Homely Girl (The Bancrofts: Book 0)

By Brenda Barrett

A love to last a lifetime?

The odd couple: April and Taj were opposites in so many ways. He was the cute, athletic, boy genius on campus that everybody wanted to be friends with. She was the overweight, shy and withdrawn girl who the bullies teased mercilessly.

But they were friends and the older they got the deeper their friendship became. As friendship turns into something more, do April and Taj have a love that can last a lifetime? Or will time and separate paths rip them apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brenda Barrett
• Release date: May 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9789769548695

Brenda Barrett

Books have always been a big part of life for Jamaican born Brenda Barrett, she reports that she gets withdrawal symptoms if she does not consume at least two books per week. That is all she can manage these days, as her days are filled with writing, a natural progression from her love of reading. Currently, Brenda has several novels on the market, she writes predominantly in the historical fiction, Christian fiction, comedy and romance genres.Apart from writing fictional books, Brenda writes for her blogs blackhair101.com; where she gives hair care tips and fiwibooks.com, where she shares about her writing life.

Book preview

Homely Girl

By

Brenda Barrett

Published by Jamaica Treasures at Smashwords:

Copyright 2013 by Brenda Barrett

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

*****

Discover other titles in The Bancroft Series:

Saving Face

Tattered Tiara

Private Dancer

Goodbye Lonely

Practice Run

Sense of Rumor

A Younger Man

Just to See Her

*****

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Prologue

Rock Abs Gym, 2003

April entered the gym wearily. She had been putting off going for months now but Rock Abs, the gym that was closest to her workplace, was having a special and she could not in all conscience ignore it. Her doctor had pointedly given her a flyer about the gym last time she visited his office, and there was a gorgeous guy on the front. He had an eyebrow saucily raised as if to say, 'come to me.'

His hair was in cornrows; he had deep-set bedroom eyes and looked oh so manly and gorgeous. She wondered, idly, if he would be at the gym when she got there. He would be perfect eye-candy.

She took a deep breath and pushed through the tinted front doors. She entered a large reception area that had a slim perky girl manning the front desk.

Hi, I'm Denise, the girl said, giving April a friendly once over. What can we do for you?

April peeked through the frosted glass at the front and saw a ton of people inside working out on various machines.

I have no idea, April said helplessly. She had never been to the gym before and had lost forty pounds in the last two years since college by sheer unfettered determination. She had walked everywhere and tried to watch what she ate. What she wanted to do was tone up her body and maybe lose twenty pounds more.

Well, Denise smiled at her, you could start by filling out one of these forms. It will give you an idea of what we can help you accomplish and then I can get one of our guys to show you around.

April nodded absently and took the paper and a pen that Denise handed to her in a flourish. It had the gym's logo in the middle. She moved further down the desk to make way for any newcomers to the desk and proceeded to look over the brightly colored card.

It's a great day to join the gym, Denise said to her helpfully. We are having a special that is running for the whole month.

April nodded as she scribbled in the information that she knew: age-23, known illnesses-none. She had no idea what her current height or weight was, or her body mass index.

She resisted the urge to chew the top of the pen. It was a bad habit she had taken up since high school, and she found herself picking up again since she removed her braces a year ago.

The front door made a slight whooshing sound as somebody walked in and April glanced up absently. Her eyes widened in appreciation of the guy that walked through. He had gorgeous brown skin, a lean, muscular physique, and deep-set eyes. It was him, the guy from the flyer!

She was looking at him so intently that he slowed down and came toward her.

April's insides started trembling. She hadn't felt so young and gauche since her high school days.

Hi Shemar, Denise said to the guy. I have a ton of messages for you regarding the marathon race that the gym is sponsoring.

April exhaled tremulously. He wasn't coming toward her. He was going toward Denise.

She hung her head back down and looked over her form. He hadn't even seen her! She exhaled shakily—she was alive though, thank God! She hadn't been attracted to anyone since Taj, the guy who was firmly cemented in her head as her one true love.

Lately, she had been wondering if something was seriously wrong with her.

When she looked up, the handsome guy was gone.

Dishy, isn't he? Denise asked, giving her a wicked grin. I swear, we have a lot of female gym memberships just because of Shemar and that flyer.

He works here? April asked, trying to appear nonchalant.

Denise laughed, glancing over her card. You could say that. He owns the place.

She leaned closer to April. He is here every day though, and he works out in the mornings.

She laughed even louder as April shrugged, pretending as if she didn't care.

So, when's the best time for you to work out? Denise asked her. Her brown eyes were dancing with mirth. You didn't put anything down on the form.

April swallowed. In the mornings.

Denise chuckled and jotted that down. Okay let's see. I am going to assign you to Derrick since you are a newbie. He'll show you around…help you to get acquainted with the machines. We have special classes like Pilates and yoga…

Denise gave her a bright smile. You'll have fun here, don't worry. She grabbed the phone and spoke to somebody, and a few minutes later a pleasant-faced guy with hulking muscles appeared at the door and introduced himself to her as Derrick.

The first place he carried her to was the weights room where there was a large digital scale and a tape measure.

Derrick scribbled down her measurements as he took them and then grinned at her. Your body fat percentage is not that bad, with a little work and some sweat you'll be okay in no time.

April nodded. Cool. That is good news. I am willing to work.

All right, Derrick said, putting away the tape. I am going to carry you on a grand tour of the gym. We have some very interesting features that you can take advantage of…like the massage room. That room you will have to book ahead of time because it is in high demand.

He showed her around and whistled as he sauntered through the large gym area. His whistling reminded her of a familiar tune from high school days. She grimaced slightly and tried to put her memories of high school at bay, but they hurtled up to meet her. She fought to keep her concentration on the here and now.

Derrick stopped and showed her the yoga room; two persons were in there, in the corpse position. Soothing music wafted through hidden speakers, and she made a mental note to do at least one class a week—it looked much more peaceful than the racket that was outside where the machines were.

April stared absently into the next room indicated to by Derrick—thoughts of high school were persistent in her mind. She inhaled deeply and allowed them to flood in. High school, she hated every moment there, except for Taj...

Chapter One

First Term 1995

You’re a big fat fatty and you know it’s true, they sang as she walked by the school cafeteria. The group of girls who hung out there was usually cruel with their taunts and April was their favorite target. Her thick curves were the subject of many of their best jokes.

Tina McGregor—the loudest and self-proclaimed prettiest of the bunch—bellowed as April lumbered by, clutching her school bag with tears streaming down her face.

Hey new girl, have you seen my grandma?

April continued walking, sniffling, wishing the ground would open and swallow her. The auditorium where she had music class looked so far away.

Tina had her hand akimbo. New girl, I am talking to you. I went to look for my grandma this morning, and she was nowhere to be found. I've got this funny feeling that you ate her.

The roar that met this statement caused April to grit her teeth and wince. Other students in the vicinity were stopping to stare at her, and they were giggling and pointing.

I have another verse to the song, Vanessa, a petite girl with long plaits winding around her head like a crown, giggled, here’s the line...

The girls started humming their familiar tune, the tune to a song that they endeavoured to add a line to every time April was in their vicinity.

She wears a big granny panty, and she knows it's true, when she hangs it on the line she can only add a few.

They laughed and clapped their hands. They had been harassing her all week and were pleased to see that she had finally broken down and was crying in earnest. She had been stoic in ignoring their taunts and did a good job of ignoring them, but that had made them even more determined to break her.

April’s entry into the second form of a new high school had practically ensured that she had no friends. Added to that, April was overweight, a condition that had only gotten worse this past summer because of the unhappy announcement that her mother would be working in Westmoreland, which meant that she had to be transferred to this new school. She had cried all summer and had eaten an unhealthy amount of ice cream to console herself.

Her parents were experiencing some huge cracks in their marriage. Her beloved father was now seeking to escape the house by spending more time at his office, and her mother was burying herself even further in her work at the bank, while April was stuck on the outside of their busy lives.

She was sure that that was the reason her mother had lapped up the offer to head a branch of the Peoples Commercial Bank in Savanna-la-mar, a town almost three and a half hours drive from Mandeville where her parents had their matrimonial home. The transfer made the move to Savanna-la-mar necessary, so her mother would have easier access to work.

What she couldn’t understand was why they had decided that she should live with her mother.

She was very much closer to her dad, and moreover, she had been settling down in her new high school. At least the bullies there had gotten used to her, and they had stopped calling her names.

She had even made a friend there, and for the first time in her entire life had someone in her own age group to hang out with.

This new transition to Crest Ville High had her back at square one—friendless and the punch line of jokes, just as if it was her first year.

Mrs. Green, the guidance counselor from her old high school in Mandeville, had convinced her to ignore the taunts so they would find somebody else to bother. While that had eventually worked at her old school, it had not worked here.

The girls at this new school were merciless in their taunting and seemed to genuinely hate her.

It seemed as if she was the only fat girl on campus—all the other girls were relatively slim and here she was, an anomaly thrown into their perfect environment.

Her classmates were especially unfriendly and her first week of school was hell. She considered running away back to Mandeville, to the familiarity of the house in which her father was now living alone, but her mother would not approve.

April slumped down in self-pity into a rusty chair at the side of the auditorium. She could hear the teacher inside speaking, but she had no desire for music lessons, not when her life was in shambles.

Why couldn’t she be slim and pretty and popular?

She envisioned Tina McGregor with her long flowing hair and honey gold skin and straight white teeth.

Why couldn’t she look like that?

Instead, she was this big blob of ugliness, with acne prone skin and a dental overbite. Tears streamed down her face as she glanced hatefully at her face in the glass windows that were before the auditorium entrance.

She was hideous.

Last time she weighed, she was 195. At only five-feet-three inches tall, the doctor had sternly told her mother that she was chronically obese and would develop all manner of ailments if she didn’t lose some weight. She needed to lose 80 pounds to reach her ideal weight.

Her mother had agreed but had not found the time to cook for the family, leaving her to her own devices, which usually involved takeout, or pizza, fries, and burgers.

Her father had tried, but the demands of his real estate business meant that his hours were irregular, and he was out of town often.

The same thing went for her hair. Her mother had gotten April’s curly hair relaxed to make its long thick strands easier to comb, but it had reduced her glorious mane—her only positive feature in her eyes—to short brown stubbles after a year.

Her skin was also a mess. There were little bumps along her forehead that she popped and squeezed, and which turned into black spots. No wonder the children at this high school hated her on sight.

She had tried to change her ways several times, but the siren call of sweets and fries were her downfall.

Added to that, whenever her parents had a fight, or the children at school teased her, food always made her feel better.

Food was her friend. Even now, thinking about her situation, the Snickers bar that she had thrown into her bag this morning begged her to take it out and indulge herself. The smooth blend of caramel and chocolate and the crunchy goodness of peanut didn't fail to comfort her.

That’s how Mrs. Gordon, the music teacher, found her—a hulky figure in a rusty chair polishing off a chocolate bar.

April Cole! Her husky voice was too compassionate to be stern, but April jumped anyway, looking behind her at her teacher's face. You are fifteen minutes late for class! Mrs. Gordon approached her, glancing at the chocolate and then at the