chapter 1

Eric sat at my computer making adjustments to our powerpoint presentation for high school history class. He was enjoying doing most of the work, so it seemed, so I made myself comfortable in front of the TV.

"Should I make the background blue? Or is that too boring?"

"It's an Ancient Egypt presentation, Eric. You are obligated to make the background a photo of the pyramids!" I jumped up and pushed him aside to google a picture of the pyramids.

"April, can I have seconds on dessert?" He asked.

"Of course."

He went back to the kitchen and came back with another large helping of my mom's chocolate cake. She wouldn't notice that more of it had disappeared. Her, my dad, my younger sister and brother, were all on the, um, large side. We ate a lot of food in this family, or rather THEY ate a lot of food. I was on the slightly curvy side, at 5'4" and 140 lbs, but they were BIG. Eric was pretty chubby himself. He had always been like that. He was one of my best friends since junior high school, when we were in drama club together.

I had hardly turned around and he had already wolfed down his cake. "Jeeze," I said with exaggerated surprise, "I wish I could eat whatever I wanted like that."

"You can" replied Eric.

"No. I'd blow up like a blimp."

"Are you saying there is something wrong with this?" Eric asked, patting his belly.

I laughed. "No, not for you at least. That's not what you meant."

"I know what you meant..." joked Eric.

I laughed again. "No! It just wouldn't be a good look for me. As much as I would love to stuff my face all the time, I don't want to face those kind of consequences."

Eric responded by getting up to go the kitchen and bringing me back a large slice of cake with a large glass of milk. It was nice of him and I indulged.



That cake must have set something off for me, because that entire week I couldn't stop eating. After Eric went home that night, I had two more pieces of cake and more milk, alone in my room so no one would notice. My stomach hated me for it; I felt bloated and lazy. I even had to take off my pajama bottoms.

My new appetite continued throughout the week. At first I was able to hide it from my family, but soon they noticed. They didn't think anything of it though, they just teased me a little because I was usually the one complaining about portion sizes at family meals being too big, but now I couldn't help getting seconds or even thirds. It didn't help that my room was downstairs next to the kitchen. All the other bedrooms in the house were upstairs. I was able to sneak snacks late at night, like chocolate milk or Pringles. I gorged myself and then stayed up watching netflix, absentmindedly massaging my soft, warm belly.

The weather that fall was pretty grim, so most weekends I stayed in and lounged about the house. Eric came over frequently. My parents were pretty trusting about us together since we had been "just friends" for so long, so sometimes we had the house to ourselves. Usually, we just sat around and ate stuff. It was during one of these times that Eric approached my about my apparent weight gain, which I had been subconsciously ignoring.

We were lazily hanging out in my kitchen, eating some ice cream Eric had brought over. He was always bringing over junk food because he knew my family appreciated it. I had started with a small bowl but it was gone before I knew it, so I got a second bowl and a large glass of milk. When I sat back down, my jeans seemed kind of constricting so I unbuttoned them without even really thinking about it or noticing that I did so. But Eric noticed.

"Did you just unbutton your pants so you could eat more ice cream?" He half-laughed.

"Umm. Yes?"

"Ok"

"Wh at? These pants are small" I said defensively.

"I'm just asking this as a friend... no judgement... are you gaining weight?"

I scoffed. "I don't think so."

"Well you've been eating a lot more than usual."

"Well I still don't eat nearly as much as you!"

"Hey! Don't get defensive. I don't care at all. I was just wondering."

I felt my tummy under my shirt, which happened to feel unusually tight. It felt much more squishy and tender than usual. "Do I look fat?"

"No!" He laughed. "No, I'm the fat friend. Not you."

I thought for a second. "Well, I don't feel fat," I said as I finished my second helping of ice cream.

"Are you still hungry? I am," Eric asked.

We microwaved some cheesy chicken tacos from the freezer and snacked on those the rest of the evening.