Hunger

f i v e

"This is ridiculous Katherine!" Christopher shouts through out the window.

"Go away Christopher." I murmur rolling my eyes.

"It's been a week! Get in the car now." He exclaims exasperated. "I don't even know why you suddenly decided that walking to school and home was a great idea." He whispers with disgust. "I mean, you sweat and get tired for no reason, people will think we don't have enough money to buy you a car or-

"Then leave me alone." I say ignoring him and putting my headphones on. "I don't even know why you care so much." I whisper annoyed.

"Because I can't have a poor sister!" He shouts getting out of the car.

"Good thing I'm not your sister." I say angry now.

"Get in the car!"

"No!" I scream exasperated.

"I'm being serious right now." He says crossing his arms. "I don't know where you got this idea of being like a regular person and thinking that walking to school is a great idea, but you need to stop, people talk, don't you care what they are saying about you?" He asks confused, frowning.

I stare at him for a moment, is he really worried about what people say? He's making this big deal because people will assume that we don't have money?

"Did you know that people that walk live longer?" I say with a small smile and going on with my walk.

"Unbelievable." He whispers and gets in his car driving away.

I put some music and continue walking to school peacefully, if I want to walk, I will walk. It's not like he is my father and can tell me what to do with my life. And besides I'm being healthy, I think.

I continue listening to music, unbothered by everything that was going on around me until someone touched my shoulder, making me jump.

"What the fuck." I shout taking a step back. A boy around my age was standing next to me, wearing the same uniform as Christopher. "Why on earth would you do that?!" I say pushing him. "You almost killed me, I could have had a heart attack."

He laughs, and I stare him in disbelief. "It's not funny." I say taking my headphones off.

"I'm Nathaniel." He says with half a smile. "But you can call me Nate." He adds with a smirk.

"You're cocky." I say trying not smile. He is cute.

"And you're mean." He says shrugging.

"I am not." I say not looking at him, still walking.

"So," He says, with both his hands inside his pockets. "Explain to me why you're here all alone walking to school when your brother has a car." He asks frowning.

"How do you even know-

"I saw that whole argument." He says with a small laugh. "It was really funny if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you." I say glad that school was almost there. "And he is not my brother." I murmur with a sigh.

"I know."

I turn to look at him for a minute and frown. "Are you some kind of stalker?" I ask concern for my safety.

He laughs, and I glare at him. "I just moved to the house in front yours."

"You are that new kid everyone has been talking about for the past week, right?" I ask, relieve that we were already at school.

"I guess I am." He replies shrugging.

We entered the building and every girl turned to look at us. I felt uncomfortable and took a step away from him.

"Are you scared of me?" He says sarcastically, and I smiled.

"I will see you later." I reply and quickly walked to my locker.

The last thing I wanted right now was to hear girls talking nonsense about me. After what I heard at the bathroom, the last thing I want is to give people reasons to talk about me and even notice me.

The morning went by slowly, and I could feel my stomach growling through most of the classes. I really hope no one heard it. Lunchtime came, and I went to my usual table with Jeremy and Eva, ready to eat something.

I didn't want to, but my stomach was killing me. I went to the buffet and waited in line in front of two girls.

"I really need to lose some weight." Says one sadly, holding a salad on her hand.

I look at her from the corner of my eyes and see a slim girl, with ginger hair.

"You look okay girl." Says her friend, exactly what I was thinking. "At least you don't look like her." She whispers looking at me.

I stand there embarrassed and payed for my food, wanting to leave the cafeteria. When I took a seat, both were staring at me.

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asks concerned.

"What?" I say taking my eyes off the fruit salad laying in front of me.

"You look sad." Eva says confuse.

"I have to finish a paper." I say standing up. "I will see you later." I murmur leaving.

I was glad that the last two periods went by fast. I just feel like sleeping and drowning in my thoughts. I haven't weighed myself since last time, and I think today is the day I face reality. I read that is better to weight yourself weekly, so you can see big changes.

I go out the door ready to walk home when Chris takes a step-in front of me.

"You're coming with me." He says grabbing my hand and pulling me to his car.

"Are we really going to go through this again." I whisper, feeling lightheaded.

"Yes." He says, while we continued walking to his car.

"Don't go so fast." I whisper feeling dizzy. "Slow down Chris." I say a little bit louder, making him stop.

He turns around and stares at me. "You look really pale Katherine." He says worried. "You're not walking home." He says, and I nod, not feeling that well.

"Okay." I say opening the car door and taking a sit next to him.

"See," He says turning the engine on and going out of the school parking lot. "one week of walking and you're already getting sick."

"That has nothing to do with this." I say rolling my eyes. "That doesn't even make sense." I whisper surprised by his lack of neurons.

"Whatever." He says seriously. "You're not walking to school anymore."

I stay silence, I don't need walking. All I need is to start exercising more, and he can't stop me from doing that.