When I was a kid I was rather skinny. Then I hit my teens and put on excessive weight. I wasn't what you would call fat (at least I wouldn't) but I did have an excess amount of puppy fat.
"Don't worry about it," my mother advised me. "It's normal at your age. You'll lose the excess weight as you grow older."
Easy enough for her to say but not quite so easy for me to believe. I'd exercise and watch my diet (sort of) and my puppy fat just rolled along with me. I'd get teased about it at school which was annoying. Not bullied, though. Plump or not, I had big bones, and no-one with any sense was going to pick a fight with someone my size. I was prepared to stand up for myself so normally didn't have to.
I was rather self-conscious about both my size and my weight. Being referred to as a hippo can do that to you, and this had made me rather introverted, keeping to myself at school.
At the end of my penultimate year in high school I was seventeen, soon to be eighteen, and the long break was approaching fast. A little parental influence scored me a job on a construction site for the long break.
That job was hard and strenuous labour. I was expected to put in eight hours a day, minimum, and I was totally exhausted after each day finished. I was also so hungry that I was eating like a horse. What I hadn't noticed was that I was also on my final growth spurt.
By the time the long break was over I had a nice nest egg from my pay, a testimonial from the company saying I was a good worker, an additional two and a half inches in height, I'd turned eighteen, and was the same weight I'd always been, if not a bit more.
I was griping about this latter when my father heard me and just laughed at me.
"Look in a mirror, you dolt," he scoffed. "That's not puppy fat any more. That's beef and muscle."
I followed his advice and looked in the mirror, pleasantly surprised to find he was right. I was almost two metres in height and I had muscles padding my frame.
I was still an introvert but with new confidence in how I looked I figured that I could work on that.
When I arrived at school on the first day of the new term I was just strolling across the yard when I was intercepted by a couple of girls.
"Hi," said Kendra. "I'm Kendra. This is Vi."
I gave Kendra a slightly puzzled look.
"Well, of course you are," I said. "I mean, you were last year, and the year before. Ever since I've known you for that matter. Why the big introduction?"
Kendra and Vi were notorious for teasing the boys. I'd felt the full brunt of their stirring at times. Girl bullies can get away with more than boys. It's considered impolite to punch a girl on the nose, even if it is deserved.
The girls gave me a puzzled look and exchanged puzzled look between themselves, apparently not recognising me. I guess I must have changed more than I realised. I didn't say anything, just waiting for their reaction.
"Ah, you know us?" asked Vi, treading the social danger carefully.
"Naturally," I replied, and she glared at me, staring hard.
"How do you know us?" demanded Kendra. She was always in a rush to get answers. I just smiled and waited.
It was probably the smile I gave. I'd always used to give the same sort of smile when they were starting to annoy me. Vi spotted it and gasped.
"Holy fuck, it's Mikey," she said.
"What? No way," snapped Kendra, looking closer. "Holy shit, you're right. What the fuck happened to you?"
"Nothing," I protested. "I might have grown a bit over the break but that's all."
"Bullshit," snapped Vi. "If you pull the other one it plays Jingle Bells."
I glance down at her legs. Quite a bit of leg was showing as she had her dress hitched up a little higher than permitted by the school rules.
"As if I'd go pulling on such a lovely leg," I murmured. "Have to go. School's about to start, you know."
I slipped past them, checked to see where my locker was, and headed to it to store my stuff and get out the books I needed for my first couple of classes. The girls followed me to my locker.
"Ah, can I help you?" I asked, the pair of them looming over me. They were both a head shorter than me which made it difficult to loom over me, but they managed.
"Yes," said Kendra. "We'll meet you on the roof as soon as lunch break starts. Be there."
"The roof is locked at lunch time," I pointed out.
"Not for us," said Vi with a giggle.