Food Fodder - Part 1

A new short story for a Patron. We are looking at something that is only going to be 5-6 parts, but hopes to be a fun ride. Samara, a high school soccer star, starts to take on a few more calories and carbs than she can handle. Enjoy!

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Samara slapped her lunch tray on the cafeteria table. It was ravioli day and Samara had asked for extra, she was feeling the carbs today. “The lights were so bright.” She continued to tell her friends a story that had started in the lunch line. “With only minutes left, I knew this was our shot. I could feel this sort of energy… power, I knew I could do it. The keeper always went left, so I took my shot to the right, and bam! Top corner, no way that shot was getting blocked.”

Her friends hung on her every word, I mean she did score the winning goal at the state championship game yesterday, so she was pretty much the biggest news around school today. Samara spared no detail in recounting the tale, even though all her friends had been in the stands the whole time during the game. She spent pretty much the entire lunch period talking, and when she wasn’t talking she was popping raviolis into her mouth. Before they knew it there was only five minutes left before their next class and Samara had just cleared her tray. The timing was perfect for her, but for her friend Carmen, the shyest and meekist girl of the group, she had been so enthralled by Samara she had forgotten to eat any of her lunch. At this point she didn’t have time, but as she went to dump her tray Samara stopped her. “Hey don’t throw that out! Here I’ll eat it for you real quick, I’m spent after yesterday’s performance.” Carmen didn’t think anything of it and passed Samara the tray.

Later that day some of her teammates ran into Sarama in the hall. “Hey champ!” They hailed her. “Gonna have a celebratory sleepover at my house tonight, you in?” One of the team captains, Francesca, asked.

“Hell yeah!” Samara replied. Samara’s school had never been to the state championship game before, let alone won it, so this was a big time in Samara’s life and she wanted to relish it as much as she could. She spent the rest of the day excited for the sleepover, packing her bag as soon as she got home from school that day.

Arriving right at the time Francesca had texted her Samara found she was early, but not the first to arrive. Soon the tight squad of all five had arrived though and the festivity really kicked off. Of course there was talk about the big game from last night, but quickly that shifted to discussing which boys from the opposing school were the cutest. After about an hour Francesca started to bring snack from the kitchen into the living room where they were all hanging out. The snacks soon got out of hand and there was way more than a group of five could handle. It was almost like Francesca expected the whole team to show up tonight. Samara just mindlessly snacked though, there was plenty of salty stuff along with sweet soda to wash it all down.

As the night drew on the sun started to set and Francesca informed everyone that pizza would arrive soon. Samara had eaten plenty of snacks, but some nice hearty pizza would hit the spot. She was shocked when Francesca came in with five large pizzas, there was no way these thin soccer players could each finish a large pizza. The girls just each dig in, trying a few of the different topping combinations. Samara had four large slices before throwing in the towel. It wasn’t until Francesca encouraged her to at least give the fifth pizza a try before she had another slice. ‘Might as well try them all’ she told herself.

Everyone was having a good time, and as the night wore on they made their way up to Francesca’s room where they could crash for the night. Everyone was back after a quick change into much more comfortable pajamas. Samara happily changed, all the food was causing some pressure around her waist. The loose pajamas felt much better. It was only a moment before Francesca started bringing the snacks and pizza from downstairs up to her room though. “Sorry guys, my mom really doesn’t want these snacks to go to waste. I thought a few more people were going to come, so we have a ton extra. Does anyone mind helping polish some of this stuff off?”

Samara being the school hero decided she needed to step up once more. She had been there when the pressure was on in the biggest moment of her life, she had to be there for the little moments too. She told Francesca that she’d help out and eat some extra snacks. No one else seemed to want to step up and help, so the task fell to the scoring soccer star. She grabbed a bowl and started munching while the group continued to talk. Once she finished a bowl she toss it aside and grab another. Samara had been thin all her life and no matter what she ate she had never gained any weight, she had never eaten this much before.

The snacks were all disappearing to Francesca’s delight, now she just had to worry about all that pizza. “Samara, there is a lot of leftover pizza, let me get you some.” Samara was getting so full she didn’t want to move, so she gladly let Francesca place a pizza down right next to her. Grabbing the first slice, Samara continued her munching mission.

The hour grew late, and Samara’s stomach grew full. She had finished three slices of pizza, emptying the box, which allowed Francesca to bring over another. “You like Hawaiian, right?” Francesca asked with a big smile. Samara nodded as Francesca opened the box, revealing four large slices of pizza. Behind Francesca, Samara could see her friends fading. Francesca made sure Samara stayed alert though. “Here, have some more soda to wash all this down.”

After two more slices Francesca almost had to hand feed Samara to keep her eating. It was no use though, Samara was too tired and too full and drifted off to sleep. Her belly was so full it was domed over the waistband of her pajamas and pushed her shirt up. Thankfully for her by morning her stomach would be flat again.