Created By

jennaferz

Rate this Story

Embed

Prologue

Denise shut her locker with a sense of relief. Eighth grade year was finally over, which meant that summer could officially begin.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and ducked her head down, hoping to avoid being seen by her classmates, but no such luck. As she rounded the corner, she slammed into someone, and all of her books tumbled to the ground. She scrambled to the ground, trying to pick them all up, as taunting comments were tossed her way.

"Don't get too much exercise, Turner, you might accidentally lose some weight!"

"Careful, Porky, your shirt's riding up, and none of us want to see the extra pounds you packed on today."

Face flaming, she shoved her books into her bag and fled, mumbling apologies as she knocked people out of her way. Finally she reached the door and, with tears streaming down her face, she exited this hell. Sliding into her car, she pulled out her compact to repair her streaked makeup. A pudgy, bloated face stared back at her from the glass.

She closed the compact and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. That's it, she thought. I'm not going through that ever again.

She laughed grimly. Well, good thing I'm spending the next three months at fat camp.

Chapter 1

"Denise Turner," the camp director called, and Deni went forward. Mrs. Kaleman smiled down at her.

"I think that you made the most progress out of everyone here," she said into the microphone, and instead of blushing as she would have only three months earlier, Deni just waited patiently with a small roll of her eyes as the audience applauded. "Everyone, say goodbye to a beautiful once-fat-now-hot graduate!"  She held out Deni's bags and she took them with a smile.

"Thanks, Mrs. Kaleman," she said in a low voice, smiling up at her. "I'm really glad I came."

She turned and went out to her car, tossing her bags into the backseat. As she opened the door to get in, a voice from behind her said, "Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?"

Recognizing the voice, she smiled before turning around. Michael stood there.

She could hardly recognize him from the beginning of the summer. Then, he had just been another fat kid, someone working to lose weight just like her. Now, though, he was a gorgeous guy, and someone that she had spent a summer fling on. That was all she believed it was--a summer fling.

He held out his arms to her and she walked into them. "I'll miss you," she told him.

"Yeah, I bet you will," he said with a grin, winking at her. "Look, Deni, I wanted to ask you--can I have your number?"

"Sure." She took out a pen and wrote it on his hand.

He shook his head as he gazed down at her. "You're going to forget me as soon as you get home because you'll have so many guys jumping all over you."

She laughed. "I could never forget you, Michael. You're my best friend."

He nodded. "I was afraid of that."

She bit her lip. "Maybe if we lived closer--"

"Spare me the lecture," he teased, smiling at her. "You'd better get going. I'll call you sometime, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." She gave him one last hug and slid into her car, honking the horn once as she drove away. She'd meant what she said. Maybe if they lived closer, she and Michael could have had something. But she didn't want a long-distance relationship. She wanted something real. And maybe now that she was worthy of being noticed, she could have something real.

She pulled into her driveway an hour later. Brushing her hair out of her face, she went inside, tossing the keys onto the counter. "Mom? Dad? Benny? Is anyone home?"

There was no answer, and she wasn't surprised. Her parents were most likely working, and Benny was probably at the skate park with his friends. She went into the living room and flipped on the TV, but there was nothing good on. Finally she decided she'd go to the mall. She was sure that her old wardrobe would be much too big now.

The minute she walked into her favorite store, American Eagle, she headed almost subconsciously for the maternity rack. Then, laughing, she corrected herself and went to look at the size smalls.

She walked out of the store an hour later, four shopping bags dangling from her arms, and waltzed around the rest of the mall. Almost every guy she saw was checking her out, and as she passed them she could hear their girlfriend's hissing angrily at them. She spent so much money she was sure that she was going to go broke, but miraculously enough she still had fifty bucks when she finally decided to go home.

There was still no one there, but as she pulled the mail out of the mailbox the one on top caught her eye.

Hey, Once-Fat-Now-Hot Graduate!

As a candidate for our top-weight-loss scholarship, you have been requested to come back next year as a counselor! We are sure that your success will be encouraging to people like the old you! Once again, congratulations, (your name here.)

Cordially,

The Staff at Once-Fat-Now-Hot

She rolled her eyes and tossed it into the trash. She had no intention of going back to that place. One summer had been enough, and her poor counselors had been so stressed out by all the midnight snacks and fourth-helpings that she did not want to try it.

She glanced at the calendar. School started in two days. For the first time since her first day of kindergarten, she actually felt a sort of excitement inside of her. She was going to make a brand-new beginning.