The New Hire: Chapter One (Patreon)

CW: Weight gain, stress eating, neglectful family, bullying, humiliation, etc.

Chapter One: Freefall

There’s two ways someone can hit rock bottom. The first is a slow, barely-noticeable decline that settles in over a long time. Like a slow, meandering walk with no destination, where you hardly realize each step as you take it.

The second is a plummet. A whiplash-inducing drop. A fall from grace.

Poca was now becoming certain she was on that second route.

At the start of high school, Poca had been living the dream. The kind of height that you’d need to fall from grace properly. Sure, she went to a public school—“Tailbrook High”—but her family wasn't poor by any means. Far from it.

Her dad was a business rooster who worked abroad handling finances for companies all across the country, and her mother was a hen who spent the days living luxuriously, with the kind of money that comes from being married to a man that never comes home.

That, of course, meant Poca and her siblings were pretty much free of parental supervision for the start of her high school years. A dangerous freedom for any teenager. But ESPECIALLY someone like Poca, who could turn down a party and expensive things as easily as a dog turned down steak.

Even still, she never let her life spiral with her parties. She knew that even parents as unattentive as hers would begin to notice if her grades slipped to the point of calls from teachers. Especially since she had already been held back a year prior. So she always ensured she kept them perfectly average. A solid ‘C’ student.

It took just as much effort as she was willing to give, as she had far more important things to juggle.

By the end of freshman year, she had already been through eight different boyfriends, and had joined the cheer team despite the many protests of their captain, a wolf named Janelle Carter, who seemed to hate the overly-confident chicken.

By her eighteenth birthday at the end of sophomore year, Poca felt like the queen of the school. She was dating different seniors on the football team almost every week. She was getting invited to EVERY party that anyone at school ever had. Hell, she spent more nights blacked out at random houses or in boyfriends’ beds than she spent in her own bed at home.

She even managed to catch a rumour that Janelle had started binge-eating after her parents’ divorce, and the weight she was gaining was showing the evidence of such a claim clearly. Her ass had doubled in size over a couple weeks, and Poca was quick to pass the word along to ensure everyone knew. Within a few days, Janelle was removed as cheer captain, and after a few weeks, booted from the team entirely. And who would fit such a prestigious role in her place?

Well, the choice was obvious… There was only one perfect candidate, after all. And Poca happily accepted the honour.

Throughout Junior year, Poca felt untouchable. She was living the perfect high school life, and the only person who’d shown her any resistance was now out of the picture.

She went through boyfriend after boyfriend, party after party, and even got the occasional ‘B’ or two in a class to make up for the string of ‘F’s that had actually made her mom raise a brow one week.

And by the end of the year, Poca reckoned she was probably the most popular girl in school. She’d been dating the same boy for two months, a new record for her. His name was Tyler Stanton, a massive elk quarterback who was the same age as Poca, heading into his senior year at eighteen.

That year, they easily took the crowns of prom king and queen, only further cementing Poca’s place on the throne of the whole school. Of course, Poca decided to throw a party at her house to celebrate. One party turned into two. Then three. Then her boyfriend’s team took the state championship, so the partying continued. Before Poca knew it, the school year had ended, and the back-to-back partying had landed her a few ‘F’s in her report card.

The first crack in perfection. If Poca hadn’t been so high on life, perhaps she’d have taken it as a bad omen.

As everyone around her got to make plans for summer break when the last class bell rang, Poca got a call from her mom.

She wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. If her mom actually had to get involved with parenting her, no one would win. But, begrudgingly, Poca headed home, and opened the front door with all the excitement of a convict approaching the gallows.

“¿Mamá? You in here? I know my grades could’ve been better this year, but it’s not really my fault if–”

She didn’t even get to finish. By the time she turned around from closing the door behind her, she saw her mother in the living room, sobbing in her father’s arms, her brother and sister both gathered around.

“¿Papá? What are you doing back already? You’re supposed to be–”

Laid off. His entire team, staff and all, dissolved in the company’s “efforts to restructure more efficiently”.

The second crack in the tower began to rear its head.

Poca’s father promised that the lifestyle changes would be minimal as he tried to get back on his feet as quickly as possible.

For a wife and children with such expensive tastes, however, the changes were glaring. No more daily spa trips for Poca’s mother. A smaller house by the end of the month, which meant a shared room with her siblings and no more parties held there. Especially not with Poca’s parents being around all day.

Since Poca’s father wasn’t gone all the time, he actually made an effort to try and parent Poca and the others and be a half-decent dad. For most neglected children, this would be a dream come true.

But for Poca, it was something out of a nightmare.

Instead of going out to restaurants, meals had to be home-cooked now. At first, Poca’s mother attempted to stick to her fad diets and just cook all the trendy health foods from home.

However, with time, any attempts at nutritional meals went out the window when Poca’s mother realized what a terrible cook she was. And so, she overcompensated for her lack of skill with excesses of butter and sugar at every turn.

At first, it was fine. It was unhealthy, sure. But in moderation, it was nothing that rigorous exercise couldn’t fix.

But over time, something changed. As the days stretched to weeks, it became obvious this change of lifestyle wasn’t as temporary as it was made out to be. Poca’s mother stopped meeting with her friends as much, not wanting to be seen in old clothes and without a proper visit to the beauty salon. So she stayed in the house more and more.

And there was only one thing to do in the house.

Cook. Cook as she stressed about whether her husband would find a high-paying job soon. Stressed about what bill would be left unpaid on the table next. Stressed about when their life would go back to the way it was… or if it ever would.

And with stress came the habit of stress-eating. She began cooking more and more, binge-eating becoming a regular habit of hers. And when the cook of the house eats more, everyone eats more.

Poca remembered the first time she noticed how drastic things were getting. Everyone sat down to eat dinner together. Something they hadn’t done for God knew how many years.

Right as the food was laid out, Poca’s mom went to take her seat, only for a loud SHHHRRRRRRIIPP! to announce her arrival.

“¡Ayyyy Mamá! Trying to fit into Poca and Lola’s clothes again, eh?” her brother Pollo blurted out with a snort. He was sixteen now, but still loved to poke fun as if he were still twelve. Poca and Lola just rolled their eyes, but Poca’s mother smacked at his wrist with the wooden spoon, before throwing a towel over her legs to cover where her thighs were bursting through her old yoga pants.

“¡Cállate, mi hijo! That’s enough!” she spat, her face bright red. “Now eat!” she snapped, sitting down for her own meal.

Sure, the blanket did well to cover the sight of the damage, but everyone knew very well what the popping and stretching of threads they heard throughout the dinner was.

Lola and Pollo saw the writing on the walls quickly. Lola decided to spend the summer with her boyfriend, much to the annoyance of her parents, and Pollo constantly planned sleepovers at his friends’ houses.

Poca tried to do the same, asking Tyler if she could stay with him for a while, but apparently his team was going out of country for a trip with the coach. Poca practically wanted to see if she could get away with staying in his room while he was away, but before she could even pitch the question, he joined in with a cheer from the background, gave a hurried “Love you, babe!”, and hung up.

Wow. Thanks, Tyler.

Poca had no one to turn to. She had a thousand adoring fans in that stupid school, but not a single friend she could actually turn to for help.

Which meant that Poca got the brunt of the home cooking.

Fried foods for breakfast. Fried foods for lunch. Fried foods for dinner. And fried foods for everything that came around and in between whenever her mother’s nerves decided it was time to drown emotions in melted butter.

Poca’s lack of partying and constant boyfriend-visiting got rid of the only real exercise she ever got when she wasn’t cheerleading. And so, over the course of the summer, she somehow gained even more weight than her mother did.

When she saw the pictures of herself at her nineteenth birthday, she was disturbed to notice the similarities to a particular wolf she’d gotten removed from the cheer team.

And as senior year started, things got even worse. Poca started wearing baggier clothing to try and hide the weight she’d put on. Immediately, the change in style was talked about all across the school. Tyler was one of the first to comment.

“Whoa! What happened, babe? Where’s… uh… the… Poca clothes?” he said as he came out of the gym to meet her.

She narrowly dodged a hug, and gave a half-assed smile. ‘Poca clothes’. How charming.

“Ah! Yeah, I… they’re… at the cleaners right now!” she lied.

“Ohhh, I get you! But can’t you just like… wear the same thing twice?” he asked, seeming genuinely puzzled.

Poca nearly gagged and shuddered, and just patted him on the head condescendingly. “No, Tyler, sweetie. I can’t.” she said plainly.

Luckily, Tyler was as dense as they came, and his cross-country trip seemed to grant him no intellectual enlightenment that Poca could see.

But at cheer practice, she didn’t have the safety of such lies. In her cheer uniform, the damage was on full display. Thick thighs, an ass pouring out of a two-sizes-too-small skirt, and a crop top that rolled up far more than it once did, constricting a chest that looked like one deep breath would cause an explosion.

If that weren’t embarrassing enough, the audible struggles of the other girls trying to lift Poca to the top of the pyramid had to take the cake. Poca’s face was crimson by the time the five other girls below her had gotten her in place, gasping for air and their arms shaking.

Poca was so mortified she thought she might lay an egg right then and there. She’d heard rumours about a sparrow girl who’d done that once. The teasing got so bad that she’d had to change schools. Poca shuddered.

By the end of the week, Poca was replaced as captain by Becky Waters. Poca’s stomach turned. Of anyone, why did it have to be that insufferable hedgehog? She had a voice so high it made Poca’s feathers curl and a waist so slim and tight that it made Poca dig her talons into the gym floor in envy every time she saw her.

“Seriously… you gotta get all… this together…” she told Poca, a vague pointing gesture towards the plump chicken’s midsection.

“We’d hate to see you end up like poor Janelle!” she mocked. Poca was crimson-faced and furious, but she couldn’t say anything to her new captain without fear of being booted from the team outright.

And it hardly stopped there. Word spread like wildfire. Before long, everyone in Tailbrook High knew about Poca’s fall from grace. Her family’s fortune, her party prestige, and her waistline, all gone in a single summer. The rumours piled and piled, and were startlingly accurate.

The third and final crack needed to send Poca Garcia plummeting.

The word reached Tyler when he was getting out of the showers. A massive buffalo hit him on the shoulder with a towel.

“Hey, Ty. You still dating that hen?”

“Poca?” Yeah… why?” the stag replied, confused.

The buffalo just smirked. “Apparently your girl got upgraded on the barn from chicken to cow.”

Tyler stood there, narrowing his eyes… even more confused. “She… turned into… a…?”

“She got fat, man.” the buffalo said with a sigh, annoyed to have to explain his clever joke. “Get your head checked, man. You get hit too hard out there.”

Tyler’s eyes just widened at the news. He stood there a moment in disbelief. He barely even noticed the buffalo heading off to lunch. He just darted out the door to find Poca (before promptly being stopped by an advisor who demanded he return to the locker rooms and get dressed before sprinting across campus in a towel).

Finally. Lunch. Poca found a bench behind the school, away from everyone. At last, she could just… hide, eat an actual salad, and just avoid everybody for–

“Poca! Babe! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Poca’s heart dropped.

No. Not him! Anyone but him!!

Tyler was a maniac about his image in the school. Almost as much as Poca. If he was here, it was almost certainly to break up with her.

She couldn’t imagine that. Obviously she didn’t intend to marry Tyler or anything, but SHE had to be the one to break up with HIM! Everyone knows that the one who initiates the break up elevates in social status, and the one who gets dumped is doomed to the eternal pit of pity and forgettability.

She couldn’t accept that fate. She wasn’t defeated. Not yet, dammit!

She prepared the best nonsensical reason to break up with Tyler that she could. Cheating? Yeah! That’s perfect! With… like… four other girls? No, no… that’d make him a Player, and that’d just add to his credit… hmm… Maybe–

She was pulled from her thoughts as the Stag swept her up from her seat, and pulled her into a long kiss.

Poca’s eyes went wide, but then she softened a bit. Even she had to admit, Tyler wasn’t… the worst kisser…

Finally, he let her go, and she took a second to voice her confusion.

“So… you’re not… upset?”

Tyler just looked at her. “What, you mean about all the rumours? Are you kidding me? Everyone here’s a bunch of idiots! They have no idea what you’re doing!”

Poca sighed in relief. She could practically kiss him again. “So… you’re okay with it…?” she could hardly believe it.

“Okay with it?! Babe, I support it wholeheartedly!” he exclaimed!

Poca had a bit of a double-take at that, and gave an awkward laugh. Support it? Okay, that was… a bit too far for her…

“H-Hah… b-babe, are you sure…? I mean, I don’t really know if–...”

“Of course I’m sure! I’m so glad you finally decided to start bulking!”

Poca’s face went blank. “...what?”

Without warning, Tyler’s hand lunged down towards her loose-fitting tee shirt, and pulled it straight up. With his other hand, he practically groped the pudgy fat of her belly, rolling the dough between his fingers as if he were a boy let loose in a bread bakery.

Poca wanted to scream, but no air filled her lungs. She was petrified in silent horror as the damage of her once-perfect body was put on full display to the world.

“See? This bubble-gut right here is a major sign of carbo-loading. See all this blubber and flab covering my fingers? You’ve done such a great job building it up so dense with calories! With a proper regiment, this is going to turn into the most INSANE washboard, babe!”

Never in her life did she want to kill the airheaded elk so badly. For just a brief, fleeting moment, she realized why wives might want to kill their husbands.

“No one realizes that you have to gain in order to get gains! You know, babe? I swear, it’s like this school is full of idiots!”

She forced on a smile as she thrust his hand away and pulled her shirt down. “I couldn’t agree more, Ty.” she said through a gritted beak.

Tyler got up from the bench at last. “Alright, I gotta get going. I just wanted to check in on my Pocster.” She hated that nickname.

As Poca got up, she yelped a bit as Tyler swept her into one arm and gave her a deep kiss. Despite how mad she was, the movement made her cheeks warm.

“Can’t wait to see how you look after the gym.” he said in his version of a flirty voice.

“C-Can’t… wait to show you…” she shakily answered, forcing an awkward smile onto her face.

Beth Morgan was about as boring as you could imagine. Well, boring was the politest way she knew how to put it. Beth had a lot worse ways to describe herself, but the school counselor insisted she tried being nicer to herself from now on, and she was certainly making the effort.

The giraffe was extremely lacking in self-esteem, so even with all the nice thoughts she could muster for herself, it really only evened her out to a neutral at best in her mind.

She was smart, but no genius. Out of her group of nerdy friends, she always felt like they looked at her like she was ‘the dumb one’. They talked about the academic scholarships they were pursuing, and she didn’t have even a fraction of their aspirations.

And she certainly didn’t feel like she had the looks to go with being considered a “dumb girl”. She always thought dumb girls were supposed to be cute, peppy, and blonde. At least, that’s what she always saw in movies.

But she looked nothing like that. She had a plain brown mane that fell over her face and trailed down her long neck, braces, and thick-rimmed glasses. Most days, she dressed like she was from a different era, mainly due to adopting her grandmother’s sense of fashion.

Her body felt like the only thing that really stood out, and it was for all the wrong reasons. She was wide and thick. Not in the good way, like the girls who had swaying hips that made every boy in the halls stop and stare. Beth just felt… dense. She had always been a bit overweight, and sure, now by senior year, it gave her a curvy figure. But it also gave her a thick everything.

Including the embarrassing fat between her thighs that made for such an obvious camel toe if she wore anything besides loose dresses and skirts.

And it had gotten even worse ever since she got her job at that restaurant near the school.

She’d started working there a couple months after her eighteenth birthday. She figured maybe making her own money might make her feel… complete? Useful? It was hard to say what she wanted out of it. Her family wasn’t exactly living paycheck-to-paycheck, but she felt it might do her some good regardless to get out of the house.

What a mistake that had been. Not only was her New Year’s resolution of a diet now firmly out of reach, but she never would have guessed who she’d have as a co-worker.

“Ah!” Beth squeaked as she felt a massive claw shove her against the lockers face-first, her cheek smushed into the cold metal. One by one, every book and binder she was carrying scattered across the floor. She was so deep in her own thoughts, she didn’t even hear anyone approaching.

“Hey, Sky-scraper~. Excited for work?” came the taunting growl.

Beth’s face went red, and she shuddered.

“O-Oh… h-hi, Jane…” she meekly stammered, hoping that if she were nice enough, Jane might have mercy on her and might make her torment brief this time.

Beth had been the target of Jane’s bullying for approximately four hundred and eleven days now. Ever since the end of Sophomore year, when she’d been booted from the cheer team. Once her schedule had been cleared up, she seemed to fill it as much as possible by tormenting the poor giraffe.

Beth had, through no fault of her own, become the wolf’s punching bag.

Multiple times, her family and friends had insisted she speak to the principal to have Jane suspended, or worse. After all, a few mean remarks every now and then were one thing. But constant harassment? That was grounds for expulsion.

But Beth had a secret. One that she made sure nobody knew.

Deep down, Beth realized she kind of enjoyed it. The constant bullying. The non-stop cruelty from Jane. She felt like some sort of freak, but with each passing month that she allowed it to continue, it became more and more obvious to her.

Maybe it was something about having the wolf’s constant attention. This bombshell of a canine, way out of her league, constantly pursuing her. Even if it was for all the wrong reasons. It didn’t matter. She constantly had her eyes locked onto Beth. She was nothing but prey to the hungry wolf, and there was something about that fact that made the giraffe’s mouth water.

It was only recently that Beth realized she might like girls. It was surprising to her, in truth. She spent so long thinking that she should be trying to impress boys that she completely ignored the excitement she felt at the briefest thought of getting a girl’s attention instead.

Beth didn’t feel any shame in it, either. Quite the opposite. It was almost a relief for her, realizing that she had no reason to try and compete for the fleeting attention of boys anymore in this hectic warzone of a school.

The issue was the girl she had her heart set on. Jane, of all people. A fiery monster of a wolf. Having a crush on her felt like she was setting her beating heart inside the open jaws of a bear trap. It was a formula for devastation. For ruin. Beth’s own demise.

So why did the thought of it make her heart flutter?

“You didn’t answer my question, Palmtree. Excited for work~? I hope you’re hungry today~...” the wolf growled.

Beth’s eyes rolled involuntarily as she felt Jane’s hot breath against the side of her face as her bully spoke the teasing words just a bit too close to her. She was sure a small whimper might have made its way out before she managed to stifle it, too.

But suddenly, Beth was keenly aware of everyone in the hall around them, and her face burned red.

“J-Jane… pleashe… nngh… not here…” she begged, the words muffled with half her face against the locker.

Jane sighed, and nodded. “Ohhhh, fine~.”

To Beth’s surprise, she felt the wolf’s claw leave her back, and she was allowed to stand upright. She gave Jane a shaky, appreciative nod for her mercy, and bent down to pick everything up that she had dropped.

Big mistake.

“Eeeeeep!” she squealed as she felt the wolf’s foot sweep her hooves out from under her as soon as she leaned forward.

RRRIPP!

Beth’s heart dropped as she heard her skirt stretch and fray at the sides, rolling it up over her hips on her way down.

When she realized how she landed, her face burned crimson.

“Whoa, upskirt!” she heard someone yell.

“Damn, she’s got EVERYTHING on display!” came another voice. 

Suddenly, Beth was keenly aware of just how tight her panties were on her, and she never wanted to disappear more in her entire life.

Slowly, the silent gawking turned to a rising laughter. Everyone pointed and laughed like a school full of hyenas. And despite Beth’s effort to quickly scramble to her hands and knees, she felt a heavy paw hit her back and hold her back down.

Was Jane… stepping on her?

“What’s wrong, Sky-scraper? Now’s your chance to finally have the whole school’s eyes on you~...” Jane taunted. Beth could hear the cruel smile in the words.

Between the mortifying situation, and the feeling of her crush literally crushing her with her paw, Beth was overstimulated with the emotions she was feeling. She shivered on the floor, whimpering, until it became too much.

“No, nonononono… n-no…. hnnnn….” she pleaded with no one in particular under her breath, her legs shaking, before finally, she felt it.

Despite the begging from her brain, her body wouldn’t listen. It was more turned on than she could ever imagine. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever felt so shamefully aroused. Her hot breath warmed the floor as she felt the excitement dripping from her, her panties growing soaked and sticking to the blubber between her thighs.

“Oh my God, her panties are soaked!”

There went the slightest hope that no one would notice.

“Ew! Did she pee herself?”

Beth almost wished that’s all it was.

“Gross! She’s turned on by this!”

Aaaand they figured it out…

“OMG! She’s such a freak!”

Click!

Was that… a camera? Were they… taking pictures?

Click! Click!

Beth could hear Jane snicker. Yep, they were taking pictures. That settled it. Beth’s life was officially over. Jane had just ended her life with a single move. A one-hit K.O. An ultimate combo. Beth just laid there, ready for the wind to take her away so she could finally disappear.

But… a tiny part of her was really hoping Jane would use her other foot before that happened.

With the last scrap of her dignity firmly between Jane’s paws, Beth found herself walking out of her last class that day utterly drained. She practically dragged herself down the hall, backpack dangling from one hand. She was NOT looking forward to the kind of exhausting day work had in store for her.

And then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, she heard arguing up ahead. And as she heard two voices of the same tone, she knew who it had to be.

The Avery sisters. Clara and Sara. Black-furred feline twins that had everything in common. Their interests, their hobbies, their personalities…. They even looked completely identical, save for Clara having a white spot over her left eye, and Sara having one over her right.

They were regular bullies of Beth’s. When Jane wasn’t giving her a hard time, usually one (or more likely, both) of them were. It never sat right with Beth. In a strange way, it almost felt like she was cheating on Jane whenever it happened.

But this time, she didn’t seem to be the target of their harassment. Instead, that honour belonged to a plump chicken who was caught between them, shooting glares at both.

“¿Excuse me, Pendeja?” the chicken snapped.

“Hehe! You heard her!” Clara chimed.

“Hehe! Yeah, you heard me!” Sara parroted. “You keep eating like that and you’re off the cheer team! We’ll make sure of it!”

“Serves you right for how wicked you were to us last year, stuffed turkey!”

“Hehe! Stuffed turkey!”

Their cackling made Beth dizzy, but she gasped as she saw the chicken ball her feathered fists, clucking with frustration. She was ready to throw a punch.

“Awwwwh, what’s wrong?” Clara sneered.

“You’re looking at us like you’re hungry!”

“Uh oh! You don’t eat cats, do you?”

“No? Then it looks like this is one problem you can’t eat your way out of~!”

The two giggled wildly, and the chicken took a step forward, hand raised for her swing.

“Oh God. Oh jeez. Ohhhhh no….” Beth muttered under her breath, trying to decide whether to cover her eyes or intervene. For some reason, for the first time in as long as she could remember, Beth’s brain chose the braver choice. Perhaps her brain really did believe her life was over.

It wasn’t exactly a fearless march, however. She thought she might soil her underwear a second time today as she approached the chaotic scene.

“W-Wait! S-Stop!” Beth shouted.

One by one, all three of the girls turned towards the giraffe awkwardly holding her hands up.

“Sara! Clara! Y-You… know what the principal s-said! If you’re caught picking on me or my friends again, y-you’ll… y-you’ll both be suspended!” Beth said with as confident of a tone as she could muster, hoping a majority of the words weren’t slurred and impeded by her lisp.

The cats both rolled their eyes.

“Yes, yes, we remember.” Sara started.

“Quite well! Quite well!”

“Which is why we’ve found a new toy here~!”

“She isn’t much yet, but soon she might be even bigger than you~!”

“Hehe!”

“Hehehe!”

“¿Qué chingadas?” Poca snapped, ready to rake talons across the cats if they said another word.

Beth practically threw herself in front of the chicken to stop her from starting anything.

“W-Well, you can’t pick on her either!” Beth insisted.

“Oh yeah, High-rise~?” Sara asked as she stepped forward, trailing a claw slowly up Beth’s belly.

“And why’s that~?” Clara asked, following her sister’s lead, letting her claw trail down from the top of Beth’s stomach.

Beth whimpered. She felt like just a bit more force and the cats would practically split her top open.

“B-Because… I-I…”

Beth stammered over her words, and gave a glance back to the chicken, who just looked at her, confused. If this broke out into a fight, all three of them would be suspended, or worse.

“B-Because… she’s my friend too!”

“She is?”

“She is?”

“I am?”

Beth huffed. “Yes! You are! S-So… uhm… c-come on, bestie…” she said awkwardly, grabbing the chicken’s wrist and hurrying her along. The confused chicken tried to pull away, and practically looked like she’d retch at the giraffe’s touch.

The cats both watched them leave, glaring at them.

“You can’t hide forever, Poca!”

“Not with a gut like that! Hehe!”

Slowly, the twins’ horrible laughter faded down the hall. Finally, once they were out of the school, both of the chubby girls took a second to catch their breath.

But after a few moments, something clicked in Beth’s head.

“WAIT, POCA? AS IN POCA GARCIA? PROM QUEEN POCA GARCIA?”

Poca curled her beak in annoyance that this girl who clearly knew her didn’t seem to recognize her. “Yes? Isn’t it obvious?” she said with a huff, throwing the feathers of her ponytail over her shoulder in a diva pose.

Beth just let her gaze slowly drift downward.

“N-Not… really….” her voice cracked slightly.

Poca’s eyes widened, like she was about to whirl and hit Beth, but suddenly, she deflated, falling to the ground with her head in her hands, a quiet sob coming from the fallen prom queen.

Beth just… awkwardly waited, shuffling from one hoof to the other. But as the crying didn’t seem to stop, she just cleared her throat, and ventured to finally say something.

“I-Is… uhm… everything oka–”

“NO! NO EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY! EVERYTHING SUCKS! MY FAMILY SUCKS! MY DAD’S STUPID INCOME SUCKS! OUR NEW STUPID HOUSE SUCKS! MY MOM’S STUPID COOKING SUCKS! THIS SCHOOL SUCKS! TYLER SUCKS! EVERYTHING FUCKING SUCKS!”

Beth blinked. The blow up practically gave her a heart attack. She didn’t know chickens could be so… loud.

“I… uhm… I-I see.” she said nervously, slowly taking a seat beside the sniffling chicken.

“And if THAT wasn’t all bad enough, now I’m sitting here talking to a fat dork of a giraffe! The only person who’s been decent to me ALL week!” Poca added.

“Okay, ow… b-but fair. Uhm… wait, no one’s being nice to you? Is it because–...” Beth trailed off as her eyes went southward again, and Poca gave her a side glare that practically dared her to say what she was thinking. Beth wisely decided against it.

“W-Well… from what I’m hearing, it sounds like a lot of your problems are stemming from money.” Beth finally said, taking the conversation a new route instead.

“¡Ay, no! My sweet money never did anything wrong! It’s the lack of it that ruined my life!”

“I-I mean, okay… b-but that’s still… a money issue.”

Poca sniveled and gave a meek nod. “Sí.”

Beth sighed. Was she really about to run the risk of this girl actually taking her up on the offer? She’d have to be colleagues with Poca Garcia. The nightmare herself. The prom queen of hell.

But… right now she wasn’t any of those things. Right now she was just a sad chicken in need of a friend.

“I… uhm… I know a place. A restaurant across the street. It’s like an eccentric diner place, but the pay is really good. It might be what you’re looking for.” Beth offered gently.

Poca outright made herself gag. “¡Dios mío! Fast food! I’m already stretching waistbands, and you want me to work behind a fucking fryer?!”

“No, no! N-Not like… fast food. You’d be a waiter. It’s… kind of got a… certain uniform and style to the whole place…” Beth said, her face turning crimson.

Poca’s eyes widened. Suddenly, she knew what the giraffe meant. She knew that look in her eye.

It was a sleezy waitress joint. Stuffed in tight uniforms and serving food with three quarters of her ass hanging out.

For the old Poca, it would’ve been a perfect fit. But now…? She wasn’t quite so sure.

“Oh! M-My… name’s Beth, by the way. Obviously, I-I… already know yours.” the giraffe said with an awkward chuckle, adjusting her glasses.

Poca sighed. If someone like that could handle the job, she sure as hell could. No way she was further down the totem pole than… Beth here. She took a deep breath.

“Fine. Maybe I’ll give this place a look.” Poca shuddered. The thought of actually… working sickened her. But it was better than letting her life spiral like this. She’d do anything to get things back to the way they were. Even if it meant… this.

“So, what’s the place called?”

There almost seemed to be a bit of hesitation to the answer.

“Hefty’s Heifers.”