((I did create the characters in this chapter but not the world they're in nor did I create the effects that world has on them))

((PS: Thank you for the reviews, I live on feedback and tend toward the projects I know are being read (as we narcicists are prone to), re: the feedback, yes this is a very large story with a lot of characters and a plotline that ties them all together (hopefully) but I don't want to sacrifice character developement and since fanfiction doesn't run on a budget I don't have to but the plot will begin to explain the connections a bit more and flush out what is going on.))

Judy Darlang hated running, she hated it and everything gym.

She panted for air, her shirt sweaty, halfway around the track watching her classmates pass her for the third time.

She watched the bleachers, the sick kids, that Dafton in the wheelchair, the inhailers, god, she wished she had athsma.

At 5'3" and 203 pounds Judy wasn't quite big enough to be given imunity from exercise for a medical dissorder, she had no "glandular" problem that any doctors could find, she just put on weight faster than most. She would skip breakfast, eat a salad for lunch, and then have pasta and ice-cream for dinner. She had to sneak the ice cream past her parents but they kept buying it and it kept dissapearing so she knew they knew where it was going.

Her father tried to chear her up by saying that if she were stranded on an island she would outlive everyone because her body just had a more efficient metabolism. She retorted that she would probably die first because all the people with innefficient metabolisms would eat her.

Her mother tried to encourage her one day when she came home from school. She brushed the hair out of Judies tear-stained face and said "Oh Judy, you have such a pretty face, I just wish you wouldn't hide it under all that fat."

Her mother was drunk, she kept telling herself her mother was drunk, she did drink a lot.

Sarah Jefferson ran past her laughing to her companions between easy strides... "You know her parents gave her a cellphone that beeps to warn them, when she backs down the stairs! Really! I mean it, I hear it whenever she pry's herself out of her desk... " ... "Look at how her legs jiggle, it looks like jello!" "Well she is full of marshmellows!" "hahahaha Sarah you're so mean hahahaha!"

Judy had stopped crying at school, she just bit her lip and tried not to breath too loud, every step made her more concious of her legs and she cursed whoever had invented the short gym shorts, hell, she cursed whoever invented gym, she cursed Sarah Jeffersons parents for spawning her, she cursed her own parents, she cursed her lack of athsma, she cursed that awefull ringing in her ears.

It was loud, overwhelming, dizzying, she thought she might throw up, she contemplated the advantageous of that occuring. Then the ringing softened into an eerie , peacefull, beautifull hum. She was so tired, and then the wind picked up, and she wasn't. It picked up for just a second, carrying the beautiful humming with it, it flowed through her hair and her body and she felt strength, peace, confidence rush through her.

Then her vision cleared and she realised she was still running, she was running AHEAD of Sarah Jefferson and her friends who stared onward with gawks of disbelief! She was running faster than anyone on the field, and her chest didn't hurt, her breathing came easy, she even had the strange feeling that she had stopped sweating, she didn't feel so hot, and the salty water had ceased stinging her eyes.

Judy came up behind Sarah and her group again, she felt so free, this just seemed so easy, and sudennly she had the overwhelming desire to beat Sarah... on the track... yeah beat her at running, yes... that is exactly what she wanted to do.

When she finished her 1 mile requirement she did an extra lap for good luck and finished in front of a crowd of shocked faces.

Coach Neialsbi kept her stunned expression for two whole minutes before coming up to Judy and patting her on the shoulder... "Judy, I had no idea you had that in you!?" she gafawed.

Judy just stared at her blankly, "um thanks."

"You're time was good enough to qualify you for the track team, have you ever thought of....?"

The rest of the day of tryouts followed suit. Judy broke the pole for the vault but still cleared the highest mark with ease. She outdistanced the long jump, nailed her javeline into the side of a building far past the field, she was too late for the soccer or softball tryouts, but she did manage to squeeze-in the wrestling team, something she would NEVER have considered before that day but suddenly felt could be... "fun".

Coach Neialsbi aplauded vehemently as she pinned her 4th opponent.

The muscley boys in her weight class did not applaud.

Judy was flying high on endorphines and confidence when her best (read: only) friend Stacey approached her in fifth period. Stacey looked worried.