This choice: Much to her chagrin, Alex finds herself enrolled in SSS anyways. • Go Back... Being open with her new roommate, Nicole Fraser, and the nurse, Shiro Fukiyama, about her goals for her weight made Alex feel better about coming to Buttercombe. With the budding support behind her she vowed to become a young woman who could stand on her own two (if broad) legs, away from her mother's smothering and father's spoiling.
And so Alex Greese took to the advice given to her by the school nurse about early pitfalls she could fall into when starting a weight loss regimen. At it's basics, managing weight was about calories expended versus calories ingested. Alex Greese would have to eat less and exercise more if she hoped to turn the Freshman Fifteen from a weight gain to a weight loss!
Eating less was going pretty well for the first few days Alex Greese was at the school. The first challenge was finding a way to 'dispose' of the rest of her welcome basket without eating it. Nicole didn't mind taking it from Alex, having a nightly chocolate whenever she was holed up in her room working on sketches or homework. For four days Nicole and Alex were able to share lunch and at the further encouragement from her roommate Alex avoided more of the rich, calorie related dishes she favored as comfort food. Mac and cheese, potatoes with thick gravy, pot roast, chicken tenders.
Alex and Nicole were keeping to simple meals of salad with plenty of vegetables and a protein. Well, Alex did have dressing on her said. And did reward herself with a small treat here of there but she still was eating far less than she ever did at home. And come Friday, when Alex was all to herself as Nicole's schedule differed, she kept to her resolve on her lunch and dinner plates. Well, she didn't cheat too horribly...
Exercising more was a different issue. Despite the reputation of the student body (it's size, in all connotations) Buttercombe Academy was a grand, vast campus to cross which left Alex walking plenty of distance between classes. As she learned to navigate the school she invariably found the longest routes but that was not enough, she should sign up for a gym class. She still had a week to make changes to her classes for this semester and was looking to drop an economics course, which was redundant for what she had learned about how economics from how her father managed Glacé de Greese.
As she settled into her first week at Buttercombe, it looked like Alex was going to stick to turning her life and weight around.
To bad that all changed at the start of the second week.
( ( ( ) ) )
Alex and Nicole had settled into a comfortable routine by the time their second Tuesday at Buttercombe came about. They had two shared subjects and were studying up on their Lit class, with some healthy alternatives to what Alex previously had for studying snacks. Not snacks, but sundaes!
"So *crunch* *crunch*" Alex brought the crunchy snack of choice to her lips. "When reviewing 'The Yellow Wallpaper' you should remember that it's not actually a ghost story." Nicole had introduced her to dried edamame when she found her fingers and her lips looking for something to eat between mealtimes. They weren't devoid of calories and were an acquired taste but they had just enough salt and umami to satisfy two flavor profiles without being unhealthy. Alex was also riding on the confidence of having another checkup tomorrow about the progress of starting her weight loss plan.
"But isn't it a horror story?" Nicole asked as they compared notes.
"Well, it's not a visceral horror, like vampires or serial killers and stuff," Alex explained, followed by more crunching. "There's a cerebral horror to how it was believed, at the time, to cure a woman of hysteria you could just lock her in a featureless room and--"
Their doorbell buzzed.
"Odd." Alex frowned at the door. She and Nicole had gotten to know a few other of their classmates yet she didn't think any of these acquaintances would make personal visits. "Were you expecting mail?"
Nicole shook her head before she got up to answer the door.
"Alex?" She called. "It's for you."
Perhaps Alex was being presented with more information pertinent to her weight loss plan. Instead, the complete opposite seemed to be staring her in the face and hitting her nostrils full force. An attendant stood in the hall holding an insulated meal delivery bag.
"Alex Greese?"
"Y-Y-Yes?" Alex stammered, confused as to the presence of what smelled like a fried chicken dinner with the fixings.
"As a thank you for entering our Dorm Delivery program," the attendant recited, "we wish to offer you this complimentary meal, with all of your future deliveries at considerable discount."
"Dorm Delivery?" Alex was very bewildered now. She'd heard of it, of course, it was advertised at the cafeteria and the second option on the phones before you dialed out. "I didn't sign up for dorm delivery!"
"You are automatically enrolled after reviewing your medical qualifications," the attendant explained patiently.
Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Medical qualifications?" Was this about her diet? But why would she be given a fried chicken dinner when she was supposed to start a weight loss plan?
"Miss, I just deliver the meals. What you do with it is up to you. It is free."
With much reluctance Alex accepted the delivered meal and with Nicole's help they unpackaged the contents. The roommates discovered that it soon overtook the table where they were studying. An eight piece dinner of dark meat with potatoes, gravy, buttery corn, macaroni salad and coleslaw that was far too sweet.
"I didn't sign up for this." Alex was getting distraught, unsure about what appeared to be a clerical error and struggling with the temptation put in front of her on a disposable takeaway platter. Maybe just one chicken leg couldn't hurt, right, after all this week of trimming calories?
Alex had picked up the leg before she dropped it. "No. This can't be right, these are the kinds of foods I should be avoiding."
Nicole chewed thoughtfully on a spoonful of coleslaw, as she reported the taste. "It did come free. But you're right, we can just leave it here until we decide what to do with it and go grab dinner in the cafeteria as always."
"Right. Yeah." Alex worked to rebuild her budding confidence. She could choose what she wanted to eat. The event had disrupted any attempt at studying so the two roommates left for an early dinner.
Much as Alex hoped the cafeteria would distract her mind from the issue, the visit only compounded the matter as Alex was in line at the register.
"Alex Greese?" said the lunch lady.
"Is something wrong?" Alex grew worried.
"No, I just have to issue you a new meal card ID." Alex was handed the card. "Henceforth your cafeteria fees are waived, which also translates to unlimited credit at campus vending machines and school approved alternative food options."
"WHAT??" Several students turned to the sound of Alex's outburst, as did Nicole looking worried. Alex kept the upgraded card as if it was a black spot. How could she are trusted with an expanded meal plan when her goal was weight loss?
Although her body was hungry her mind was not in any state to eat so Alex dragged a reluctant Nicole back to their room, the two trying to make sense of the issue all the way. She really wanted to check in at the nurse's office to ask what was going on. Unfortunately, the medical office was closed at this hour except for emergencies. Alex had fallen back on her meek habits. She debated back and forth on whether this qualified as an emergency.
"It doesn't make sense." Alex tried to wrap her mind around it. "The delivery, the meal plan, the...oh no..."
"What?" Nicole asked.
Alex recalled where she had seen this information before. "The Special Services for Stipendiaries program. SSS!" Nicole had been placed on Tier II (Basic) after updating her medical records. "My BMI made me automatically eligible for Tier III! Intermediate!"
"I think I missed an exclamation point there," Nicole said much to her roommate's confusion, the artist almost perpetually mellow in personality in tone. "But wasn't that supposed to help with your weight loss goal?"
"It talked about easing accommodations but," Alex couldn't finish her statement when she noticed that their room had been unlocked since they had left, with a few different attendants moving in what looked like a bed. "Hey! Excuse me! What's going on?!"
The supervising attendant looked up. "Oh, you must be Alex Greese. We're setting you up with your new furniture. Unless you wanted to enroll in the single dorm option."
"Single?" Without Nicole? Without any friend to guide her through all this strangeness?? "I don't want to room without her!"
"Yeah, we're friends." Nicole stood by Nicole but didn't have much vigor in her unchanging monotone.
"Suit yourself," the supervisor said. "Looks like a mighty fine meal you got delivered there, shame if it went to waste. By the way, do you happen to have a current copy of your class schedule? We're supposed to swap out your assigned seat as well."
It was enough to make the already 250-pound 15-year-old brunette go run to her room to cry on her bed. Which she couldn't actually do since the bed was currently being swapped for a reinforced model!   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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