Better, Brighter, Whiter Part 3 (Patreon)

The initial stages of fear and concern were setting in as the wonder and joy of moving away from home to attend an Ivy League school on a full scholarship began to wane. Emefa huffed as she stress-ate her way through a bag of Funyuns having already eaten breakfast and a cinnamon roll she picked up from the Bright U Café along with a massive caramel macchiato she’d decided would give her the energy she needed to put together an actual plan of attack. It wasn’t working. All she’d accomplished was exhausting herself from waddling her heavy, wobbling frame across campus and back in the warm Spring heat, leaving her sweaty and panting when she returned to the house. She’d passed by her neighbor again, but only briefly as the fit black woman blew past her with the tiniest wave and a pair of earbuds cutting her off from the rest of the world. There was a time that Emefa herself might have visualized herself in such a position, but her proclivity for overeating and lack of enthusiasm for anything resembling exercise ensured that she turned out much the same way most women in her community did. Many girls grew up obese, but almost all of them ended up at least moderately fat. While even Emefa had originally defaulted to blaming the individual for their obsessive eating, her parents later taught her about the issues of class disparity and the convenience of fast food for low income families. It was their station and lack of opportunities, not their appetites that were keeping them pinned to their couches and out of successful jobs.

(1)

She’d been typing away for hours only to look up and she’d only managed to write down two pages of notes and concerns regarding school policies, but even those seemed to read more like scholarly dissertations on the plight of people of color in lower class communities and the dangers of ostracizing them from wealthy areas or barring them from quality education.  It wasn’t enough. She reached her hand into her chip bag only to grab a few fingers full of crumbs, she was snapped out of her daze. Sighing, she lamented how quickly she’d gone through them, but was already on her way to the fridge for something else to munch on by the time she’d realized what was going on. She looked down at her round waterbed of a belly and then into the freezer at a box of chocolate covered ice cream cones with caramel filling in the middle.
“Bitch, no wonder.” She said, not even hesitating to grab the chilly treat and head outside for some air.
She waddled outside, more hoping to avoid having to spend any more time wedged between the arms of her computer chair than to realize some profound idea that would turn the white supremacy on it’s head. Walling to the street, the heavyset  girl looked over her cul de sac, noticing as the last vacancy sign had been removed from the lawn. The muscular jogger had stopped and was talking to an impressively heavy woman with dark skin and vaguely Asian features. However, unlike Emefa who was dying in the heat and already a third of the way through her ice cream, this girl was balanced precariously on some kind of yoga-tube that looked like it was about to snap beneath her body weight. 

(2)

Emefa was nervous about introducing herself, but did eventually meander over and say hi, prompting friendly responses from both women. Unsurprisingly, it was the dark and fit woman who made the first move on both accounts, speaking up the moment Emefa was within talking range.
“I’m Tonisha. This is Keilani. We just moved in recently. You also with BU?” Tonisha asked confidently. It was almost too confident and nearing aggressive, but Emefa was more than used to that sort of attitude from back home.
“My name’s Emefa. I also go to Bright. In fact, I just so happen to be heading the new student inclusivity initiative.” She said, somewhat proud through her moderate concern at coming off as condescending or arrogant.
“Ooohh, check you out, girl!” Tonisha replied, apparently impressed. “So from what I understand, you’re the leader of this little neighborhood. Not gonna lie, from what I saw on campus, I was pretty sure they were going to have some rich white dude trying to tell us all how to ‘integrate properly into the school culture.’ I am pleasantly surprised.”
“Me too.” Keilani said shyly, now off of her balancey thing and standing up awkwardly. She was smiling, but looked to be too afraid to really say whatever was on her mind.
“To be honest, I don’t know what I was expecting. The school gave me a full ride saying that they needed me to be the face of their new program, then when I went to the campus it was all white girls and like.. Some Romanian chicks? I dunno. They were brownish, but still white.” Emefa explained, feeling more casual already amongst her new neighbors.
“I’ve seen an Asian girl..” Keilani chirped, her shoulders shrugged up almost to her ears. “She was nice but hard to understand. And she had boobs bigger than my head. It made me feel weird.”
Emefa rolled her eyes. “Yeah, they’re all like that. Plastic as fuck. Apparently this school likes students who want plastic surgery.”
“…No….Like….They were real. But they were down to her belly button almost. All I could think of was how bad her back must have felt. But that was the only girl I saw who wasn’t white.”
The three of them were all grateful for the comradery, even if only for the validation that they weren’t crazy in seeing the ridiculous things they had. It wasn’t enough to make any one of them want to give up their scholarships to such a renowned school, but they all couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, or at least uncomfortable. There was a slight awkwardness between them as both Keilani and Tonisha both looked at the ground for a moment, debating whether or not to say anything. Tonisha was quick to break the silence.
“So uhh, I gotta ask something. Are you gonna have us use the passwords they gave us when we got here? Cuz I be in the process of tryna change mine.”
Emefa was confused, but Keilani’s ears seemed to prick up and suddenly she looked even more urgent than before, causing Emefa to side eye the both of them with a slight, quizzical scowl on her face.
“Passwords?” She asked, having heard nothing of the sort previously. “What kinda passwords?”
Tonisha sighed deeply, but quickly, stretching her back with her arms over her head as if she were stalling before she responded. “So the school issued me a password through a random computer algorithm, right? But mine’s all fucked up and got me feelin’ some kinda way, so I wanted to change it. Apparently I have to wait two weeks for approval and even then it might not even get dealt with. So whenever I wanna get to my counselor’s office or get into anything for the school in person, I gotta say ‘Plushy Princess’ just to be allowed into my meetings.”
She slowed for a moment and closed her eyes, wincing for a second as her hand moved to her stomach, pressing into her stomach and massaging her gently padded abs. She couldn’t tell if it was from something she ate or if she’d overdone it at the gym earlier, but she felt her stomach tighten viciously, cramping up for a moment and making her feel sick to her stomach. The lingering soreness in her muscles reminded her of her earlier trip to the main campus for her morning workout. She’d been trying to lose the last tiny bit of squish from her stomach for a few months now, and in an attempt to speed up the process, ended up straining her core during her exercises. Internally, Tonisha chastised herself for being so careless, as now she would have to take a few weeks off to fully recover.

(3)

“Plushy….Princess.” Emefa said with a quirked eyebrow and a subtle grin. “Really? YOU? Girl, you got more muscles than a damn seafood market. Besides, that’s not really degrading. It’s more embarrassing. But still, I wouldn’t be wanting to say some weird shit every time I need to get some shit done so I feel you.”
Keilani looked over at Emefa with an expression that conveyed her obvious timidness, raising her hand up just barely past her head. “Um…” She began.
“Sweetie, you ain’t gotta raise your hand. This ain’t kindergarten. Just say what you gotta say.” Emefa encouraged, sounding more scolding to her new neighbor than she thought she did.
“Um…Sorry. Um.. I got one of those too.” She said in a soft voice. “So it was the day I went to the campus and I saw the girl with the super giant boobs? Well I got lost on my way, so she helped me get to the office. I was asked to give my password to register into the system and I didn’t have one, so the girl at the desk typed something up on the computer and then sent a text to my phone giving me my password. But I got nervous and  left instead of going to my appointment. I had to call and reschedule for next week.” Keilani explained.
Both girls stared at her with eager expressions as the realization that she was the center of attention began to set in, causing the wind to leave her sails. “Here…um…I’ll show you.” She said, pulling out her phone and beginning to unlock it.
Emefa and Tonisha both looked at each other with knowing, eyebrow-raised gazes.
“Keilani.” Emefa said politely. “Just tell us what it says. Don’t be shoving your phone in our faces and telling us to read for you. I’m not mad, but you’re an adult. You can read out loud.”
Again, Keilani appeared shaken, but held the phone up to her face to hide before speaking. “It says….Um…..” She breathed.
“Today, Keilani.” Tonisha prompted.
“Hold on, she’s shy. Let her take her time.” Emefa said, mediating between the two. Tonisha sighed and folded her arms over her modest chest while Keilani showed her a small, appreciative smile.
“It says….Tits On A Stick.” She muttered, feeling absolutely sick to her stomach from the humiliation and anxiety divulging that information caused her.
“Oooohhhhhhhh, WHAT?! Oh hell no.” Emefa replied.
“EXCUSE ME?! Fuck that shit. No wonder you were so shy about it. That’s objectifying as hell! Can they even do that? Isn’t that illegal? You could sue them for sexual harassment!” Tonisha snarled, fired up and outraged for her new friend and neighbor.
“Well…I just want to see if I can change it first.” Keilani said. “I’m just scared to go by myself.”
Tonisha was quick to jump in and offer her assistance.
“I’ll go with you.”
“You know, I think I can actually do it myself? I am not sure why I chickened out so bad last time, but I think it was just newness jitters? Still, if you want to go talk to them together about our stuff, we can do that.” Keilani said, feeling significantly less nauseous than before.

(4)

“Whew! That was easier to get out there than I thought. Thank you guys for the support. It’s just hard to feel like you’re going it alone, you know?” The Fat Hawaiian said in a relieved tone.
“Well, that’s exactly what we’re here for.” Emefa chimed professionally. “And if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t get a password or anything yet, but they put me: a fat, black bitch, in charge of an ethnic inclusion program called Better, Brighter, Whiter.” She said, nearly wretching as the words came out of her mouth and a splitting headache pierced her skull.
“Ahhhhhh fuck….” She said, wincing in pain. She looked down at the almost fully eaten ice cream cone in her hand and shook her head. “Brain freeze. Real bad one too.”
Tonisha put her hands on her hips and immediately turned to lecture the fat woman about the negative effects of a poor diet. “You know, those are prolly hurtin’ you because of all the sugar in them. That stuff is hella bad for you. Headaches could be a sign of pre-diabetes or something.” She rambled matter-of-factly.
Emefa simply rolled her eyes and finished what was left of the cone. “Chill out, Jenny Craig. They’re diet. Sugar free. I just ate it too fast.”

(5)

“That’s worse! They have a lot of aspertame instead of regular sugar in them. That shit gives you cancer!” Tonisha said, wide eyed and enthusiastic about her knowledge of health and wellness.
“Alright then. I’ll watch out for that.” Emefa droned sarcastically. “Anyways, I was thinking maybe we could get all the girls in the neighborhood together at my place and get to know each other as a community and part of the B.B.W. group. I met my next door neighbor the other day when I moved in, but I still haven’t seen whoever lives on the other side of me yet. Figured I’d pop in and give them the invite too. Mind if I take down y’all’s numbers real quick?”
Both girls were happy to exchange information, and after doing so, each of them went their separate ways to attend to their daily tasks. Emefa, having figured that she’d fulfilled her social obligations for the day decided to simply go back inside and relax. The weather was hot, and with the sun beating down on them, she wasn’t quite sure how Keilani had handled it for so long.
Tired and sweaty, she walked into the door as quickly as her thick, flabby thighs could carry her and made a bee line to the fridge. She opened up the freezer and reflexively moved to grab another diet ice cream cone.
“Bitch, fuck yo aspertame.” She grumbled to herself, enjoying the chilly treat, but unable to shake the feeling that the diet cones just weren’t as tasty as the regular ones.