Nutrition (open to students)

[Aishe Tigani]

Ok, this class is an optional extra, unless you have received a PM from me and then you MUST attend or find yourself in big trouble.

Aishe was still trying to work out how she ended up being at the front of a classroom. The reason? Because she was asked to help the student here understand the damage they were doing to their bodies by not eating properly, and to explain that there were ways of ridding your body of unwanted calories without denying it the nutrition the body needed to survive their hectic life styles.

The woman looked around the pale yellow walls of the room. Around the room were a few posters, some of different food groups, others with just positive affirmations written on them. The one issue the Romany woman was facing was that she didn't want the students to feel threatened nor did she want them to feel that she was bullying them into doing what they didn't want to.

Other than the fruit bowl on her desk and the fridge that was filled with bottles of water, there was no food in this room. Besides the bowl of fruit - which Aishe had there because all of the different colours looked nice together - there was a stack of paper plates, a couple of small plastic bins filled with pens and coloured pencils. Today activity was going to be a little young for these students, but she wanted them to begin to think about the Food Guide Pyramid, and the easiest way to do this, was to get them to create their own.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood in the bathroom of the Red Willow barn, scrubbing her hands clean under the hot tap after her latest hunter jumper lesson on Ember. She knew that she could ride Ella in that class, but she had started with the pony, so with the pony she would continue. Once she was happy that her hands were clean enough, she changed out of her riding clothes and into the navy pant suit that she had left hanging up in the mare's locker.

After folding up her riding clothes and placing them neatly into her gym bag, she left the barn and headed back to the academic buildings for the first nutrition class. She couldn't say she was happy that she had been given a note saying that she had no choice but to be in the class, but she also wasn't going to argue the fact.

Pushing the door open, she walked down the hall and jogged up a flight of stairs before she stopped outside the door of the room she had been told to come to in the home economic department. Drawing in a calming breath and releasing it again, she rapped on the closed door before pushing it open.

Her eyes swept over the room and she bowed her head toward the teacher. Ms Tigani had been at the Academy for as long as Cara had, a woman whom Cara had avoided as much as possible. The girl then crossed the room and seated herself at one of the double tables. She guessed that they would be doing a bit of group work since all of the tables had two chairs at them.

She then opened her gym bag and pulled out the things she needed, a little out of sorts because the larger table was going to battle with the way she set her table up. After drawing an imaginary line down the centre of the table, she set up her desk and waited until the other students arrived. At least she hoped there would be other students.

[Rose Hoff]

After her last equestrian class of the day, Rose kissed Vintage on the nose and rushed back to her room. She'd somehow gotten mud all over her breeches, and the thought of it seeping through to her skin was making her sick feeling. She burst into the room and pulled a couple items out of her closet, locking herself in her bathroom.

Today was the day of her first Nutrition Class that she was required to attend. The note she'd gotten had upset her, and she'd been miserable at the thought. The emotions were coming to a pique now, and Rose pulled off her riding clothes, wiggling into a pair of tights and a wool skirt that almost reached her knees. She took a look at her arms before pulling on a large sweater that would make her bones invisible. Her arms had recently, finally, started to look like the arms she'd always admired. The skeleton was starting to come out of her. She was finally eating healthy, and it was working. Thank you, Blue Ridge Academy. Now, why interfere?

She slipped her feet into a pair of flats and walked over to the school buildings. She had never been to these buildings this late in the afternoon, and opening the door with the light glowing through the windows made her even more nervous. She made her way up to the classroom, lugging her bag with her and entered the classroom, keeping her head down. THe only girl inside was Cara, who was sitting at a table. She sat down across from the girl, and smiled grimly, before turning her attention back to the surface of the table. She'd much rather sit alone, but figuring that they'd be paired up, she'd rather be with someone she was familiar with than a complete stranger. She felt terrible for putting Cara in this position, and almost moved when she considered it, but realized that this would probably make the situation more awkward.

[Keri Rocha]

Keri had just come in from her ride with Jackie, whom she hadn't been spending much time with lately. She knew she needed to, but then again, where was that time going to come from, thin air? She did her best to see her beloved mare as much as she could, but with the new project jumper turned eventer, regular classes, work, and practice, the mare was coming up as a second priority most of the time. She had hosed her off and kissed her on the nose before throwing on her blanket and taking her back to the stall after letting her dry off a bit. Cutting was a difficult class for both Keri and her mare, seeing as neither had done it before. Jackie was taking to it nicely, however, which made Keri's job easier.

As she wiped her hands off on her button up plaid work shirt, grabbed her backpack from her tack locker and checked the time; which then lead her to pick up her pace. She was going to be late for her next class, one that she had been "asked" ever so subtly to join by the teacher via note. Nutrition. What a fun class that would be. Why was everyone insisting that something was wrong with her? She had lost weight, yes, but that was because of her new training schedule, her coach's wishes for her to drop pounds to a good weight for competition, and her daily commute to classes. Yes, she was more tired, you would be too if classes kept piling on homework, your boss kept adding more shifts, your coach kept insisting on more practice, and your two horses both needed to be worked everyday. Other than that, she didn't see how anything might have changed with her.

She opened the door, gave a small smile to the teacher and then swiftly turned on her heel, headed towards an empty table. She noticed Cara sitting across from another girl, one she was sure she'd seen in her classes or around campus at some point, but couldn't put a name to the face. She sighed, letting her backpack fall to the floor, and slightly wincing at how loud it had been. Maybe she should have set it down more carefully. She sat down, pulling out a pencil and a fresh notebook, not sure what she would need for class, but she saw the art supplies by the teachers desk and sighed mentally, knowing this would be a long class.

[ayla]

Kenzie really, really didn't want to go to the nutrition class that had recently been added to her schedule. They must have gotten hold of her medical records and started to worry, but there wasn't anything to worry about. She was being careful. She was keeping her protein intake high enough, and even though she didn't eat much, she was doing well in her classes and in her riding.

Better in her riding, actually. Kenzie had had a great ride on Brian, despite her dread for what came after the lesson. She changed out of her breeches into a pair of skinny jeans, a gray sweater, and tan flats. A simple outfit, but one that she felt comfortable in.

Kenzie sighed and started trudging down to the regular class wing of the school. She walked as slowly as she could, absolutely dreading this intervention that would no doubt come. She could see it already: adults sitting around a round table, leaving a seat open for her.

It was a real surprise when she entered the classroom and there were three other students there. Cara was in Mounted Games, and she had met Rose in the cafeteria a few days prior. She thought she had seen the other girl around, but didn't know her name.

Kenzie frowned and sat down at an empty table, hoping her surly disposition (this time not faked) would scare off any people who tried to talk to her about her problems.

[Samantha 'Sam' Lawrence]

Sam walked out of White Oak after she put Goliat up from Reining. Luckily she was in a western class at the end of the day so she didn’t need to worry about taking good care of her breeches or polo’s. As she entered her dorm to change she realized Keri had already gone. Both girls had gotten the note telling them to go to the nutrition class. Sam went through some idea’s on why they had to go. Maybe coach Hoefflin wanted them to go since some of the girls really were wearing away. She herself had lost a fair amount of weight, but still considered herself having a very nice figure. Though, lately she had been lazy or didn’t have enough time for her protein shakes.

Once she got rid of her riding clothes, Sam dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a pretty tank top, flats, and a Adidas hooded sweater. Most people thought she was nuts for being able to wear a tee shirt in the middle of fall. Sometimes she wasn’t bothered, others she needed to be wrapped up in three layers of coat. Today she stuck it out with one layer. Sam gave her puppy a kiss on the nose, then headed out of White Ribbon. She moved quietly but quickly to the classroom for her next ‘class’ with a bag slung over her shoulder.

She stood in front of the door, grinding her teeth lightly. A bad habit of hers that her dentist always yelled at her for. Then she walked in even quieter than earlier, seeing Cara, Keri, and two other girls she didn’t know well. Sam was happier, seeing that it was a bunch of girls and not just one on one. She nodded at the woman in the front, whom she had never really noticed before, then glanced at the girls in the room. Did she want to sit with Cara, and keep pretty much quiet, or maybe Keri, and chat with her roommate a little? Maybe sit with one of the other girl’s, or sit by herself? She sighed and took a seat with Keri, thinking things would be a bit better with her roommate next to her.


"Hey Keri." She said in a quiet voice as she pulled out a notebook, and pencil, as the girl next to her did. Her eyes ran around the room, glancing at every little detail in the posters, and stopped on the teachers desk as she evaluated it, glaring at the art supplies on the desk. Art was once subject that this girl was not good at.

[Jordan Hill]

Hearing the click of a hoof hitting the ground, Jordan turned at the sound of TriggerHappy snorting and stomping away. Stop, now. Jordan said in a firm voice, before clipping on a lead; and unclipping the cross ties. Placing the horse in his stall, Jordan latching it up; before getting nipped at by the Arabian.

Pulling her hand away, and tapping his cheek, Jordan then headed down the aisle; having to just come and groom the Arabian before heading to class.

Heading to the main building; where almost everything was held. Jordan then started up the stairs, taking the door in her hand and walking inside, and turning in place of the classroom. Heading down the hall, Jordan seemed like she was being forced to come, but she wished that she could have a choice.

Finding the classroom, Jordan saw a few familar faces, but saw Keri as one of the best. A few from the gymnastics team as well! Taking a seat next to the brunette, Jordan smiled saying, Mind if I sit?

Jordan didn't even expect them to become friends, but it was a wonderful thing that they did; otherwise she would be so lost in Blue Ridge.

[Aishe Tigani]

Aishe watched as each girl entered the classroom, she didn't miss the look of surprise on a couple faces, but other than the warm welcoming smile she remained silent. She was pleased to note that the girls more or less knew each other.

She glanced at the clock as the tardy bell sounded, and making a quick head count she took note that she was missing two students; Alia Williams and McKayla Gilbert. She hoped that they would arrive, but until then, she would get the class moving.

"Good afternoon, ladies." She said, her soft voice carrying across the room easily. "I thank you all for coming. I am Ms Tigani" She smiled softly, sure, she was actually a doctor, but this wasn't the place to tell the girls that. "I am sorry that you had to come with the threat of punishment though. And I am sure that a few of you can guess why you were asked to come." She picked up the paper plates and placed one plate between each pair and then carried over bin of colouring pens and pencils and a stack of food magazines to each group. "Feel free to roll your eyes at me, and also I welcome all the negative comments I'm going to get for your first class project." She raised her eyebrows, her smile never slipping from her face. "Once upon a time, people used the food pyramid to sort food out. These days though we use a healthy diet pie chart. Same idea. just now it's divided into a circle not a triangle." She held up a blank plate. "This is going to require a bit of talking between you, but I would like you to create what you think is a good pie chart. You can draw the different foods, or you can find pictures of them in the mags, cut them out and stick them on. Jordan, can I please ask you to move over to sit at the table with Makenna so you are all in pairs and I'll leave you to it." The Gypsy woman returned back to the other side of her desk.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara jumped as a shadow fell over the desk, and looking up she saw Rose sliding into the opposite chair. Her eyes glanced toward the teacher's desk, that was to her right, and arched her eyebrows in silent question to the other girl.

However, her question didn't take long to get answered as the tardy bell sounded - she had to wonder if that was specially for their benefit or if there were other elective classes like this one held after school. She turned her attention to the woman at the front of the room as she began to talk about what they would be doing. She bit back the sigh at having to work with another person, as talking to others was not one of Cara's strong points.

Even though she knew it was coming, she still jumped as the Gypsy woman placed the objects on their table. Her nose curled slightly at the idea of using those pens and pencils, goodness knew how many other people had touched them, glad that she had brought her own.

Sure to the amount of time she had spent listening to nutritionists and other people who told her what she should or shouldn't be eating, she knew all about the food pyramid and didn't think her and Rose would have a problem with the project.

Looking through her eyelashes, she watched the other girl. It may appear that Cara didn't pay attention to anything that was going on around her, but she had noticed the steady diminish of her classmate's weight and with it, the girl's healthy energy. The thing that did surprise her though, was that no one else seemed to have noticed this... or had they? And this is why she was sitting at the table opposite her.

[Rose Hoff]

As the rest of the student walked in, Rose kept her eyes on her hands, which were folded together on her lap. She was a little bit shocked by how many girls were there, and wondered if all of them were required to be here.

Rose listened carefully as the woman explained the project they would have to complete. She almost sighed in relief. She'd thought that the class would be worse. This little project would be a breeze to complete, as long as Cara and her drew out what the teacher wanted to see. Besides, maybe with the drawing it would be more enjoyable that forced.

Swallowing, Rose stared down at the paper plate before her and the disarrayed collection of art supplies. The sight of them brought her back to elementary school, remembering the crayons with the paper peeled off and the markers that never had enough ink. She considered taking out her own good set of colored pencils that she kept in her bag for when she felt like drawing, but this probably wasn't worth using her treasured art pencils.

She looked up at Cara, sweeping her hair back behind her shoulders. They should probably just get this over with so that they could go sooner. "I'm fine with drawing the food if that's okay with you..." she suggested quietly. The thought of going through all of the food magazines made her feel a bit sick, and she loved drawing anyways. She picked up a pencil and lightly began sketching out lines on the paper plate, separating it into thirds and then splitting one of the thirds into three parts. She looked up at Cara questioningly, not wanting to leave her out of things, but she really just wanted to get on with this.

[Keri Rocha]

Keri didn't look up as others came in, until someone sat down next to her. She looked up and saw Sam and gave her a small smile, "Hi, Sam." She said to her as her roommate pulled out a note book and pencil.

It wasn't long before the door opened again and another girl came in, sitting on her other side. She looked up to see Jordan and gave her the same small smile she gave to Sam not minutes before, "Not at all." She said to her as she sat down. At least she knew she wasn't alone in this class. She had two of her best friends with her, and that was enough to help her keep the stress away.

The woman instructing the class soon spoke up as the late bell rang out. She almost laughed as the teacher said that she would welcome all the negative comments[/i] she would be getting from them; she almost laughed.

Once she was picked up her plate and stared at it for a moment or two, wondering what she would do. She started to flip through the magazines which sat on their table and found a few pictures of food, and started to cut them out. When she was finished, she started to label each section, and finally she turned it over when she was done.

[ayla]

Kenzie was most worried/angry about the class itself, not the assignment.. She was doing fine. She was being healthy. She was following the stupid food guide pie chart, pyramid, whatever, she was just eating less of it.

Kenzie gave Ms. Tigani a withering glare as she gave her a paper plate and some pens. Outpatient had been good for one thing, at least; she knew exactly what she should be eating and how much of it. For god's sake, she practically knew the chemical formulas of everything that should go in her mouth.

The food magazines on her table were disgusting. How could people eat stuff like that? The cover of one was a slice of chocolate cake that made Kenzie's mouth water that was far too large for any one person to eat, and yet there was only one fork. Her brain chimed in with four hundred calories, hour of jumping rope and Kenzie flipped the offending magazine over so all she could see was the mailing address on the back.

Kenzie took the first step quickly: dividing the plate into five sections. She drew a loaf of bread and a box of cereal in one of the larger boxes, and would have finished the rest of the plate with similarly crappy art, but for the other girl. Maybe she really did need help, and Kenzie didn't want to take that away from her.

[daine5]

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Ashleigh burst into the room nearly gasping for air. Shedun the entire way to the classroom from her dorm, only to have gotten just inside the school and realize she'd forgotten her backpack, so she'd run back to her dorm, grabbed her bag, and bolted back, nearly making it to the classroom when the tardy bell sounded. She leaned against the doorframe for a moment before pushing off of it and reaffixing her ponytail, which had come down slightly in her wild run to and from the school and her dorm room.

Ash moved inside the room, studying the other students. From the looks on some of their faces, she wondered if the girls had been forced into the class, but she chose to push it out of mind and sat down at a table, alone, then looked to the teacher and addressed her. "I'm Ashleigh Saito, ma'am. I don't know if you'll find me on your class list just yet, as I just recently transferred here." She said, giving the woman a small smile. "I don't mind working alone, since it looks like most everyone has paired up already." She offered.

Ash looked through the papers

[Aishe Tigani]

The Gypsy woman rise from the stool she was sitting on behind her desk as yet another girl burst into the room. "It's quite alright. I'm Ms Tigani." She said softly as she walked over to the girl. "I give free passes to new students." She smiled softly and gave a musical chuckle when the girl offered to work by herself. "I won't hear of it, Ashleigh." She looked around the room, her gaze landing on Cara and Rose who were busy at work. "Come with me."

She led the way across the classroom and stopped by the table used by the two girls. "Excuse me, Cara and Rose?" She waited until they both looked up. "This is Ashleigh, I would like her to work with the two of you." She looked back at the young Japanese girl. "I am getting the girls to design what they think a healthy eating pie chart. I'm sure the girl's could use some extra help." She also wondered of Cara's ethnicity would help the new girl fit in as the small girl was half Japanese herself, even though she looked American Indian. "I'll leave you to it." She gave the girls a smile and then returned to her seat at the front of the room. She would give the students another ten minutes before she would get them to talk about what they have been working on.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara frowned slightly as Rose just took leadership of what they were doing, her nose curled slightly as the other girl used the pencils that they were supplied with. "Do you not think of who else may have touched those?" She asked, her voice holding the crispiness of a well-bred lady, as she bent down and took out her own pencil case. "And I agree with the illustrating it ourselves." Her voice returning to it's normal soft whisper.

She didn't like working with other people, as she had always prided herself for doing her own work, and working with another person there was always the chance of being accused for not pulling her own weight.

She watched Rose work, taking out a writing pencil of her own. "Wait." She said as she reached across the table and took the plate. Erasing the the lines that divided one third into three, she redrew them, making sure that one was obviously bigger than the others and the middle much smaller. "I'll do the fruits and vegetables and you can do which ever of the two thirds you wish and then we can both do the last one." She knew it wasn't like her to take control, but she wanted to know that she had at least done some of the work.

Taking out her tin of charcoal pencils, she laid them out on the table - going from lightest to darkest - and picking up the lightest, she set to work drawing each fruit, vegetable and even a glass of juice with the intricate care of an artist. Once the outline were finished, she began to work through the rest of the pencils as she shaded the different pictures and then used the watercolour pencils to add colour to the otherwise stark page. In her neat and precise hand writing, she wrote Fruit and Vegetable on the lip of the plate in blue pen.

Just as she slid the plate back to Rose, she looked up as a shadow fell over their table. She bowed her head toward the teacher. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ashleigh San." She said, her clipped English accent was whisper soft, as she gave the girl a respectful bow of her head. "We would be glad for your assistance." She however wasn't brave enough to offer the last third of the plate for the new girl to work on, that decision would belong to Rose.