Solangelo

Chapter 4

Nico's pov again (tw: puking, Ed talk)

I felt sick by the time Will came back, stomach flipping anxiously. He entered with two plates stacked with food.

"I don't have to eat both of those, do I?" I asked incredulously.

"No, one of these are for me silly!" Will laughed, "I didn't think you would like to be alone," Will said happily as he sat in the plastic chair beside me.

He passed me the heavy plate and I put it on my lap. I played with the food on my plate, not wanting to put any in my mouth. Will looked at me weirdly.

"Nico, dude, you can eat! You need the protein, doctors orders," Will nodded.
I swallowed and hesitantly ate a few bites.
It was fine. Everything was fine, as I ate with him, until it wasn't. My anxiety spiked and my stomach twisted and I felt it come back up again. I jumped off the bed, flipping my plate and ran to the bathroom that was conveniently in the room.
Once I got to the toilet I threw up the few bites that I had just ate. Will rushed over and started to rub my back. After I had finished throwing up, I stayed sitting on the bathroom floor criss-cross, hair hanging over my eyes.

"What was that, are you sick?" Will asked worriedly.

"No, I-I," I sighed, "I think I have an eating disorder. I don't know what, but I can't eat without feeling sick. Not after I was captured by the giants," I said quietly, looking down, not wanting to see Wills face. I felt ashamed. What sort of hero can't eat?
I slowly looked up to see a sad looking Will.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Will said softly

"No one knows. I just kept it to myself and hope for it to get better on its own. Everybody always points out how thin I am, as if I don't already know, but I can't keep it down. The pomegranate seeds kinda messed with my body. It's- it's to much," I whispered.

"I know how you feel," Will said looking at me. I raised an eyebrow back at him, confused.

Will sighed "I had an eating disorder too," at that I was even more confused and I think he could tell because he kept talking.
"When I was still going to school in Brooklyn I was bullied," he said, which made sense, all demigods knew a little bit about bullying,
"It was mostly the guys in my grade, always saying stuff to me, stuff about the adhd and my weight and sexuality. I started to believe I had to go on a diet and lose weight for people to like me. I barely ate most of my meals and once I got too thin, my mum started to notice it wasn't natural. It took me a long time to start eating properly again."

"How did you, um, break the habit?" I asked quietly. 

"I trained myself, I ate a bit more each day. But about a month after I started fixing the problem, I was taken here. After I met all of my siblings I felt like I wasn't alone, and I continued to train myself and eventually I got better! I know it's different circumstances, and that this is an effect of the starvation you had to go through, but I get it." I listened the whole time he talked.
"And that's what we're going to do." He said, enthusiastic again.

"Huh?" I asked.

"We're going to train your body to eat again!"

Hey guys, how do you like the book so far? I'll try to update this much usually, but it's march break so I have more time than usual. Comment how I'm doing!
 
Thea