The fortunes and paths of the Black family had been up and down over the years, and Piper hadn't been an exception to that rule.
After The Deadbeat had left her for the final time, Harper had been left with three daughters to raise by herself. Working two jobs to support her struggling family had meant her girls often went unsupervised, and the two elder girls had certainly taken advantage of that.
Parker and Piper had both been fairly wild in high school. Detentions, suspensions, cutting class, failing tests, and partying to all hours had been the norm, and Piper felt bad for how much stress she'd caused her Mom and Buby over the years.
It had seemed that Piper the Punk was destined for the life of the perpetual slacker, until she carried on the family tradition and got knocked up by some loser. Before such a thing could occur, though, two things had come along and changed her life forever.
The first was the birth of her younger sister, Hunter. Suddenly, there was a life that depended on her frequently, as Harper was still working terrible hours (the two woman agreeing that they should NEVER rely on Parker for this). Whether Piper meant to or not, she quickly became a reliable homemaker and caretaker for her newborn sibling. Her Buby even started teaching her how to cook, though it was admittedly an uphill battle.
Still, at least she could now boil a pot of rice without nearly burning the house down (again).
The other was meeting a new to town girl from Texas by the name of Dakota Johnson. She was a beanpole, a nerd, and honestly kind of awkward. In the not too distant past, Piper would have been teasing the ever-loving sh*t out of a girl like her. For some reason, Piper instead started spending time with her, and the two quickly became the best of friends.
Though, to be fair, Piper still did tease her a bit.
Dakota's book smarts had proven to be a good match to Piper's street smarts, and as Miss Black realized that she needed to accomplish more in life then spotting off another pack of Natty Light, Dakota proved an invaluable resource to the struggling student. Piper managed to significantly improve her grades, and she could proudly claim to be the first member of her family to move on to post-secondary.
Piper had done a two year program at the local Daven's Port college, attending and successfully graduating from their computer science program.
Dakota, meanwhile, had gone to the Daven's Port Uni's College of Medicine, aiming to become a Registered Nurse. It was a four year program, plus a year of internship, so Miss Johnson was still in school and racking up an impressive amount of debt.
As for Piper's oldest friend, Zack, he'd moved straight into the work force after high school. He'd had his start in construction, then apprenticed as a roofer. About eight months ago, he'd started his own company, and when Piper last spoke to him, was booked solid for the next several weeks.
Also, the fact that his new career had led to some pretty impressive muscles brought a blush to Piper's face a fair bit more then she'd care to admit.
After her grad, though, Piper had struggled to find work. It may have been the information age, but unfortunately it seemed everyone else was also aware of that. She was typically one of several applicants, seldom got called for an interview, and never saw a second. Piper figured it was her lack of work experience that was hurting her, but it was awfully hard to gain any XP when no one was willing to give her a chance.
For the better part of six months, Piper was planted on the living room couch, occasionally firing off her resume to a potential employer, disappointed every time. Accomplishing nothing more then watching trashy daytime TV and eating mounds of junk food, Piper felt like she was wasting her life away.
Until last week, that is.
The Yeng Corporation was an international giant, and they were currently in the midst of a major expansion outside of their native Japan. Daven's Port had been home to a small R&D house for years, but now the company was significantly expanding their local operations, and the once quiet port town was quite simply booming.
Yeng had built a new office building downtown and had put out a notice for around 250-ish job openings. When Piper had applied, she never thought in her wildest dreams that they would call her back.
When they did, she damn near dropped her milk shake.
One interview and an orientation later, and Miss Piper Black was now an employee of the Yeng Corporation. And now we come back to the present day, where Piper is beginning her journey to her new workplace...
*** *** ***
As she left the house, her older sister's words echoed in her mind. "You won't last a day. Your blubbery gut will be back on that sofa by the end of the week."
Logically, Piper knew that Parker was full of it. As she'd gotten her life together, her layabout sibling had become increasingly hostile, which for Parker was quite the accomplishment. Piper could only guess as to why, though it was clearly related to the fact that she was getting her life on track rather then Parker's "Party Hard, Pay Never" ways.
Emotionally was a very different story, however. Piper had only held two jobs before, and was fired from both after about a week. She'd found it really funny as a teen, but now she kept wondering if something was indeed wrong with her. Was she unhireable? Could she hold down a job? Or was she destined to lose this one and couch surf until the day she died. Or maybe she'd get lucky and become a trophy wife for some rich man? Or was she too crude for that? God, would she have to do porn?
Piper shook her head to stop that wicked train of thought from running away with her.
As she walked down their front stairs, a slight jiggling sensation brought her attention to the other major problem she had with her sister's pronouncement. Namely, that she was gaining weight again, and had been for some time.
Now, Piper had been fairly rotund in her youth. The family diet was less then stellar, and she'd always eaten far more then her share. The end result, as you might imagine, was the chubby little girl blossoming into a pretty fat kid. By the time she entered middle school, Piper was struggling to fit in the desks, and gym class was simply a joke. Had it not been for the sudden onset of puberty and a killer growth spurt, she likely would have continued to balloon. Instead, she became one of the true beauties of her school, and nearly every boy had fantasies about her.
However, that state of affairs was not to last. Really, she was hit across the board. The improving family finances meant that she longer had to do without, and could pig out whenever she wanted. Being more responsible with Dakota meant she was staying at home, whether studying or watching a movie, snacking as opposed to partying. She'd eaten all her woes away in college, and all her fears of unemployment and debt had been buried under bags of chips and slices of pizza.
Combining all that food with a rather sedentary lifestyle had only one result; Piper had gained a lot of weight. From 120 pounds at her thinnest, the former rail had steadily ballooned over the last few years. When she'd last weighed herself, she'd been a hefty 236 pounds, though that had been back when she graduated in June. She tried not to think about how much she must have put on since.
Yanking down on her tight work blouse, Piper was really regretting not buying a new set of clothes before her first day. Still, she tried to put it out of her mind as she walked the half a block to the bus stop, ready for her first day of work.
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