Free Big is Beautiful by Kelly Martin

seemed so confident, so sure I could do this. It almost made me believe. "Okay. I'll give it my best shot."
    She smiled so broadly I could count her teeth. "Excellent! I'll stay today at tutoring if you think it'll help."
    It didn't take long to think it over. Obviously Matt had others things on his mind besides me and my grades. I didn't want him to get in trouble with Ms. Bennett for not doing his tutoring duty, but I also needed a good grade on the test tomorrow. More than a good grade: I wanted an A. "Yeah, sure. I'll take all the help I can get."
    She nodded and handed my homework back to me. "Correct the ones you missed and I'll count it as extra credit. Help your grade." She winked slyly like it was some big secret. It wasn't. Every teacher did extra credit, only to my knowledge, Ms. Bennett had never given it to anyone else in class. She really was as desperate as I was to get me a passing grade.
    I worked on the sheet until the bell rang and took my time putting it in my backpack. When everyone cleared out, I told Ms. Bennett I'd see her later and headed to third period.
    At lunch, Jillian had all sorts of things to tell me about her and Oliver. Friday after school, she was going dress shopping for the Red Ball and asked if I wanted to go with her. To be honest, it made me sad to think of dress shopping for a dance I'd never get to go to. Still, I did love looking at formal dresses. I'd never worn one, but I liked looking at them and daydreaming. Not daydreaming about my body being in one (that would be weird), but about what I'd look like in one if I were Kendra Moses's size.
    I told her I'd go and was actually pretty excited about it. Her mom would drive, and we would do girl bonding stuff like singing off key and posting duck face pictures online. Okay, maybe not. My mom would have a cow over the duck pictures.
    Jillian and I had a great lunch. I ate all of nothing and she never noticed. After last night, I didn't trust myself not to eat a huge helping of food. Throwing it up wasn't something I ever wanted to do again. Figuring it was better not to eat anything, I moved my salad around my plate so it looked eaten and drank some water. Jillian actually made it easy to not eat with her stories and big ideas about the Ball. She'd wear her hair down in sleek waves and have some sort of sparkly jewelry from her mom's collection. Her dress would be red, of course, and she wanted it to be a princess-style. Princess would be beautiful on her. Potato sack would be my dress of choice.
    While she talked, Matt caught my eye from the other side of the room. He was eating earlier than usual. Across the cafeteria from me, he kept staring like I had something in my teeth, which was crazy since I hadn't eaten and he was too far away to see if I had anyway. Self-conscious, I looked back at Jillian and nodded a few times to agree with whatever she went on about. Every time I glanced at Matt, he was still staring at me. He had a warmth in his eyes, not a cold stalker stare. The moment came and went when one of his football buddies came up, smacked him on the shoulder, and led him and his tray toward the trashcan.
    I watched every step he took, Jillian's voice easing further and further away. He emptied his tray at the trashcan two tables from me and put the tray in the kitchen window. With a smile and a quick nod in my direction, he walked out the door and disappeared down the hall.
    "Brittany." Jillian snapped her fingers and waved them in front of my eyes. "Where'd ya go?"
    I went with Matt. Why do you ask? "Nowhere. I was listening. Promise."
    With her tilted head and pursed lips, I could tell she didn't buy it. "What was the last thing I said?"
    Yeah… I have no idea. "Look at the time. Gotta get to class. See ya later. Text me." I grinned from ear to ear, and she sputtered a laugh.
    "Exactly. Wanna tell me which cutie you were scoping out?"
    "Nope." I teased and threw my tray away. She'd get it out of me later, but for now I