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tiny, ninety-five-pound Kanishtha. That was what he liked. Girls he could wrap his arms around. No matter how much fun he made of those girls, that was what he liked. That was what the whole world liked.
    Her weight was obviously the reason they weren’t together. If she was thin, she would have him. She would be everything Shazan was.
    Leah scowled as she opened the door to the passenger side. “I gotta go.” Her voice, thankfully, was clear. She was doing the right thing. The food thing was going to be a pain, but she would get used to it. The payoff was too good to pass up.
    â€œHey, Leah!”
    â€œHmm?” She tried her best to keep her voice from breaking. “Yeah?”
    â€œMeet me in the weight room before practice, huh? I need a spotter. And so do you. And lay off those sundaes. You’ll lose what you need to in no time!”
    â€œMmm.” Leah cursed under her breath. Forget sundaes. She would lay off all food for a while. And in two weeks when she unveiled her new body, everyone would be shocked—her mother, the cheerleaders, that lousy Alfreddo guy. And especially Jay.

    Leah’s heart pounded in time to her footsteps. Rat-rat-rat. Like the grillers at Mongolian BBQ pounding meat and vegetables into a scrumptious dish. Her stomach growled. Food—what she wouldn’t give for a hot, spicy meal right about now. Barbecued beef with sesame oil, garlic, ginger and that killer hot sauce they used. Leah shoved the thought out of her head. Hot, spicy, scrumptious meals were what had gotten her where she was at that moment.
    Damn. She had to stop thinking about food.
    Her stomach growled again. A salad and the protein shake. That was all that was keeping her going. She couldn’t believe she’d skipped her last class of the day for this. For this torture. She’d been sitting in geometry and all she could focus on was the roll of fat around her waist and her rumbling stomach. Unable to get the vision of herself as a laughingstock at the modeling gala out of her head, she faked a headache and asked to go to the office to lie down. Instead, she snuck down to the weight room.
    She wasn’t that great of a student, and she’d skipped class plenty of times. Usually it was to go to the beach or shoot hoops. Never to run on a treadmill like an obsessive cheerleader.
    She pried her eyes off the distance counter on the treadmill: 2.70 miles. Felt as though she’d been trying to cross the three-mile mark for hours. “A watched treadmill timer never climbs,” she chanted as she watched the clock on the wall, the random episode of Oprah on the wall-mounted television. Anywhere but at the distance counter.
    Now 2.75 miles.
    She snapped her eyes off the counter. Maybe it was broken. There was no way she’d only run .05 miles in the past forever. Maybe she should stop. Jay would be down here any minute. And she still had basketball practice after that. She started to reach for the emergency stop button. No need to have a heart attack on the first day of the Plan.
    â€œâ€˜Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessle’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever had.’”
    Leah’s heard swiveled when she heard a familiar voice quote the familiar line. “Fight Club,” she gasped.
    â€œSaid by?” Jay asked, circling around the line of treadmills to lean on the arm of Leah’s. “Think fast.”
    â€œAgh. Um…”
    â€œFive. Four. Three. Two…”
    â€œBrad Pitt!” Leah burst out with her last breath.
    â€œGood job. Hey, whoa. You did three miles already? How long have you been here?”
    Leah hit the emergency stop button as she felt her knees giving out. Three miles. Finally. Three miles in thirty minutes. A personal best. Distraction. All she had needed was a good distraction. Maybe she should have Jay quiz her on movie quotes during all her workouts.