A town taken by its stomach

Chapter I - A not so veiled threat

Tranquility is a town unlike many others, founded on an island, it started slowly but as it stands now it has any comfort like any of the major cities.

From the airport to the university, Tranquility has it and its flaunting it around. Lately, though, an external influence its slowly moving within the shadows of the city, spreading its tendrils everywhere, from the mayor’s office till the small church of Father Watchtower.

This influence was none other than the widely known, multibillionaire, Scram Corporation. The Scram, as it was commonly known, was a massive organization which had, seemingly, established itself in the span of few months over the international markets.

And now had started to point its beady, greedy, little eyes on Tranquility.

But of all the amenities available on the island, our focus is brought toward the college and its varsity team.

Cheerleaders.

The home team of cheerleaders, the WASP’s, have a long and honorable history made of prizes and feuds, but most of it, is made of the people that keep alive their tradition.
On the campus ground, exiting from the main building of the local college, a trio of girls is animatedly chatting within themselves. The three girls are local teens that have grown together on the island and made a solid friendship among them. Although this lead, sometimes, to bickering within themselves.

“I’m telling you, I don’t care about the Rite. I’m not going there.
Why can’t we go to some local shop?”

The girl speaking is Senna, she’s the little queen of the group, most of the time. With the body shaped similarly to Jennifer Lopez and with her cocoa skin, she’s one of the prettiest girls in her year. She’s also rather spoiled although, seeing how she dress, you wouldn’t believe it at first. Senna is the only daughter of the Mayor Mc’Donaghue, which granted her a life of luxury and privileges like no other in Tranquility.

“’Cause it’s a local shop, duh? We’ve gotta go somewhere new to satisfy the old-timers for the Sorority Rites, you know that Sen. So, that leaves only the new burger place.”

This is the voice of Amelie, a Japanese French girl, whose mother and father had transferred to Tranquility many years ago. Laetitia Belcourt and Tatsuo Kusanagi had met during a vacation time in Italy and had quickly fallen in love with each other, but unable to convince the other partner to move in their own respective countries, they ended up agreeing to move in the States. As they moved to Tranquility, they received the precious gift of their daughter, Amelie.

She’s quite the rebellious teen, trying as hard as she can to piss off her parent’s strict vision on etiquette and manners, while at the same time trying to not let her grades slip too much.
As Senna and Amelie kept bickering, the third girl interrupted them acting, like she often did, as a pacifier between the two.

“Look at it this way, Sen, you want to stay in the Wasp’s team? You’ve got to follow the rules. And you, Amelie, please would you try to talk a bit nicer, especially when we’re surrounded by other people?”

She’s Elenore Truffle, a simple girl coming from a simple family. She’s more often the most calm of the three, mainly since she had grown up helping her mother to take care of her younger siblings, since her father had vanished many years ago, when she was just a little kid. Acting like a mother hen toward her two friends, she managed, most of times, to get them to stop bickering.

The trio was currently in the locker room, having just finished cheer practice for the day and was currently discussing about the latest request from their senior in the Wasp Sorority.

“Can’t believe that we’ve got to follow that silly request. What Rite is that one, that we’ve got to go into a fast food place?”

“Is about discipline, Sen. You go in there, you eat something and you never, ever, return in there. Simple as that. We’ve got lucky, poor Alice has to go ‘commando’ on the windy days for a week while wearing a skirt. That could get you expelled fast.”

“Amelie, for once you’re right. We should call ourselves lucky this time.”

“Gosh! Sen, slap me. Elen agreed with something I said!”

As the three of them kept playing and chatting, they still moved through town as they walked toward the place where they were supposed to go for their Sorority Rite. Lunchtime had passed since hours but, as dinner time was getting closer, the three of them decided to hit the place before dinner. As they reached the place, they stood still in front of it, staring at how the place presented itself. It was no wonder that it looked empty, as the place was completely anonymous.

Still, with a huff, the three entered and had to stare widely at their surroundings.

If outside the place seemed gray and neutral, inside was a completely different story. The restaurant was huge but, not only that, everything inside also seemed polished to perfection, from the floor to the lights on the ceiling. As they moved inside, toward the cashier, they noticed that there were already those fancy electronic panels that gave you time to choose for what you wanted without having to wait at the cashier.

Elenore, biting a bit her lips, couldn’t fail to notice that the man at the cashier station was a real eye candy, still, when Sen gave her a bit of a squeeze on her arm, she focused back on the electronic menu, noticing, as her two friends had done already, that it was one of the longest she had ever seen.

“Woah…they’ve got all this selection? Can’t believe it…”

“Yeah, I think they’ll just say that nothing is available apart from the kid’s menu. They can’t keep up with all this shit listed here.”

“Language, Ames.”

Unsure on what to order, since everything looked too good to be true, they decided to go and directly ask the cashier, if he had anything to suggest. As they moved closer, they saw that he had a small little tag saying ‘Hi! Name’s Fred’.

“Good Afternoon, dear customers. I’m Fred and I’ll be serving you in this fine evening. What may I help you with, today?”


Sen, being the brashest of them, inched closer to the station, almost flopping her bountiful DD cups on the desk as she gave a pouty look to the guy.

“Hi Freddie…Me an’ mah friends don’t know what to pick…can yah suggest anythang?”

As Amelie giggled quietly, and Elenore scowled a bit, Senna was having her time of the day. She was stuck doing this crap for her Sister’s but at least she could play dirty with the guy. She always felt good when she could get guys to do almost everything for her thanks to her assets.

Yet, the guy didn’t seem to notice the ruse, as he began to think on what he could suggest to the customers.

“Well, everything here is simply delicious so, is hard to choose something in specific. Well, you could choose any of our subs, if you wanna have each a different meal, or you could try the Party Box.”

Elenore, moving nearer to the counter, looked curious but, gently waited for the guy to continue talking.

“The Party Box is a menu fit for three to five people, depending on the size chosen, which will get you at a discounted value some of our Premium items along with drinks and sides. If I may, I strongly suggest it, its price is on par with the meal and you can also personalize your own side dishes.”


After a bit, with the girls having decided to try this Party Box, each of them sat around a table and waited as the food was being prepared in the back kitchen. As they waited, Senna and Amelie did a quick selfie to show as proof to their Senior that they had gone there and, just as they were going to post it on their social networks, the guy returned with the trays for them.
Instantly, all three of them looked as each had received her own tray, which was loaded with food. The girls looked stunned for a moment, as they took in the size and the quantities of the food surrounding them.

Senna, slowly unwrapped the first of the three burgers she had found on her tray, holding it in both hands since it was so big. But as she moved it closer to her nose, she could feel the tantalizing aroma coming from it, she could distinctly smell the cheddar cheese, the fried bacon, the caramelized onion and the, rather pungent, hot sauce.

“Wow…So this is the ‘Bad Boy’, uh? It’s massive!”

As she looked down, she saw other two burgers similar to the one she was holding and, besides them, the rather large cup of Frappe, waiting for her.

Amelie, instead couldn’t speak as she saw on her tray the same three massive burgers as her friend but, alongside them, having chosen the fried chicken as her side dish, three massive pieces of fried chicken thighs, while the cone of ice cream and whipped cream was still enclosed in its refrigerated custody.

“Mmm…these smells so good…”

Elenore, similarly to her friends, stared wide eyed at her own tray. She too had received the three large burgers but, along with them she had also a plate with some XL hot dogs. Licking her lips, she had to calm herself. Hot dogs were her favorite junk food ever, and for that reason she tried to stay as far away as possible from them. That day she had decided to take them, expecting them to be so bad that she wouldn’t have lost anything. On her tray, then, there was also this massive jug of milkshake that, after taking a quick sip, had the effect of making her smile.

“Thick and tasty…Just like I want it…”

The three friends, without waiting any longer began to delve into their meal, but as their first bite went to target, each of them found the other moaning uncontrollably. The food there, it wasn’t good, it was downright divine. As they swallowed their mouthfuls, they began to literally attack the food, without a single word passing between them, as each was focused solely on munching and swallowing.

Senna, giving greater and greater bites to her burgers, felt like in heaven, the food was just too good. Even as a dollop of sauce fell from the burger, splattering on her camo jacket, she didn’t stop eating.
She just couldn’t stop herself.

She had never eaten something as tasty as those buns. And yet, as burger number two was swallowed, and number three was in her hands, she didn’t seem to notice how far her midsection was actually pushing against her pants. If she hadn’t been so engrossed with her food, she might have started to feel a bit constricted, and yet, all of her focus was on burger number three.
Elenore and Amelie were in a similar position, each of the girls was wolfing down food as if their life was depending on it. And yet, as their bellies started to grow rounder and rounder, not one of them seemed to mind, as they kept shoveling food down their throats.

Situation seemed to calm down when the trays were finally empty as the three girls were laying back on their chairs, massaging their overstuffed bellies, as they burped out their satisfaction. Amelie, without having noticed yet that her jeans shorts had unbuttoned and were now up simply by how stuffed she was, caressed one more time her bloated mid, as she grabbed her ice cream which had managed to be spared from the devastation. As she began eating it, she ignored the stern look coming from Elenore, sitting in front of her while she drank the last mouthfuls of her own milkshake. Senna, instead, seemed to be at peace with the world, feeling completely stuffed for the first time in her entire life.

As they rested a bit, catching their breaths, the guy at the cashier moved closer to them, with a gentle smile on his lips.

“Was everything of your satisfaction, ladies?”

“Ohh...Oh, yeah…Never had anything taste better…”

“Well then, Thanks for your appreciation. If you need anything else, I’ll be at the cashier station.”


The girls, although might have wanted to simply lay there and nap for a bit, knew that it was getting late and so, with a bit of difficulty, they managed to stand and slowly walk out of the place. As they left, Elenore turned back to look at the anonymous place, from the outside.

“Ames? What was this place called again?”

“It’s a…*urp*…Sorry. It’s ‘Scram Little Eatery’, I think…”

“Such a shame we can’t return in here…”

At this, as they slowly walked through the town side alleyways, Senna turned toward her friends with an angry glare.

“What? And why we shouldn’t?”

“Sen, It’s the Rite…remember? We can’t return there…or we’ll be kicked off the squad…”

“Amelie, you know I love you, right? But if the Seniors don’t know about it, they can’t get angry about it. For sure, now that I’ve found a place that good, am not going to lose it.”

As Elenore tried to argue about the logic, Amelie interjected with a smile.
“You know what, Sen, you’re right. Screw them. So, same time next week?”

“Girls! The Seniors will find out…and when that happens…”

“Next week? Ames, I was thinking more about after tomorrow. Come on, with all the practice we do we will burn everything we get there…”

“G-Girls! Please…A-At least let me choose the day…”

And so, it began for the three friends that each week, two times per week, they met in the Scram burger place for their eating hangout. After having informed their seniors about the successful rite, everything had seemed to return to normalcy for the three girls, for the exception that as several weeks passed, and they became regulars of the burger place, increasing their meeting there at four times per week, their shapes began to change.