Fatty Berlitz
"Even if I was the nicest, kindest person on the Earth you still wouldn't look my way because I'm fat."
I wrote this when I was in a mood. I like to think this is one of those statement fics which people sometimes write to get a bee out of their bonnet. Still, I think this is still one of the best one shot's I've written. The characters are hugely OOC but I needed them to be like that to get the story to work. I think I've broken so many conventions of usual stories here, I'm quite proud.
Please enjoy!
Dawn Berlitz was a very special member of the school cheerleading squad even though she never took part in any of the routines. She may not have been the captain of the team or the coach but in her mind she was still a supporting member of the team. She was still a valued member since she was the one who handed out the water bottles. Unlike the other cheerleaders who were pretty, vain and mean, their clothes size zeroes, Dawn was a much nicer girl although not so much size zero than a twelve. Still she was quite pretty but no where as glamorous as the others.
When Misty, the team captain, called the team in after a very hard training session, Dawn began to collect all the water bottles which the others had haphazardly thrown onto the floor. She would collect as many as she could hold then put them into her large gym bag so she could take them home, wash them and refill them for the next practice session.
"Hey, Troublesome," she heard the familiar voice of Paul Shinji say as he walked up to her. Dawn looked up at him, smiling as she crouched over her bag. Paul was a mean looking guy with a permanent scowl on his face. He had long lavender coloured hair which was currently tied up in a ponytail. He wore the school colours, blue and green, on his football gear, his white helmet with the school logo on it was under his arm. "Do you have a water bottle going spare? I'm parched."
"Sorry," Dawn said, "I think they're all empty."
"Hn," Paul said, rubbing the back of his neck. Dawn suddenly had an idea. She stood up and walked to her other bag where she pulled out an unopened bottle of orange juice. She offered it to Paul but he seemed reluctant to take it.
"Will this do?" she asked.
"It's fine," he replied, "That's yours."
"Oh I don't mind," she told him, shaking her head, "I'm going home now anyway."
"Thanks, Troublesome, you're a life saver," Paul said, taking it from her and offering her one of his smirks, "I owe you one."
"It's fine," Dawn laughed, "Have a good practice."
"Thanks," he said then he jogged back to his team to continue his practice. Dawn resumed her task of picking up the water bottles but she was interrupted once more as Misty and her best friend, May, came over to talk to her.
"Oh Dawnie," May called, "On Saturday the water needs to be ice cold."
"I've got a freezer box," Dawn said after a pause for thought, "I'll bring that to keep the water in for you."
"Alright," May said.
"I came here to ask you a favour too, Dawn," Misty said, "I'm going to a party on Friday night. I need you to call me at seven in the morning on Saturday to make sure I'm up. That OK?"
"I can do that, no problem," Dawn replied.
"Can you also phone me?" May asked, "If I get as drunk as I did last time I'm sure my alarm clock won't wake me up."
"Sure," Dawn said, "You're both going to the same party?"
"Yeah, Gary invited the whole cheerleading team," May explained happily, "We're going to go and hang out with the guys from the football team. Doesn't Gary throw the best parties, Misty?"
"He sure does," Misty agreed, "And who knows, maybe this time I'll get a bit further with Ash."
"Oh, I hope so," May giggled.
"Well, have fun," Dawn said, "I'll bring a box of aspirin to the game too, just in case."
"You're a star, Dawnie," Misty said. She turned to May and they began to talk to each other about the last Gary Oak party while they walked towards the changing rooms. Dawn let out a sigh when they were out of hearing range and went back to putting the remaining bottles into her bag. Another party she was not invited to.
Gary Oak, the most handsome and popular guy in school, hosted the best parties for the popular kids. There would be alcohol, a DJ and always some kind of wicked theme. The girls in the Cheerleading squad always came back with stories on how they got to first base with guys at these parties. The photos on their Facebook profiles showed just how much fun they had. Yet Dawn, nice hardworking, caring Dawn was never invited to go. She wanted to go to one just once to see if they were as good as everyone said. One invite, that's all she wanted. Of course she never would be. She wasn't a proper cheerleader, she was only someone who ran around after them, making sure they were happy and had everything they needed.
"Heads up!"
Dawn looked up sharply to see a football hurtling towards her. If she wasn't so fast she would have been hit on the head by it but instead she caught it easily in her hands. She glanced at it and then looked round to see who had kicked it.
It happened to be Gary Oak himself. Dawn felt her pulse rate rocket and her heartbeat speed up as the perfect Gary Oak jogged towards her. Many girls had a crush on Gary Oak but none where so laughable to the football team as Dawn Berlitz. She was the girl with a zero chance of going out with him. In previous years the football team had taken delight in playing jokes on her. One year they sent her Valentines cards, telling her to meet up with Gary in the gym. When she got there, the football team had thrown buckets of paint all over her until she was completely covered. Another year they had sent her some chocolates which contained laxatives. Poor Dawn had been off for a week and even had to go into hospital she was so badly ill.
Of course she had forgiven them in no time. She'd laughed at the joke and continued with her crush as if nothing had happened. People had called her thick and other nasty names but she was just too kind to hold a grudge against anyone.
Gary strode up to her, putting on his charm for no other reason than he could.
"Sorry," he said, "My bad."
"It's no worry," Dawn replied, handing him the ball, "I caught it no problem."
"I saw," he said, flashing her one of his perfect smiles, "Seeya."
He turned and ran off back to his team mates, each of which seemed to find him hilarious for some reason. Dawn smiled as she picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulders. She walked towards the gym where the cheerleaders had gone to but they had all returned home now. Dawn was the only member of the team still there.
"She almost wet her pants," Gary told the other footballers as they got changed in the changing rooms. Their practice was now over so it was time to laugh about Berlitz. "Seriously. She would have if I'd stayed a little longer."
"How embarrassing for her," Drew said, "To think she has a chance with you, Gary. I suppose you can't expect anything else from Fatty Berlitz."
"No, you can't," Gary agreed, "Fatty Berlitz is so pathetic."
"Her name is Dawn," Paul growled under his breath as his team mates went on and on, "And she's not pathetic."
"I'm surprised she didn't try to eat the ball," Gary laughed,, ignoring Paul, "She must have only caught it because she though it was some sort of chocolate egg."
"Aww man, Gary," Ash gasped. He was bent over laughing so hard he had to hang onto the wall to stay upright, "That's funny."
"Well it's your good deed for the day," Drew said to Gary, "You made her insignificant life brighten up with your presence."
Paul slammed his locker door shut making the entire changing room stop to look at him. He was already fully dressed with his football jacket over his clothes. He turned to glare at Gary, Ash and Drew, each of whom were grinning at their conversation topic.
"You're all jack-asses," he told them before stomping out of the room, leaving each of the football players to wonder what was wrong with him.
There were a few taps on the window of Dawn's room. She looked up, confused to who was visiting her at this time on a Friday. She thought everyone she knew was at Gary Oak's party. She climbed off her bed without disturbing her sketching materials too much, and went to open the window. She saw Paul standing on the roof right next to her window. She slid it open, allowing him to jump into her room.
"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at that party of Gary's," Dawn asked.
"Those parties are so over-rated," Paul replied, "Girls get drunk and start crying on everything. Guys get drunk, get horny and start trying to hump everything in sight. There's nothing fun about it."
Dawn laughed at him. She cleared a seat for herself on the bed knowing that Paul would opt for sitting on her desk chair. He usually sat there when he came round. He would sit on it backwards so he could rest his arms on the back rest.
"So what are you doing here?" Dawn asked.
"I just wanted to hang out," Paul replied with a shrug.
"Why me?" Dawn asked, confused. After all Paul had a lot of friends and also a party he could have gone to. Why would he come all the way over here instead?
"Why not you?" he replied, "Believe me when I say I get much better conversation out of you than I get out of the guys."
"Thanks," she laughed.
"I was impressed you caught that ball the other day," Paul commented, deciding it was not the best idea to tell her that Gary had kicked it in her direction on purpose since he was trying to hit her with it. The guys thought it would be funny to try and hurt Fatty Berlitz and before Paul could stop him, Gary had already kicked the ball away. If it wasn't for the coach shouting at her then she would've been hurt. Dawn smiled at him.
"Well you did use to throw balls at me when I was younger," Dawn told him, "Remember? When we used to go to the park. You never used to be able to talk to me unless you were doing something else."
"I guess so," Paul agreed, "The coach actually threatened to replace a few of the guys with you because you were much better at catching the ball."
"Really?" Dawn laughed, "I'd never do that."
"You're better than you think," Paul told her sternly, "And most of the guys are worse than they think."
"What I don't get is why you play sports but you never like the stuff that goes with it," Dawn said, "I mean like your friends."
"I like playing football because I get to hurt people occasionally," Paul told her.
"I saw that coming," Dawn laughed. Paul grinned at her.
"I don't like my team mates because they're so cruel. I know I'm a jerk but I don't go looking to be a jerk. I don't go to nerds and be a jerk to them because I can, I'm only a jerk when someone approaches me," Paul explained to her, "But the guys go looking for trouble."
"I guess so," Dawn said with a nod. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ears, wondering what she could say now. Paul was sat watching her oddly like he was studying her. His eyes strayed onto her sketches. She had been drawing more designs for clothes with patterns and measurements on them. Dawn caught what he was looking at.
"I'm doing a new outfit for my mum," she said, "She needs something cool when she goes to China in a few months so I decided to design her evening dress for her."
"It looks good," Paul said, "You have a real talent, Dawn."
"Thanks," Dawn said. She was struck with an idea. "I've got the new Wailing Bellsprouts CD. You want to listen to it?"
"Sure, why not," Paul replied, moving his chair to the side so she could play with the CD player. Sure neither of them were that up to date on music but they did what they wanted. It was part of how their friendship worked so well. Their joint little quirks just held them together long enough.
The game on Saturday arrived in no time at all. All the cheerleaders were out cheering for the football players as the game went on. Dawn was once again on the side lines, making sure the bottled water remained cold enough for the girls. There was rarely anything else for her to do other than watching the game. While she sat on the front row of the bleachers, she got out her sketch pad and went about doing some drawings. She was quite happily doodling until the game was over. Then she had to work again.
She collected all the water bottles like she always did and congratulated the football players and the cheerleaders on how good a job she did. The football players jeered and sang at the other side, pointing at the score board because they had won.
Drew looked round at Dawn, a small smile growing onto his face. He prodded Gary and Ash to get their attention.
"Hey, feel like pulling a little bit of a prank?" Drew asked.
"On who?" Gary said, smiling deviously.
"Who else? Fatty Berlitz," Drew replied, "Now this is what we do."
Dawn was quite content as she gathered up the water bottles and stuffed them into her freezer bag. Apparently the water had not been cold enough for the girls so they had given her the dead eye and left without talking to her. Oh well, at least the water wasn't lukewarm, she thought.
"Hey, Dawn."
Dawn looked up slowly to see Gary Oak jogging over to her. He put one hand on his hip and flashed her a perfect white smile.
"Is something wrong?" Dawn asked, wondering if Gary wanted her to do something.
"I just wanted to apologise," he replied, "I noticed you weren't there last night at my party. I did tell the girls to invite you along too. I was so upset when you didn't show."
"Oh it's alright," Dawn said, "Thanks for the late invitation. It's really nice of you to offer."
Dawn continued to pack stuff away. Something at the back of her head was telling her this was one of Gary's pranks. All she wanted to do now was to get out of his way. She was slightly happy at the fact he had invited her after all or perhaps that was part of his plan to get her involved in a prank.
"Hey, let me make it up to you," Gary said. Dawn looked up at him, smiling.
"No, really, there's nothing to make up," Dawn told him, "I'm rather busy now. The coach and the girls will shout at me if I don't get these done right away."
"Fine," Gary snapped, throwing his hands in the air, "I try and spend more time with you and you say you're too busy. Just when I was… Well it doesn't matter anymore, does it?"
With that he stormed away. Dawn was both worried and surprised by his out burst.
"Well, I can't leave him upset," she muttered under her breath. She quickly jogged towards Gary, following him round the back of the bleachers.
"Gary!" she called as he went from her sight. She hurried round the corner Gary had just passed without thinking what was ahead. The moment she got round the corner she came to an abrupt stop. The entire football team, minus Paul, and the cheerleading team were staring at her with big grins on their faces. A second later she felt ice cold water pour all over her from a large blue overhanging bucket. She screamed at the sensation.
"See, that's ice cold," the cheerleading team cheered, moving their pom-poms in time with their words. The football team began to hoot with laughter. The clothes Dawn was wearing happened to be white so now, with the water drenching them, they had become invisible, revealing to the team her baby pink bra and knickers. The wet fabric clung to every curve and contour of her body in the most horrid way. It was exactly like she was stood naked in front of both teams.
Dawn was dazed at what had just happened. She looked round at the various people in the crowd, all laughing at her. Suddenly she saw Paul's angry looking face. He looked like he had just pushed past everyone to see what had happened and now he had seen. Dawn looked down at her body. The curves she hated so much were on show. Her too large breasts poked out more than usual. Her large thighs, the thighs she had detested since she was fourteen, wobbled ever so slightly with every move she made along with her flabby stomach.
"Fatty Berlitz! Fatty Berlitz!" the cheerleading team were chanting, "Soaking wet, Fatty Berlitz."
Anger bubbled in her chest for the first time in her life. Hot angry tears threatened to pour from her eyes but she kept them at bay for the time being. They wouldn't see her cry. She clenched her fists tightly and stood up to her full height. The cheerleaders went quiet and the football team stopped laughing.
"Who do you think you are?" Dawn screamed, "You make fun of me, you pull pranks on me just because I'm bigger than you. What gives you the right to treat me like this when all I do is help you do things? I've only ever been nice to you, despite all the horrid things you've said and done to me in the past so what gives you the right to laugh at me now? Gary, you're so up yourself you wear your ass for a hat. May if you want cold water go live in the Artic or better still knock a few icicles from that cold heart of yours. All you girls can do that plenty of times over. You're all the coldest, most horrible people in the world."
She turned to the football team, glaring at them with firey eyes.
"Even if I was the nicest, kindest person on the Earth you still wouldn't look my way because I'm fat," she told them angrily, "Which is fine by me because I would never go near you without a hazmat suit and plenty of penicillin. How I hate to think what you've caught at all those parties you've been too."
Paul blinked a few times. Given the circumstances he would have been impressed by the insults Dawn was throwing around. He noticed how the football team and cheerleading squad were all deadly quiet now.
"Well look at me," Dawn said, spreading her arms out for emphasis, "You've made fun of Fatty Berlitz for the last time."
She turned and ran off towards the football field to resume packing away her bottles. Gary rubbed his head nervously before grinning.
"Wow," he said, "She's even fatter when she's wet."
A few people laughed at him. Paul took this opportunity to grin. Not because he was amused mind you, because he had a rather evil thought. He walked over to Gary and patted him on the shoulder as if to say good prank. Then he glared at Gary, the coldest, iciest glare Gary had ever seen. With a nifty right hook, Paul punched Gary in the nose and allowed him to fall onto the floor.
"I quit," he told the football team, "Each and every one of you deserve to rot in hell."
"Hey!" Drew yelled.
"Jack-asses," Paul said as he walked away. As soon as he was out of their view he jogged to where Dawn had been putting away her bottles but she wasn't there anymore. He ran through the school and found her sobbing on the front steps of the main entrance. He shrugged off his football jacket and placed it round her shoulders before sitting down next to her.
"Why is it always me?" she sobbed into her hands, "Why do they always pick on me?"
"Who cares," Paul told her, "That's over and done with now. Let's get you home and into some dry clothes then we can deal with this."
"Alright," Dawn agreed. She slipped Paul's jacket over her arms, thankful that he was so kind to her. He picked up her bag and slung it over his shoulders before helping her to her feet. They began to walk in the direction of her house silently. Paul walked with his hands in his pockets like he usually did while Dawn hugged herself. No one stopped to ask them why she was wet nor did anyone stare at her. It must have been Paul's company, she decided, since he was a very scary looking boy.
"Why are you nice to me?" Dawn asked suddenly.
"When we were growing up, I was so mean to you. I used to make you cry every time I saw you," Paul explained, "Then one day I was really upset and angry because my parents had split up. You found me in the park crying and immediately asked if something was wrong. You told me that if I ever needed someone to talk to then I should come to you. Despite how mean I was to you, you were still the only person who offered me that. You were the only person to offer me their hand and promise to always be there if I needed you."
"I forgot about that," Dawn sniffed.
"When we went to high school, I realised I had to look out for you instead but you never came to ask me for help. I guess I've been waiting for the day when I can repay your kindness," Paul told her, "And I find that I hate it when you cry. You really stood up for yourself back there."
"Sorry," Dawn mumbled, "I just got so mad."
"Don't be sorry," Paul said, "Maybe one day you'll be able to get back at them in the same way I've waited to make it up to you."
"Maybe," Dawn said, "But I'm going to change schools. I can't face it there anymore. Maybe I can go to fat school or something like that."
"Whatever anyone else says, Dawn," Paul said, looking at her. His coal black eyes glinted with something Dawn had never seen before. "You're not fat."
"Thanks," Dawn said, "I still hate my thighs though."
To this both of them laughed. The football team and the cheerleading team never saw Fatty Berlitz again for a while. She left the school to go to another one not far away but no one saw her. Many assumed she had moved state but she was exactly where she'd always been.
Twenty years later and the school decided to host a reunion for the class of Fatty Berlitz's year but no one suspected she may ever show up.
Paul was still pretty much the same he'd always been with his long lavender hair. His few silver hairs tended to blend in with the others. He walked into the large gym where his reunion would take place wearing his best smart-casual clothes: black jeans with a black shirt. He strode into the room, checking his phone to see what time it was and if he'd received a message from his wife. She was running late.
"Yo, Paul!" Gary's voice yelled. Paul turned round and almost laughed at the sight. Gary's messy hair was all greasy and his once perfect smile was now more yellow than white. He had a massive beer belly protruding over his trousers. Next to him was Drew, also more chubby than slim, wearing the latest style of clothes as usual. Then there was Misty, fat and tired looking with bags under her eyes. May was on her right, pretty much looking exactly as Misty did but as a brunette. Then was a very bold Ash wearing a suit.
"Man you haven't changed," Drew said, "Look at him, honey."
"I know, I see, Drew," May said through gritted teeth. Drew seemed to ignore her tone.
"So what have you been up to?" Paul asked for the hell of it. He came to this to be entertained so why not let himself have the full experience.
"Well, May and I got married right after school," Drew explained, putting an arm round May. She seemed less than happy to have Drew touching her. "We had three wonderful children and now I run my own shop in the mall."
"Well, I am a business man," Ash said, "I work in New York now. Misty and I got married a few years after high school and we have two kids. I earn over sixty thousand a year."
"Nice," Paul said.
"And I run my own fast food restaurant," Gary said, "Although not many girls are into that sort of thing."
"How about you, Paul?" May asked, "Is there a Mrs Paul?"
As if on cue his wife walked into the gym. She looked round, spotting Paul instantly. She wore her midnight blue hair in loose curls with a fancy looking pink dress framing her petite body perfectly as she strode over to join her husband, her high heels not even causing a wobble. She had big sunglasses over her eyes, more of a fashion statement than of use.
"I'm so sorry," she said to Paul as she linked arms with him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Right, the whole showcase arrived in Paris minus the cream dress and gold heels so I had to sort out finding them. It's so hard to speak French down the phone to someone who is actually an English university student. I got confused, they got confused and then we both started swearing but not at each other."
"It's alright," Paul told her, "You remember Misty, May, Drew, Ash and Gary, right?"
"Nice to meet you," Ash said, extending her hand to shake.
"So you came to this school?" Gary asked, flashing her a yellowing smile. The woman blinked then looked at Paul with a smile tugging at her lips. Yup, these lot had certainly washed out after high school.
"Yes, I did once," she replied.
"So what do you two do?" Misty asked.
"We both run a designer company," Paul replied, "I run the place and she does all the important stuff like making the designs. We've won so many awards in the fashion industry but that's not really important. We have four kids, one we adopted from China, and we live… where ever we want. We have five houses."
"Oh," May said excitedly, "Which designer are you?"
Paul smirked as his wife nudged her sunglasses down her nose, revealing her bright blue eyes to the people in front of them. She winked.
"Fatty Berlitz," she said cheekily, "Perhaps you've heard of us."
There's a lesson in this I think: When I have a bee in my bonnet, I ramble.
Hope that wasn't too painful!
Please review!
RSx