Chapter 1 Meet Mrs Chubby

• Tapping the steering wheel of her car, Elsa stared up at the neon gym sign, and wished she was one of those natural beauties who didn’t have to be considering this on a Saturday.
• She wanted to be at home, in her bedroom studying, or even going over to her friend Kimberley’s house, but no, she had decided to make a change.
• It was the start of school, and she didn’t want to keep being known as “the fat girl”.
• She would be going away to college next year, and the aim was for the new her to be gracing the halls of the college she picked.
• First, she needed to get her ass out of the car and into the gym. She had already paid for her membership over the phone.
• When she was asked if she’d like a personal trainer, she declined.
• There was no way she was having some woman, or worse, some guy telling her she was too fat. If she needed that, she’d work out at school.
• “I can do this. It’s just about going on inside, getting my pass, and hoping no one sees me.”
• She had gone over to the next town in order to be covert about what she was doing.
• Blowing out a breath, she grabbed her bag, and just decided to go for it. She was going to go in there and start a whole new life for herself.
• There were a couple of cars in the parking lot, which was a good sign.
• Maybe everyone would stay at home, and she’d never meet another person. She’d be in and out before anyone even knew it.
• I can do this.
• Happy me here I come.
• But she was happy, for the most part. Her father never judged her.
• He only went along with what her mother said, if he was even paying attention.
• Of course, her mom did love her, but she just wanted her to be better, thinner. God, she hated that.
• “You’d be so happy, Elsa, if you just lost a little weight. You’d get invited to parties, and you may even have a boyfriend.”
• Those were her mother’s words pretty much every week.
• Most parents wanted their daughters locked away so no guys came near them.
• Not her mother, no, she wanted her daughter to have a boyfriend, and maybe even go to a party.
• Her father was a criminal lawyer, a really good one who made a shitload of money for his trouble.
• So her mother was part of some country club, and Elsa refused to participate in the games that other mothers did by entering their daughters in beauty pageants.
• If it wasn’t for her grandmother interfering when she was five years old, she’d still be fighting to try to win.
• Elsa hated beauty competitions, and there were times she hated how her mother caved to pressure from other mothers.
• Anyway, that was stressful for another time.
• She was a good student, never caused trouble, and her one downfall: she was fat.
• Up until a week ago, Elsa didn’t care about her weight.
• She liked to eat, and she liked to cook.
• Her paternal grandmother was an amazing cook, and had always told her that back in her day, she’d be considered a hot piece of ass, and full women would soon make a comeback.
• So Elsa had stayed happy in her own skin.
• Then last week she’d left her bedroom to go and get a glass of milk, and heard her mother sob as she broke down in front of Bill, Elsa’s father.
• “I don’t know what to do, Bill. I’m the complete laughingstock of the club. Elsa hates me, and all I want is what is best for her. I’ve seen her walking through town, and besides Kimberley, she has no real friends. No boys.”
• “We should be happy she’s not coming home pregnant. I heard Gate’s daughter had been caught last week, and he had to handle it. Now there is a shotgun wedding. We don’t want that for Elsa.”
• “I don’t want her to be miserable, Bill!”
• Elsa had heard so much pain, so much fear that she had decided that enough was enough.
• She was going to make her mother proud of her, or at least stop stressing about her.
• Entering the gym, she walked up to the main desk, where a chipper looking brunette was typing on the computer.
• “Can I help you?” she asked. Her name badge read Sarah.
• “I’m Elsa Quinn. I called the other day.”
• “Ah, yes, Bruce told me you were coming.”
• Sarah left her chair, going to a little box behind her that she unlocked with a key.
• “Here is your key, your access pad. This allows you into many different parts of the gym including the, erm, pool. It’s cleaned on a Saturday until nine, but after then, you can go right on in. Are you with a personal trainer?”
• “No, I’m just going to do this myself.”
• “Oh, okay. We do advise all new starters to have a personal trainer to help them see where they should focus during their workout.”
• “I’m just going to hit it running, and hope for the best.” Her cheeks were heating, and she was so embarrassed. “I’m going to go.”
• “Okay, have a nice workout, and if you need anything, please let us know. We want you to have a full treatment experience at Bruce’s.”
• Elsa nodded and made her way toward the door with a stick figure of a girl on it.
• “The new me is just exercising away. Once I start, there is no turning back.”
• She held in a whimper and pushed through the door, determined to try this out.
• The changing rooms were empty, and she found a cubicle, locking the door behind her.
• “So far, so good.”
• She didn’t waste any time in getting changed into her workout gear, which was a pair of shorts that were a little tight and one of her father’s old ratty shirts.
• Her mother wouldn’t allow her to buy clothes bigger, so she made do with what her father gave her.
• Tying her ratty brown hair back into a ponytail, she was good to go.
• She found a locker with a key, stashed her crap inside, and left.
• Entering the main gym, she didn’t have a clue what she was doing, but she was surprised at how many people were actually there.
• Entering a room with running machines, she saw at least ten people, six men and four women.
• Staying at the back, she stared at the scary looking running machine. It couldn’t be that hard to get started.
• Stepping onto it, she looked at all the buttons, and pressed for the machine to walk.
• “Okay, I’m going to walk. This is going to be easy.”
• She muttered the words under her breath wishing she’d brought some kind of music.
• “Can you believe he wanted me to eat a salad with the dressing?” One of the women was talking so loud that Elsa couldn’t help but listen in.
• “Really? That’s got like a thousand calories.”
• “I compromised and allowed there to be chicken, but then they went and added cheese. I mean seriously, there’s no way I was going to go for that.”
• Great, it’s a health nut.
• What was the point in eating at all if you forgo the meat and the dressing? It was just a bowl full of lettuce. Ew, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
• The image of her mother sobbing made Elsa keep on walking, and she ignored the conversation going on up front.
• There was not going to be a change to herself unless she worked out, and worked out what she was going to do.
• She only hoped her diet would allow more than a bunch of leaves in a bowl.
• ****