Saving Kate

29. Tears

"KATE!" A very familiar voice screams from behind me.

My whole body is jittery with excitement and I smile whirling around to see my best friend.

"Hi!" I squeal and she runs over.

Leanne squeezes me in a tight hug, "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, it's so different without you." I say.

She lets me go and looks at me, "You look exactly like the last time I saw you."

"And that's a good thing?" I ask. Just because I'm not starving myself all the time anymore doesn't mean I'm not still really self conscious.

"Kate, that's a really good thing. You look beautiful," she says.

"Thank you," I blush. Even though she's my best friend, it's still hard to talk or think about my weight.

Leanne's eyes widen, "Hey Whitney," she says as if it's a surprise she's here, and it kinda is.

"Hi, how's it feel to be back?" Whitney says as if they're friends.

"Really good! I've missed it around here," she replies as the tree of us walk into the store.

The woman greets us, the same woman who helped us with our Lacrosse Opening dresses. She remembers us.

•

Leanne brings her backpack into my room and sets it on the floor before plopping down on my bed next to me.

"So do you think Whitney's going to say something about me being back?" Leanne says looking at the ceiling.

"I hope not, I'm really looking forward to seeing the look on Dylan's face when you surprise him," I reply.

"Me too, God I miss him so much. We talked about it for a long time though, about how it'd be different with me gone. I suppose it's going to happen to all of us though. Have you talked to Max yet?"

"No, he's still waiting to get a response from Duke. I'm 99% sure he's going to get in but I can't imagine why they haven't sent him anything yet. He's really stressing about it but he won't say anything so I don't want to push it," I say, twisting the ends of my hair in between my fingers.

"I get it, so are you going to tell Max I'm here?" She asks.

"I don't know, I don't want to lie to him. When I was in the hospital last year and I was really really doing badly, we told each other we'd be honest as much as we can. So unless it comes up in conversation, you should be good but I definitely trust Max not to tell Dylan. Also, I don't want Dylan to think we've all ganged up on him," I explain.

"I don't either, that's why I didn't even want Whitney to know. I mean I get its just some silly surprise, but I really want this to be special," Leanne says.

"I get it," I say.

She's quiet for a long time, "Kate? Even though we text and FaceTime all the time and I always ask this, but how are you?"

I'm a little surprised she said that. I'm not offended or even embarrassed but that's not what I thought she would say.

"I'm a lot better. I really am. I eat three meals a day and I track everything I eat and all the exercise I do from rehab. I still have to go to support group every week and I go to exercise two to three times a week. I haven't puked in months and I haven't skipped a meal deliberately," I say.

"Kate that's amazing. I'm going to sound like a mom for a second but I'm proud of you."

•