The Fat Girls Club

Chapter 3

I’m gaping at the door for an unreasonable amount of time before my mom appears behind me, all dressed and smelling delightfully like flowers, and wraps an arm around my shoulders.

“Surprise,” she whispers in my ear and I can hear the smile in her voice, but I can’t tear my eyes away from him. What is happening?

“Let’s let our guests in, shall we?” She beams and I step aside so she can greet all of her old college friends. My parents have been close with the Taylors and Turners for years at his point but it has been an eternity since we have all hung out together, especially with my mother building her restaurant from the ground up while supporting our family full time and of course the passing of Kallum’s mother. Captain Taylor had been the only member of his family that had stayed in town after his wife’s accident, Kallum and his brothers going to live with their grandparents a couple of towns away.

My dad has been in-between jobs for the last couple of years after his dismissal from the fire academy, and although he would never say it, I knew it put a strain on all of his relationships. Which makes me wonder whose idea it was to plan this surprise in the first place.

Mr. Taylor send Mr. Turner both waltz past me, barely recognizing my existence, and head straight towards the kitchen where my dad is walking out of. Their greeting is very heartfelt and after a few claps on the back and manly hugs, they disappear into the kitchen and after a few moments, the sounds of opening beer bottles can be heard. The three men are very boisterous and although they haven’t seen each other consistently over the past few years, they pick up right where they left off with little to no awkwardness. I can’t say the same for myself and my former best friend who is pre-occupied with talking to Asher. Funny, I was under the impression that they were not friends.

“You’ve grown to be such a beautiful young lady.” Who I’m assuming to be the new Mrs. Taylor smiles at me sincerely and I can’t help but fidget under the attention. “You probably don’t remember me, you were just a little girl when I used to babysit you and Kallum over there,” she adds then it clicks, she was the Taylor’s babysitter when we were kids. Maya. The giant rock on her ring finger confirms my suspicions.

She hugs my mother very tightly and they share a long quiet moment of communication seemingly with their eyes and before long all the guests have entered the house. Unlike his brothers, Kallum doesn’t pay much attention to me other than one fleeting look in my direction. My heart aches for him especially knowing how close his mother and his now stepmom used to be.

His oldest brother E.J. engulfs me in a bear hug before moving on and joining the dads in the kitchen while his middle brother, Zeke, tries to ruffle my hair but fails as I was anticipating the attack and dodge it in the last moment.

“I see you’ve still got your fast moves, Puff,” Zeke winks and throws a playful smile in my direction.

“Always.” I nod sheepishly with somewhat pride over the fact that I can still hold my own with these boys after so long. They gave me the nickname Puff because Kallum and I would play outside for hours and at that point whatever hairstyle my mother had tried to give me to contain my hair, it would still always end up breaking free in little cloudy tufts. Zeke wraps his arm around my shoulder and walks me away from the door, leaving my mother to welcome the rest of the guests. I am secretly thankful because I was not prepared for the awkwardness that came with coming face to face with both the twins and Kallum after all of today’s events.

“Hello? Earth to Cora,” Zeke playfully nudges me.

“Oh, sorry,” I blush, “Did you say something?”

“I said give me the grand tour, Puff. It’s been years since-” He stops mid-sentence and halts his movements.

“Zeke?” I step out from under his arm and turn to look at him. I’m about to ask what stopped him so abruptly when I notice his widened gaze on the wall.

No. The pictures of every single embarrassing moment in my life span out over the wall, highlighting all of my regrets. I had never considered telling my parents to take them down because I knew it made them happy and besides that I never had to worry about anyone who’s opinion I cared enough about coming over and seeing them. Until now.

He doesn’t hesitate before doubling over, bursting out into laughter so hard and loud that he has to clutch his stomach, his wavy shoulder length hair falling over his face. I try my best to shush him, but he just moves on to the next picture, his laughter doubling in volume.

“Hey, keep it down,” I whisper yell, looking behind me to make sure that the other guests haven’t heard his outburst.

“Is that you in the bath with,” he pauses to try and regain his composure but fails miserably and ends up letting out another loud cackle, “with floating poo?”

“Can you quit it,” I demand, “this embarrassing enough. I don’t need the whole of the house hearing you.” I cannot survive the twins seeing this and using it as more ammunition against me.

Instead of listening to me he grabs one of the pictures on the wall and starts cooing in a condescending baby voice about how cute and chubby I was as a child and when I try to grab the frame out of his hands, he extends his arm and holds it up high so that I can’t reach it.

“I am not playing this game with you, Zeke,” I say with no hint of humor in my voice. “Give it back.”

“Zeke.” Kallum stands in the opening to the hallway, unamused. “She said give it back.” He growls, stepping up to his older brother. Seeing Kallum out of our usual uniform is jarring especially now that I am able to have a proper look at him without the initial shock of everything. He's wearing a simple black t-shirt and black jeans but it’s how he's wearing them that catches me of guard. The confidence in his every move would be enough to make me think that he's dressed in a full suit rather than a tee and jeans. The dark ink that swirls up his left arm makes my breath catch in my throat. I have never seen his tattoos up close before and even at this distance I can barely make out the intricate designs.

“Careful who you’re stepping up to now, little brother.” Zeke follows suit and steps closer to his brother with a mischievous glint in his eye. He still has a half smile on his face, but his icy tone makes a chill run up my spine.

The two boys are similar in height but different in every other aspect. Where Kallum is stony faced clad with chains, combat boots and black painted nails; Zeke is forever grinning in his oversized sweaters and messy hair. But I don’t let his easy-going exterior fool me, this boy was the subject of his brother’s nightmares for years when we were children.

“Give it to her,” Kallum repeats, not faltering in his position even when his brother steps even closer to him.

“Or what, lover boy?” Zeke teases and Kallum’s jaw clenches along with his fists and sensing that things might get out of hand, I step in between the two boys, grabbing the picture frame out of Zeke’s hand. Before turning to face him.

“Thanks, Zeke,” I say, very clearly dismissing him. He continues looking into Kallum’s eyes with that mischievous grin for a bit longer before looking down at me.

“It was good catching up, Puff.” He ruffles my hair before striding into the dining room down the hall.

“Thanks,” I whisper to Kallum, my eyes fixated on his combat boots rather than his face. This is the third time he’s saved me in one day and I can’t help but feel embarrassed. When he doesn’t respond I look up at him and his eyes are still fixated down the hall where his brother disappeared and the look on his face is murderous to say the least.

Not knowing what to do or say, I rather quickly busy myself with grabbing the handful of pictures off the wall before he too gets a glimpse into my own public hall of shame. There are about a dozen different pictures and when I go to reach the ones placed higher up, I huff in frustration because I am too short and its pointless really.

My frustration is short lived however because without saying anything, Kallum is reaching over my head and grabbing all of the pictures that are too high for me to reach. He barely looks at the picture before handing it to me and I am so grateful because I don’t think I can handle any more embarrassment today. It’s not long before I’m standing in the hallway with my arms full of picture frames and Kallum is just looking at me as if trying to read my emotions.

“I’m, uh, gonna go put these in my room.” I awkwardly walk past him and as I turn to climb the stairs, I can feel his eyes on me with every step that I take. When I almost trip, I hear him laugh and I am horrified. I turn back to glare at him and what he does next baffles me the most, he smiles. A familiar genuine smile that reaches his eyes. The last time I saw that smile was in his backyard tree house when we would giggle until our stomachs hurt and point out inappropriate shapes in the stars. His smile was full of metal then, often stuffed to the brim with chocolate bunnies and I almost smile back at him. Almost. Now that smile is just a reminder of what could have been, but never will be.

He must notice the change to mood on my face because he frowns and tilts his head to the side, his eyes questioning mine. He raises his foot to climb the stairs but before I see if he is following me or not, I am already halfway to my room and slamming the door behind me after that.

“Shit.” I didn’t mean to do that.

Kallum’s sudden fascination with me is something that I have not yet been able to fully grasp and I can’t help but wonder if there is some ulterior motive to him trying to get close with me again. I hurriedly stuff the picture under my bad and just as I’m about to walk out, I quickly fix the bed and throw away a few stray pieces of paper and candy wrappers, you never know who might find their way in here. I dispel that thought from my mind before I’m blushing too hard.

When I get back, Kallum is still standing at the bottom of the stairs, just casually leaning against the railing as if waiting for me, a frown still evident on his features. Could he be waiting for me? I can’t help but go down the stairs extra slowly with my fingertips trailing the railing because he has not looked up yet and I am scared my legs will fail me once again when he does. I don’t have the chance to see if my theory is true because moments later my mom is calling my name and I am rushing past Kallum without even a glance in his direction.

“What happened to all the pictures on the wall?” My mom frowns in confusion.

“Uh, nothing. I don’t know.” I shrug, trying my best to look genuinely confused. In any other situation I would have answered her truthfully but the many pairs of eyes that are on me right now don’t allow for that.

“Cora,” she challenges knowing that I cannot lie to save myself.

“I took them down earlier to dust them,” my dad steps in, sensing what’s going on, “must have forgotten to hang them back up.” My mom does not look convinced.

“It’s okay baby, we’ll show them another day.” He rubs my mother’s shoulders and leads her past me into the dining room, their guests following closely behind.

“Aw, too bad. I was really looking forward to seeing little baby Cora,” Heather pouts, “C’mon, Kallum you can sit next to me.” She bats her eyelashes at him, and for a reason I’m not sure of, anger wells up in me at that.

“I’m good,” he dismisses he without ever taking his eyes off me.

“Suit yourself,” she scoffs and marches away.

“You good, C?” Kallum asks me and that nickname makes my heart flutter. I haven’t heard that in years and it stirs up an emotion in me that I don’t think I’m ready to face.

“Yeah,” I sigh, already feeling exhausted from this dinner that hasn’t even taken place yet, “let’s go eat.”

He eyes me for another second and not really in the mood for his silent scrutiny, I lead the way into the dining room, hearing his heavy boots thudding behind me.

We walk into the dining room and mostly everyone has found their seats at the long rectangle table with only two left right next to each other between my dad and Asher and without hesitation I sit next to my dad who is at the head of one end of the table. Kallum takes the seat next to mine and on his left are the twins then Kallum’s oldest brother, E.J. Across from myself is my mother and next to her is Principal Turner and her husband. At the other end of the table sits the proud Captain Taylor with his wife and middle son to his left.

Once everyone is situated in their seats, my dad stands while tapping a fork on his beer filled glass, waiting for everyone to quiet down.

“Well, we would like to thank everyone for coming today.” He winks at my mom who lovingly squeezes his hand in response, the small gesture puts a smile on my face. “As we know it was a special day for all of our children and even though life has gotten quite hectic over these past years, hopefully this is the one of many celebrations we get to share with one another. Cheers!”

“Cheers to that!” Captain Taylor raises his glass in response and so does everyone else around the table.

“Oh, and please enjoy the food. My wife spent hours slaving over the stove,” he adds before my mom is hushing him and pulling him down to sit. The food on the table looks absolutely delicious and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. When the dishes are passed around, I don’t hesitate in indulging, knowing that I’ve had a really long day and my mom’s cooking never fails to make me feel better.

“Someone has a big appetite,” Mr. Turner, the twin’s father, comments looking directly at my plate and I halt my actions, shrinking back in my seat, “Heather and Asher over here are athletes and have to stick to strict diets to maintain their bodies. Isn’t that right, darling?” He looks over to his daughter.

“That’s right, Daddy.” Heather preens with barely anything on her plate. I can tell that I’m not the only one affected by this as Kallum glances at me and the thought that he could be judging my plate makes the situation much worse than it already is.

“We don’t believe in diet culture in this household,” my mom retorts while filling her own plate with a mountain of food. My heart aches because I know that she definitely cannot finish that amount of food but is only doing it so I don’t feel bad.

The next 15 minutes all that can be heard is cutlery scraping against plates with the occasional hums of approval and soft chewing. My appetite is completely gone, and I try my best to not make it obvious that I am barely eating. It’s not that I don’t want to eat, I know better than to deprive myself of food. It’s just that I would be much more comfortable doing so if there weren’t insensitive comments made at my expense.

“Eat, darling,” my dad whispers in my ear so softly that only I can hear him and when I look across the table my mom is mouthing one word to me, eat. I sigh and bring the fork to my mouth and it’s not long until I’ve forgotten the comments that were made and enjoying the meal that my mom put her heart into. I do catch Kallum trying to sneak glances at me and he’s not very secretive about it, in fact I catch him every time but when I look at him, there’s no judgement in his eyes, just plain curiosity.

“This food is delicious, Leah,” Principal Turner pipes up. “It was a long day at school today, I really needed it.” She sighs, resting her elbows on the table and gently rubbing her temples in slow circular motions.

“What happened?” My mother asks curiously.

“A student’s locker was very badly vandalized.” I choke and everyone around the table turns to look at me.

“Sorry,” I say quietly, not needing any more attention directed at me.

“Get this,” Principal Turner continues, “this is the third year that this has been happening.” Kallum slowly turns to look at me at that with widened eyes. I ignore him, suddenly very interested in my plate of food in front of me.

“Vandalized how?” Heather innocently asks while forking food into her mouth.

“Well, it looked as though an assortment of desserts and sweets had been stuck on the student’s locker among pictures but by the time I go there, most of the pictures had been torn up beyond recognition and there was a dent the size of a fist in the metal.”

“That’s horrible,” my mother gasps.

What dent? What pictures? I think I’m going to be sick.

“Kids don’t just act out like that except when it is warranted,” Mr. Turner declares.

“What do you mean, Steven?” My dad questions tentatively after a moment’s reflection.

“I mean that I have been on the board of that school for years and more often than not, those behaviors are often in reaction to something,” he says confidently, “Meaning that whoever had that done to them, surely deserved it.”

Kallum’s fist clenches on the table and I hold my breath.

“Yeah, sure because victim blaming is always the way to go,” Kallum says sarcastically, not even looking up from his plate.

“Excuse me, boy?” Kallum’s dad rises to his feet looking down at his son from across the table. The man is intimidating enough as it is but as anger laces his words, I mentally flinch feeling sorry for the person his rage is aimed at. Kallum stiffens beside me, keeping his eyes downcast.

“Uh-oh.” Zeke sits back in his chair looking very entertained. Everyone else around the table is deathly still, not knowing what to do in this situation.

“I’m talking to you boy!” Captain Taylor bellows across the table, slamming his meaty fist on the table and I can’t help but visibly flinch, my chair audibly scraping on the floor. My dad stands up at that.

“Elijah, calm down, I’m sure the boy didn’t mean it,” he urges Kallum’s dad to sit down but Captain Taylor ignores his request.

“No, Byron. I am not going to be humiliated by a little boy running his mouth at my friends. Apologize boy!” His voice booms and it feels as though the entire table is shaking.

“Kallum,” Maya, his stepmom cautions softly, and I can’t imagine him ever listening to her especially because she was just a freshman in college when she used to babysit us. Kallum slowly stands up and in that moment with the look in both their eyes, I’m not sure who looks scarier between Kallum and his dad and I’m even more scared of what is about to happen.