Thanks to Jenna for first editing and improving this story. Thanks to tenz1997p, chimicawriting, mommylovesgirls and Scottishgeekgirl for further improvements.
I hate myself, Amelia thought as she looked in the mirror. I'm just a big tub of lard. Any cute guy who sees me is going to run in the opposite direction as fast as he can. If I had an ounce of self-respect, I wouldn't let myself go like this.
She was drying herself after stepping out of the shower and feeling depressed. When Josiah dumped her, she had gone into a deep funk and comforted herself with food.
Even with the fifteen pounds she had gained, she still looked attractive to everyone except herself. Her friends didn't think she had any extra weight on her six-foot-two frame. They told her it must have all gone to her breasts, which had already been her most prominent feature, the one that drew men like a magnet.
I hate these breasts, she thought. My friends are jealous, but all they ever get me is humiliation. Boys never think about anything else when they meet me. Once they satisfy their curiosity, they dump me for a girl who's not such a freak. Now they're so huge they're going to start sagging.
She didn't want to think about the real reason she was upset whenever anyone looked her way. She was sure they were pitying her for being helpless to stop that bitch, Hadley, from stealing Josiah.
Hadley was a sorority sister at Pi Kappa Upsilon, where Amelia was going for dinner tonight, as she did every Monday. She had lived in the house a couple of years until she moved to her tiny off-campus apartment, but most of her best friends at school were sisters, and they all saw each other Monday nights at the dinner and meeting, even if their schedules sometimes kept them from getting together the rest of the week.
The sisters, even her closest friends, were split about what Hadley had done. Some of them felt that a sister should never poach on a sister. Others felt that all was fair in love and war, and that the most important part of college was finding a good man in a jungle of jerks, so there should be no restrictions on the huntresses. Even those who believed in survival of the fittest, however, sympathized with her, because Hadley didn't seem to be searching for Mr. Right.
She was a female Genghis Kahn, destroying everything in her path as she went through one boy after another. And if she could steal the guy from a girl who was beautiful or popular, Hadley treated it like a victory for the basketball team.
The spoiled daughter of a wealthy family, she was attending school on an athletic scholarship because she was the star guard on the girls' basketball team. She was five-foot-two and a hundred and five pounds. Every pound was firm.
She was strong but sleek, and her strength didn't show. Though her breasts were softballs compared to Amelia's watermelons, her sleek legs and pert butt were enough to get boys' attention. She always wore skintight pants or shorts and moved her assets while she was walking in a way that would make a stripper envious. The only thing out of proportion on her body was her hands, which were oversized and one of the reasons she could dribble and pass so well.
Barely four weeks after Josiah had dumped Amelia, Hadley dumped him. Amelia thought about calling him, but she decided even she wouldn't sink that low. Besides, she couldn't think of any reason why she wanted him back. She had really liked him once, but now in her mind, he was just an object that Hadley had used to humiliate her.
She would be seeing Hadley tonight, but at least it wouldn't be like the previous few Mondays, when Hadley found ways to rub Amelia's nose into her humiliation. Hadley knew how to talk trash on the court and off. She wasn't as blatant about it in private life, but she found just the right words to torment those she was toying with, and she had brought Amelia to tears. Amelia hoped Hadley would finally leave her alone tonight since she had finished with Josiah. Maybe Hadley was too busy plotting to steal another friend's boyfriend to bother with her.
Amelia scolded herself for thinking that. That wasn't a nice thing to hope for. What if the next victim was one of her girlfriends? Did Hadley understand how everyone was afraid of her, even her entourage?
Maybe that's what she liked. She certainly enjoyed striking fear into the hearts pf her basketball opponents. Because she was so small, they always underestimated her. She was not only athletic and elusive, but she also played dirty. When they got too close, she would find ways of reaching into their uniforms and grabbing, pinching, twisting and pulling. It caused them to lose concentration, and Hadley used that to score, pass to a teammate in scoring position or steal the ball.
If an opponent fought back, Hadley usually went flying, and when she flopped, there were usually gasps because she knew how to make it look like she was hurt. When she got to the free-throw line, she was automatic, so the coach of the opposing players told them they had to endure Hadley's torments and play through them or they might as well give up and go home.
**************
"You filthy mouthed whore!" Hadley screamed.
Amelia was screaming, too, because Hadley had come up behind her and grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her to her feet.
"What have you been saying about me?"
Amelia had been sitting in the sorority living room talking to friends when Hadley attacked out of nowhere. She hadn't been at the dinner, and Amelia had hoped that meant she wouldn't see her tonight.
"Answer me, bitch!" yelled Hadley as she was being pulled away by some of the sisters.
"What are you talking about?" Amelia yelled back.
"You're going around telling guys that I'm a lesbian."
"No, I'm not. Who told you that?"
"Two guys this week, you lying slime."
"They told you I said that?"
"They didn't have to. I knew you were getting back at me for Josiah. You can have him. He can't eat pussy worth crap. But you're going to pay for your mouth."
"I wish I
had
thought of telling guys that, but I didn't know how homophobic you were. I'm glad to see that it humiliates you. Now you know how it feels.
"I can't claim credit, but I'm willing to bet it was one of my friends who's sitting right here. No, sisters, don't say a thing. I don't want to know who did it, because I'll take full responsibility.
"So how are you going to make me pay, Hadley? Are you going to steal another boyfriend? Sorry, I don't have one handy. What are you going to do, you whiny little brat?"
Hadley screamed in rage.
"If my sisters would just let go of me, I'd show you. I'd tear your hair out. I'd spit in your face. I'd stick my hand up your huge slimy cunt, you five-dollar tramp."
Amelia was surprising herself. She found that the more worked up Hadley got, the calmer she felt. She knew Hadley was nothing but trouble. She should get up and leave, even though it would be humiliating.
But maybe this was the jolt she needed to get out of her funk. Maybe getting back at Hadley would help her recover her self-respect. Anything was better than feeling like she did now and gaining more weight.
"You're just a little bully," she said. "You can't get away from me scot free like you do on the court, so you're just going to have to pout and pretend, little girl."
"I'm not afraid of you," Hadley said. "Bring it on right now. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. I'm stronger and faster than you, and I'll take you on anytime, anyplace."
At this point, the sorority president told them both to shut up and not say another word until the meeting was over.
The meeting went fast, and as soon as it was over, the president said, "Now let's talk about Amelia and Hadley. I think we should let them have satisfaction. It's like a duel in the old days. But there have to be rules. I'm going to appoint one friend of each of them as the seconds.
"The seconds are going to talk to Amelia and Hadley and find out what they'd like to do to each other, and then the seconds will meet and work out the rules of the duel. I want a report at next Monday's meeting.
"And if I hear about any member saying anything about this outside of our house, or telling stories about Amelia or Hadley to anyone, that member will be excommunicated for life. Hold it until next Monday, girls."
*************
I'm so stupid, Amelia thought as she looked at herself in the steamy mirror after her shower. It was Friday of the following week and she was getting ready for the duel.
Look at me, she thought. I'm afraid to go on the scale. This whole thing has gotten me so upset that I must have gained at least five pounds in the last two weeks. If I painted my breasts purple, they'd look like giant eggplants. And I've got another fold of belly fat.
She still felt mortified about Monday night, when all the girls started calling the duel the catfight of the century. There weren't many rules. Both girls had to wear bathing suits. Both of them had been declawed at a nail shop under the supervision of the opponent's second. No gouging or biting was permitted. But otherwise anything was allowed.
It was a fight to the finish, which meant that as long as one of them still wanted to humiliate the other one, they wouldn't stop.