Doreen Green ~ Chubby Friend

“Ah nuts, wish I could find a way to stop gaining so much weight.”

Squirrel Girl was sitting on her bed in her treehouse, tail twitching in restless irritation, glaring at the half-empty bag of pecans like it was her mortal, delicious enemy. She was dead convinced that she was fat. Every sideways glance she caught in public, every hushed whisper, every smirk she thought she saw, all of it convinced her she was getting too big in all the wrong places. Never mind that her friends called her “curvy,” “gorgeous,” and, more than once, “thicc,” whatever that meant. All she could see was a girl who’d overindulged in the nut aisle and who had a tummy that was just too chubby. She was completely delusional. Her mind wandered, cooking up ways to slim down: morning runs, strict diets, workout videos, fewer nutty… nuts? But her thoughts kept slipping into other territory, things that made her tail squirm, things she’d never admit out loud, but somehow still counted as “exercise.” If she had to burn calories, she reasoned, maybe there were more… enjoyable methods. But first, she’d have to find a sucker to help her out with this workout routine.

Artist: Masoq