Morning Workout

Brandi started her car and began her drive to the health club. She had a good 30-minute commute, giving her time to mentally prepare for the day ahead. As she pulled into the parking lot, she noticed a few of the gym staff already there, chatting and laughing. She parked her car and made her way to the group. "Hey, guys!" she called out, giving them a wave. Some of the girls, who were aware of her birthday, immediately started singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. She blushed, feeling a mix of embarrassment and gratitude.

"Thanks, you guys," she said, once the song ended. "I appreciate it." Brandi still had an hour and a half before she needed to clock in, so she decided to head to the gym and get a workout in. She made her way to the treadmill, plugged in her earbuds, and started running. The music pumped through her ears, drowning out the chatter and sounds around her. As she ran, she couldn't help but notice a few men in the gym watching her intently.

She could feel their eyes on her, taking in the sight of her bouncing breasts and the curve of her ass cheeks. Brandi tried to ignore them, focusing instead on her run and the rhythm of her breath. Brandi couldn't deny the fact that she was feeling a bit aroused by the attention she was receiving. She remembered being the fat girl that no one wanted back when she was in middle school, and appreciated the attention on some level.

As she ran, her mind drifted back to a particularly embarrassing event from her teenage years. She had lived in a smaller town until the beginning of the summer, when she and her mother had moved here. Her alcoholic father had left her and her mother, and things had been pretty tough back then. Brandi had worked very hard to lose weight, but it was always a struggle to make friends.

She was pretty **** back then fit in. She would have done anything. Brandy recalled the details of that night. She was a freshman in high school, and she had just made the cheerleading squad, which was far beyond what she thought she could achieve. The other cheerleaders had invited her to a party, and she had felt a sense of excitement and nervousness as she joined them. It was her first party.

She knew that her crush, a boy named Tommy, would be at the party. She and Tommy had been flirting in the halls and sitting together at lunch for a few weeks. At night they talked on FaceTime. She figured that maybe tonight would be her first kiss, but was nervous. She had just lost a significant amount of weight, but her self-confidence had still been fragile. Running on the treadmill, Brandi supposed that it always would be, between her body image issues and her daddy issues.

Back then, Brandi had confided in her fellow cheerleader, Alexis, that she had a crush on Tommy. Alexis, being the popular and seemingly friendly girl that she was, promised to help Brandi get closer to him. The night took an unexpected turn when the teenagers started playing a game of Truth or Dare. Alexis leaned in and whispered to Brandi, "When it's your turn, take a dare, and I'll dare you to kiss Tommy." Brandi nodded. That would give her the perfect opportunity to make her crush a reality. Dares made things easier; you weren't responsible, someone else dared you to do it.

When her turn came around, Brandi took the dare, her heart pounding, but as she stood there waiting for Alexis to speak, she felt a sudden sense of dread. The girl gave her a malicious grin and said, "I dare you to lick the fire hydrant in the front yard." Brandi was caught off-guard by the betrayal. Everyone knew that all the neighborhood dogs pissed on it, and the thought of putting her mouth on it filled Brandi with disgust and humiliation. The room erupted in laughter, and Brandi felt her face growing hot with humiliation.

Brandi still remembered the mix of emotions that coursed through her when she first heard Alexis' dare. Her face had burned with a deep, uncomfortable flush as she stood there, torn between her desire to fit in and her sense of self esteem. She looked at Tommy, who had a sad, concerned look on his face. Her eyes begged him to save her, but he didn't.

Brandi had eventually been dragged outside by Alexis, her heart pounding in her chest as she was followed by the other shocked and mocking teens. They watched in anticipation, their laughter and jeers echoing in the night air as they sipped from red solo cups. "It's no big deal," said Alexis, "just a dare. If you don't go through with it, everyone will think you're chicken." As she knelt down in front of the fire hydrant, Brandi thought to herself, "Sure, it's just a dare. No one will blame me. It's not my fault. Alexis told me to do it."

The chanting had begun, the teens urging her on. "Lick it, Lick It!" they chanted, their voices growing louder with each repetition. Alexis, the instigator of it all, encouraged her, "Go ahead, Brandi. Be a good sport. Lick it." Brandi had hesitated for a moment longer, but the pressure from the crowd, combined with her own internal turmoil, pushed her over the edge. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned forward, her tongue making contact with the filthy surface of the fire hydrant.

The moment was excruciating, and Brandi's reputation in that town was irreparably damaged in that instant. She couldn't help but remember the added humiliation of Tommy's reaction. Brandi had been so hopeful that he might like her back, but that hope was shattered when she saw the look of disgust on his face. Later that night, she saw Alexis, who smirked at her, flirting with Tommy. That look told her that Alexis was the winner and she was the loser, and even moreso, because she'd done it to herself.

Later, on a love seat in the basement, the Tommy and Alexis made out, the sight of which made Brandi's heart sink. The kids at school started calling her Dog Licker. They didn't stop there, coming up with more degrading names, and bullshit stories to go with them. Brandi felt her self-worth crumbling with each new insult. The memory of that night, and the cruelty that followed, left Brandi with a deep sense of shame and insecurity.

When she found out that her mother was taking a job in a new city before Brandi's senior year, it was a glimmer of hope. A fresh start, a chance to leave her bad reputation humiliation behind. The memory of that night, and the way she was used and discarded by those she thought were her friends, still haunted her. Brandi now clung to the idea of a new beginning, determined not to fuck things up this time araround.

As she ran on the treadmill, Brandi couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness for the young, **** girl she once was. Brandi reminded herself that she was no longer that naive girl. As she reached the end of her run, she stepped off the machine, sweat dripping down her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, taking in the strong, confident woman she had become. She knew that the scars from her past would never fully heal, but she also knew that she had the power to overcome them.