I take things too literally.
I’ve always taken things too literally my entire life. People could say one thing as a joke or as a figure of speech; and I would take their word for what they said. That of course did not come in handy when my year 8 boyfriend told me to “Suck his dick” as a joke, let’s just say he was mortified, broke up with me and the next day told the entire school that I tried molesting him.
Which was strange, I would have thought any pubescent 14 year old boy would have enjoyed a girl playing with their private parts. It wasn’t my fault though, he knew I took things too literally, sometimes I think he did it on purpose so he would have an excuse to break up with me. Not that it matters anymore, that was 4 years ago.
I live in a small country town in England, you know. One of those small towns where everyone knows each other and the biggest crime of the year was someone stealing Mrs. Lancaster’s petunias off of her front porch. Although it was a small town; everybody in my town had the same nick name for me; Potbelly Penny.
I know it’s stupid, but it’s what everybody knows me as, and I can’t exactly blame them. I’m that girl with the bulging belly and the jiggly thighs and the chubby face that my mother keeps on insisting is cute; you get the idea. I’m overweight. I wasn’t happy with myself at all, but I was too lazy to change. I would have those typical teenage girl breakdowns when I looked at myself in the mirror, but I suppose every girl has those once in a while.
My best friend was the exact opposite of me; skinny, pretty and perky. All the boys loved her, all the people in our town loved her if I’m being honest. They often wondered why she was even friends with me, and I did the same, but we had been friends since we were in our diapers, and I was glad to say we were inseparable. Her name was May.
May and I were out for lunch at a small café in my town, going out for lunch was a usual thing for us. The waiter walked over to our table; a lanky brunette named Steve, I remember seeing him around school when I was in year 9.
“May I take your order ladies?” he spoke, not even looking at me, but directly looking at May as if she were a piece of meat.
“I’ll just have a blueberry cheesecake with a side of chips thank you.” May spoke, as she looked over at me, signalling me to give my order.
Now, although I was overweight and would give anything to change that about myself, I never controlled my eating habits. If it wanted to eat, by lords name I would eat.
“Double patty beef burger, large chips, a steak, red velvet cupcake, and a large coke thanks.” I said shyly, knowing damn well that the waiter was judging me.
“Is that for the both of you to share?”
“Uh, yes.” May spoke hesitantly, knowing it would just embarrass me if she said otherwise.
"How would you like your steak done?" He asked, looking over at me.
"Well done, thank you."
“Okay, I’ll be right back with your food.” As the waiter left the table, May looked at me with a disappointed look on her face.
“What?” I scowled, looking down at my hands, knowing what I was about to hear.
“Penny, you know I think you’re beautiful, but you need to control what you eat! It’s just not good for you.”
“I don’t mind being fat.” I lied, as May looked at me knowingly.
“Don’t you? What about 2 weeks ago when you broke down at my house when I was changing my clothes?”
I remained quiet as we saw our waiter approaching us with our food. He placed the food down on the table as I immediately grabbed my burger and started feasting on it, eager to get some food in my stomach. May sighed and shook her head.
“You are what you eat.” She mumbled as she nibbled on her chips.
That was the last conversation I had with May for a while. After that day, I barely spoke to her and we neither of us bothered to contact each other, as there were some tense waters between us. Who did she think she is? Judging my diet, when she was eating food just as bad as mine! It was absurd if I’m being honest. I felt bad when I learnt that May had gone missing two weeks later.
I was distraught, and I regretted not spending more time with her. Her disappearance was the talk of the town for months, but after months of searching and lack of proper police staff in our town, they dropped the case and concluded that May had ran away as an act of rebellion. The police had come to my house many times, questioning me. The normal stuff, ‘When did you last see her? Did she ever mention running away? Was she in a relationship with anyone?’ I’m guessing I disappointed them when I told them that I hadnt seen her weeks prior to her disappearance.
I decided as the prettiest girl in town was gone; I had to step up to the plate. Be the new ‘It girl’. I started doing all sorts of crazy things to get my body into shape, but it didn’t seem to be working. After weeks and weeks of trying and seeing no difference, I figured I would try one last time and then give up, and accept my unavoidable place in society as potbelly Penny. I walked into my apartment and opened up the fridge, grabbing one of the last plastic containers out. This container was marked, “Forearm”.
May was always so pretty. She was always so skinny.
But she was wrong.
You are not what you eat.
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Credits to: potbellypenny
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