Later in the day

Knock knock

"One moment!"

Odd. Rachael's parents usually never interrupted her while she was studying. Especially her dad.
She hastily got up from her desk and went over to the door to greet her father. She preferred meeting him at the door rather than just letting him in, something about clearly distinguishing her spaces. Her room was NOT a social place, it was a space for sleep and work. Ideally, she would've had separate rooms for both of those things, but that'd have to wait until she got her own place with enough space to indulge her need for a study.
She leaned against the doorframe as her father explained why he'd broken the unspoken rule of not bothering her while she was working.

"Hey honey. I couldn't help but notice that you haven't had dinner today. I fully understand it if you're trying to cut down on carbs or whatever it is you kids call dieting nowadays. But you shouldn't overdo it, yea? Nutrition is very important for a developing brain, especially when you're pushing it as hard as you are!"

"Yea dad, I know"

Rachael rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well how important nutrition was for her brain's ability to function and develop. As a matter of fact, one of her classes were "health and nutrition". Not because it was relevant to her sociology degree, but because it was essential to eat properly to get the max out of all her other courses. Sure, there might've been more interesting classes for her to attend, but due to scheduling issues and conflicting timeframes this had been her best option. She wasn't normally a health nut or anything, in fact, she hadn't been all that physically active since high school when PE was still a thing.

"..It's not like I'm trying to "cut down on carbs", I just really need to work now. Besides, I've got a bowl of p-"

"-It's fine, really! I heard that Mrs Thompson's girl is doing the same thing. I guess it's really common at your age, to keep off the "freshman fifteen" as the say. Don't worry about it sweety, I think it's great that you're watching your weight. I know how important it is for girls your age to maintain their appearances and whatnot."

Her father, Ron, wasn't really good at the whole parenting thing. As typical as men get, he failed to understand the complexity and eternal mystery that was the female mind. Especially the teenage female mind. He believes his daughter's body to be perfect just the way it is. But he also thinks that it's his job as a parent to support her decisions and lifestyle choices, even if they may seem odd. Well, as long as he voiced his concern whilst still showing that he supported her desire to remain thin, he thought he'd be safe as far as parenting went.

"..Right.. Thanks dad.."

A bit confused and offended by how vain her father had assumed her to be, Rachael closed the door and turned back to the desk where she found the bowl of peanuts she'd been snacking from just moments before her dad came knocking.

I guess it could do me some good to count my calories, if only a little..

Pushing aside the bowl, Rachael got back to her studies, working extra hard to catch up with all the material she'd missed out on from today's lectures. Christiansen's lectures weren't the only ones that required her to see to get the most out of. Pretty much all the classes she had this semester involved some sort of presentation with vital images and statistics that were too complicated to list by mouth. Thankfully, her other professors were more ..proficient at publicizing their powerpoints ahead of the lecture. Still, Rachael opted to sit a few rows further up front than she normally did in hopes that she'd be able to see more of what was going on. She normally preferred to sit in the middle rows, away from the noisy students in the back, but also not in close proximity of the overly invested ones. A lot of the time, it was the students who cared the most that had to be told to quiet down by the professors. Not only because they were closer to the one giving the lecture, but because they had a tendency to get quite loud when discussing the new material amongst themselves as it was being taught. Perhaps Rachael was a tad cocky, but she absolutely believed that there wasn't a single person in class worth discussing the syllabus with, though she sometimes indulged Rebecca for the sake of their friendship.

Another couple of hours into her reading, Rachael's stomach began to growl. She'd worked up quite the appetite over the course of her cram session. Yet, she refused to fetch herself something to eat. All the knowledge about the value of nutritional balance and energy, ignored. Looking down at her flat stomach, she let her right hand slide across it's smooth surface. Girls would kill for her metabolism. Despite keeping exercise to a bare minimum, Rachael still had a toned body. Mostly thanks to her perfect dieting and meal plans, in which she'd gotten her whole family to follow in some capacity.

Carbs in, carbs out..

She knew it wasn't sustainable to abstain from food just because she wanted to keep her weight down. Deep down she also knew that her weight and body was perfectly fine as is. Yet, she felt that she should be watching her intake. After all, it was plenty common for girls her age to gain weight during their freshman year. Some even went on to keep that weight permanently. She didn't want to picture herself five years down the line, finished with her master's degree, bloated and out of shape. If she couldn't even take care of herself, how could she expect to take care of and help other people? Perhaps she should look for alternative methods to maintain a healthy body. As she reminded herself, carbs in, carbs out. As long as her intake matched her consumption she should be home free..