Fat Girls Are Not A Bet Chapter 05
The instant the door swung open, the countdown hit zero.
The room went dead quiet.
Dozens of pairs of eyes locked onto me.
Someone froze mid-sip, glass raised. Someone else still had the tail end of a laugh caught on their lips.
Nico, the one closest to the door, blanked for a few seconds.
“Uh—hey, gorgeous, are you looking for someone?”
“Did you get the wrong room?”
Another guy jumped in right after.
“Even if you did, no big deal—we’re all BU freshmen, come hang out.”
“Yeah, come sit.”
Nico snapped back into it and dragged over a chair.
“Here, sit next to me.”
The same people who’d been complaining there weren’t enough seats a minute ago were now falling over themselves to make room.
I didn’t move. My eyes went to the center of the table.
On the white cake, that line of red frosting was impossible to miss.
**[Welcome, 330-lb. Olivia]**
Next to it, two chairs were pushed together, clearly reserved for me.
Someone followed my gaze and immediately shoved the cake off to the side.
“That’s a joke, seriously.”
“Don’t take it personally, gorgeous.”
I almost laughed out loud.
They still didn’t know I *was* Olivia.
On the sofa in the center of the room, Ethan was watching me too.
He’d already straightened up, eyes lingering on my face for a long moment.
The same eyes that had been full of contempt minutes ago now held only stunned admiration.
Eleven months. That’s how long we’d been together online.
We’d never video chatted, but he’d seen the pictures of me at three hundred thirty pounds.
The girl standing here now looked nothing like those photos.
He clearly hadn’t recognized me.
Serena was sitting right next to him.
She’d been holding onto Ethan’s arm; she quietly let go now, sat up straighter.
“Are you a BU freshman too?” she asked, her smile gentle.
“I’m Serena Blake, School of Fine Arts.”
Before I could answer, someone else jumped in eagerly.
“Serena’s the prettiest girl in our freshman group.”
“Gorgeous, what school are you in? How come we’ve never seen you in the chat?”
“You should join!”
Question after question.
The same people who’d been joking that I’d need oxygen just to walk to the restaurant were suddenly looking at me with visible enthusiasm.
Serena’s smile thinned.
Especially when a guy said, in a low voice,
“If she’d been in the chat sooner, we might’ve had to reconsider who’s the prettiest.”
He kept his voice down, but not down enough.
Serena pressed her lips together and, unconsciously, smoothed her hair.
“Don’t say things like that.”
Her eyes came back to me, sharper now, measuring.
Ethan seemed not to have heard.
He was still staring at me. He actually stood up.
“Are you sure you’re in the right place?”
His tone was worlds softer than it had been on video.
“This is the Boston University freshman party.”
Before I could answer, Adrian walked in behind me.
“Adrian, you’re finally here!”
Nico whooped.
Adrian just glanced at him and didn’t respond.
Nico still didn’t sense the shift. He waggled his eyebrows.
“Adrian, your three-hundred-thirty-pound girlfriend hasn’t shown up yet, huh?”
Someone else picked it up.
“She’s probably too scared to come. Why don’t you just do the three couple’s challenges with this gorgeous girl instead?”
“Right, like she’d even look at him.”
“Don’t be so sure. Adrian’s also our officially designated hottest freshman.”
The laughter rose again.
But Adrian still hadn’t said anything. He stood beside me, looking at me with something complicated in his eyes.
Ethan was watching me too. He straightened his collar without thinking and spoke up.
“So what’s your name? What department?”
I didn’t answer him. I just walked into the room.
Every gaze in the room followed me.
I stopped in front of the two chairs pushed together, glanced at the red writing on the cake, then looked up and smiled at the crowd.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Olivia Reed.”