From 280 Pounds To The Red Carpet Chapter 05
The Reveal
The door swung open and the laughter stopped.
Over twenty pairs of eyes landed on me at once.
The guy closest to the door froze for a few seconds, then jumped to his feet.
“Hey, you looking for someone?”
Another one scrambled to pull out a chair.
“Wrong room? No worries, come hang out with us.”
The same people who’d just been complaining about chairs suddenly couldn’t be nicer.
Someone even cleared the spot next to Jessica.
“Here, sit right here.”
I didn’t move. I just looked toward the center of the room.
Two chairs pushed together. A digital scale. My old gym shirt pinned to the wall.
SERA’S SPECIAL WIDE SEAT.
Someone followed my gaze and immediately got uncomfortable.
“That’s, uh… inside joke with an old classmate.”
“She’s not here yet.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I almost laughed out loud.
So they knew it was messed up. They just didn’t care until an outsider saw it.
On the couch, Tyler had already straightened up.
He’d been staring at me since I walked in. Kayla noticed and squeezed his arm tighter.
“You know her?”
“No.”
Tyler said no, but he stood up anyway, his voice suddenly a whole lot softer than before.
“This is a high school reunion. Private event.”
“You sure you’re in the right place?”
I looked at him without saying a word.
In high school, I used to wait by the classroom door for him every morning.
He thought I was embarrassing and never once looked me in the eye.
Now I was standing right in front of him. And he had no idea who I was.
Jessica was studying me too. Her smile had already faded. Especially when a couple of the guys started whispering.
“Dude, who is she? She’s insanely hot.”
“Way hotter than Jessica.”
“Not even close. Different league.”
Jessica’s hand tightened around her glass.
She forced a smile.
“Are you from our class?”
“I don’t remember you.”
“Are you hotel staff or something?”
She hit “hotel staff” extra hard, trying to put me in my place.
I still didn’t answer. I walked straight into the room.
Every pair of eyes followed me.
Some of the guys pulled out their phones and started fixing their hair. The freight elevator guy walked up and handed me a drink.
“Hey, I’m Matt. Let me introduce myself.”
I didn’t take the drink.
I stopped in front of those two chairs pushed together.
Jessica saw me looking and laughed right away.
“That seat’s taken.”
“It’s for a classmate of ours.”
“She’s, you know, bigger. One chair might not hold up.”
A few people laughed.
Kayla looked me up and down, then said with a smirk: “You’re so skinny, you probably can’t relate.”
“Some people eat enough in one sitting to feed a normal person for three days.”
Tyler shot her a look.
“Cut it out.”
Kayla’s face changed instantly.
“I was talking about Sera. Why do you care?”
Tyler jumped to explain. “I don’t care about her.”
“I just don’t think we need to say all that in front of a stranger.”
A stranger.
I slowly took off my coat and draped it over the chair.
The black velvet gown underneath came into full view. Every curve on display.
The room went quiet again.
Tyler was staring. And he wasn’t hiding it.
“What’s your name?”
He even took a couple steps toward me.
I glanced at the gym shirt on the wall, then looked back at the room.
“Seems like none of you recognize me.”
“Let me introduce myself.”
I looked them dead in the eye.
“I’m Sera Malone.”