The Nude, the Fat and the Lovely Ch. 01

*Despite being set in high school, all of the characters in this story are at or above the age of eighteen.*

While this is an original work of fiction, this story was inspired by an episode of Highway to Heaven, titled "Friends," which originally aired on May 7, 1986.

This memoir goes back to the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, during the days of big hair bands, and a time of far fewer restrictions in our schools. A time when school could actually be fun, and not where you felt like you were incarcerated, terrified of an armed attack or being abducted at the bus stop; the days when you could actually walk into school through an unlocked door or even return to hang out every now and then after you had graduated. Those were the days!

At the beginning of my junior year, my dad and I had moved to the suburbs of what is now a very large Southern city, yet at the time still had a small town feel to it. Even though we were in city limits and I should have gone to one of the more dangerous high schools in the county, due to reverse busing quotas, my neighborhood was included in a bus route that took us to the middle and high schools in the north end of the county. Talk about a small town feel! The high school was nicknamed Redneck Tech for a reason. It was still pretty well divided though, due to the quotas, but everyone got along really well.

I was a bit of an enigma to the other students when I first showed up. I was obviously from up North, but had a coolness about me that the tougher kids latched onto, yet I was also one of the smartest kids in school, with a MENSA level IQ. I also was one of the rare kids that was not only cool, I was cool without drugs or alcohol, and I got along with all of my teachers and the staff. I was also one of the better students in my art class, so those kids liked me as well. I was cool, smart and polite. Because of this, some of the popular girls that would normally go for the jocks, liked to hang out with me and my crowd, instead.

One of these girls in particular, Amy Kellenbach, was dating the captain of the football team when I first showed up, but she and I quickly became much more than friends, and she eventually ditched him to date me instead. He wasn't particularly thrilled with that, but the jocks had a shared respect for the metalheads, at least in that school, so he sought other pastures. There wasn't any bad blood between us.

I was excelling in all of my classes and somehow dating the hottest blonde babe in the school, when on a Friday night, while driving back home from her house, I was hit head-on by a commercial driver who had fallen asleep behind the wheel. I spent a month in the hospital, and then a couple more months in rehab to recover from my injuries. Needless to say, I missed a bit of school.

One day, while still in the hospital, I received an unexpected visitor to my room. It was Bethany, an overweight but very intelligent girl from two of my classes. I was surprised to see her, as a couple of my friends had dropped by with cards from other students and the like, but we really didn't speak that much. She was quiet and kept to herself. To say that she was unpopular, was a pretty accurate description. Not because she was a jerk or anything, just because back then fat kids were shunned in general, and smart, fat kids pretty much had no friends at all. So when she knocked on my door and entered with a bunch of books, I was surprised to see her, but then again - with all of those books - I figured she'd been sent to keep me caught up on my classes. Turns out I was correct.

"Hi Jack!" she said with a huge smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Considering I got clobbered by a cab-over, not too bad." I replied. "It could have been a lot worse though. I was lucky to have escaped with only a few broken bones and some minor head injuries, but I'm looking at months of rehab. I'll probably have to stay back and repeat the whole year."

"That's why I'm here." Bethany explained. "Mr. Hunter (our principal) knows how good of a student you are, and he asked me if I wouldn't mind tutoring you while you're healing up, so you won't have to. You'll have to take some summer classes too, but he said as long as you turn in your work in a timely manner and pass all of your tests, he'll let you advance to your senior year with the rest of us."

"That was nice of him." I said, as I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "And nice of you as well. This is going to cut into a lot of your free time, Bethany."

"What else am I going to do with my free time?" she inquired. "It's not like I have a bunch of friends to hang out with, like you do. I study and watch TV; that's pretty much my life. Oh yeah, and I eat a lot too."

It seemed like she was lashing out, but then she suddenly changed her demeanor.

"I'm sorry." she apologized. "I didn't mean it to sound like that, Jack. I guess maybe I'm a bit jealous because you're one of the popular kids, but I didn't mean to sound that way."

"It's okay," I responded with a smile, "I wasn't really popular myself until I moved here."

"Really?" she inquired in a surprised tone. "I find that hard to believe. You seem to have a way with everyone, even all the teachers like you. Mr. Hunter took it on personally, to make sure you stay caught up."

"Oh, I've always been Teacher's Pet, and made it a point to be friendly with the administrators," I replied, "but I was never a jock and being artsy and all, not particularly someone the chicks were after, or the really cool kids either. It was always, 'you're a really sweet guy, but-'."

Bethany looked puzzled.

"Then why are you so popular now?" she inquired, pushing her long, auburn hair out of her face.

"I dunno." I said with a shrug. "This is my third school system, and people are so much different here. My first week here, I would be sitting outside the door of drafting class, and Raymond Randall would walk up and say, 'What's up?' and one day, he invited me to hang out with his friends before school started. Turns out he was with the cool crowd, and this time, I was in. I guess no one had seen a kid who was both smart and cool, and an artist on top of it, so I guess the third time's a charm. What about you, how come you don't hang out with anyone besides Gretchen Saunders?"

"Because I'm fat and shy." she replied bluntly. "It took me two hours to screw up the courage to come here."

"Well I'm glad you did." I said with a smile. "I appreciate your helping me with my schoolwork, and don't worry about being shy. I wasn't particularly outgoing until I moved here either."

"But you're a nice looking guy!" she burst out. "All the girls like you. I'm fat and ugly, and no one likes me."

"I do." responded matter-of-factly. "I remember what it was like to be teased when I was younger, for wearing glasses and looking like a dweeb. I told you, I got lucky when I moved here."

"I wish I could get lucky and have people start liking me." Bethany lamented.

"When I get back to school, why don't you hang out with me and my friends?" I suggested. "Most are pretty nice guys."

"Really?" she asked, brightening a bit.

"Sure." I responded. "It's the least I can do for you, since you're going to be spending a lot of time with me for the next several months."

Over the next few months, as I continued my recovery, Bethany would drop by the house to help me; usually on the weekends, when she could devote more time to tutoring me. Finally, I was able to return to school, and was greeted with enthusiasm my first day back. I was still a bit slow on my feet and needed a cane to walk, so Bethany volunteered to carry my books for me between classes.

True to my word, I invited her to start hanging out with my crowd, and she slowly seemed to come out of her shell. A lot of tough or cool kids are black sheep, so to speak, so despite their public personas, are actually accepting of others. Some are just assholes and need the shit kicked out of them, but most are really nice when you get to know them. This was the case at my school, and my friends all took a liking to her when they saw how nice of a person she was.

All except for Amy, that is. I think she was jealous of the time Bethany and I had spent together, and although there was nothing more than a platonic relationship between us, she somehow feared that Bethany and I were somehow taking it further, so she made a point to always hang out on my arm and engage in public displays of affection in front of her.

"So," she inquired one day in front of everyone, "will you be taking me to the Junior Prom?"

It hadn't really crossed my mind at that point, as in all honesty, she was my first real girlfriend and I was still learning how this was all done. I was also still using a cane and didn't see how I could dance very well anyway, but since she brought it up, I nodded.

"I wasn't expecting to be able to go," I replied, "but yes, if you'd like to go, I would certainly love to take you. I just won't be able to dance very well."

"Great!" Amy exclaimed, looking at Bethany and jeering. "He's taking ME!"

Poor Bethany looked crushed, but to her credit, took it in stride. At that point, I had no idea whatsoever, that she was getting sweet on me, but something about her reaction seemed more than a simple "I'm going and you're not" response. She said nothing, but dropped her gaze and walked away.

Amy and I returned to our dating schedule and attended the prom together, being crowned Prom King and Queen. It usually goes to one of the head jocks and someone like Amy, but due to my accident and miraculous recovery, we took the crown. Nothing like popularity by sympathy!

Bethany continued to coach me in a few topics, as my head injuries had left me with some issues. In time, they would pass and I would return to normal, but at the moment, I needed her assistance to help me graduate the following year. Since Amy's snide remark, she hadn't been quite as close as she once was, but was still very nice and professional, and I still considered her to be my friend.

The academic year ended, and as forecast, I found myself in summer school to continue trying to catch back up. Amy and her friends were also there, along with a bunch of the jocks. As I said, she was beautiful, but I never said anything about her being intelligent. The fact of the matter was, she was a visual trophy and nothing else. If she looked like Bethany, she'd be friendless too.

To my surprise, Bethany had volunteered as a teaching assistant, so she was now focused even more on helping me. This time, however, it was obvious how much time she was spending with me, and once again, Amy was becoming jealous. Bethany dropped by my locker one day, as school was ending, and handed me a book.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Hound?" I inquired, misreading the title.

"It's the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." she said in a slightly annoyed tone. "I want you to read this. It will help you with your mental acuity. I'll drop by your house tonight around seven to go over some of your math issues, okay?"

I nodded in reply.

"Okay. See you then."

As she began to walk away, I called after her.

"And thanks for the book!"

At that point, Amy came up and put her arms around me.

"What did Henrietta Hippo want?" she inquired, referring to Bethany by a character from a 1970s children's show.

"She gave me this book to read," I replied, holding it up, "and don't call her that. She's a really nice person. I wouldn't have been able to finish eleventh grade if not for her."

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Hound." Amy said, also misreading the name of the book. "You wanna go see a movie tonight?"

"I can't." I said regretfully. "Beth's coming over to help me with algebra tonight. How about Friday?"

"Oh, it's Beth now, huh?" Amy sneered. "Alright, spend the evening with your fat girlfriend then! See if I care."

At that, she turned on her heel and stalked off. I shrugged and headed for the parking lot. The company of the driver that hit me had settled out of court for a couple million dollars in damages, plus all resulting medical bills both now and in the future, as the driver was illegally juggling three sets of log books. Things weren't satellite tracked and computerized back then, the way they are now. Once it was shown how grossly negligent he was, the company had decided to avoid a potential award of the ten million we were seeking, and offer slightly under half of that amount instead. After attorney's fees and such, I was left with a cool 3 Mil. I had used some of that money to buy a new car, and had a snazzy black Firebird with a T-top to show off.

As I headed home, I was unaware that Amy was devising one of the most devious and horribly cruel pranks that could ever be played on anyone, and that someone unfortunately happened to be Bethany.

"Hi Bethany!" she called out, as she trotted down C Hall and caught up to her.

"Oh hello, Amy." Bethany replied. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking." Amy replied overly sweetly. "I wanted to thank you for helping Jack the way you have."

"Oh, I'm glad to do it." Bethany said with a smile. "I would have hated to see him held back, so when Mr. Hunter asked me to tutor him, I was happy to oblige."

Amy's eyes narrowed for a split second.

"Oh, I'm sure you were!" she thought to herself.

She regained her composure almost instantly, however, and continued with her charade.

"You know, the girls and I were thinking that maybe you'd like to hang out with us; you know when you're not busy or anything." Amy lied.

"Really?!" Bethany inquired excitedly.

"Sure." Amy continued. "We all appreciate how you've been helping Jack with his studies and all, so we thought that maybe you'd like to join our little clique."

"Oh yes!" Bethany gushed. "That would be so rad!"

"Good." Amy responded, handing her a slip of paper. "Here's my address. Why don't you drop by on Friday around six o'clock or so, and we'll do a little initiation?"

Bethany looked slightly alarmed.

"What kind of an initiation?" she inquired, with a slight tone of trepidation to her voice.

"Oh, nothing major." Amy said casually. "It's not like college hazing or anything like that. We'll just do a candlelight ceremony in my family room and swear you in. You up for it?"

"Oh yes!" Bethany gushed.

"Good. See you then."

It was all Amy could do to keep from bursting into laughter right there, but she retained her composure long enough to be out of earshot.

"What's so funny?" one of her friends asked.

"Let's just say I have a little surprise planned for Mrs. Doughnut." Amy snickered. "You guys in?"

"Sure." Sabrina said with a shrug. "We'll get a laugh out of it?"

"Oh yeah!" Amy guffawed loudly. "We'll all get a laugh, alright."

That Friday, I showed up at Amy's house at 5:45 PM, per her request. She had asked me to take her to see "The Wraith" at the dollar movies (yes, back then you could still see an older movie for a buck), which started at 7:00. I was still a bit annoyed with her for calling Bethany names, but agreed anyway. She gave good head, and she was usually up for sex after a night out. She answered the door and invited me in.

"Hey there, Handsome!" she greeted me. "C'mon in."

I stepped into the foyer and noticed the rest of her friends standing to the side.

"I thought we were going to the movies." I said in a puzzled tone.

"We are, but the girls and I are finishing something up for our club." she explained. "We should still get there in time. If not, we can go to the mall and get something to eat in the food court and hit the later show. Why don't you wait for me in the rec room? Daddy just got one of those fancy projection TVs, and he got a new Intellivision game system too."

"Okay." I agreed, as I entered the spacious room.

I knew where the new TV would be, as it was most likely where the old one had been the last time we stayed up watching R rated movies at all hours of the morning. It was located around the corner of the L-shaped room, against the far wall. I found the remote and turned the TV on, trying to figure out how to get the gaming system going. I was distracted with all of this, so I didn't hear the doorbell ring when Bethany arrived fifteen minutes later.

"Hi Bethany!" Amy greeted her with contrived enthusiasm.

She had timed my tutor's arrival perfectly for her evil plan, and she and all of her friends were wearing long white bathrobes, held in place with a Velcro belt, and no shoes.

"Hello." Bethany replied. "Hi Girls."

Amy handed her a matching robe and pointed to the bathroom on the right.

"Take your clothes off and put this on." she instructed. "You can change in there."

Bethany looked very uncomfortable.

"Take my clothes off?" she echoed.

"Sure. None of us are wearing anything either." Amy lied, hiking up her robe and revealing a long and very shapely calf and thigh. "When we do the ceremony, we have to be one with nature, and you know, that means being natural. Don't worry, we won't be taking them off or anything."

It did indeed appear that she was nude, but in fact she and the other girls were fully clothed, except for their sneakers. Amy's short skirt only gave the impression she wasn't wearing anything underneath the robe, when she showed some skin.

"Okay." Bethany responded, relieved she wouldn't be revealing her body to the other girls, taking the robe and heading for the bathroom.

Amy and her ilk were doing their best to stifle their laughter, as the poor girl closed the door and began removing her clothes. Once she was undressed and fully nude, she donned the robe and tried to fasten the belt, but the Velcro appeared to be very worn and barely holding, so she clutched it place instead. She reappeared in the hallway, and Amy nodded.

"We have to get the candles, so wait for us in there." she instructed, pointing to the entrance to the large rec room.

This was the same room where she had played in as a child, and the barrel bolt on the outside of the door to keep her contained, was still in place. As Bethany entered the room, Amy snatched the robe by the collar and yanked it off her body, leaving her completely nude. Before Bethany could respond, Amy slammed the door shut and locked it behind her; the group of girls all laughing hysterically.

Bethany stood there in shock; facing the large room, and alerted by all of the commotion, I put the game control down and walked around the corner. I was stunned to see my tutor standing there fully nude; her huge, round tits and furry muff plain for me to see.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, trying to cover herself with one hand, as she turned and tried to open the door with the other.

Unable to open it, she began pounding her fist against the solid pine door.

"Let me out!" she shrieked. "Let me out! Let me out! Let me out! Let me OUT!!!"

She began to sob, as she slowly slid down the door, still trying to beat on the panels.

"Let me out." she whimpered. "Please God, let me out. Let me out."

She dropped to her knees and cried uncontrollably; her shoulders shaking violently. She had been humiliated beyond words in front of me, by what had to be the cruelest and most vicious act I had ever witnessed.

"Beth-" I began.

She turned her head to face me.

"Get away from me!" she snarled, her face stained with tears. "I helped you with your homework and this is what you do to me? I hope you're happy! You got to see the fat girl naked. Are you happy?"

"I didn't know anything about this." I said quietly, as I knelt alongside her and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Don't touch me!" she demanded.

I could still hear the evil stepsisters laughing cruelly at the overweight Cinderella on the other side of the door, and I gently squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.