Chronicles of a Fat Teenager (Complete - Sequel coming soon)

Chronicles of a Fat Teenager - Chapter Seven

"What are you two laughing at?" Called Claire as Lucy folded her arms in indignation behind her. The rest of the clones quickly followed suit and mirrored Lucy's stance. 

Jess glanced over at them, steering her and Beth across their path and up the steps towards the school main doors. Her smile remain fixed and perfect as Beth glanced at her before making her way awkwardly up the steps. 

She always had to take these steps carefully as they were steep and Beth's thighs were heavy to lift. Jess slowed her pace down to compensate for Beth's cumbersome movements, never breaking her grip on Beth's arm. 

The girls watched them suspiciously and Lucy called over, "Claire just spoke to you. Are you blanking us now then? Bloody charming!" 

Jess squeezed Beth's arm to signal her to stop. Beth secretively sighed in relief as her heart pounded in her chest and her thighs burned. She'd tried to climb the stairs as quickly as she could but a few steps away from the top, her legs felt like jelly and she could feel her airways tighten a bit. Instinctively she reached for her inhaler in her jacket pocket. 

"Not ignoring, no!" Jess called down to them, "Just a private joke between Beth and me."

Lucy darted a spiteful look towards Beth who took a deep breathe and pressed her inhaler twice, releasing two spurts of instant relief into her mouth. 

"Looks like the whale is having trouble with her blow hole from that joke, Jess. Careful, wouldn't want her keeling over on you.  You'd be crushed."

Jess shot a concerned look at an already recovering Beth and then back at Claire who'd made the hurtful comment. 

"Claire, you really don't know when to wind your neck in, do you?" Jess called. "I thought I'd made it clear on Saturday that I'm sick of your shit - all of you clones. Just leave us be, ok?"

"Us?" yelled Lucy, "You and Lady Lard-arse are an "us" now?"

"We prefer the Princess and the Porker thanks!" Beth shouted, quite politely considering the insult she'd received moments earlier. 

She looked around, blood rushing to her cheeks as she realized they had drawn a crowd. Jess and the Clones naturally drew attention wherever they were. Their perfect clothes drew attention from aspiring fashionistas in the lower form groups. Boys would fall into two categories, the covert glancers and the overt ogglers. The goths, metal-heads and geeks all avoided crossing their paths for fear of being publicly teased by the Clones. They oozed confidence, smelt and looked heavenly but their cruelty and vindictiveness was devilish. People would either avoid them, conform and try to win their favour or confront them. Suddenly Beth found herself in the final category when she was more accustomed to the first. 

Beth's retaliation had an immediate effect and passers by became avid onlookers, those who needed to get to classes suddenly slowed their pace as they could sense an atmosphere developing on the steps of the school. Beth was aware of a few mobile phones being taken from pockets and realized some were beginning to record the exchange. 

"Come on, Jess, let's go!" insisted Beth quietly, gently clasping Jessica's arm. 

"Yes run along!" goaded Lucy, "Or in your case, fatty, waddle away!"

Beth heard Jess hiss and watched her friend walk slowly back down the steps until she was only yards away from the group, Claire at the front with her chin firmly set and hand on her hip. 

"Claire, you thought High Tops were a boy band before I set you straight. And Lucy, didn't you used to wet the bed up until a couple of years ago? All of you have something to be ashamed of, your little dark secrets you only shared with me. And yeah, I know you all probably have something on me, but the difference is now, I'm free of all your bullshit popularity bollocks. I'm happy. Properly happy. Messed up, but happy! How many of you can say that? So unless you want me to share your little dirty secrets on Facebook or Tweet, like ... ummmm ... let's see ... I don't know ... oh yeah "Hashtag Third Nipple" then I'd leave us the fuck alone!"