From Fat Girl to Fated Mate Chapter 05

From Fat Girl to Fated Mate Chapter 05

“Do you really take pride in tearing another girl 

down with that kind of venom?” 

A few of them turned red. 

I knew it wasn’t shame, of course. They were just embarrassed that an attractive Alpha had caught them bullying someone. 

Jessica sneered. “Josie screwed up herself. She 

deserves the criticism. If she forgot her uniform 

on performance day, that’s on her.” 

Julian’s tone remained calm. “She tried to fix it. 

Instead of helping, you piled on her. Do you really 

think you’ve done nothing wrong?” 

She finally snapped. “Who are you to lecture me? 

You’re clearly just biased toward her!” 

She spun around to leave and ran straight into 

Ethan, who was just walking out of a classroom. 

Ethan glanced at our group and frowned slightly. 

“Julian, what are you doing here?” 

Jessica went pale. 

Her eyes darted back and forth between Julian 

and Ethan. 

They looked so much alike. 

She’d just publicly humiliated the future Alpha’s 

older brother. 

Julian’s face remained expressionless. “This is 

who you hang out with at school?” 

For the first time, my wolf felt a surge of anger 

coming from him. 

Ethan frowned. He glanced at Jessica, then said 

coldly, “I’m not close with her.” 

Jessica’s face turned completely ashen. 

For months, everyone had assumed she was 

Ethan’s fated mate. Some people even openly shipped them. 

But Ethan had just denied it so definitively. 

Julian ignored the tense atmosphere. He reached 

out, ruffled my hair, and smiled gently again. “Stop 

spacing out and go get changed.” 

“Thank you.” My cheeks warmed. 

He nodded at me. “Good luck with your 

performance.” Then he said softly, “I’ll be watching 

the whole time.” 

I almost fainted. I didn’t even notice Ethan had 

been frowning at us the whole time. 

Backstage, I became invisible again. 

The girls didn’t save me a spot to change or 

include me in makeup. I was left out the entire 

time we got ready. 

They giggled their way out of the dressing room, 

and I stood silently to the side, getting out of their 

way. 

Once they were all gone, I went in. 

The makeup artist was packing up. She looked up 

and raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Oh. You’re in 

this squad too? I thought you weren’t performing.” 

I nodded. “Can you do my makeup? I can pay.” 

She smiled. “The school already covered the cost. 

Sit down.” 

It had been three full years since I’d worn stage 

makeup. Looking at myself in the mirror, my hands. 

wouldn’t stop shaking. 

She noticed my nerves. “You have great skin. And 

strong bone structure. If you lost a bit more 

weight, you’d be a real beauty.” 

Twenty minutes later, a different person looked 

back at me from the mirror. 

“See,” the makeup artist said gently from behind 

1. me. “You’re beautiful.” 

I stared blankly at that unfamiliar face in front of 

me and took a deep breath. 

By nine thirty, the entire student body was seated 

in the audience, waiting for the performances to 

start. 

Ethan, wearing a white button–down and dress 

pants, stood at center stage with a microphone, 

giving the opening speech. 

Our performance was the third from last. 

Jessica and her friends were all crammed into one 

corner, wearing crop tops and pleated skirts, 

laughing and showing off. 

“Where’s Josie? Still squeezing into her uniform?” 

“I bet she’s crying in the locker room.” 

“For real? I can’t wait to see her embarrass 

herself.” 

Other students around them perked up. “Wait, 

she’s actually going on stage?” 

“Bold move.” 

“Okay, now I’m curious.” 

As I walked past, every conversation came to a screeching halt. 

I still had my hoodie on over my uniform. Even so, all eyes locked onto me. 

“Is it my imagination, or does Josie look… prettier?” 

“That’s just the magic of makeup. Contouring can 

make even a pig look decent.” 

“Her legs are definitely thinner though. Did she 

actually lose weight?”