Chapter 1 - 1

Ally was a glutton. From her very first words, which happened to be "I want more cake!" to her teenage years she was a chubby little girl. By her twenties she was downright F.A.T! It was at that point she decided to do something about it. She forced herself to get more exercise, and kept her weight at bay by denying herself yummy food and tasty snacks. Her determination won out in the end, and whilst she never could have been called "skinny" she was certainly not fat anymore. She moved cities to make a break from her old fat life, met some new friends, met a boy and eventually they moved in together. She kept her humiliating fat past hidden at all times, not wanting any of her new friends to know what a porker she used to be, it was just too embarrassing.

But as the years went by her lust for food began to catch up with her once again. The occasional binge on pizza here, the occasional tub of ice cream there, second or third helpings of chocolate pudding dessert. Her boyfriend started to notice.

"I think you're getting a little too chubby lately babe," he had said to her in bed one morning poking her soft mid section.

Ally was mortified. She looked at herself in the mirror, she still looked the same to her, but through her own eyes she'd always looked a little too fat even when she wasn't. She sucked in her barely pudgy stomach and let it out again. She went downstairs and opened the fridge, determined to throw out every last bit of fattening junk food. Anything that wasn't healthy or low fat went straight in the bin. But when she got to a large block of chocolate she'd been saving something stopped her. She just couldn't do it, it looked so tasty. She broke off a piece and ate it, promising herself this would be the last chocolate she'd eat for a while. The same thing happened when she tried to throw out a large tub of chocolate fudge ice-cream. Her boyfriend discovered her later on the couch sleeping still holding the large empty tub of ice-cream. His presence woke her up and she saw him look up and down her physique worriedly out of the corner of his eye and then leave the room shaking his head. Ally felt her face flush hot with embarrassment and shame. She felt something else too though, something she hadn't felt in a long time. A curious rush of endorphins filled her mind. In her dreams she imagined herself hugely fat, gorging from tub after tub of ice-cream as her boyfriend watched on in absolute horror and disgust.

Ally was actually relieved when her boyfriend announced that he was going away on a business trip for a whole month. As she dropped him off at the airport she told him, "I'm going to start working out again, I promise! You wont even recognise me when you get back," she grinned optimistically. How little did she realise the vast underestimation of that statement, if only she knew how things were going to pan out maybe she could have stopped herself.

"That's awesome, I love you," he smiled and they hugged goodbye, Ally cringed as his hands sunk into her soft beginnings of love handles a little more than she'd have liked.

As she pulled into her driveway she noticed that the little antique shop next door to their house had a new sign. "Ample Bakery," it said.

Well that's just what I need! Ally sighed to herself sarcastically. Just as I'm starting a strict diet a bakery opens up next door, how perfect! She chuckled to herself and tried to stay positive. At least she'd be able to get fresh wholemeal bread, maybe they had other healthy options too.

Once inside Ally immediately attempted to work out. Unfortunately she was so out of shape that she began feeling tired after barely any time at all. She sat back down on the couch trying to catch her breath.

One step at a time I guess, she thought, I'll get my stamina up over the next couple of weeks I'm sure.

The rest of the morning she spent watching TV and casually surfing the Internet. With no one else around she quickly found herself feeling a little bored and found it hard to motivate herself to do anything else except relax and watch cartoons. Poor Ally was so out of shape that she was genuinely tired from her ten minute workout, combined with the rather early wake-up she'd had to make the airport run for her boyfriend, she ended up dozing off on the couch even though it wasn't even lunch time yet.

A knock on the door woke her up. She yawned and then groggily pulled herself up to answer the door. Who on Earth would that be? she sighed to herself feeling a little anxious. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with a stranger, even less a pushy door-to-door sales person.

She opened the door and there stood a young man in a Baker's hat, he looked a little nervous.

"Hello," the man said, "Sorry to bother you but I've just moved into the shop next door. It's a bakery... the shop I mean... I'm a baker, I was wondering if you'd mind switching driveways with me? My delivery driver's truck won't quite fit around the other side of the shop, and your driveway runs right past my side door. The bags of flour are too heavy to carry through the front, you see. I'd be happy to pay you something for the trouble, it'd just really make things run much smoother..."

Ally smiled listening to him anxiously ramble, she felt instantly much better

"Sure," Ally smiled, cutting him off, "I don't see why not."

"Really? Oh wow thank you so much, that's very sweet of you. I was really worried I was going to have to pay through the nose before you'd agree to that!" he laughed now looking a little more relaxed as he continued to ramble.

"Seriously it's no trouble," she said, "I'm Ally, welcome to the neighbourhood," she said, putting on her most neighbourly smile.

Ally felt good, she liked to be helpful. The shop's driveway was only about ten meters further away, and it was a sheltered path so it wasn't like she'd have to worry about walking a distance in the rain or anything, and whilst it was only ten metres further, she kind of liked the idea that she'd be getting at least twenty metres more exercise every time she used her car.

"Oh you're a life saver! I really thought I was screwed, I never even thought to check if the driveway was too narrow to take a medium sized truck. Am I rambling? Sorry, I do that when I'm nervous," the young man said taking a deep breath, after which he looked a lot calmer.

"That's cool I don't mind," laughed Ally.

"Well thanks again, it's so nice to know I have a friendly neighbour," he smiled warmly,

"I'm Noah by the way," politely offering her his hand.

"Ally. Welcome to the neighbourhood," she said shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you," they both said at the same time and then laughed about it.

Ally was smiling as she closed the door, feeling good about herself, and also happy to have made a good first impression with someone for a change instead of allowing her natural shyness to make her feel awkward.

She decided to use the good vibe to try working out again. She did some stretches, a few sit-ups (ouch!), a few squats (already out of breath) and then decided to push herself and do as many jumping jacks as she could stand, she'd only gotten up to about twenty-five before she felt her arms and legs getting tired but pushed herself to continue.

Unfortunately she was already sweating so much from being out of shape that a large drop of perspiration landed on the floor at her feet. Even more unfortunately the tiled floor she was working out on was quite slippery when wet. With the next wide stance jump her foot slipped out sideways from underneath her.

"***!" she yelled as she grabbed her leg in pain with one hand and used her other arm to help lower herself to the ground.

Oh damn! What the hell? This really hurts! she thought, feeling quite stunned and a little shocked at how much her ankle was throbbing.

She tried moving it.

"Aaahh!" she winced. She didn't need a doctor to tell her she'd sprained it.

She dragged herself over to the freezer to get some ice or a bag of frozen vegetable or something that would suit a make-shift ice pack. Dammit! She cursed as the empty inside of the freezer stared back at her. Grocery shopping had been another thing on today's to-do list. She slammed the freezer door shut and hobbled back over the couch.

She plopped herself down in a huff. It didn't feel fair, she'd been trying to be good and this was her reward? On top of all that she was hungry. She sat there sulking in silence for a moment frowning at her swollen ankle.

"What now!" she said with exasperation as she awkwardly turned around and hobbled towards the door. The pain in her ankle was getting worse by the second from aggravating it.

She opened the door standing awkwardly using the doorframe to support her weight.

There stood Noah the baker from next door holding a large box.

"Hello again, hope I'm not interrupting but I just finished making these and I wanted to thank you properly... Good grief are you okay?" he said as he saw her wince in pain struggling to remain upright.

"Yes I'm okay, well sort of, I just hurt my ankle is all..." she winced again.

"Oh my God you poor thing! Quick you need to sit down, don't put any weight on it," he said as he put down the box. He offered her his arm and helped her carefully back to the couch.

"Here you need to elevate it to reduce the swelling," he said as dragged her coffee table closer and put a couple of cushions on it.

Ally sighed in relief as the pain began to subside a little.

"Oh wow that looks bad, is it broken? Should I call a doctor?" he asked.

"No, no, it's just a sprain I'll be okay," Ally said quickly. She wasn't overly fond of doctors.

"Well, um, have you got any ice?" he asked clearly feeling uncomfortable about just leaving her like this.

"No I'm all out," Ally said, "I forgot to refill the ice tray last time I..." it was Ally's turn to ramble.