Bert Girard exited the classroom and headed for the nearest stairwell.  The overweight senior and self-acknowledged nerd went down the flights of stairs to the ground floor of the main building on the Greendale High School campus.  He waited as others headed out the door to the parking lot, before he went through the one for the hallway.  Bert then made his way through a series of hallways to his locker alcove.

Scott Hansen and Todd Walker sitting on the floor discussing their plans for Christmas break when he entered.  Todd was saying he might tag along with his dad to see if the security business was something he was interested in.  They stopped talking upon seeing Bert and stood up.  "Hi, how has the exam?" Scott asked.

"It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, but with it finished I just have one semester to go.  Do either of you have exams tomorrow?"

Both shook their heads before Scott said, "Both Rosa and Anna Marie have the same one tomorrow."

Opening his locker, Bert asked, "Any major plans for break?"

Todd repeated the information Bert had heard when he walked, but beyond that his break would be somewhat uneventful.  Scott then replied, "Besides my parents leaving on a business trip that turns into a short vacation starting next week, Anna Marie and I aren't doing anything except going to church."

Bert was stuffing his locker then he asked, "They aren't leaving before Christmas are they?"

Todd answered, "They'll leave Sunday night and won't be back until the weekend before school restarts."

"They're missing Christmas?  When are you going to exchange gifts?"

"We exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, celebrating Jul."

"Jul?" the overweight senior said, "What's that?"

"A Scandinavian tradition my family still keeps."

"Which is an interesting addition to his family being Orthodox," Todd added.

The last statement made Bert stop and look at his friends, "As in Greek?"

"As well as Russian, Armenian, Romanian, Finnish, and many others."

Bert finished stuffing his locker with his books and then produced the notebook.  He handed it to Scott, "I didn't know you were partially Eastern European."

"I'm not.  My great-grandfather converted shortly after arriving from Norway."

Bert looked at him with a blank face.  "Well that's an interesting combination."

"Yeah," Todd said, "What's even stranger is no one on his family tree is from a traditionally thought of country with an Orthodox tradition, they all converted."

"Except for my uncle," Scott added.

"Oh yeah, the one your aunt married."

"But anyway," Scott said to change the subject, "What are your plans?"

Bert shrugged.  "Well, translating the rules.  I hope to borrow the notebook for a day over break."

"Besides that, how are you and your father celebrating the holidays?"

"My dad's agnostic, but we exchange gifts. I might get something from my mom, but I usually don't."

"Sorry to hear that," Todd said.

Bert shrugged, "Don't worry about it, I'm use to it."

A feminine voice said from behind, "Hi, Bert!"

The three of them turned to see a smiling Autumn Morgan, dressed in a low-cut sweater and a tight pair of blue jeans.  She had several cardboard boxes in her hands.  Bert smiled and nervously answered, "Hi Autumn," then walked over to her.

"I'm glad I caught you before you left," Autumn said, "I had time this week to bake and thought you'd like some goodies."

"Uh, sure," Bert replied and grabbed the top box from her stack, "I appreciate it."

Then Autumn put the other three boxes of baked goods on top of the one in Bert's hands, much to his surprise.  Bert almost lost the boxes, but Autumn helped steady them until he was able to comfortably put his arm under the stack and against one side while pressing them against his body.  After Bert had secured the stack Autumn took her hand away, brushing against Bert's stomach as she did so.

Scott and Todd glanced at one another before the latter whispered, "That's the second time I've seen her give him food."

"Same here," Scott whispered back.

"I hope you enjoy them," Autumn said, "Don't share them much though," she added.

The three young men watched the black haired beauty turn and walk out of the alcove into the hallway, but not before turning back to take another look at Bert.  Todd turned to Scott and said, "You think someone might have a little crush?"

"I don't have a crush," Bert said, "Autumn is just nice."

Todd and Scott looked at one another wanting the other to say something.

After finishing their last exam for the semester, Rosa Garcia and Anna Marie Zelman were headed to their respective cars.  The two big beautiful young women were talking about their plans for break when they passed a group of girls giggling amongst themselves.  Then from behind came a loud voice that carried over the half empty parking lot, "Speaking of New Year's resolutions, maybe Isabel's should be getting the heifer that lives with her looking more like a normal human being."

Both Anna Marie and Rosa turned back as Tonya Winters and a few other girls roared with laugher while Rosa's younger sister, Isabel, looked very uncomfortable, especially when she made eye contact with her older sister.  The two seniors turned around and continued on their way as Tonya remarked, "But at least you aren't related to a fat assed pig," before making a squealing noise that made the other girls laugh harder.

Anna Marie and Rosa exchanged looks before turning back towards the direction of their cars.  Looking irritated Tonya shouted, "What no comeback fatties?"

Rosa turned back towards the group, "Say something comeback worthy and you'll get one, but don't waste our time with amateur hour."

The remark only made one of the young women in the group laugh, though Isabel couldn't hide her smile.  Tonya turned to see that it was Alexia Rogers snickering.  The head cheerleader then clapped her hands together and said, "Okay that's enough talking, we're spending too much time around school as it is.  We'll meet up later tonight." The young women headed in various directions in pairs or groups.  Alexia motioned for her posse to leave her said, "Tonya, could I have a word?"

The junior walked over to the cheer captain who was leaning against a car.  Alexia then said, "I know you're looking to be head cheerleader next year and with it the undisputed top position of the social ladder. However, if you want the position you're going to have to come up with better material.  Especially when talking with the likes of Anna Marie and Rosa, who while clearly aren't in our league, know how to take a shot and give one back."

"What do you suggest?" Tonya replied indignantly.

"Well first off don't look like you're pandering, take charge of the group.  Second, be creative. If you keep on giving them the same stuff they've always heard they'll just get use to it. And third, don't try to challenge me for leadership while I'm still here or I'll put you down like I did with the jayvee squad members when I selected Isabel over them," Alexia then gave Tonya a smile and walked to her car letting the blond haired junior take in the words.

The Hansen home was a buzz of activity as the three Hansens and Anna Marie rotated either taking a shower or eating breakfast, a process made easier with two different water lines.  Scott was the first to finish and after drying his hair he went outside to get the ice off his car windows.  After coming back inside, Scott helped bring down his parents luggage to the garage with his father.  Once that was completed, the two men changed for church.

After her own quick breakfast, Anna Marie had started preparing for church as well.  Her family, though Lutheran, weren't weekly attendees with her parents making it to about one service a month but always attended on Easter.  Anna Marie usually remained at the house when the Hansens went to church except for Orthodox Easter and the Sunday before Christmas.  The fact that her boyfriend's family was Orthodox always made her nervous as she prepared to go with them, because what was appropriate in an easy-going Protestant worship service might not be at a more conservative Orthodox service.

Anna Marie was applying the final touches of the small amount of make-up she planned to put on, abstaining from her full on Goth look.  Having already dressed, she checked herself in the mirror as Scott walked in, fiddling with his tie.  He looked at her for a moment before she straightened his tie then asked, "Well?  Am I going to cause a scandal?"

He shook his head no before saying, "You look nice."

"Sure?" she asked before saying, "Is the button on the back of my dress done?"

"Yes."

Anna Marie then looked into the mirror and took herself in.  Her auburn hair was pulled back from her face, contained in a black-laced net that fully exposed her pale skinned face.  In contrast to her skin was her dark green, long-sleeved gown that went almost to the floor.  Before she had been fattened, the gown had been loose and gave no hint to her figure except her breasts, now it was a different story.  The gown while having grown to accommodate her larger size had become very figure revealing.  Anna Marie's breasts and the sides of her belly were prominently outlined in front while her butt's width and depth were contoured for the world to see.

Going into her room, Anna Marie took a pair of black laced gloves off the clothes cabinet and putting them on.  She then took a triangular piece of cloth off the cabinet and walked back into the bathroom.  She unfolded the cloth then put it over her head and let it drape down to her shoulders.  "Does my kerchief look fine?"

"I guess," Scott shrugged.

Anna Marie turned and gave him a slight glare.  Turning back to the mirror, she adjusted her kerchief slightly while Scott fiddled with his tie again.  Mrs. Hansen then appeared in the doorway and asked, "How is it coming Anna Marie?"

The fat young woman turned to the plump older woman, who was in a long red coat and wearing a kerchief over her head.  Mrs. Hansen looked at Anna Marie's kerchief and gown before saying, "Good, very good.  I know you're nervous since this is the first time you're coming with us as Scott's girlfriend.  Paul's mother had to help me when I first attended."  Mrs. Hansen then straightened Scott's tie before continuing, "Scott be a gentleman and help Anna Marie with her coat."

Scott seemed a little insulted for having to be total to do something he was already planning on doing.  He helped Anna Marie with her long coat and then put on his own before heading out to his car.  Starting it up with the heat set on high, Scott waited a few minutes before hitting his horn.  Moments later, the 288-pound young woman headed to the Sundance just as the air blowing into the car's interior became warm.

For a while they travelled without saying a word until finally Anna Marie spoke up.  "Okay, anything that I need to be aware of now that I'm your girlfriend who happens to be Protestant and not just your friend that happens to be a girl?"

Scott shrugged.  "I wouldn't think so.  You're the first girlfriend I've taken to church, but you've been there as just a friend so you already know the decorum.  Depending on if my parents, well, my mom has informed other congregates about our relationship or just confirmed it when ask and that information has spread, I don't know if people will know we're dating beyond us arriving together and sitting apart from my parents."

"Are you sure? Because the Hansen family has this history, tradition, which people might expect you to continue, your aunt not withstanding. Making a first good impression as your girlfriend is pretty important."

"I don't think anyone will bring that up unless we were engaged," Scott said with a smile before it disappeared, "On second thought, don't talk to Mrs. Elkin."
"Mrs. Elkin?"

"Father Jerome's wife."

Anna Marie looked at Scott before asking, "You want me to avoid the wife of your Priest? I might not attend church that often, but that doesn't sound like a smart thing to do if I want to be a future parishioner."

"Well you said you were nervous about doing something wrong, the worst possible person to do that in front of is Father Jerome's wife."

Anna Marie blinked and thought for a moment.  "Good point."

St. Andrew's Orthodox Church was located on the other side of the county and as a result it took nearly an hour to get there. Arriving just before the service started, both Mr. Hansen and Scott dropped off their respective passengers. After parking their cars the two hurried into the church and met up with Mrs. Hansen and Anna Marie.  While the Hansens sat closer to the front, Scott and Anna Marie sat towards the back.

After the Liturgical service, the congregation followed Father Jerome out of the nave into the vestibule.  As the parishioners started conversing with one another, Scott and Anna Marie made their way to a corner while waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Hansen.  Several parishioners came up to say hello to Anna Marie then and congratulated Scott on how his season was going.

Slowly the parishioners started to collect their coats and leave while Mrs. Hansen continued talking.  Scott attempted to signal his father about the time and their flight when Father Jerome walked up to him.  "Scott, I was hoping you would be attending during break.  We haven't seen you since school started."

"Yeah," Scott paused, "I've had a lot of things on my plate."

"Now Scott, you remember what I counseled you about this last summer. You're entering the years in which you set your priorities in life and remaining committed to God should be at the top of that list."

"Yes Father Jerome."

The middle aged man then turned to Anna Marie, "Ms. Zelman," he then paused, "I want to say Anne?"

"Anna Marie, sir."

"Ah yes, but please Father Jerome is fine," he said with a smile, "I met your father and his partners recently.  We're planning to renovate our auxiliary building next door.  He informed me that the two of you were dating, I have never met a father so proud his youngest daughter was dating a young man."

Scott and Anna Marie exchanged looks.

Father Jerome continued, "The thought of my daughter dating," he sighed, "Is something I'm a few years away from having to seriously think about."  The priest looked away for a moment before speaking, "Well I believe your parents are waiting Scott.  I hope to see the both of you soon."

The priest walked over to other parishioners and started conversing with them.  Scott helped Anna Marie with her coat before they followed his parents out.  Getting in his car, Anna Marie looked at Scott and said, "I guess I should make sure you go to church.  Don't want to give Father Jerome a bad impression."

Scott turned and said, "I'll remember that some Sunday morning when we're in bed."

That drew a look from Anna Marie.

The day after Christmas was always pretty monotonous everywhere around Greendale, especially when it fell near the middle of the week, and it was no different in the Garcia home.  Yet Rosa was thankful for something to do, even though it meant spending time with Bert.  The 339-pound young woman came down the stairs, avoiding one of her youngest sister's gifts along the way, when her mother around the corner.

Mother and daughter looked at one another for a moment before Mrs. Garcia, taking in her eldest daughter's choice of clothing, asked, "Going out somewhere?"

"Picking up a classmate and heading to the Tucker Library," Rosa replied, "Getting started on the next big assignment," technically not lying.

Mrs. Garcia nodded. Rosa headed out the door only to come face-to-face with Tonya.  The two young women stared at one another blinking their eyes, before the blond haired cheerleader smirked.  "Is the homely sister leaving the house? I thought you would be relishing the fact that you could just lounge around, stuffing your face 24-seven."

"Really, that's the best you can come up with?" Rosa replied then opened the front door and yelled, "Isabel, your ride is here!"

"Thanks," Tonya said through clinched teeth.

The two young women stood uneasily with one another on the front porch, glancing at one another as they waited for Isabel.  After several minutes the door opened and out came Isabel, dressed for the cold day.  The 16-year old found herself in-between her older sister and her fellow cheerleader.  "Finally," Tonya sighed, "Isabel, I was starting to wonder if you were stuffing yourself with whatever your sister leftover in her trough."

Isabel rolled her eyes and.  Then from behind came Raquel as the 10-year old loudly proclaimed, "Shut the door, it's getting cold."

Tonya took the opportunity to say, "Yeah kid, if I were you take after your pretty sister and not the pig," motioning to Isabel and Rosa in turn.

"Shut the hell up!" Isabel exclaimed.

"Mommy told you not to say stuff like that," the little girl said making the three teenagers look at her.

"Back inside," Rosa said before closing the front door.

The three young women awkwardly stood there for a moment before Isabel finally started for Tonya's car and said, "Come on, they'll be waiting."

Tonya turned away from Rosa with a glare and followed after the younger Garcia.  After the two drove off, Rosa headed to her car and glanced at her watch thinking she might be late to pick up Bert.  She arrived on time to find Bert just exiting his house, the nerdy young man walked to the car.  He picked the notebook off the passenger's seat, where Rosa had put it after first driving to Scott's house, and sat down.  Less then five minutes later, they arrived in the Tucker Library parking lot and headed inside.

Rosa followed Bert up the stairs to the top floor and into a quiet corner.  After helping Bert spread out all of his material, Rosa then asked him about how the library was organized so she could actually do research for an assignment.  Bert gave her a description of the layout of the library, though in a very tongue-tied way.

As Rosa waddled towards a computer, Bert looked at her still with butterflies in his stomach.  While he wanted to ask her out, Bert couldn't figure out how to even bring up the subject.  Though he felt like he had become friends with Rosa, Bert couldn't help but believe that the chances she'd go out with him were the same as if she was still a cheerleader.  Shaking his head, Bert looked down at the table and flipped open the notebook then glanced at his notes.

As Bert attempted to figure out the ancient language, Rosa was at a nearby table doing her own research and quickly becoming very bored.  After several hours, both were ready for a break and gathering their papers up and went to eat lunch.  They walked to Hamilton University's student center where a small canteen was open.  Using his father's campus card, Bert bought lunch and the two sat down at a table.

As they ate, Bert attempted to find a way to begin any type of conversation but kept rejecting ideas that popped up in his head.

Then Rosa asked, "So how is translating coming along?"

Bert hesitated as Rosa looked at him then finally blurted out, "Trial and error mostly.  I think I've found a few words, but I won't know until I translate an entire rule."

Rosa nodded as she chewed while Bert attempted to think of something else to continue the conversation, but the words were failed him.  The expression on Rosa's face changed to one of unease before she asked, "What's wrong?"

Suddenly Bert realized that he had been staring at Rosa without doing anything and quickly uttered, "Um, uh, um, nothing I was just thinking," technically the truth. However Rosa somewhat frowned at the explanation.

The rest of lunch was spent in somewhat of an awkward silence, once they were both done the two headed back to the library in silence.  Once there, they went back to the third floor and continued working on their respective projects.  Bert quickly dove back into translating the notebook's rules.  He plugged away at it for several hours when he blinked and suddenly noticed something.  Furiously Bert looked around at all of his notes and started writing as fast as he could, not wanting the inspirational moment to pass without following it through.

The sudden burst of activity from Bert immediately drew Rosa's attention.  She dropping the book she had lazily been looking at on the table, pushed her chair back, and came over to the overweight young man who was quickly writing on a piece of paper.  Then Bert laid down his pencil beaming, "I think I figured out one of the rules!"

Instantly Rosa was right in his face and asked him, "Can it make me thin?"

The smile that filled the lower part of Bert face dimmed some as he looked away and said, "No.  It doesn't deal with reversing weight gain."

Rosa backed away looking disappointed before asking, "What rule did you discover?"

"There is a way to call upon the creator of the notebook," he replied, "If I translated it correctly and there is only one way to find out."

Rosa watched as Bert grabbed the notebook, opened it up, and wrote in it.  The young woman's eyes instantly went to the gold letters of the ancient language and saw several rows change to English before the entire page rearranged itself to separate discovered rules from those still in the unknown ancient language.  She looked at Bert, who looked just as stunned with what had just happened as she felt.  Looking back at the inside cover Rosa read the new rule, "Those that use this instrument of justice may call forth its creator for a certain time."

As she contemplated the words Rosa did not noticing that Bert was furiously going through his papers.  As he had glanced at the rearranged inside cover, Bert had discovered that the lines of gold letters had been completely jumbled from their previous positions.  He finally found a copy of the inside cover free of notes and attempted to find the same line on both.  After skimming through both he shook his head and said, "Everything has been changed, I'm going to have to run my dad's computer program on it again."

Rosa looked at the golden letters trying to decipher if they had changed, but having never really studied them before made the attempt futile.  She was disappointed that the newest rule didn't concern her losing weight.  But she put it to the back of her mind then grabbed her cell phone.  Bert noticed her doing so and looking at her inquiringly before she said, "The emergency meeting call."

Bert pointed towards something behind her, Rosa turn to see a sign posted on the library wall that read, "No cell phones," with an image of a cell phone inside a circle with a slash through it.  Next to the sign was the floor's one duty librarian, who glanced at her and lingered on Rosa's hand holding the cell.  The 339-pound young woman put the cell away from view before turning back to Bert, "I'll be making calls outside, meet me when you're ready," and got a nod from Bert before grabbing her things and leaving.

The overweight young man gathered up all the now useless copies of the inside cover.  The sudden rearrangement of the text seemed to have made all his notes useless, however Bert hoped the letters had been rearranged like a code and if he could find that out he could be back in business.  However, the disappointment in Rosa's face with the new rule kept creeping up in his mind and he felt guilty about finding the shortest rule with the fewest amount of difficult letters. Then suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice said, "Hi Bert, how have you been?"

Bert turned to see a broad-smiling Autumn, dressed in a form-fitting sweater and faded blue jeans.  "H-Hi," Bert stuttered out.

The raven-haired young woman walked over to the table and stopped next to him.  She then asked, "What have you been up to?"

Bert hesitated, "Rosa and I were doing some studying."

"A study date?" she ask emphasizing the last word, "Or a study date?" now emphasizing the middle word.

"Just, um, just studying for various projects," Bert finally got out of his mouth as he thought he felt her hand brush his stomach.  He glanced down, only to see the notebook wide open.  A flick of his wrist and the notebook was closed, followed by his hand being placed on top of it.

His movements brought Autumn's eyes down to the table and seeing his hand on the notebook, she then asked, "This is about the supposed prank?"

Bert shook his head and said, "No, nothing to do with a prank."

Autumn eyed the notebook again when their attention was diverted by Rosa asking, "What's taking so long Bert," the dyed-blond haired young woman's voice trailed off on seeing Autumn then said, "Um, I'll meet you down at the car," before heading to the ladies room.

After a moment of silence Autumn asked, "Did you like the treats I gave you?"

"Oh, yeah," Bert replied quickly packing the notebook away from view then followed by the rest of his material, "My dad and I have enjoyed eating them."

Autumn's smile reappeared, "Great, I hope you've been enjoying most of them."

For a moment Bert thought that was a strange thing to say but brushed it off as he finished filling his backpack.  "It was nice seeing you," Bert then told his newest friend.

"Good to see you too."

A few minutes later, Rosa exited the ladies room and headed for the staircase.  Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Autumn sitting at a table, looking in her direction.  The raven-haired young woman saw her, got to her feet, and before Rosa could get to the stairs was next to her.  "Rosa, I don't want to intrude, but are you and Bert an item?"

Rosa quickly turned to Autumn, "Excuse me?"

"Are you dating Bert or are you at least trying to hook up?  Because if you are please let me know."

Rosa's jaw-dropped as she tried to find words to answer.  "Um, uh, no.  Bert and I are friends and that's it, no interest in him from me whatsoever."

"Oh good," Autumn replied, "I got concerned that I might be trespassing on another woman's territory," then smiled again, "I don't want to get a bad reputation."

Rosa nodded then proceeded down the stairs.  Leaving the building and walking towards her car, the young woman tried to understand the conversation she had just had.  However, when Bert asked about when the council was going to meet, she forgot about it.  "We'll have to wait until Sunday afternoon that's when everyone is available."