A Heavy Scent Ch. 02

Iris had just watched Jessie gain ten pounds without eating a thing. Now Jessie entered the cafeteria, threw her backpack on the nearest table, and ran to the lunch line. Impatiently she waited, tapping her foot frantically as her stomach continued to groan and squeak.

"You want hamburger or macaroni?" the lunch lady asked.

"Both!" Jessie quickly replied.

The number of girls on the lunch line grew, their stomachs grumbling impatiently, but Jessie stopped to pick up everything she could get her hands on: a salad, soup, an apple, an orange, milk, juice, cookies, a brownie, et cetera. Jessie didn't even pass up on the packets of saltines that sat near the cash register. The cashier, surprised at the load of food presented to her, warned Jessie that she would have to pay double the regular lunch price for all of it. Without even batting an eye Jessie threw down a $10 bill, picked up her and left in a hurry. The cashier turned to the next girl, who to her surprise had just as much on her tray, if not more.

Jessie quickly walked back to the table where Jill was waiting, and while they tried to make conversation, Jessie only made things more difficult by eating all of the time. There was not a second when Jessie's fork was empty. Every moment is seemed, she was clutching a forkful of noodles or taking a big bite out of a piece of fruit. Jessie was a bottomless pit, munching eagerly and clearing her entire tray. Not a crumb was left behind.

As Jessie finally sat back and patted her belly in satisfaction, Iris watched her with increasing wonder from the other side of the room. She had never seen anyone eat so much in one sitting.

The problem was, a lot of girls were walking off of the lunch line with trays stacked high with food. Each one sat down at her usual table and started pigging out, talking through mouthfuls of hamburger and salad to friends who were often doing the same thing. Some just sat silently, eating and eating, while the girls who had brought their lunches or didn't have enough money whined about their continuing hunger or begged friends to share what they had. Iris saw all of this happening, looked at the carrot sticks she was holding in her hand, and wondered whether or not she had missed something this morning.

If she didn't believe it before, Iris knew that girls in her school were getting fatter. She had watched that morning as Jessie, Kelly, and Stacy all plumped up suddenly in English class, and later on in chemistry some of the girls there started to expand. Lots of girls developed rumbling stomachs and complained of severe hunger. They couldn't wait for the lunch bell to ring, and those who carried candy in their pockets quickly exhausted their reserves. Iris couldn't understand what was going on. All of these girls around her were bloating and getting hungry, but she remained normal. What was so special about her?

"Uh, Iris?" Jane cautiously asked, breaking her trance. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but did you notice what's going on?"

Jane looked around the cafeteria, but saw nothing unusual. Iris explained that everybody was eating a lot, but Jane shrugged it off.

"Who knows? Maybe they're just really hungry." Jane suggested. "Besides, what's wrong with eating a lot?"

Jane quickly took the seat next to her. "I wanted to show you that spell that I told you about yesterday." she chirped, pulling out that big book she had found. "I found it in the library the other day, and I think if we use this spell here, we might be able to grow bigger boobs."

"Jane, none of the spells you've tried so far have done anything to your figure. Why is this one going to work?"

"Look, Negative-Nelly," Jane said. "I know that these spells haven't been working well, but I know that eventually something's got to work. I don't want to be a b-cup forever, so I'm going to keep looking until something actually works. Now, you can either help me, or...what's that smell?" Jane's nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. "It smells like old fruit in here."

"Oh," Iris groaned, that's just the perfume I'm wearing."

"Why'd you pick that?" Jane puzzled as she moved in closer, sniffing her friend's like a curious puppy. "It smells like potpourri and old ladies."

"It's a long story. Just tell me about the spell now?"

"Okay!" Jane started to explain all of the things that they would need: charms, chemicals, and herbs. All the while Jane was eating her sandwich, taking bite after bite until her speech became an intelligible drawl muffled by mouthfuls of bread and ham. Though Iris had no idea what she was saying, but Jane continued to gurgle and chew her words, pointing out things in the book and taking deep breaths every half-minute. Finally, seeing that only half of the sandwich was left, Jane stuffed it into her mouth, silencing herself fully. Reaching for her bottled water she noticed that Iris was giving her a strange look. Once she had washed down the remains of her sandwich, Jane asked what the matter was.

"Why are you eating so fast? I'm not going to steal your sandwich."

While Iris was talking, however, Jane had moved on to the cookies in her lunch bag. "I don't know...I just...I just felt so hungry all of the sudden." Jane finished the cookies and guzzled down her bottle of water. Now she had no food left, and she looked at Iris's lunch longingly. "Are you going to eat that yogurt?" she inquired.

"Uh, no. You can have it," Iris replied. Quickly, Jane snatched up the yogurt cup and started slurping away as Iris watched in alarm. She looked over Jane's body and was shocked to the that her blouse, so neatly tucked into the waistband of Jane's skirt, was being pulled out by her expanding midsection. Iris heard an all-too-familiar sound, fabric creaking, coming from under the table. Jane's calves were plumping up, and her knee high socks were getting stretched out. Iris could hear the sound of the elastic inside snapping as Jane's legs grew fatter and fatter.

"Are you gonna eat your milk?" Jane asked, her lips covered in yogurt.

Iris had had enough. Offering Jane the rest of her lunch as a distraction, Iris bolted from the room while she had a chance, not sure of where she was going, but unwilling to watch her friend fatten up.

Everywhere she went, however, Iris couldn't escape the fatness. Retreating to the library she sat down amongst a quiet group of studying students who seemed no larger than normal. Iris looked at a magazine for a few minutes, but soon she started to hear telltale rumblings coming from the people around her. When Iris took shelter in the bathroom, sitting in the stalls to collect her thoughts, she suddenly heard the stomach of the person in the next stall gurgle loudly. Iris hurried away, and in her bewilderment collided with a boy as she flew out of the door.

"I'm sorry!" Iris cried, reaching her hand out to help him up.

"No problem, Iris." Don responded, a little dazed as he reached up for her hand. "I know had bad the bathrooms smell around here!" he joked.

Iris froze: Don's hand was gently gripping hers, waiting for her to pull him back onto his feet. Never had they held hands before and, forgetting herself, Iris began to savor the moment. Don's hands were quite soft and warm. How wonderful his caress must feel, Iris marveled.

"Uh, a little help, please." Don reminded her.

"Oh!" Iris blushed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he answered cheerfully, "...but did you see all of those girls in the cafeteria? I was just came from there and I saw them all just shoveling food into their mouths."

"Yeah, that's weird isn't it?" Iris nervously laughed.

The two stood in silence for a while, until awkwardness compelled Don to speak. "Did you get anything out of my notes, yesterday?"

"Oh yeah, I actually looked over them last night. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. I have to get going; see you later, alright?"

"Alright." Iris replied as Don walked away. How could she be so stupid!? 'I should have thought of something smart to talk about instead of standing there like a total loser. Stupid, stupid!' Iris walked back towards the cafeteria, angry with herself for blowing her chance to talk with the guy of her dreams.

Suddenly Iris heard the girl who was in the bathroom with her come out. She was holding her stomach, with seemed to have swollen a bit, as it rumbled for some food. Iris wondered, 'Great! Why is that that everyone I meet starts to pig out and get fat?' Then Iris caught herself; Don hadn't gotten fatter.

'Come to think of it,' Iris mused, 'I haven't seen any boys getting hungry all of the sudden: only girls.' Iris was now even more concerned about this fattening than ever before. Now she was concerned that she would be next.

When Iris arrived home that afternoon, she found a strange sight. Usually when she came home Mom was putting away groceries, vacuuming the floors, paying the bills: she was doing anything but standing still. She would usually warn Iris to get started on her homework or help her with some cleaning, but when Iris opened the front door that afternoon there was no stern face there to order her about.

The house was still, the floors were dirty, and there was clutter everywhere. The vacuum was plugged in in the dining room, but it hadn't gone very far. Grocery bags sat unpacked on the table. Iris began to wonder if Mom had been kidnapped in the middle of her morning routine. However, Iris quickly detected a faint sound coming from the family room. Investigating, she found the entire room darkened, except for the glow of the television. On the couch lay Mom, wrapped in a blanket, with her hand sunk into a bag of cheese curls.

Mom had never bought cheese curls before. She called them the junkiest of junk food, better used for postal packaging than eating. Now Iris was staring at a bag that was more than half finished.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Iris stammered.

Mom pulled her hand out of the cheese curl bag, her fingertips stained orange, and yawned. "Hi, honey. Is something wrong?"

"No, I guess, but what are you doing on the couch?"

"Oh, heaven forbid I get a little rest around here, little-miss-never picks up her clothes! Just because I don't have a job doesn't mean I don't work hard, you know."

"Alright, never mind!" Iris fumed, walking back towards the kitchen.

"Wait Iris!" Mom called out. "I didn't mean to bite your head off like that. Come back." Iris came back into the family room and Mom motioned for her to come sit down next to her on the couch. "How was your day?"

Unsure of how to describe the strange things going on around the school, Iris simply replied, "Fine."

"That's good honey." Mom yawned again. "I went to the grocery store after I dropped you off to pick up dinner, but I felt so tired. I have no idea why." She beckoned towards the dining room. When I got back I didn't even feel like making dinner. I think we'll order a pizza tonight."

"Do you think that you're sick? Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm alright for now. Could you take that wrapper from the crackers over to the garbage though? It's been sitting there for hours and I just don't feel like moving right now." Iris agreed and picked it up, crumpling it in her hands as she walked into the kitchen.

Something was definitely wrong with Mom, but she seemed to be alright for the most part. Maybe all she really needed today was to lie on the couch and rest. After all, she cleaned the house and ran around every day. At least when she was this way, she wasn't ordering Iris to do any more chores. Plus, she would be getting pizza tonight as well. Maybe Mom should take a rest day every week, Iris cheerfully thought. Iris made her way over to the trash can opened the lid, but she was instantly stopped cold by what she saw within.

Mom had pigged out a little bit on cheese curls. Her orange finger-tips were evidence enough of that. Judging from the cracker wrapper Iris was about to throw away, she had indulged herself with a second snack as well. It was an unusual thing for Mom to do, but Iris didn't think it was that bad. Inside of the trash can, however, Iris discovered that some crackers and a bag of cheese doodles were only the beginning.

The trashcan was full of various wrappers and bags that hadn't been there before. Iris found a second cheese curl bag, a potato chip container, the paper wrapper for a foot-long sandwich, and numerous wrappers from chocolate kisses. Iris sifted through the waste to see what else there was, and found on the bottom an empty carton ice cream carton. The flavor was chocolate: Mom's favorite. Iris couldn't understand; how had her Mom been able to eat so much in one day? Never mind the fact that Mom had never binged like this before; this amount of eating didn't seem physically possible, and now she was talking about ordering pizza tonight! Iris suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation: Mom was growing fat too!

Quietly, Iris threw away the cracker wrapper in her hands and closed the trashcan lid, wringing her hands nervously. Walking back into the living room, she was surprised to find that Rose was home already. Already she was sitting on the couch, clutching the half-eaten bag of cheese curls that Mom had left unattended, quickly and methodically devouring them down to the last bite.

"Rose, slow down a little." Iris cautioned, her voice a little strained.

"Come on, Iris, I'm starving! I was like, so hungry all day at school, and my lunch was soooo small!" She turned to Mom and whined, "Can you pack me a bigger lunch tomorrow? I thought I was going to starve!"

Mom nodded sleepily as Rose munched and munched away, working her way through what was left as she and Mom watched television. When she reached the bottom of the bag Rose wiped up the processed cheese dust from the bottom and licked it off of her fingers. Iris left the room to get started on her homework, but she couldn't help but notice that underneath Rose's pink t-shirt, a little pot belly had formed.

That was enough for Iris, who quickly ran upstairs, leaving her sister and mother in the darkened family room to lethargically stare at the television and eventually fall asleep.

That night when Dad came home the family ordered pizza, and Rose insisted that it have a lot of toppings. They bought two pies. With every slice Rose scarfed down, Iris could see her little belly growing rounder and rounder. When she was finally full, Rose sat down and stretched out, her belly-button clearly visible, more than just a dimple in the center of her distended midriff. Rose's cheeks were a bit swollen, as well as exponentially more pinchable. This Mom demonstrated as the four of them were gathered around the television, talking about their day and watching a movie. Mom herself seemed a bit chunkier as well, though she was taller than Rose, so Iris could be sure how much weight Mom had gained. Mom, Dad, and Rose sat there all evening, laughing and joking about the movie, but Iris stayed silent, nervously gazing at everyone and wondering how this had happened.

She also began to wonder, if both Rose and Mom were getting fatter, why wasn't Dad? Furthermore, nothing had happened to Iris at all. All around her, ever since early that morning, she had seen people growing fatter, heard their stomachs groan with hunger, and watched them gorge on food with reckless abandon. First, she had seen her classmates fatten up in English class, then she saw more of the same throughout the day. At lunch all of the girls were loading up their trays. When she got home, Mom had already been pigging out, and when Rose got home...

'Wait a minute...' Iris realized, thinking back even earlier. 'Rose was hungry this morning before I even went to school. She started gulping down cereal the moment I came downstairs.' Iris began to think back even further to the day before. 'Nothing like this happened before this morning, but this didn't start at school.' Iris thought and thought, realizing that something had been different about today that she had never done before. 'What could have happened that started this? What have I been doing differently? What was different about this morning that I haven't done before?'

Suddenly the answer hit her like a ton of bricks. Quickly Iris excused herself and ran upstairs to her bedroom. Opening up the drawer to her nightstand Iris stood silently, looking down at the diamond-shaped bottle of perfume that Jenna had given her the day before. The scent had almost worn out on her, though it was lightly detected on her skin. Iris prepared to sniff the spray again to see if there was anything strange, but suddenly she remembered Jenna's warning. Smelling the perfume was forbidden unless one was actually wearing it, and if this perfume could do what Iris thought it would, she didn't want to put it on anymore.

Iris's mind raced. 'What do I do now?' she asked herself. 'This perfume could be making people fat. What is Jenna doing to me? She gives me a perfume that she says is going to help me get Don, but then it does this? Sure, Don might like me better if I was the skinniest girl in the school, but—wait a second...'

For the second time in one night, Iris had an epiphany. She thought of how Jessie started to swell up that morning, her belly pushing out over her pants, her shirt growing ever tighter. Later on, she was stuffing her face with the rest of the girls. Iris had been too alarmed and curious to look at it this way, but the thought of her worst enemy fattening brought a smile to her face.

'What if,' Iris asked herself, '...Jessie were to grow a little larger?' What if, in addition to that muffin-top she had grown this morning, she were to develop thunder-thighs, a spare tire, and a bulging booty to go along with it? Sucking down her food in the cafeteria, Jessie wouldn't look so good, would she?' Iris realized that perhaps Jenna was on to something after all. 'Maybe this perfume will work out after all.'

The next day Iris couldn't wait to go to school. She giggled softly to herself during the ride over, and when the car stopped and Mom was about to wish her a good day, Iris practically launched herself out the door without a word of goodbye.

Iris ran through the hallway, past the principal, past Mrs. Brooke, and past Jane, who was looking down worriedly at her soft, plump legs. Iris didn't even hear Jane yell hello to her, and even if she had she would not have stopped to return the greeting. She had to get to the bathroom before the bell rang, once there she could begin taking her revenge. Zig-zagging through the crowd, Iris quickly reached the bathroom door, dashed inside, and slammed it behind her.

Now she was alone; now she could take her time. Calmly, Iris walked over to the mirror, reached into her backpack, and produced a bundled up blanket. Carefully she unwrapped it, layer by layer, until the perfume bottle was exposed. Iris remembered Jenna's warning not to let the bottle break. She had taken a risk by bringing it to school, but she had to do it. Mom and Rose were chubby enough already, and Iris didn't want to expose them to the perfume any longer. She would have to spray herself at school every day from now on.

Iris put on her nose plugs, then quietly sprayed the perfume, making sure that it touched her skin. Once she was finished, she carefully wrapped up the bottle, waiting for her skin to absorb the scent just as Jenna had told her to. While she was waiting, she heard the flush of one of the toilets in the stalls behind her. 'Crap! I didn't know someone else was here.' Speedily, Iris wrapped up the perfume and gently stuffed it into her backpack. She took a deep breath and pulled her nose plugs out. Hopefully she could hold her breath long enough for the scent to fully soak in.

Soon after the other girl emerged from her stall, holding her stomach and walking toward the sink. She was a short, thin girl, a junior high student, Iris thought. She looked at herself in the mirror, then poured herself some water from the sink. She looked confused, as if she felt something, but didn't understand what it was. Iris knew, however, what was coming.