Etna was visibly flustered. Her mind hadn’t yet reconciled the fact that Dawn had been able to grow at all- and now this. Certainly Etna enjoyed being big, but growth for her was slow and oftentimes painful. She’d never dreamed growth could bring about the unbridled ecstasy Dawn had just displayed. And between the milkshakes and these bizarre non-burps, Dawn had grown considerably in the span of a few short minutes. From the accoutremented egg shape that greeted her when she’d awoke, Dawn was fast becoming a human ball- her arms were but conical bulges a little over a foot long, while what could hardly be called legs were down to a third of that. Breasts, hips, and bottom- these were simply notable swells upon the great globe that her body was becoming.
Seeking the only comfort she could rely on, Etna grabbed her steak back up and rambled off objections between bites. “You shouldn’t be that big. You don’t deserve to be that big. You… you’re just a meek little waste of a girl.”
“I was meek,” Dawn said as she gazed down in amazement at all her more featured features, “but I’ve finally come upon my inheritance.” An eyebrow raised as a realization came and Dawn smiled back at Etna. “And I’m glad to hear you finally admit it.”
“Admit what?” Etna asked as she tossed another bone aside.
“You admitted that I’m big.”
“Pshaw!” Etna gave in dismissal as she located an even fatter, juicier sirloin. “I only said that you were bigger- there’s a difference.”
“Pshaw?” Dawn spat back. “Find me a dictionary where I’m not the very definition of big and I’ll eat that too.”
Dawn noticed that despite Etna’s braggadocio, there was a nervous air about her. Between every denial of Dawn’s growing stature there came not only a bite of food or a gulp of drink, but Etna was also seen popping a variety of pills from amongst the hoard that lay scattered about her end of the table.
“Don’t worry, no one is denying your supremacy just yet,” Dawn assured. “I mean, good lord Etna- your fat head alone looks like it weighs more than I did when I got here.” Indeed, Dawn had always joked that her teacher had a head the size of a watermelon, but it seemed more comparable to a medicine ball now.
Etna only shook her head as her mouth gnawed away at some gristle.
“Say it,” Dawn commanded as she stamped her foot down. This gave her insides another shake and allowed the last of the gassiness to abate. Once more, in lieu of a burp, Dawn inflated a little more. “Come on, I’m only getting bigger.”
Etna shook her head again as she swallowed hard.
“Certainly I’m bigger now than any other student back at the university.” Dawn smiled as the truth of her statement only hit her when she heard herself saying it. “I must be even bigger than big ole Chet before he left to go on that weight-loss reality show.”
Dawn backed herself against a nearby closet door to demonstrate how she exceeded it by a foot on either side. “How does it feel to no longer be the only one who can’t possibly squeeze through a single door frame? I’m officially double-wide now,” Dawn boasted. “Sounds pretty big to me.”
“I don’t know how, but you are clearly cheating,” Etna accused. “No one magically balloons up in just a couple of hours to multiple times their original size. And cheating results in forfeit.”
“I could say the same for you,” Amber accused as she began examining the many bottles of pills surrounding Etna.”
“Oh those… those are nothing,” Etna fibbed. “Just antacids and the like- for the less flattering aspects of what I’m doing.”
“There are flattering aspects to what you’re doing?” Amber chided as she picked up bottle after bottle and inspected their labels. “Most of these are prescription.” She puzzled over some of language. “Many of these are experimental.” She found a ruddy colored glass bottle with strange markings on it from which Amber shook out what looked like snippets of some dried smelly root. “Some are… from regions beyond.”
Etna grabbed the bottle up and shook some of its contents into her mouth. “It’s nothing so diabolical I assure you,” Etna said wincing from the foul taste. “A few things for the heart and arteries. A couple for cholesterol. Some digestive aids. One or two to encourage the appetite. Mostly just vitamins- you know, to help me grow up big and strong.”
“Hey, whatever you need to get you through tonight,” Dawn said dismissively. “I’m not the least bit worried.”
“Well, you should be,” Etna pointed out. “You’re still the shortest one in the room, and I say that from the position of one who’s presently seated.”
“You got me there, but I think I’ve exceeded the combined mass of all three of these skinny ninnies,” Dawn said gesturing to her companions.
“Well I’ve got you and your pathetic little troupe beaten by half,” Etna boasted.
“That’s not quite true,” Holly interjected to everyone’s surprise.

“Not quite?” Etna scowled at Holly. “Why would I trust the opinion of any one of you?”
“You can trust Holly,” Amber said. “Girl’s honest to a fault, and she’s practically a human computer.”
“Still biased,” Etna said, crossing her massive arms in protest.
“I for one would like to hear what she has to say,” Dawn chimed in.
“Well…” Holly stammered, embarrassed by the attention. “You both carry your weight differently, but when accounting for volume…” Holly looked both competitors up and down, back and forth before concluding that, “Miss Vesuvi’s claim is off by quite a bit.”
Dawn smiled in satisfaction before Holly continued.
“She’s got us beaten by an additional three quarters. And as for Dawn, I’d say Miss Vesuvi’s about three and five sixteenths larger.”
Dawn shook her head as she absorbed the assessment. “Like Amber said… to a fault. Still, I was what- ten times smaller than Etna when we started? So I’ll take about a third as a huge advancement on my part.”
Despite her words, the numbers were nagging away at Dawn who felt compelled to ask, “But Holly… are you sure I don’t look bigger than that?” Dawn tried twisting and posing her swollen superstructure, trying to show it off. “Maybe you’re not seeing me from the right angle.”
“Dawn, there isn’t an angle left on you anymore,” Amber said while affectionally rubbing her roommate’s rounded front as one would a buddha for luck. Dawn noticed that the bigger she got the more “handsy” her roommate became- not that she could blame her. In fact, now that her hands were all but useless, Dawn encouraged the caress of others.
“But even still…” Dawn refused to let it go, “I am big right? I mean physically, visibly, even mathematically big right? I certainly feel big. Don’t you agree Amber?” Dawn pestered with a look that invited her roommate to further explore. “Don’t I feel big?”
Amber said nothing, but her cheshire grin and roaming hands said more than enough.
“What is your obsession with being called big?” Etna asked. “I suppose having been so accursedly puny all your life would make it nice to hear. But it’s also skewed your understanding of the word. If you’re big, then what am I?”
“You’re huge.” Dawn stated plainly. She had no trouble admitting the fact.
“Damn right I am,” Etna declared as she took a big bite from a porterhouse cut.
“A huge bitch.”
“COUGH! ACK!” Etna nearly choked on Dawn’s belligerence. Her whole body convulsed with indignant rage, but Dawn saw it for what it really was- in that reflexive instance Etna had been compelled to stand- to lunge upon her opponent. But as she rocked herself about like an enormous upended panda, Etna found that her cumbersome body well outmatched her anger. “Do I… HRMPH!… do I look like someone to be belittled?”
“I’d say you look like someone who has eaten yourself into immobility,” Dawn grinned. “You also seem to be having trouble getting your food down. I can tell by how hard you’ve been swallowing. You’re forcing it down when your body should be welcoming it openly.”
“Here, watch me.” Dawn said while nodding to her sister and pointing at some shish kebabs. She leaned forward, mouth open as Lydia grabbed a pair of them. “Down the hatch,” Dawn said as Lydia reluctantly slid the first long, well stocked skewer down her gullet like a sword swallower. As Dawn’s mouth closed over the end, Lydia then retrieved the cleanly stripped rod and repeated the process with another kebab.
“See, easy peasy,” Dawn said as she then accepted a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth skewer from Lydia. Half a dozen medleys of charred meat and veg went down into Dawn’s belly without the slightest complaint.
With that finished, Dawn turned her attention back to Etna and looked at her with scrutiny. “As great as your body has become, I think it’s finally at odds with your ego. One of you seems to want to slow it down- I mean, what are all those reddish marks all over your body?”
“Those are stretch marks,” Etna admitted. “The collagen pills can only keep up with me so much. I have some creams and butters,” Etna gestured to Holly, “if the girl would be so kind.”
Before Holly could acquiesce, Amber held her back. “I don’t want her beautiful hands anywhere on your… person.”
“Stretch marks… hmm,” Dawn said inquisitively. “I’ve only ever heard of such things.” Peering down at her own body Dawn asked with false concern, “Guys, I’m afraid my view’s a bit obstructed, I don’t have any of those horrid stretch marks do I?”
“Not a one,” Lydia affirmed.
“Thank goodness,” Dawn said with dramatic relief, then asked, “And what about all that?”
Amber approached Etna and pointed below her face. “This? I think that’s called a double… no wait… quadruple chin.”
“No, not that- that.”
Etna sat and stewed as the girls pointed at her various body parts like a butcher describing cuts of meat.
“Oh, the ones in the back are called neck rolls.”
“No.”
“This? I think that’s called a front butt.”
“No.”
“Here? Those are cankles.”
“No.”
“You mean these nasty squiggly things- those are varicose veins.”
“Egads, no.”
“Oh, these sort of pockmarked bits around all the sweaty bits?”
“Yes,” Dawn finally nodded.
“Ah,” Amber exclaimed as she stepped away, “that’s called cellulite. And you don’t have to worry about that or any of this other icky stuff.”
“No two bodies are alike,” Etna reminded them with venom in her voice. “And that’s especially true with women. There’s no shame in it.”
“No shame at all,” Amber agreed. “Your’e a whole lotta woman and I want to respect that. And yet… Amber walked over to Holly and made a sweeping gesture towards Etna. “I mean, when you look at all this, what do you think?”
Holly’s big blue eyes went wide, appalled that her friend would put her on the spot. “Oh, I ah… well….”
“Exactly, you think ‘Eww, gross!’”
Holly slapped her hands over her mouth that had uttered no such thing.
“And it’s not that you’re fat mind you,” Amber continued dressing down Etna. “I’ve had my eye turned by more than a few big beautiful Bessies. But something about you just doesn’t convey, ‘more to love.’ No, you’re whole vibe is ‘villagers, run for the hills.’”
Amber then turned Holly around so she was facing Dawn. “Whereas our little Dawn holds herself like a true lady. So prim and proper- no sweat, no sag- no fuss or muss.”
“She’s young and newly grown,” Etna called out from behind. “Gravity and time will take its toll I assure you.”
“Well, for now all I’m seeing is pert and nubile, cute and… what’s that word?” Amber again looked to Holly for and answer.
Holly gave a slight shrug as Amber leaned in to her ear.
“That’s the one…” Amber nodded then whispered, “comely.”
“As in come hither.” Amber said as she left Holly’s side and sauntered on up to her roommate. Running a hand along Dawn’s velveteen skin, Amber made her way around the roundish girl then rested herself upon Dawn’s backside where she whispered again, “quite comely.”
Dawn couldn’t help it, Amber’s unabashed flattery made her blush.
“Now,” Amber asked with both Holly and Etna in her view, “when you look at Dawn, what do you think?”
Holly didn’t respond, she just stared at all that was Dawn and bit her lip.
“Right,” said Amber as she affectionately wrapped her arms around Dawn, “you want to give her a great big hug.”
“I… well… I do actually,” Holly said as she took a step forward.
“Sure you do,” Amber said as she gave Dawn a great big squeeze. “Ohhhh Holly… she give’s the very best hugs now. Remember how hugging Dawn was like clutching a bag of sticks before?”
“Hey!” Dawn didn’t care for the comparison.
“Sorry, but true,” Amber said giving Dawn a peck on the cheek. “But now…” Amber nuzzled Dawn’s soft flesh… “well, come see for yourself.”
“Oh, I… I wouldn’t want to impose,” Holly stammered while still edging forward.
“Oh, you have to,” Amber urged. “Imagine… imagine hugging a parade float filled with warm cake batter.”
“Really?” Holly advanced, sounding intrigued.”
“Well, sort of,” Amber beckoned the beauty onward, “only a thousand times better.”
“She doesn’t… have to.” Dawn said bashfully as her voluptuous friend closed in. “I mean… only if she wants to.”
Sheepishly Holly arrived before Dawn. She didn’t seem to know where to make her entrance. It was impossible to stand before the girl and not be flanked by her enormous boobs. It was an odd site to be sure, but Amber was right, for it was most definitely a welcoming one. Holly leaned in and pressed her hands gently against Dawn's curving sides expecting her to feel taut like a well pumped tire. Instead she found Dawn pliant, soft, and invitingly warm. “Oh… oh, Dawn,” Holly exclaimed in amazement before letting her weight fall upon Dawn as she gave her a full embrace.
Holly, who was forever shy and introverted, had always maintained an unfortunate level of nervous tension in her body. This all melted away as she relaxed herself onto the mound of ever-loving cuddlesome fluff that her friend had become. As Dawn’s voluminous cleavage cradled the waist of her hourglass like two interlocking puzzle pieces, Holly let out a long relieving sigh that sounded a bit like a purr.
Amber smiled, gazing deep into Holly’s eyes. “Was I right?”
“You were right,” Holly said melting into a state of pure contention. “Dawn gives the very best hugs now.”
The two girls enveloped Dawn in their embrace for what seemed an eternity of bliss. With their three heads touching, their slow breaths synchronized. Dawn was so spacious now she could grant comfort to two at a time where before she was hardly enough for one.
Dawn swooned- she so loved being the vessel upon such happiness could lie. Looking up however, she saw not all were pleased. On the face of her opponent Dawn recognized the familiar look of anger, but bubbling about it she saw something new- jealousy.
“AHEM!” Etna barked. “Need I remind you all that I invited you here for a competition, not some silly love fest.”
Dawn frowned as her friends disengaged. For Holly it took some effort to pull her figure from Dawn’s cleavage.
Etna turned to Lydia and scolded, “Honestly, was she not raised with a sense of modesty. Shall I have the girl fetch some bedsheets to cover your sister with?”
“Dawn was raised in the belief that every woman- be they big…” Lydia turned to her sister and added pointedly, “OR SMALL- is beautiful, and never more-so than when unencumbered. You can see what a spectacular failure I’ve been at conveying part of that message.”
“Well, having run the proportional gamut, I’m gonna have to say that big is at least five times better,” Dawn mused. “As for modesty- until tonight I could hardly be indecent if I tried. Now that I’ve finally got both the goods…” Dawn gave her massive bosom a shake, “and the very goods- why not flaunt ‘em?”
“FLAUNT! I never said… ugh,” Lydia placed her defeated face into her hands.
Dawn smiled as she shimmied her bust once more. “Save your bedsheets, they won’t last long on me anyway. Besides, I’m here with my family and friends- no need to be embarrassed. As for you… well, I just don’t care what you think.”
“Besides, you’re one to talk about modesty,” Amber pointed out. Etna’s once grand outfit was now more confetti than camisole. Her enormous sprawling gut left it a mystery as to whether she wore any undergarment at all.
“I’m in my own home,” Etna said leering at Amber- she was getting tired of Dawn’s irksome groupie. “Why would I want to cover up all this perfection anyway?”
To this Amber gave a dismissive snort.
“Oh yes, I’m horrible,” Etna snarled. “And yet you fawn all over that bulbous little snot. She looks ridiculous- like someone dropped a pixie onto a helium tank.”
“Well I’d rather that than a bag of marshmallows cooked in a microwave,” Dawn retorted.
“Oh don’t say that,” Amber contested. “I love marshmallows- well, I did before I learned they’re made from ground up horse bones. Anyway, your alabaster complexion’s the closer match. With that fake tan Etna’s got going, I’d say she’s more like a giant sack of circus peanuts left out in a parking lot, baking in the sun.”
Etna fumed at the insult. Her mouth twisted and contorted, but her mind wasn’t quick or clever enough to form a worthy response.
“What, got nothing?” Amber begged for a comeback and was clearly enjoying herself- so much so, that she failed to notice Holly backing away from her. “You could say Dawn looks like an albino starfish and blowfish got together and made a baby.”
“But,” Amber continued, “I’d counter saying you resemble a pile of diabetic walruses with gastrointestinal disorders.”
Though Etna’s eyes shouted a flurry of expletives, her mouth only tightened.
“And if you’re just going to sit there and continue to stew, I’d add that you look like a Hieronymous Bosch painting of a food pyramid.”
Amber’s every tease brought Etna another shade redder. A rage fueled fire was bringing her to a slow boil, and Amber seemed compelled to stoke it mercilessly as she rolled on. “Whereas Dawn on the other hand has been painted by a less medieval, more renaissance brush. She’s Rubenesque for sure, but Dawn’s like something out of a Reubens fever dream- one where poor Peter Paul lost all sense of proportion.”
Finding Holly no longer by her side, Amber turned to her silently retreating friend. Holly, clearly wanted no part in Amber’s ribald game, especially since Etna seemed to have progressed from attempting a verbal retort, to contemplating a physical one. Regardless, Amber nodded wickedly and included her by saying, “Good point Holly, we’ll have to go much further back in our art history books to find a proper comparison for Dawn.”
Amber pointed to a shelf where an idol from the stone age lay toppled over. “It’s been staring us right in the face all along! Big round belly, big round boobs, hips as wide as she stands tall- our little Dawn’s gone from uninspiring stick figure to life-sized fertility goddess.” Amber gazed down at her diminutive roommate and corrected herself, “well, nearly life-sized. But thankfully she’s no stone carving.” Amber leaned a hand into Dawn’s belly for emphasis, watching it sink in deep. “Dawn’s the softest thing there is- a goddess sculpted from marshmallow.”
“If there’s a god of plenty here, then I’d say it’s me,” Etna finally rebutted. Her acrid tone made it clear she found no humor in this one-sided back-and-forth.
“Then I name you the god of too much,” Amber said further provoking her teacher, “while I declare Dawn…” Amber reached around and gave both of her roommate’s breasts a hearty grope, “never enough!”
Etna was huffing, though it was unclear as to whether this was to cool her rage or feed it further.
“Ladies, I remind you all to be ladylike.” Lydia knew Holly’s temperament was a good way to gauge the temperature of the room, and with the skittish girl now cowering by Lydia’s side, that surely meant that Etna was at the end of her patience.
“And furthermore…”
“Amber stop it!” Holly called out.
Amber was immediately muted. While it was clear the girl very much wanted to go on, she couldn’t help but obey Holly’s command. This Etna observed with great satisfaction and she raised a knowing eyebrow towards Holly. Having come in at just the right moment, the intervention allowed Etna’s escalating temper to finally level off- but then Dawn spoke.
“Despite Amber’s ill-intentioned attempts, there really is no comparison to you, Etna. But I don’t think she’s the one that’s got you so riled up. I remember how angry you got when you thought I was just wasting your time. Now that I’m a legitimate competitor, you can’t stand it.”
In an odd sort of dance, Dawn began moving her bulbous body before her stationary opponent to show off her still nimble grace as she continued. “By now the whole university must know of our little contest, and I for one can’t wait until Monday. Nothing from tonight will be as delicious as when everyone hears how little Dawn Morrigan bested big fat Etna Vesuvi. ‘How embarrassing,’ they’ll say. Why, she probably won’t be able to show her face at work- in fact, such a defeat will probably shame her into an even earlier retirement.”
Dawn brought her self back up to Etna and rested her belly against her side. “What I mean to say is, when the time comes that you’re no longer the biggest, then what will you be?” Dawn pressed her pristine roundness against Etna’s straining bulges. “You’ll be nothing, and all this will just be fat for fat’s sake. There’ll be no art to it. No prestige.” Dawn righted herself and backed away so she could take a stance where Etna could again see her fully. “WHEN I outgrow you, WHEN you’re declared LOSER, then you’ll just be a FAT, NARCISSISTIC, BULLY and nothing more.”
As she watched Etna’s face, glowing so red with fury that Dawn fully expected cartoon like steam to billow out her flaring nostrils, a sense of familiarity struck her. “But maybe there is an apt comparison to you.” Dawn tilted her head in thought as she observed how the remaining rivulets of red silk poured down and over the pyramidical mass of lumps that Etna called a body. “Maybe you’re more than just a gross perversion of all things feminine. I see it now. You are woman spat up from the very bowels of hell- molten and distorted into a steaming, stinking, mountainous mass of macabre menace. YOU’RE A HUMAN VOLCANO!”
“ENOUGH!!!”
Etna erupted in both sound and motion and this time she did manage to stand.