Fat Chances (4 page)

“UGH!”
I groaned, jerking my knee away from his hand. The pain was unbearable to the touch. I clenched my teeth to keep from groaning again.

“I think you need to go to the emergency room and have it checked out. You might have cracked your knee cap. There may be fluid building around it. His eyebrows knit together as he looked up at me.

“So, what? You’re a doctor now too? Let me guess, a nutritionist, a Zumba instructor and a doctor? Jack of all trades, master of none, right?” The sarcasm was thick in my voice.

“You are absolutely right, but please don’t tell anyone,” Cory replied, laughing. His eyes gleamed when he put his fingers to his lips, swearing silence. I wanted to be mad at him for taking advantage of me, for stealing my first kiss without asking me, but his smoldering eyes and gorgeous smile was making it too damned hard.

“What the hell is all this?” Molly hollered.

And I couldn’t help but wonder, too.

I could only imagine how it looked in Molly’s eyes when she saw Cory kneeled on the floor beside me with his hand on my leg.

“Are you two deaf? What the hell is going on here?” She spoke through clenched teeth, glaring at the both of us with her piercing blue eyes. Cory looked at me, raising his thick dark eyebrows, then turned to Molly. I held my breath, waiting and wondering what he was going to say to her.

“Uh
… what’s your name … it’s Molly, right?” Cory asked sheepishly. Both of our mouth’s dropped. Molly was appalled that he didn’t remember her name. I, on the other hand was shocked. Although, I had to admit it was kind of funny. I had to force my lips together to keep from laughing.

“Yessss! It’s Molly,” she hissed
with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. Her cotton candy pink lips were curled back into a snarl. Cory stood up, so that they were face to face. He didn’t have to bend his neck as much to look at her like he did with me, Miss Shorty.

Cory didn’t notice
or seemed too bothered by the fact that she looked as if she was ready to punch him in the face. And I think that pissed her off even more. She tilted her head to glance past Cory, but I quickly turned my head and looked out the small glass window in the door. My mind was racing as quickly as my heart as I waited to hear what Cory was going to say to her.

If she ever found out that he kissed me
...
Oh my God! Our kiss! Please don’t tell her about our kiss. Please, or we’ll both be chopped liver.
My heart thumped wildly within my chest as I tried to shift my weight onto both feet. My good leg was starting to go numb. I gasped when my knee nearly gave out from under me. I quickly grabbed hold of the door for support. Cory turned to look at me, giving me another worried look. Then he turned back to face Molly. I could have sworn that I saw smoke rolling from her ears. She was livid. I could see that she didn’t like Cory looking at me or giving me any kind of attention at all.

“Listen, your sister needs to go to the hospital. I think she may have fractured her knee cap.” He was genuinely concerned as he bent down and gently touched my knee again. I flinched. Not because of the pain, but
from the wave of heat that rushed through my body as he kept his hand on my knee. My face was on fire. I was afraid to look at Molly for fear that she would suspect something.

“Ohhh!”
Her mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ when she spoke. “Well, then, I guess I should take her to the hospital,” she said with as much enthusiasm as I felt about going to the Zumba class. I shook my head in disbelief. Molly walked over to me and gently put her arm around my shoulder, doting on me like she was a loving, caring sister. But I knew better. It was all just an act to impress Cory.
Yep, my twin sister Molly … she deserves the Sister of the Year award,
I thought sarcastically.
Someone, give that girl a medal or better yet a big, fat double chocolate chip cookie so that she would gain back the ‘ten’ pounds that she lost. I looked into Cory’s curious eyes and flushed when I saw that he was staring back at me. A tiny smile started to curl in one corner of his mouth when he saw my cheeks turning red.

“I can take her ...
” Cory volunteered, but Molly quickly interrupted him.

“
NO!
I mean…we can both take her, can’t we?” she asked Cory in her sweet, innocent voice as she leaned toward him. I shot a quick glance at Molly. She kept glancing back and forth between the two of us and then at Cory’s hand that was still resting on my knee. I quickly snapped my leg away from Cory’s hand as he chuckled lightly.

“Sure we can both take her to the hospital. Just give me a few minu
tes 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 watch
ing 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 en
d 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, especiall
y 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 closet. 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.