"You shared food!?" Angelica was ecstatic that night, when Alex when over to the Schuyler sister residence. She couldn't believe how well it all went. Eliza was happy for him, but was still pouting about Alexander not telling her. Peggy cared, but not enough to stop watching her tele-novellas.

 Alex and the girls talked about the date in detail, minus when John said Alex was attractive. Knowing them they would probably blow it way out of proportion, and that was the last thing he needed. At the end of the night, though, they agreed on doing it again the next Monday. All of them, including Peggy, squealed at a frequency that is comparable to a dog whistle. At the end of the night Alex went home feeling elated and happy, and for the first time in a long time he didn't examine his body in the mirror. He just went to sleep smiling to himself after a good day.

And Alex's life just kept getting better. He woke up naturally the next morning even earlier than he normally would with an alarm, feeling refreshed. He made himself an actual breakfast and decided to pull his hair back neatly and wear a very flattering outfit on him. He decided to wear one of his suits that Hercules Mulligan, the Home Etc. teacher who did clothing design and tailoring, had fitted for him. He looked professional and handsome and anybody looking in from the outside would know that John would fall head over heels for him, if he hadn't already.

Angelica was suddenly very careful with him, even more than she normally was. In a way, Alex was grateful for this. He had never expressed having such a severe displeasure with his body with really any of his friends, minus Eliza. Different from Angelica, Eliza tried to make him more comfortable with his body, instead of just being extra careful with what she said. He liked it this way. It made for fewer serious and uncomfortable situations and conversations.

He was just in a good mood. He felt confident, and happy. He was energetic and felt as though nothing in the world could ever bring him down. They were talking about the Boston Tea Party, so Alexander made his classes tea. He went down to the gym during a class on his free period and just talked with John for a while. He had another careful, but in-depth conversation with Angelica and Eliza about how he needs to work on developing a healthier body image. The whole day he just felt empowered and once again, he didn't even consider any of the food he was eating, or what his body looked and felt like, or anything along those lines.

This euphoric feeling went on for the next couple weeks. January was a great month for him mentally, socially, and in certain aspects physically. Alex didn't lose weight, but he took better care of himself and looked better without having to make drastic changes to his actual body. Of course there were rough days, but for the most part he was happy and normally very confident.

February is when things got interesting. They didn't necessarily get worse, but certain aspects of his life became a little more tense than they had before. Alex and John had been going out for dinner every Monday for a few weeks, and even though it was as friends, it was still enough for his friends to back off about them. However, they started right back up when it got to February, and what they wanted, seemingly more than anything, was for Alex to ask John on a real date.

Now, he might have been doing better lately, but Alex was still extremely insecure. As much as they hung out, he didn't feel he had any chance with John. John was probably attracted to the lean muscular guys, that he could work out with and stuff. Not somebody like Alexander who had still been fairly steadily putting on weight. He didn't over-examine himself in the mirror as often anymore, but when he did, he didn't like what he saw.

His belly was pudgy and round, and he had been getting love handles too. His cheeks looked chubby, and he had a bit of a double chin. His arms had some extra pudge, and his thighs were thick and brushed against each other. His tummy and inner thighs had milky white stretch marks. If John had ever remotely considered Alex attractive that was probably long gone.

He would never ask John out in person. Ever. But what if he didn't do it in person...