“Sure we can both take her to the hospital. Just give me a few minutes to gather up my things. I’ll meet the two of you in the parking lot. We can take my Mustang,” he said, smiling at me. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat as Molly and I both watched him walk back toward the stage. I couldn’t be certain, but I could have sworn that he jiggled his ass as Molly and I watched him walk away.
The two of us walked or in my case, limped through the side exit door of the school and out to the parking lot. I felt Molly’s eyes watching me as I quickly spotted Cory’s Mustang parked at the far end of the parking lot.
Half way through the parking lot, my knee began to throb. “Wait a minute,” I groaned, bending over to rub my knee. I could feel heat radiating through my jeans as it continued to swell.
“What did you do this time?” Molly groaned, sighing heavily, and rolled her eyes at me. I wanted to bitch slap her. I mean, seriously. I didn’t ask her to take me to the hospital and I certainly didn’t ask Cory to take me either. Frankly, this whole thing was getting beyond ridiculous.
“What does it matter to you? Why should you even care?” I snapped. I hated fighting with her, but lately she has been impossible. I mean sure, we would have an occasional sibling fight over something stupid, like who took the last Klondike bar in the freezer or the time she took my favorite shirt and wore it to school without asking me. But this fight was different. I knew a lot of it had to do with the guilt that I was feeling. My guilty conscience was getting the best of me. I knew that I should just confess and get it over with, but I could see that she was really hung up on Cory and if I told her about him kissing me, well ... that would devastate her. I couldn’t do that to her.
“Well, Cory seems to care that you are a limp biscuit. Why is that?” Molly’s words were like venom spewing at my face. I could feel my blood boiling as I tried to control my anger. I knew that if I told her about the kiss that it would shut her up real quick, but I couldn’t do it. Even though she was acting like a first class royal bitch, I still loved her. She was my twin sister. My only sister.
“Hell if I know! Maybe he feels sorry for me. The fat chick who can’t walk,” I said in a low tone, trying to change the ugly tension that had formed between us. But deep down I wondered if it were the truth. Maybe he was only giving me attention because I’m fat. Just like the kiss. He probably gets his jollies off taking advantage of fat girls with low self-esteem…..like me.
“YES! That has to be it,” she agreed, clapping her hands together. I snapped my head at her, appalled that she agreed with me. I mean, really. I know I am fat ... okay ... obese, but she wasn’t exactly a Slim Jim herself. And whatever happened to moral support? I know some people find overweight people repulsive. Hell, even I feel that way about myself sometimes, but come on. We were twins, not identical twins, but we’re similar in a lot of ways. The only difference was that she was three inches taller than me and better proportioned. Molly lucked out and inherited our father’s long legs. However, I took after our grandmother, having a short wide body with short legs and an ass as wide as a bus.
My mother always said that I should look on the bright side. I probably inherited my grandmother’s wide child bearing hips. Ugh!!! Like that was supposed to make me feel better, knowing that my hips would be able to squirt out six children without blinking an eye. Uhhhhh ... Yeah! Good Times.
I glanced over at our red truck that was parked at the other end of the lot. “Give me the keys,” I ordered, holding out my hand. She gave me a peculiar look while scrambling in her purse for the keys.
“Why do you want the keys?” Molly asked, holding them in front of my face, taunting me.
“That’s none of your concern. I’m capable of taking myself to the hospital without having you two tagging along,” I replied, jumping up to snag the keys from her hand.
“OWWWW!” I screamed as pain shot through my knee and down my leg. Molly quickly put her hand under my arm to support me.
“Annie, don’t be stupid. Let Cory and I take you to the hospital,” she replied. I cringed when she lovingly emphasized her and Cory’s name together.
“Molly, are you stupid? If I take the truck then he will have to take you home,” I hinted, tapping her on the side of her head. I hated the idea of the two of them being alone together, but what I hated more was the idea that Cory was only helping me because he thought I was a fat invalid. A huge smile spread on Molly’s face when she realized what I was saying.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Good luck!” I choked, then turned around and walked as fast as I physically could toward the truck. The pain was unbearable, but I blocked it out of my mind and kept walking. I wanted to be out of the parking lot before Cory came out of the side door.
Just as I painstakingly crawled into the truck, I noticed a large group students swarming out of the front doors and into the parking lot. A wave of panic rushed through me as I put the truck into drive and laid my foot on the gas. The truck gave a loud roar before peeling out of the parking lot. I looked in the rearview mirror behind me to see Molly waving her hands. I moved the mirror to the left to see Cory walking toward her with a disgusted look on his face.
When I pulled into the driveway, the front of my shirt and jacket were soaked with tears. Stupid, unwanted tears. I hated this. I hated what Cory was doing to me. One kiss and my life had completely turned upside down. I couldn’t eat or sleep. Shit, I couldn’t even read one of my romance books without thinking about him and his stupid, perfect, glorious body. I glanced down at the three fat spare tires that formed around my waist and screamed. I hated my body. I hated my life. I wished I could just grab them and rip them from my body, but then visions of me lying on the ground with my guts hanging out filled my mind, reminding me of something out of a zombie movie.
I walked into the front door and threw my jacket and backpack on the floor next to the wall. I had a ton of homework, but I didn’t care, which was unlike me. I loved school. Hell, I even loved homework, especially writing book reports. But now, none of that mattered to me. The only thing that I could think about was Cory and Molly and wondered what they were doing. I could kick myself for leaving her alone with him. I should kick myself now for letting one or two little kisses screw with my head.
After getting a bottle of water from the refrigerator, I slowly walked up the steps and into my room, slamming the door behind me. I wanted to throw myself onto the bed and have another crying fit, but my aching knee kept me from doing so. I sighed heavily knowing that I was eventually going to have to make that dreaded trip to the emergency room. I decided to wait until Mom got home. I’d rather have her take me than Cory or Molly.
I carefully layed across my bed and buried my face into the pink satin pillowcase and screamed. I was grateful that Mom and Wayne weren’t home to hear me or they would have come running into my room thinking I was being murdered or something.
After my crying fit, I rolled over and glanced at the clock. It was 3:15. Molly would be home at any minute. Or should be! Panic welled up inside me. What if Cory decided to take Molly to the mall for a milkshake or a frappe from McDonalds? My heart sputtered when I thought of the two of them sitting somewhere laughing and talking over a mocha frappe. Nahhhh … I told myself. Cory Shields is a fitness buff. Mocha frappes weren’t something that existed in his diet.
I needed to get up and do something or else I was going to drive myself insane, thinking about the two of them.
I slowly stood up from my bed and looked down at my swollen knee pressing tightly against my jeans, which made it throb even more. I decided to put on sweatpants. They would feel more comfortable. As I hobbled over to my dresser, I heard a vehicle pull into the driveway, so I looked out the window and saw a silver Mustang parked in the driveway. Panic shot through me when Cory stepped out of the car. I didn’t want to see him or her. I wanted to hide, but where the hell could I go? Sliding my fat ass under the bed was out of the question and so was standing in the clo
set. It was jammed packed with bags of books that I had been meaning to take to the Goodwill store, but kept putting off. Damn it!
The front door opened as I stood there in my bedroom looking for a place to hide, but like all else, it was a bust.
“ANNIE!” Molly screamed my name. It wasn’t a pleasant ‘Annie, I’m home’ scream. It was an ‘Annie, where the hell are you?’ scream. My last hope was to ignore her and pretend that I didn’t hear her. I hurried and grabbed my MP3 player that was sitting on my dresser. Then as quickly and as quietly as I could, which I knew was a stretch because my bed always creaked when I sat down on it, I slowly sat on my bed and lifted my legs up so that I could lay down. I turned the volume up as loud as it would go then closed my eyes, pretending to be lost in the music.
I laid there stiff as a board, listening to Muse’s Super Massive Black Hole. Every few seconds I tried to ignore the blasting music to see if I could hear anyone coming up the steps. I flinched when I felt a cold draft blow past me. I knew then that someone had opened my door and came into my room. It seemed like minutes went by and yet no one said or did anything. I wondered then if the cold blast was just my imagination. I slowly opened my eyes.
Ugh! I jerked so hard that I nearly fell off my bed. Cory was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. There was an unusual look on his face. I couldn’t determine whether he was pissed or amused. His lips were curled into a small smile, but his eyebrows were arched into a frown.
“What the hell are you doing in my room?” I yelled, pulling the earbuds from my ears while the music still blasted. He stood there for a moment, staring at me, making me nervous. I tried to stand up, but my knee buckled out from under me and I fell back down on the bed.
“See? You can’t even stand up!” He hollered over the loud music. I grabbed the MP3 player and turned it off.
“So what? What does it matter to you? You still didn’t answer my question. Why are you in my room?” I yelled. It wasn’t that I didn’t mind him being here, I just didn’t understand why. Why won’t he just leave me alone? Why would someone as handsome and as perfect as Cory bother with a two-ton Tilly like me? There was only one explanation. JERK! He liked to prey on fat innocent victims who had little or no self-esteem. Fat girls who would do anything to have a boyfriend or to just be acknowledge by a boy. He was the kind of guy who would chew on you for a while and then spit you out like a stale piece of gum.
“I came because I’m worried about you,” Cory replied. His tone softened as he took another step closer to me. I wanted to hold my hand up and tell him to back off, but part of me wanted him to come closer. I was destined to be his next victim. I could feel myself falling into his man trap. I could hear my voice echoing for help as I continued to fall into the bottomless well of his affections that would forever torture me for the rest of my life.
“Well, don’t be!” I snapped, slowly pushing myself off the bed, making sure that my knee wasn’t going to give out on me again. I started to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. For a second, my eyes bobbled in my head as I tried to focus on his face.
“What do you think you are do …” And before I could finish the sentence, his lips were covering mine. They felt like fire against mine and his big strong arms wrap around my fat waist. FAT WAIST! UGH! I opened my eyes and quickly pushed him away from me.
“What? What’s wrong?” He breathed, staring at me cautiously.
“NO! I will not be the girl you can chew on then spit out when I become stale,” I screamed as tears flooded my eyes.
“Annie! What are you talking about?” Cory asked, holding out his arms, wanting me to come to him. But I kept backed away farther from him.
“ANNIE! WHY ARE YOU CRYING?” Molly bellowed as she stomped into my room.
“Get him out of here!” I screamed at both of them. “I can’t take this anymore!” Molly looked first at me, then at Cory, as her eyes glared with suspicion.
“Okay, I’m leaving,” Cory replied, and without another word he turned around and walked out the door. I turned away so that Molly couldn’t see the tears streaming down my cheeks. She huffed at me then slammed the door behind her. I could hear Molly calling Cory’s name as she ran down the stairs after him. I pulled the curtains back to peek out the window at them. I could see that they were having a heated discussion, more on Molly’s part, though. Cory leaned against his Mustang with his arms crossed over his chest, as she continued to wave her arms at him, raving about something. I snapped the curtains shut when I saw him glance up at my window.
“ANNIE!” He hollered. “ANNIE!”
I leaned back against the wall, clutching the front of my shirt, shaking and sobbing as he continued to holler my name. Why is he doing this to me? I froze when I heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. My heart felt like it was about to explode as I waited to see if it was him. I gasped when he appeared. His dark eyes were wild and in two giant steps, he was in front of me. I held my breath, waiting for him to say something.
“I can’t take this anymore either.” And with that he thrust his lips to mine, pulling my body hard against his, leaving no space between us. The last thing I remembered was hearing a series of gasps coming from the doorway, but I didn’t care. I was lost in our kiss.
Chapter 4
I sat in the front seat of Mom’s Buick as she drove me to the hospital. Tears were steadily streaming down my cheeks, not because my leg was throbbing or because Mom was yelling at me. She came home to find Molly and I (well ... more Molly) in a screaming match with Cory standing between the two of us, trying to quiet us down. I was crying because I felt like the world was out to get me. Why does life have to be so complicated? I have a gorgeous Zumba instructor who can’t keep his lips off of me—although I still think he’s playing head games with me—and now I just had the worst fight ever with my sister.
Molly was blaming me for trying to steal Cory from her. Cory tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t pay any attention to him. She kept pointing her finger in my face calling me a back stabbing whore. That’s when Mom walked in the door. Cory then explained to Mom about my knee and offered to take me to the hospital, but Mom told him that he should go home and she would take me to the emergency room. Cory left quietly without saying another word or looking back at either one of us.
“So, who is this Cory that you and your sister are fighting over?” Mom finally lowered her voice, trying to get to the bottom of what was really going on. I turned my back to look out the window. I didn’t want to talk or even think about it anymore. I hated Cory! I hated Molly. I hated my life!
We pulled into the parking lot of the hospital just as it started to freezing rain.
“Shit! I don’t have an umbrella,” Mom moaned. I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I continued to stare out the window. I loved my Mom, but sometimes she could be such a drama queen. God forbid she got her hair and nails wet. I wanted to tell her that she wasn’t going to melt like the wicked witch of the west if she got a little wet, but I bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut. She pulled out of the parking spot and drove around the lot a few more times until she found a spot closer to the entrance doors. By now the freezing rain had turned into big slushy snowflakes. I chuckled quietly when I heard her squeal as she got out of the car. I didn’t care if I got wet, so I took my time getting out. Honestly, my knee was hurting so badly that I couldn’t have hurried if I wanted to. Mom continued to squeal as she came running around the car, helping me stand and walk toward the entrance doors.
We sat in the waiting room for over an hour before someone finally called my name. After spending another half an hour getting x-rays, they sent me to another room to wait for the results. As I lay on the hospital bed with my eyes closed, I heard mother’s voice in the hallway, asking where I was.
“Yes, she’s behind the curtains over there,” a nurse informed her. I heard two people say thank you, then their footsteps resounded within the room as they walked toward me. M
y eyes shot open as I strained to pull myself up on the hospital bed, quickly pulling the thin white sheet over my body. The ugly paisley printed gown that the nurse gave me to wear was two sizes too small, barely covering my fat body. Also, the nurse had given me two ice packs to keep on my knee until the doctor came in with the results.
“Hey, Sweety! Are you alright?” Mom asked peeking in from behind the curtains. She had a strange smile on her face, a smile that I couldn’t decipher.
“I’m just sitting here waiting for my results,” I replied, yawning, mostly from boredom even though this day turned out to be the longest and worst day of my life. I couldn’t imagine it getting any worse.
“Well, you have company,” Mom announced as she turned to look behind her and I could feel my blood pressure rising. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. It was humiliating enough that the doctor and nurses had to see me wearing this hideous gown. “Who? I don’t want any visit ... ” My mouth dropped when I saw Cory walking through the slit in the curtains. His dark eyes gleaming as he held out a small bouquet of flowers.
I could feel the blood draining from my face as I quickly grabbed the thin white sheet and pulled it to my chin. I didn’t want anybody seeing me like this, especially him.
“Wha … What are you doing here?” My voice cracked. Mom laughed when she saw my reaction. I was wrong. This day just kept getting worse. It was official. My life was a freaking nightmare. Having Freddy Kruger from Nightmare on Elm Street come and kill me would be a blessing right now.
“I came to see if you were alright. I felt bad leaving without saying goodbye earlier,” he said as he laid the flowers on the bed beside my leg then sat down in the chair beside me. Mom grabbed the other chair and placed it on the opposite side of the bed. I blew out a jagged sigh and closed my eyes, praying that I was just having a bad dream. Then a nurse came in. Now what?
Fat Chances Page 4