I Won't Be Invisible Forever.

Chapter Two.

  I sat in an empty hallway in my school with my ear buds in my ears. It was lunch time. I know Mr. Kennedy told me to have lunch, but I wasn't going to tell him that I never eat. I stopped eating last night, so my body wasn't quite used to this yet. It would eventually. I saw Mr. Kennedy walking down the hall so I pulled my hood up and buried my face in my knees, hoping he wouldn't recognize me. I was too late.

"Desiree, how are you? How was your lunch?" he asked sounding suspicious. I looked up at him and said, "Oh, it was the best."

"What did you have?" he asked, challenging me. I didn't answer. I was horrible at thinking on my feet. Well technically, it was on my butt, because I was sitting. Nobody was around at the time, which I was grateful for again. Why were we always alone when we talked about me and my problems? It was just so odd.

"You can't do this to yourself," Mr. Kennedy said. I finally looked him in the eye and I said, "I can and I will. Nobody can stop me. Can't you just let me try to be beautiful for once? Maybe then I'll get noticed. Maybe then people will care."

"Hey, listen to me. You're beautiful right now. You don't need to starve yourself in order to achieve that. I'm noticing you and caring about you right now. Who ever told you that you needed to do this?"

"Everyone..."

"They don't know what they're talking about. You are a beautiful girl."

"Thank you, but stop lying to me, Mr. Kennedy. Everyone knows that's not true," I said, not looking him in the eye.

"Does that make me a nobody then? Because you said everyone."

I laughed and I smiled at him. Then I did something I probably would have never done, but my heart told me it was the right thing to do. I hugged him. What really surprised me is that he hugged me back. We sat there hugging for what seemed like an eternity, but I didn't mind for some reason. When I finally pulled away from him, I was unable to make eye contact with him. I could feel him looking at me, though.

"Come with me," he said. We got up and walked to his office which was just around the corner. He had me sit down on a chair and he sat down across from me. He looked at me for a short while without saying anything.

"Who's doing this to you?"

"Doing what?"

"Making you feel this way. Making you believe that you aren't beautiful. Basically, who's been lying to you?"

"Well, you've been lying to me, telling me I'm beautiful," I said, looking at the floor. He took my cold hands in his while I continued to stare at the floor.

"Look at me, Desiree," he said. I reluctantly looked up at him.

"You promised me you wouldn't hurt yourself anymore."

"But I'm not hurting myself," I protested.

"Yes, you are! By starving yourself, you're hurting your body. You're not giving it what it needs. Here," he said, holding out an apple slice that he had just sliced up, "Open your mouth."

I looked at him, keeping my mouth sealed shut. I didn't want to eat.

"I'm not hu-"

Mr. Kennedy cut me off by shoving the slice in my mouth while I was talking. He used his hands to move my chin up and down and forced me to eat it. He smiled at me, looking proud of himself. He was so cute.

"I refuse to stand by and let you ruin yourself," he said.

"Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Thank you for doing this for me. I appreciate it."