Kelly deVos - Fat Girl On A Plane

FAT.

High school senior Cookie Vonn’s postgraduation dreams include getting out of Phoenix, attending Parsons and becoming the next great fashion designer. But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin. It doesn’t help that she’s constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert.

Thanks to her job at a fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to pitch her portfolio and appeal for a scholarship, but her plans are put on standby when she’s declared too fat to fly. Forced to turn to her BFF for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane. She arrives in the city to find that she’s been replaced by the boss’s daughter, a girl who’s everything she’s not—ultrathin and superrich. Bowing to society’s pressure, she vows to lose weight, get out of the friend zone with her crush and put her life on track.

SKINNY.

Cookie expected sunshine and rainbows, but nothing about her new life is turning out like she planned. When the fashion designer of the moment offers her what she’s always wanted—an opportunity to live and study in New York—she finds herself in a world full of people more interested in putting women down than dressing them up. Her designs make waves, but her real dream of creating great clothes for people of all sizes seems to grow more distant by the day.

Will she realize that she’s always had the power to make her own dreams come true?

A third-generation native Arizonan, KELLY DEVOS can tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about cacti, cattle and climate. She holds a BA in creative writing from Arizona State University, and her work has been featured in Normal Noise and 202 Magazine. All proceeds from this book will be used on shoe subscription boxes and designer sunglasses. Follow Kelly on Twitter, @kdevosauthor.

Also By Kelly Devos

Fat Girl on a Plane

is Kelly deVos’s first title

with Harlequin TEEN!

Fat Girl on a Plane

Kelly Devos

Copyright

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

Copyright © Kelly Devos 2018

Kelly Devos asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © June 2018 ISBN: 9781474084048

“Bold, unique, and completely original, Fat Girl on a Plane is unafraid to stand up and take action. A debut both spirited and inventive, much like its indomitable heroine.”

—Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of Firsts

“A savvy, smart, and funny book about embracing your body and taking control of your destiny.”

—Kathleen Glasgow, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Girl in Pieces

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

AUTHOR’S NOTE

SKINNY: Day 738 of NutriNation

FAT: Two days before NutriNation

SKINNY: Later on Day 738

FAT: Two days before NutriNation (two seats take me to New York)

SKINNY: Day 738...details

FAT: Two years before NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 738 and strange benefactors

FAT: Three years before NutriNation and fat camp sucks

SKINNY: Day 738 of NutriNation and there’s nothing to eat

FAT: One day before NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 739 of NutriNation

FAT: Days 1–2 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 739–740 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 6 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 740 of NutriNation...the fine print

FAT: Day 9 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 741–742 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 13 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 749 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 15 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 752 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 28 of NutriNation...the middle of the night

SKINNY: Days 757–772 of NutriNation

FAT: Days 31–32 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 780–781 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 48 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 816–822 of NutriNation

FAT: Days 98–104 of NutriNation

SKINNY: The odyssey of Day 822 continued

FAT: Days 111–114 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 824–847 of NutriNation

FAT: Days 119–122 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 847–848 get even weirder

FAT: Days 265–266 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 848–855 of NutriNation

FAT: Days 294–312 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 855...a wake

FAT: Days 326–353 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Days 856–863 of NutriNation

FAT: Day 737 of NutriNation

SKINNY: Day 866 of NutriNation

Day 1 of the rest of my life

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

About the Publisher

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This is not a Cinderella weight loss story.

I can remember the exact moment I knew I wanted to write this book. Like my character Cookie Vonn, I was declared too fat to fly on a trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake City. As I sat there clutching my copy of Vogue magazine, terrified that I might not be allowed to board the plane and that I might never see my luggage again, I was struck by certain aspects of my situation. First, that airplanes, by nature of the cramped spaces they create, can become places where some reveal their intense dislike of plus-size people. But also that so many industries, like fashion and beauty, thrive and profit not by elevating the girls and women they are supposed to service but by making them feel bad about themselves.

So I wrote the first chapter, where Cookie boards her first plane. I decided to tell this story using dual timelines that show her before and after a major weight loss to demonstrate, by direct comparison, how differently society treats those considered thin and those it views as “overweight.”

I have a long history of dieting, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Often, I was motivated by a desire to fit into that “perfect dress” for a special event or to make myself more attractive to someone else. I was convinced that being fat was holding me back. But I’ve realized I was holding myself back. I kept myself from meeting new people, going places I wanted to go and doing the things I wanted to do.

I had to let go of that.

And here I am living my dream of becoming a published author.

I don’t know if I will decide to lose weight in the future, but if I do, my efforts will be wellness focused and will not be the result of pressure or shaming. If you decide to diet, that’s okay. If you don’t, that’s okay too. Your body is no one’s business but your own. We are more than just our bodies.

We are the sum of our abilities and accomplishments and hopes and dreams and friendships and relationships. It’s what we are inside that matters.