Size 12 Is Not Fat

by Meg Cabot

  It turns out this is a pretty common symptom of shock, too. But again, I hadn’t known that at the time.

  “Rachel was right,” I remember saying, bitterly. “She’s right! I had it all, and I blew it. I’m the biggest loser in the world.”

  That’s when Cooper forced me to sit up, took me into his arms, and said, very firmly, “Heather, you’re not a loser. You’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Anyone else, if they’d been through what you have, what with your mother and my brother and your career and all of that, they’d have given up. But you kept going. You started over. I’ve always admired the way, no matter what happens, you just keep going.”

  I’m sorry to say that at this point, I responded, “You mean like that little pink rabbit with the drum?”

  I like to think that was the shock, too.

  Cooper played along. He’d said, “Exactly like that little pink rabbit with the drum. Heather, you’re not a loser. And you’re not going to die. You’re a nice girl, and you’re going to be just fine.”

  “But…” To my shock-clouded brain, this assertion sounded troubling, given my earlier conversation with the woman who’d been trying to kill me. “Nice girls finish last.”

  “I happen to like nice girls,” Cooper had said.

  And then he kissed me.

  Just once. And on the forehead. The way, you know, your ex-boyfriend’s big brother would kiss you if, say, you’d been attacked by a homicidal maniac and were suffering from shock and he didn’t think you’d remember it anyway.

  But I did. And I do.

  He thinks I’m brave. No, wait: He thinks I’m one of the bravest people he’s ever met.

  And he likes me. Because he happens to like nice girls.

  Look, I know it’s not much. But you know what?

  It’s enough. For now.

  Oh, and one last thing:

  I never did go back to that store and buy those size 8 jeans. There’s nothing wrong with being a size 12, for one thing. And for another, I’ve been too busy. I passed my six months’ probation. I start my freshman year at New York College in January. My first class?

  Intro to criminal justice.

  Well, you have to start somewhere, right?

  About the Author

  Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. Armed with a fine arts degree from Indiana University, she moved to New York City to pursue an illustration career, but when that failed to materialize, got a job as the assistant manager of an undergraduate dormitory at New York University instead, writing novels on the weekends (and whenever her boss wasn’t looking). Meg has since gone on to publish over thirty novels for younger readers as well as adults, including The Princess Diaries series, Boy Meets Girl, The Boy Next Door, and Every Boy’s Got One. She now divides her time between New York City and Key West with her husband and their one-eyed cat, Henrietta.

  Be sure to check out Meg’s websites: www.megcabot.com, wwww.megcabotbookclub.com

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  By Meg Cabot

  SIZE 12 IS NOT FAT

  EVERY BOY’S GOT ONE • BOY MEETS GIRL

  THE BOY NEXT DOOR • SHE WENT ALL THE WAY

  ALL-AMERICAN GIRL

  READY OR NOT: AN ALL-AMERICAN GIRL NOVEL

  NICOLA AND THE VISCOUNT • VICTORIA AND THE ROGUE

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME II: PRINCESS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME III: PRINCESS IN LOVE

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV: PRINCESS IN WAITING

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV AND A HALF: PROJECT PRINCESS

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME V: PRINCESS IN PINK

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME VI: PRINCESS IN TRAINING

  THE PRINCESS PRESENT: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

  PRINCESS LESSONS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

  PERFECT PRINCESS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

  HOLIDAY PRINCESS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

  THE MEDIATOR 1: SHADOWLAND

  THE MEDIATOR 2: NINTH KEY

  THE MEDIATOR 3: REUNION

  THE MEDIATOR 4: DARKEST HOUR

  THE MEDIATOR 5: HAUNTED

  THE MEDIATOR 6: TWILIGHT

  THE 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU BOOKS

  WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES • CODE NAME CASSANDRA

  SAFE HOUSE • SANCTUARY

  Credits

  Cover design and photograph by Chika Azuma

  Copyright

  SIZE 12 IS NOT FAT. Copyright © 2006 by Meg Cabot, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  ePub edition December 2005 ISBN 9780061752186

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Cabot, Meg.

  Size 12 is not fat / by Meg Cabot.—1st. ed.

  p. cm.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-06-52511-8 (acid-free paper)

  ISBN-10: 0-06-052511-8 (acid-free paper)

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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