not to look for more signs that she’d recently put on more than a few pounds.

He cleared his throat. “This drawing is pretty good. I may even keep it in my ‘best of passed notes’ file.” Despite her embarrassment, Tori grinned. “Still,” he continued, “I’m guessing you didn’t pass this to Jessica for her to critique your art. Would you care to explain?” He shifted his wide ass in the tight chair.

Tori shrugged. “I guess I thought Jess would think it was funny.”

“And how would you feel if you found a note like this about yourself?” he asked.

She blushed, her eyes darting to his quickly before returning to the floor. “I- I guess I wouldn’t like it.”

“You guess?” he responded, “You guess you wouldn’t like it if someone made a drawing of you that showed you as hugely fat, and labeled it ‘Tori the Hutt’?”

She squirmed and tried to pull her t-shirt down to cover the bulge at her waist. Her blush got brighter, and she said nothing. He realized that she was looking at his belly, which had become exposed again as his sweater rode up. *Damn it,* he thought, and he fought the urge to grab another candy bar as he wrestled the tight fabric back into place. *This is not supposed to turn me on.* He fussed with some papers to help himself remain composed.

Tori spoke again. “I, um, should know better, really. I’ve been getting a lot of teasing lately for this,” she said, patting her soft gut. “I think I was hoping it would make Jessica forget about making fun of me, but I think it backfired. She was laughing with her friends and looking at me during rehearsal this afternoon.” Tori avoided his eyes, looking out the window. “I just can’t seem to stop eating lately. I’m hungry all the time, and I eat until I think I’m going to explode. In fact, I’m surprised that I’ve only gained forty pounds. It feels like I should weigh about four hundred!”

He looked at her in surprise. “You look great to me,” he said, inwardly cursing himself. *No, no, NO! Don’t say that!* He couldn’t help but look over her new curves. “Really, society is much too concerned about weight,” he continued, “Your note is hardly the first comment about my fatness, and it certainly won’t be the last.”

Tori looked at him in wonder. “How do you get through that?”

“Well, I know I like food, and I know that I’m going to be at least this fat for the rest of my life.” He rubbed his huge belly. “This isn’t going away, and I kind of like that. So what does it matter what anyone else thinks?”