Chapter 2

Lila’s POV

I woke up to cold grass under my cheek and the sharp smell of wet earth.

“Kael?”

My voice came out rough, still thick with sleep. I pushed myself up on one elbow, blinking against the pale morning light filtering through the trees. The garden was quiet. Too quiet.

“Kael…?” I called again, louder this time. “Where did you go?”

No answer. Just the soft rustle of leaves and the distant sound of early traffic beyond the academy walls.

I sat up fully, wincing at the pleasant ache between my thighs. A small, tired smile tugged at my mouth despite the empty space beside me. “You actually left me out here,” I muttered, brushing grass from my arm. “After everything… rude.”

I stretched, expecting the familiar lightness of my own body.

Instead everything felt wrong.

“What the hell?” I whispered, looking down.

The front of my dress strained across my chest. Fabric that had fit perfectly last night now pulled tight over soft, heavy curves that hadn’t been there before. I pressed both hands against my stomach and froze.

“No. No, no, no—”

My stomach was round. Soft. Full. Not huge, but unmistakably there. A gentle curve that pushed against the waistline of my dress like it belonged to someone else.

I scrambled to my feet so fast the world tilted. My thighs brushed together—thicker, warmer, softer than I remembered. “This isn’t funny,” I said to the empty garden, voice shaking. “Kael, if this is some kind of joke, it isn’t funny!”

Silence answered me.

I stumbled toward the glass doors of the academy, heart slamming against my ribs so hard it hurt. My reflection stared back at me from the dark glass and I stopped dead.

“Oh my god.”

The girl in the glass had my face. Same eyes. Same mouth still slightly swollen from kissing. But everything below the neck was different. Fuller breasts strained against the bodice, heavy and soft. My waist had thickened. My hips flared wide and round. My thighs touched from top to bottom, plush and pale in the early light.

I touched my cheek, then my waist, then the heavy underside of my breast like I needed proof it was real. “This isn’t me,” I whispered. “This is not me.”

My voice cracked. “What did you do to me?”

I spun around as if Kael might still be watching from the trees. “Kael! Answer me! This isn’t funny!”

Nothing.

Panic clawed up my throat. I yanked at the zipper of my dress with both hands. It barely budged an inch. “Come on, come on, open—” The fabric ripped slightly under my fingers. I didn’t care. I just needed air. I needed the dress to stop strangling me.

I started walking, almost running, arms wrapped tight around my middle like I could hide the new shape if I held on hard enough. Every step felt wrong. My thighs rubbed together with every movement. My chest bounced with a weight that didn’t belong to me. The morning air felt too cold against skin that suddenly seemed too exposed.

A student cutting across the lawn glanced over and slowed.

“Hey—you okay?” he called.

“Fine,” I snapped, keeping my head down. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? You look like you’re about to—”

“I said I’m fine!” My voice came out sharper than I meant. “Just leave me alone.”

He raised both hands and stepped back. “Alright. Jesus. Whatever.”

I didn’t stop walking. I couldn’t. If I stopped I was afraid I would fall apart right there on the path.

By the time I reached my house my hands were shaking so hard I dropped the keys twice.

“Open, damn it—” I muttered, jamming the key into the lock. “Open!”

The door finally gave. I shoved it shut behind me and locked it like something was chasing me.

“Mom?” I called, even though the house felt empty. “Mom, are you home?!”

Silence.

I walked straight to the hallway mirror and stopped.

The reflection hit harder in the bright light.

“No,” I said, shaking my head hard. “No, this is a dream. This has to be a dream. Wake up, Lila. Wake up right now.”

I pinched the soft skin of my arm. Hard. Then harder.

“Wake up!”

Nothing changed.

I stripped the ruined dress off and let it fall in a heap at my feet. Standing there in just my underwear, I stared at the stranger in the glass.

“What the hell happened to me?” My voice rose, cracking in the middle. “I went to sleep normal. I went to sleep in his arms and I woke up like… like this.”

I turned sideways, hands sliding over the new curve of my stomach, the full hips, the thick thighs that hadn’t been mine yesterday. “This isn’t possible. People don’t just change overnight. They don’t!”

Tears burned my eyes and spilled over. I pressed both palms flat against the cold glass.

“Kael,” I whispered, then louder, almost shouting, “Kael, what did you do to me?!”

My reflection only stared back, cheeks wet, body soft and heavy and completely wrong.

I grabbed the nearest oversized hoodie from the laundry basket and yanked it on, drowning the new shape as best I could. The sleeves swallowed my hands. Sweatpants followed, the waistband digging into soft flesh that refused to disappear.

“Hide it,” I told myself, voice raw and shaking. “Just hide it until it goes away. It has to go away. It has to.”

I stepped closer to the mirror one last time. The plus-size girl in the glass looked terrified. Her eyes were red. Her mouth trembled.

I swallowed hard, tasting salt.

“What… happened to me?”