Paint Me Blue [✔]

iv. | much |

doodling in the book, she occasionally looks up and looks towards his way in the lunchroom. when one of his friends catches her, she averts her eyes to the window behind the group. she packs up early and leaves ten minutes before lunch ends—still not eating anything.

she walks to her locker and then sits at the table where students normally take retests for a class. she doodles a little zipper opening and funky ghosts where it is open, but the book is pulled back and she looks up to see him sitting and now paging through the book.

he stops at a page and she notices his eyes going back and forth telling her he is reading whatever is on the page.

"hey, that's my book." she quietly says and reaches out for it. she gets close to snatching it back, but he turns and she groans. "please, stop reading those. no one but me is supposed to see them."

he shrugs and says, "too bad I've read most of the others. I'm just finishing them."

she gets up and walks over to him, she stands in front of him and sticks her hand out. he gives her a high five and pulls her to sit next to him.

he compliments her, "I like your hair, it's cute."

all she did was wash it then let it dry on its on; nothing special, just little curls at the ends.

he flips the page and gets to the newest poem. she closes it and takes the book in her arms. her naturally wide eyes gaze at him and he says, "why don't you tell anyone?"

she shrugs and tries to stand up, but he keeps a hold on her waist.

"you hungry?" he changes the subject.

she shakes her head and stands up —his hands slip from her waist.

"but you didn't eat anything at lunch." she shrugs again and tells him, "I don't normally eat lunch here, the food is nasty looking." he nods understanding that it looks gross, but it tastes delicious.

she walks away when the bell goes off and to her gym class.

he jogs up to her when the school day was done and asks, "since you didn't eat lunch, do you want to grab a bite now?"

she opens her locker and it goes in front of his face, not letting him see her face.

"I promised my mom I'd be home for her big family dinner."

he compromises, "we can just get shakes, or even just fries. I found this place with the best of those." he smiles towards her when she shuts her locker door.

she sighs and asks, "you're not giving up, are you?"

he shakes his head with a tiny laugh and she gives in. "okay, but only a small fry for me."

he nods and walks them to a tiny burger joint only ten minutes from their school.

she orders a small fry and he orders a large Reese's peanut butter cup milkshake and a small fry.

after cleaning her mouth, she puts her silverware on her plate.

"you done Jocelyne? you only had like half of my serving." her mom asks and Jocelyne nods. she always eaten like a bird—tiny meals and barely ever had more than a full serving.

"you need meat on your bones darling." her aunt said with a condescending tone.

Jocelyne avoids all eyes and excuses herself. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'm full right now, but if I get hungry later I'll eat some."

she ran to the bathroom feeling her stomach twist and turn after eating potatoes, Mac and cheese, and drinking a glass of milk.

she closes her eyes after wiping the back of her hand across her mouth and stands up shakily. she brushes her teeth and pops a mint in her mouth—she always has some on her for this reason. it's also why she doesn't eat at school, she doesn't want to puke and then get sent home where her aunt lived for now.

she goes to her room and works on homework.

so now you know why she didn't eat at school. I was going to make her bulimic, but I decided against it. instead, she is lactose intolerant. I'll just be updating this no matter if no one's reading this.

-Jazz