Project Fat Suit

Twenty-Six: When the Going Gets Rough, Join Facebook

“No, Rena,” he relied sternly. “We’re not leaving until I get my point across to you. You are destroying your future,” Kurt hissed at me. For the first time, I was experiencing my brother’s wrath . . . and it scared me. “What’s life if you’re just going to go through some of the most valuable years of your life as someone who you aren’t? Someone who opposites you in every way?”

I chose to look at him then, suddenly fuming. “What do you know?” I almost shouted at him. “You don’t know my intentions, Kurt. No one does. So stop acting like you do! How do you know if wasting my life? Why do you get to be the frickin’ judge?”

“Rena . . .” my brother said a bit softer. “I’m just worried about you. You haven’t been acting like you ever since you stopped talking to Uranus—”

“Trent,” I corrected.

Kurt looked shocked that I would use Trent’s actual name, but he shook his head. “Trent and Holly and Liam,” he finished his sentence. “You’ve been moody and really unpleasant to talk to.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, after letting a few minutes of silence to pass between us. “It’s just that I need to do this,” I explained, gesturing to my fat suit. “It’s important to me and maybe someday I’ll tell you why, but right now, I just can’t.”

Kurt nodded in understanding. “Please, at least just say hi to them once in awhile. I know that you don’t see it, but they brighten up your day more than you think.”

I just gave my brother a small smile, but I didn’t promise anything.

“Good, now that’s out of the way. I forgot to tell you something,” Kurt remembered as he backed up in the parking space, giving me a smile. At least he was back to normal now.

“What?”

“We’re going to be hanging out with Liam today!”

“What?” I repeated, ready to slap my brother for bringing him up after we just had an argument about him.

“We’re going to be hanging out with—”

Being ready to hit him the first he said it, I hit him in the arm in the middle of his sentence.

“Oww!” he whined. He bounces back fast. “Come on, Rena. Don’t you want to make a good impression on the person whose shoulder you fell asleep on?” We just had a fight and Kurt was already in the mood to tease me?

I groaned loudly as Kurt rounded around the school parking lot to the school’s front doors and saw Liam standing there with his hands in his pockets. “Kurt, I’m going to shove your ipod into my underwear drawer,” I informed him as Liam approached the car.

“Hey, Liam,” my brother greeted his friend as he opened the door cheerfully, completely ignoring my underwear comment.

“Hey, Kurt,” Liam returned the greeting.

Kurt punched my arm when he noticed that I wasn’t going to say hi to Liam and continued doing so until I slapped his hand away and scooted away from his reach. “Hi,” I said, sounding forced.

Liam didn’t say anything.

Well, this was going to be an awkward car ride.

“Kurt, today’s Friday,” I told him, remembering that it was indeed Friday. “I have duties to attend to and so does he.” I gestured with my thumb to Liam, who, by the way, had ditched daycare volunteer last Friday.

“I already told everyone you weren’t coming.”

“What? Why?” I whined. I needed my weekly dose of Sherry and my kids.