"Really. You're done?" Grace spits at Callie.
"Yes, I am. I need to eat. Swimming coaches are getting suspicious and making me write down everything I eat. I passed out at practice last night."
"Well, you are weak. I knew that you would quit."
"This is so stupid, you're such an asshole Grace. You only want to do this to prove to everyone that you are better than everyone else because all you do is put all of us down. Shut up. You just want boys to notice you."
"Do NOT tell me what I want. I just want to win. I know I'm better than all of you."
"You think what??" Sadie says.
"Listen guys, please just stop it-" I try to interrupt the fighting but they start screaming at eachother in the cafeteria. People were staring.
"You're such a bitch!!" Sadie yells at Grace and I cringe a little, you see Grace break more than usual. Sadie being her basically twin since fifth grade she twitches, then reaches towards her uneaten food and throws it at Sadies face. "Eat you little slut!!" She screams. "Eat it!" I slam my tray onto the table and then storm away. This was all too much, the games, the drama, how grace has gotten so much worse and how obsessed she is with winning.
I run to my locker and grab my keys and
"Hello? Cora, wake up can you hear me??"
The lighting is so bright I cannot tell who is talking to me. As my eyes adjust I see my mother looking down to me, with my dad slumped into a chair crying, I've never seen my dad cry.
"What happened? Where am I??"
"You're in the hospital. You blacked out. They said it was lack of nutrients. They thought you were going to be in a coma..You've been out for an hour." Mom says choking back tears.
"Theres a boy here in the waiting room, his names Connor, he was the one who called us. He found you."
I couldn't believe what I heard. He would hate me. Hes going to hate me.
The doctor comes in and smiles at me "Oh, hello Cora. You scared us all. We thought you were really out for awhile." He smiles an honest smile and looks at my parents. "Its a good thing shes up now. We have some questions for you dear."
It was that time. They were going to ask if I was anorexic or bulemic. Or something. They were going to take away my priviledges, put me in a group where I had to talk about my feelings.
"What were you doing before you blacked out?"
"I was running to my locker to get my keys."
"What did you eat the day before."
"I ate, rice, oatmeal, and a frosty."
"What did you do yesterday?"
"I went on a date and I went to school."
"Well, your body was extremely lacking everything. You seriously were damaging your body somehow. Its mandatory keep you for twenty four hours, to get your nutrient levels back to normal and make sure your body keeps everything down and you are just over all fine. We can let visitors in till 11, you have the TV remotes here, if you need anything that red button there," He points to a remote next to my body, "Will call a nurse and someone will come and assist you."
He smiles then leaves me and my parents alone in the room, "Can you go get Connor for me? Please. I really want to thank him and talk to him." Dad looks at me. "Have you been starving youself Cora." He looks dead, inside. He sighed heavily. "Please be honest. We want to help you."
"I'm fine dad. It was probably the oatmeal, it was expired. I didn't eat breakfast today because I woke up late. I'm sorry, I'm not starving myself. Can you please get Connor and just let me talk to him for awhile." I look at them. "We have to go back home for awhile to get some stuff,"
Mom lets go of my hand and smiles at me. "Honey I love you."
"Mom its an hour drive to the hospital. You can just pick me up in the morning. Connor will stay will be till eleven and then I'll go to bed. I don't want you to waste gas and this isn't going to be cheap." She smiles at me. "I'll see you tomorrow then hun. We love you." They both kiss my cheek.
Connor comes in two minutes later, his eyes all red, he was a mess.
"Oh my gosh Cora, your up.." He starts crying.
"Connor. I'm sorry."
"Grace got suspended." He holds my hand "You're so cold.." He sighs. "You really need to stop the games. I can't do this again. I can't lose you.." He brushes my hair out of my face with his free hand. I start crying.
He was breaking my heart.
He told me what happened, that he found me just laying there with my locker half closed. It was only a few seconds after because he saw my eyes still fluttering.
He cried. I cried with him. The nurse let him stay. He stayed till 5 am. We sat up all that night and just talked and laughed and I slept and he waited and when I woke up He kissed me goodbye, the nurses came in at 7 and brought me food. I watched American Idol reruns as I sat there eating cereal and orange slices. I drank apple juice and waited for my parents to come. I felt sick. I was going to vomit.
I threw up the cereal, orange slices, and apple juice.
The nurses gave me some pills and the doctor came in and told me I might have to stay longer.
My parents came in, the sadness and exhaustion in their eyes showed through their false smiles. "Hi hun, I heard you got sick, how are you feeling." Dad says holding onto my hand. Mom sits on the other side of me and brushes my hair back. "We were worried when they called and said you were sick dear."
"I just ate too fast.. You know I'm like that." I say. Dreading the words, I used to have that problem. But now its cause I can't hold down food. I'm not healthy.
"So are you and Connor dating?" Mom laughs trying to break the awkward ness.
"I guess so haha." I laugh. "He seems pretty nice. Once your out we'll all go to dinner together. Okay?" Mom smiles. Dad leaves to go to work. Mom stays till five when she has to go to work, the doctors keeping me another night. I kept down lunch. I kept down dinner. Connor came at 9 ish, he told me how hard school was, how tired he was. I felt bad because it was my fault he was up so late.
He told me a skate company is trying to get ahold of him for him to travel with them after he graduates next year. That they want him to compete for them. I was excited for him, but I knew I would lose him then. He told me he probably wouldnt take it, stay here get a real stable job.
"You cannot do that, this is a once in a lifetime thing, Conner you have to take it. You could earn way more money working with them then just sitting here probably working in a factory." He looks away from me. "I understand. But I cannot leave you." "Conner I could meet you up in some places." He smiles and squeezes my hand. My eyes go wide, there was a sharp pain in my stomach. "Whats wrong??" He looks at me in fear. I start vomitting, blood. Just all red. He starts yelling "NURSE! SOMEONE! HELP SHES THROWING UP BLOOD!!" He keeps screaming as many nurses rush into my room.
