“Class, settle down. Drake's going to present his extra credit project now so be quiet and pay attention.” Mrs. Brown told the class, then smiled warmly at Drake and I. “You can begin whenever you're ready.” She said, then shuffled to her desk in the back.
I took the flapped poster board and propped it open in the front of the room. As soon as I stepped away, there were several gasps. On the right side had anorexia facts, and the left had BMI's of anorexics who recovered and anorexics who died, as well as a BMI chart in between. But right in the middle of it all, was a blown up picture of me at the beach, 2 days before I was admitted into the hospital. Under the picture, was my weight and BMI at that time, in large, bold letters.
“As you can tell, I did my project on anorexia. Before I start anything, I want to play an audio file for you.” Drake immediately started the audio of our day at tutoring so long ago, when he had asked me questions about my anorexia. Each time I said a weight in the audio, Drake would pull up a picture of someone of that weight and add it with the others. All the weights: 100, 109, 124, 76, 97, and then my current weight, 112.
As the audio went on and we got to the part of me talking about my hospital experience, I heard gasps and several of the girls gave me sympathetic looks. Once it was over, Drake left the pictures on the board, and walked to the front to talk.
“So, if you haven't found out already, that was Tailee talking.” Drake pointed over at me, and a few girls from the back who hadn't realized it was me talking, gasped.
“This was only a little over a year ago. Tailee developed anorexia when she was 11, and never got treatment until she was 14 years old. As you can see by the pictures, Tailee was a healthy 109 pounds when she started worrying about her weight. Without anyone even realizing, she plummeted to 76 pounds, and stayed that way for 2 years. Her doctors predicted that if she never got treatment when she did, her body would have shut down in almost a week, and this beautiful young lady might not even be standing in this room with us.” Drake motioned to me when he said this last sentence, and I blushed.
“Like Tailee said in the audio, unlike most hospitals, her's didn't wait for a 30 pound increase or a BMI of 18.5 before releasing her. When she left the hospital, with a BMI of 17.7, everything she ate had to be measured out and supervised.
“What was not mentioned in the audio, though, was that Tailee went off track. Having been anorexic for so long, she was not used to eating so often, and so much. She fell off track and stayed at friends houses way too long, claiming she had already eaten to her parents when she got home, even though she hadn't. She feel to the low 80's, and went back to the hospital. This time, they kept her for only 4 months, with her welcoming the recovery.”
Drake babbled on for almost half the class period, then finally ran slowly to a stop.
“With her background of anorexia, and the society we live in today, she still does mess up. Sometimes she'll take trips back to her doctor, him and her mother trying to scare her after she's skipped a meal. Sometimes someone at school will go just a little too far. What people don't know is that anorexic's are so fragile, not only physically, but also emotionally. Though most think that being called thin is a good thing, this could just trigger anorexic's into eating even less. So, I hope that if any of you think that you might need to diet, or lose weight, just remember: you're beautiful, and you don't need to change anything about you. Any questions?” Drake concluded.
I noticed that the group of girls in the back who had gasped earlier, were wiping small tears from their eyes. I felt warm inside, knowing that my sad story could touch people so much. All of Drake's facts were so true, not just for me, but the majority of anorexic's.
As Drake and I answered questions, a few people came up to look at the poster and see the pictures of weights that Drake had left up earlier.
After a few more questions, as people started leaving and Drake was cleaning up, a girl who was hiding her face with her hair, came up to me.
“Can I speak to you? Privately?” She asked.
“Sure.” I smiled warmly at her, walking to an empty area in the room.
“Well,” she started, “my cousin was anorexic. But during recovery, she died. And afterward, whenever we would talk about her, everyone would say that she was so pretty. And no one's ever called me pretty. So suddenly I feel like I need to lose weight like her so that I can be pretty too. I know, it sounds like I'm just begging for attention, but I'm not.”
“I know you're not. I don't blame you, I feel the same way. I would watch fashion shows and afterward I would feel so bad about the food I had eaten that day. But it's okay, because you're beautiful. You don't need to lose weight, I promise. Maybe don't hide behind your hair.” I reached up and pushed her bangs gently out of her face, to reveal bright green eyes staring back at me. “See? Much better. Now everyone can see your beautiful face.” I smiled at her, and she smiled back, revealing pearly white teeth. “My gosh, you're just full of surprises. First the beautiful green eyes, now perfect teeth? Totes jelly.” We both laughed, as she walked back to her desk and I walked back to Drake.
“Need help?” I asked, as he folded up the poster.
“No, I've just about got it.” Drake looked up and looked me right in the eyes, giving me his famous smile. “You were amazing, by the way.”
