Water polo practice was its usual humdrum routine. Swimming back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…it felt like it would never end, and that was just the warm up swim. Then came the drills one after another after another. It was almost more than Jenna could bear. It wasn't the first practice of the year, but it was by the most taxing mentally, if not physically. The reason Jenna was antsy to get out of practice was because it was Friday and right after practice she had to head home to get ready for her—she couldn't believe it was actually true—date with Tom.

There was no sense in calling it anything else. It was really and truly a date, and the thought made Jenna nervous all over again (though ever since she'd realized she was going to dinner with Tom she hovered somewhere between "nervous" and "panicking"). She was so worried that she was barely able to keep her focus during practice, and she knew that she had to keep her head in it. The last thing she needed was for Coach to start watching her because he didn't think she was working hard enough, which would inevitably lead to him realizing that she was a tiny bit off her usual form at the moment. Naturally, that would be chalked up to her added weight and Jenna would begin taking flak for that.

On the bright side, however, Jenna felt that she'd been able to get back into polo pretty well after the long off season, especially considering how much weight she'd gained in that time period. During the last two seasons, she'd wondered how Tara Kelley was fit enough to play water polo, but now that Jenna had begun playing with a plumper frame she'd found it much easier than she expected. Jenna wasn't doing as well as she might like, to be honest, but she wasn't doing that badly either. At this rate she'd be playing just as well as she did last season by their first scrimmage of the season. She might even shed some of her newly added girth in the process, a thought that Jenna gladly welcomed.

Once the practice finished at around 4:30 that afternoon, all the girls clambered out of the pool and headed to the locker room to change. Nobody wanted to lose more of their Friday and the beginning of the weekend than they had to. Even though she'd already undressed a few times for practice, the process was still slightly intimidating for Jenna. Having to expose her body in front of her peers, specifically some of her very close friends, was something that the svelte Jenna had done with pride. The chubby Jenna did so with trepidation. Of course, no one ever really lingered while naked, nor did anyone take too keen an interest in anyone else while they were nude, but all the same Jenna was acutely aware of her size, even when she just took her shirt off. She knew how her belly bunched up into rolls as she bent over to put on her pants, how her ass jiggled as she moved, how her breasts bounced if she took a step, how her thighs rubbed together so noticably. As a result of all this, Jenna had become an extremely quick dresser as of late.

Today as she was changing next to Kristin Royal. She was the lone sophomore on the varsity team, which was a testament to her abilities. Jenna had only played junior varsity last year as a sophomore, so she had a certain respect for Kristin. Unlike many of the other girls, though, Kristin was quiet, perhaps even shy. She didn't socialize quite as much, even though she was generally considered cute.

Kristin was also considered a little plump, especially in her lower half. She was quite a pear shaped girl. As she changed out of her swimsuit, Jenna couldn't help but notice that Kristin's hips were just as large as her own were, even though the rest of Kristin looked quite a bit smaller (especially in the chest, as it goes without saying), though it was also evident that Kristin carried more than a little weight elsewhere as well. However, she seemed unabashed about quietly changing into her clothes, even though Jenna was still slightly on edge as she went through the same process.

Why do all the other girls seem so comfortable about this even though they're not exactly slim? Jenna privately lamented, Maybe it's because they never were slim, so it's not like it's anything out of the ordinary for them.

Everyone was chatting about what they were doing that night, the latest gossip, recent entertainment news, and just about anything else that high school girls were wont to talk about. Jenna's mind was much too occupied with her own plans for the night, which she wasn't too keen on sharing with other people—at least not yet anyways. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to be dating Tom…well, maybe she was just a little bit because of his quasi-legendary perseverance and Jenna's own less than noble treatment of Tom. But remembering how she'd felt just after Tom had agreed to go out with her…she felt giddy at the memory. If that's really what she was going to feel like when dating Tom, then she wasn't going to want to keep it under wraps. For the moment, though, she thought she needed to see how tonight went.

"You're quiet today," Kristin said, somewhat softly herself.

Jenna turned around as she tugged some sweatpants on. "I'm just thinking about some stuff."

Kristin nodded. "You play very well."

"Thanks," Jenna said. She was sort of flattered that Kristin was complimenting her when Kristin probably had a better practice than she did. Then again, if Jenna was a sophomore in a locker room full of juniors and seniors, she might try striking up a conversation with whoever happened to be next to her just so she wouldn't feel so out of place. "You did really well though too."

Kristin blushed. The return compliment obviously meant a lot. "Thanks…but I don't know if I really aught to be here, you know. There aren't any other sophomores and…"

Jenna sat down next to Kristin, forgetting to put her t-shirt on for the moment, which meant that her full rack in its bra was on display, as well as Jenna's ample belly. "Look, if you didn't belong here Coach wouldn't have put you here. I know it's probably intimidating, but he does know what he's doing. I realize that's a little hard to fathom sometimes." The pair giggled a bit. "But really, he's been coaching for long enough to have figured things out. If he thinks you can play at this level, then you can, all right?"

"If you say so," Kristin said, not really convinced.

"Look, it's my first year on varsity too," Jenna said, "We're in the same boat now. This is where we play for championships and all that important stuff, so there's a lot of pressure. I don't know how well I'm going to do myself. But maybe I can't do it myself."

"Of course you can Jenna!" Kristin protested, "You're a junior! You should be here!"

"Yeah, but there are a lot of people here who are much better than me, like Nina and Morgan. I could still ask Coach to put me on JV where I'd do better."

"Don't talk that way Jenna, you belong here!"

"Really?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah!" Kristin said.

"Then so do you. I meant what I said when you did well today. If you think I can do this, then you can do it too, so don't go dropping out on me, all right?" Jenna said.

"Okay," Kristin said, and then she waited a moment before saying, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Jenna said. In reality she was thinking, Where the hell did that speech come from? What am I now, Dr. Jenna the high school therapist? That was weird…

Then Jenna pulled her cell phone out of her bag and caught a glimpse of the time. It was 4:45 already! "Sorry Kristin, I just realized I have to get home or my Mom's gonna kill me!" Jenna said and quickly pulled her t-shirt over her head. She barely took the time to smooth her damp hair out before rushing out the door.

"Bye Jenna!" Kristin called after the jiggling blonde as she rushed out of the locker room, leaping over gym bags on her way.

***

Jenna had just finished blow-drying her hair and was now furiously brushing it so it looked as beautiful as possible. I had been so long since she'd on a date in so long Jenna had almost forgotten how much work she had to put into the process. Even as she was pulling the brush through her hair, she was trying to decide what shirt to wear. As much as she'd come to like the broad horizontal stripes of rugby shirts lately, she thought that she should go with something a little more slimming for Tom. As soon as she was relatively happy with her hair, she rushed from the bathroom to her bedroom and grabbed a button up blouse that was white with light blue vertical stripes and put it on. She purposefully made sure that she didn't button it up all the way so that she might draw attention to her bust. And away from other things, Jenna thought.

She grabbed a jean skirt she'd gotten from Old Navy the other day specifically for tonight's dinner. She thought that it had looked great on her in the store, but now that she had pulled it on, she wasn't so sure it was a good idea. All of a sudden it seemed like the skirt was a bit too short, exposing way too much of her thighs. The other alternative had been a pencil skirt, but that was way too long. Now Jenna wasn't so sure she would have minded that as she viewed her large, soft, tan thighs in the mirror. Jenna then looked at the clock and saw it was 5:55. She didn't have time for this, Tom could be here any second. She was going to have to go with this tonight.

Jenna hurried back to the bathroom and deftly applied the right amount of makeup in the right amount of places. She gave her hair a final run through and examined herself in the mirror. Tonight she was definitely using blue as the overall organization of her outfit. The light blue in her shirt and the blue of her denim brought out her blue eyes nicely. The white brought out how tan her skin was (and she was still tan despite everything) and made her look radiant. Jenna checked her smile and her pearly whites passed muster. She felt like she needed to do something else though…

And then the door bell rang.

"I got it!" Jenna shouted through the house as she ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs to the door.

If Tom had counted the seconds between when he rang the doorbell and when the door opened, he would have found that it was four seconds. However, time was in slow motion for him and those four seconds felt like an eternity. He didn't even hear Jenna clatter down the stairs over the beating of his heart. When the door was flung open in front of him, Tom was stunned by how beautiful Jenna looked. She even seemed to glow with a heavenly luster…but maybe that was because she was being backlit from lights inside the house. Tom didn't even think about that. He was ecstatic that it was actually happening. He was really going to dinner with Jenna Shcherbatsky.

"Hi Tom," Jenna said with a huge smile, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I've got my car," Tom said, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Jenna said, and she stepped outside and shut the door behind her. They walked three steps and just as Tom was going to open his mouth to say something, Jenna realized what she'd forgotten. "Shoes! I forgot to put on shoes! I'll be right back," she exclaimed.

Before Tom could say anything at all Jenna turned around and headed back to the house. As she opened the door, she found Mrs. Shcherbatsky standing there.

"Jenna dear, you didn't tell—" Jenna's mother said, "Oh. Who's this Jenna?"

"This is my friend Tom, Mom," Jenna said, turning crimson.

"Well don't just run off, invite him in Jenna!" Mrs. Shcherbatsky said, "How do you do Tom? I'm Jenna's mother."

Tom came up and nervously shook hands with Mrs. Shcherbatsky. "Hi. Tom Stevenson. Pleasure to meet you."

"Have you and Jenna been friends long?"

"We've been going to school together for years," Jenna interjected, "We really have to go now."

"You're not wearing any shoes Jenna, so I think you'll be waiting a bit longer. I'm sure your father would like to meet Tom anyways. He's just in the kitchen," Jenna's mother said.

Jenna spotted her pair of Rainbow sandals at the door. They'd seen slightly better days, but they'd work. "Look, sandals right here. How convenient," Jenna said with a smile as she stepped into the sandals.

"Who's this Nancy?" a male voice said from the back of the house.

"A friend of Jenna's," Mrs. Shcherbatsky called back.

Very soon Mr. Shcherbatsky came to the front hall. He was a rather good looking man, and it was clear that Jenna had genes working for her on both sides when it came to her looks. "I'm Mr. Shcherbatsky," he said, extending a hand to Tom, who took it and smiled as confidently as he could.

"Tom Stevenson," Tom said.

"You go to school with Jenna?" Mr. Shcherbatsky asked.

"Yeah, we have Biology together," Tom said.

"Very good. So, where are you two headed tonight?" Mr. Shcherbatsky asked.

"Dinner. We're going to dinner, and if we don't leave now we're going to be late," Jenna said, "so can we please go now?"

"Fine, don't be out too late dear," Mrs. Shcherbatsky said, "Nice to meet you Tom."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Shcherbatsky," Tom said pleasantly before he was almost pushed through the door by Jenna. She gave her parents an unappreciative face to try and demonstrate she was clearly not pleased with them right now before shutting the door.

"Well, I wonder what that was all about," Mrs. Shcherbatsky said to her husband, "Jenna's never acted that way with us before."

"Who knows," Mr. Shcherbatsky said as he returned to that evening's basketball game. He'd given up trying to understand his daughter a long time ago.

Outside, Jenna and Tom had gotten in the car and were pulling out to head to dinner.

"I'm really sorry Tom. That must have been incredibly awkward for you, meeting my parents all of a sudden like that," Jenna apologized.

"It's all right. I sort of enjoyed meeting your parents. They seem like they're rather nice," Tom said, "But I'm sure if you came over to my house my parents would have embarrassed me much more than that. They might have brought out baby pictures or something like that without me having to do much more than introduce you."

Jenna laughed and then the awkward silence set in as neither of them could figure out what to say next.

Tell him he's got a nice car, guys love their cars, Jenna thought.

Tell her she looks good. Women like compliments, Tom thought.

"You've got a nice car," Jenna said, speaking first.

"You're too kind. It's a bit beat up, but it does the trick. You've got a much nicer car than I do," Tom said. It was true, Jenna did have a better car than he did.

"Thanks," Jenna said, and then the silence set in again.

Talk about sports. Guys like sports, Jenna thought.

Okay, this is your shot, tell her how nice she looks, Tom thought.

Why the hell can't I think up anything about sports? Jenna thought.

"You…you hungry?" Tom asked, and immediately he began to mentally berate himself for such a stupid comment.

In response, Jenna's stomach growled. Oh God, how embarrassing! Jenna thought to herself. "Guess so," Jenna said with a sheepish smile, "I suppose this would be when I ask where we're going."

"It's a surprise," Tom said.

"Really? Does that mean that I'm going to have to be surprised when we get there?" Jenna asked.

"Only if you want to be," Tom said. He hoped that Jenna was going to love where he was taking her.

"We'll just have to see when we get there," Jenna said mischievously.

"Practice go well enough today?" Tom asked after a pause.

"Yeah, it's been a bit hard to get into it since—since it's been so long of since we last played together. I did summer season and all, but even still I haven't played since early August," Jenna said. She'd caught herself just in time from mentioning the fact she'd gained weight. Though she knew that it was pointless to try and pretend that she hadn't gained weight with Tom, that didn't meant she had to mention it.

"You know I've always had a lot of respect for you guys, I mean girls, for playing water polo. It seems incredibly hard," Tom said.

"You get the hang of it with enough practice," Jenna said, "Sometimes it's a bit of a drag, but that's just the way it is."

Their car ride continued with similar conversation now that they'd gotten past that initial awkward silence. It was pretty banal conversation, but it filled the time, so much so that Jenna was surprised when the car stopped and they both got out. Tom had selected the Macaroni Grill for the evening.

"Do you approve?" Tom asked, though his voice did not betray his inner nervousness.

"It's great," Jenna said. Now that she was here and she could pick up the faint smell of Italian food wafting from the restaurant, it was as if she had secretly wanted to come here. "This will be wonderful."

They went inside and were seated relatively promptly, especially for a Friday night. Jenna surveyed the menu. She knew from experience that there was always too much food at Italian places, but it did taste so good. For a moment her old fears about making a pig out of herself returned.

"What looks good?" Tom asked as he surveyed the menu.

"There's so much!" Jenna said, a bit more eagerly than she had wanted to, "What are you going to have?"

"I was thinking a shrimp alfredo," Tom said, "Anything standing out for you?"

"Ummm…about four things," Jenna said honestly. It wasn't until the waiter arrived that she forced herself to choose veal parmesan. After the waiter left to place their orders, the two were alone again, but the awkward silence did not return.

"You know, something my Mom asked made me think. How long has it been since we've known each other? Casually, that is," Jenna asked.

"Since sixth grade," Tom said without hesitation.

"Really? We've known each other over four years?" Jenna said, "Wow."

"I still remember the first time I saw you," Tom said, half before he could stop himself.

"You do?" Jenna said, genuinely surprised.

"Of course," Tom said, "I saw you one day at lunch in October and I thought how cute you were then. I didn't even find out who you were until February or so, but I never forgot your face. That probably sounds a little weird, but it's true."

"I had no idea," Jenna said, absolutely amazed, "And to think I was ugly when I was in middle school!"

"No you weren't," Tom said.

"Yes I was. I had pimples and everything."

"You've never had a single pimple in your life. You were just as good looking then as you are now," Tom said. He obviously believed it too.

You must have missed the really good portion during the first two years of high school, Jenna thought. "That's sweet of you to say."

"It's true," Tom said. He tried to come up with something else that sounded much more romantic and impressive, but he couldn't think of anything.

"You know Tom, I realized the other day that even though we've had classes together and all, here I am on a—at dinner with you and I don't really know all that much about you," Jenna said. She hesitated to use the word "date" with Tom for some reason, even though earlier in the afternoon she'd adamantly insisted to herself that was what it was.

"Oh, well I suppose there's not much to tell," Tom said, which launched him into the brief story of his life, where he'd lived, what he was interested in, and other details. Jenna peppered the conversation with questions where she was curious, but generally listened to hear about how Tom had once lived in North Carolina down the street from a fireworks factory that probably could have exploded at any moment, about how he used to vacation every year in New Jersey, and about other such things.

Then Tom asked the same of Jenna and she went on about how she'd always lived in California, about the fact that she had only tried surfing once and had nearly drowned in the process, and how she'd always wanted a Golden Retriever.

"I have a Golden Retriver! You should come over and meet her some time," Tom said eagerly.

"Really!" Jenna exclaimed, "What's her name?"

"Uh…well…" Tom said scratching his head nervously, "Funny you should ask…her name's…ummm…Jenna…"

Jenna looked at Tom. "Did you named your dog after me?"

"Yeah…" Tom said. He realized this didn't make a good impression at all.

"That's cool! I've never had anything named after me before!" Jenna exclaimed, "I want to come and meet my sister!"

"Your sister?" Tom said.

"Yeah, she's my twin sister since we've both got the same name. I've never had a sister anyways and a dog would be a pretty cool sister to have. I bet she's an awesome dog who fetches and goes to the beach and everything right?" Jenna said, obviously excited.

"Well, sorta," Tom said, "You are both blondes, anyways."

"This is so awesome! How long have you had the dog?" Jenna asked.

"About two years," Tom said, "give or take a bit."

"Cool!" Jenna said, "I don't know anybody else who had a dog named after them."

"I'm glad you like the idea," Tom said. He honestly thought Jenna might find it a bit freaky, but he was relieved that didn't seem to be the case.

It was at this point that their meals arrived. Jenna looked at her plate, hot and steaming. It didn't seem too big, but it smelled wonderful. She inhaled deeply through her nose and the collection of smells promised an excellent meal.

"Look good?" Tom asked once the waiter had gone.

"Simply marvelous," Jenna replied as she began to cut the veal to release some of the heat, and with it a delicious smell.

Indeed, it was absolutely exquisite. Jenna ate with gusto, carrying on conversation with Tom in between mouthfuls. And so well proportioned too: just enough pasta to go with just enough veal. Jenna only realized this in retrospect, however, as she ran out of each at the same time. Indeed, it was quite a surprise when she found herself looking at a clean plate.

"Oh!" Jenna exclaimed involuntarily.

"What? Everything okay?" Tom asked. He had not finished his shrimp alfredo by far.

"It's just that I…feel a little full," Jenna said. It was true. She did feel quite full. However, she was also slightly embarrassed that she'd finished her dinner before Tom. Jenna discreetly glanced at her stomach and found that it was quite bloated indeed from her meal. It pressed against her blouse, whose vertical lines was doing very little to make her look slimmer at the moment, straining the bottom buttons ever so slightly. Jenna hoped Tom wouldn't notice when she got up.

Jenna declined dessert, even though it was the slightest bit tempting. However, she really was much too full. Jenna was a little worried that since Tom was taking nearly a third of his meal back with him and she'd finished her plate quicker than him, she might have made a bad impression. At least this way she could show some self-restraint.

Tom insisted on paying, despite Jenna's feeble pleas. In the end she relented because she was sure it would make Tom feel gallant. She was sorry when they got up to leave, in part because that meant that their evening together, which had been thoroughly pleasant, was now beginning to wind to a close. However, Jenna was also slightly on edge about standing with her fully filled figure. Maybe if she was lucky Tom wouldn't look past her breasts, as many guys had done in the past.

They headed to the car and drove back, conversing on whatever came to mind, but the end of the date was on both of their minds. Neither of them was entirely sure what was going to happen at that point, and both of them were rather nervous about it. However, they from each other concealed their apprehension well enough so that they each thought they were the only one worrying.

The moment came and Tom got out of the car and walked Jenna up to her door. They both walked slowly, as if trying to stretch out time together.

For the first time that night one could get a really good look at Jenna's body. Her plump legs stuck out from under the short jean skirt, squished together prettily as Jenna stood there in the cooling night air. Her breasts protruded forwards, round and beautiful as ever, helped by Jenna's straight posture. The buttons Jenna left undone revealed the slightest bit of cleavage, but more than enough to catch Tom's attention. Jenna's face, whose sharper features had become lost in a thin layer of fat, looked up with large doe like eyes in the darkness. Her soft blonde hair fell freely down her back. Around Jenna's midriff her stomach formed a roll that sat on top of her waist. Right now it was the last thing Jenna was thinking about.

"I had a really nice time tonight Tom," Jenna said as they stopped on her front step, illuminated by a lone light outside the door.

"Me too Jenna," Tom said.

The awkward silence that had plagued their early car ride fell upon the two of them.

Okay, this is it. Tell her now how nice she looks. Tom thought nervously. /br>

Is he going to do anything? What do I do if he doesn't do anything? Jenna though frantically.

"Jenna, I've been thinking this all night…but I hadn't been able to work up the courage to tell you this until now," Tom said, "You…you smell good."

Tom looked horrified as soon as the words slipped out. Jenna looked at him and then she broke out laughing and after a second Tom joined her. The two of them were laughing so hard that Jenna had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over.

"Tom, I can honestly say nobody's ever said that to me before," Jenna said when she'd caught her breath enough to be able to talk again.

"Well, it's true, and you look beautiful tonight as well," Tom also said, those elusive words slipping out with ease for some reason now.

"Thanks," Jenna said with a blush. Do I kiss him? Hug him? What should I do? I had a wonderful time, but it was only a first date.

"So, would you like to…you know…go out again?" Tom asked.

Jenna was relieved that he'd finally worked up some guts to ask her out. "Sure. Next Friday sound good?"

"Great," Tom replied with a smile. He moved closer to Jenna and she moved closer to him, involuntarily. They stood like that for a moment, unsure what to do.

"Thanks for dinner Tom," Jenna said, pulling away abruptly, "I'll see you at school."

"Oh, yeah, right," Tom said, snapping back to reality and feeling awkward, "See you."

He turned away, but Jenna's voice grabbed his attention again. "Hey Tom? I forgot to tell you earlier, Mom always said never kiss on a first date."

Tom smiled a bit and said, before he knew what he was saying, "What did she ever tell you about the second date?"

"I think she forgot to mention that," Jenna said with a smile, and then she slipped inside.

Once she'd closed the door, she leaned with her back up against it and listened as Tom's car drove away. Looking around the foyer, she didn't seem to see anyone around, so she headed up the stairs quietly.

"Jenna," her mother's voice called from the family room around the corner.

"Hi Mom," Jenna said.

"Come in and sit down."

Jenna came back down the stairs and headed to the family room, somewhat unwillingly. Her mother was sitting on the couch and patted the seat next to her. "So, care to tell me a little bit about this boy Tom who you've never mentioned to me and are now suddenly going out to dinner with?"

"Well, we've gone to school together for years, and…" Jenna hesitated to tell her mother the whole truth, but she didn't want to hide anything from her. She'd always confided in her mother, "…well, he's sort of had a crush on me since the sixth grade…"

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Shcherbatsky said, sitting upright, "This boy's had a crush on you for almost five years and you've failed to mention this to me?"

"Well, not quite five, but it's been a long time," Jenna said, "I sort of didn't take him seriously until recently. He's…he's not exactly the sort of guy I usually to go out with."

"So why are you going out with him now?" Nancy Shcherbatsky said, trying to hide her suspicion of what her daughter was actually up to.

"I only really got to know him recently, and he's a very nice person. I realized that I should give him a chance…you know. I mean, I haven't always been very encouraging towards him but he still kept hanging around."

Mrs. Shcherbatsky translated this correctly as meaning that Jenna had been mean to him, but Tom hadn't been discouraged. "And do you really like him?"

"I think so," Jenna said, "He's really different than everyone else I've dated, in a good way."

"All right then. Just don't rush him out of the house so quickly next time or your father and I are going to get the wrong idea about things," Jenna's mother said, "Did you have a nice dinner?"

"Yeah. It was fun. We talked a lot and we're going to see each other next week again."

"Well, sounds like you have taken a bit of a shine to this Tom," Mrs. Shcherbatsky said, "I hope it works out well for you."

"Me too,]" Jenna said. She was already looking forward to next Friday, and with one date under her belt, Jenna had none of her fears or worries. As Jenna bounced upstairs to get ready for bed, she didn't even think of her added weight for a moment. Tom made her feel energized and beautiful again. It felt like the feeling would never fade.