Living The Life Of A Teen

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

I fell to my knees, and cried. I just cried. Oh, it hurt so much. It hurt having my best friend think I had let her down. It hurt having to hear my her say all those words, those words of anger, those words that gave her the idea that no-one was on her side, that it was her against the world. It hurt having to stand there and say nothing, just take it and bear it. And it hurt having to see her run off like that, when any minute now, she could faint.

A while after just lying there, crying, I heard someone come into the room.

"Gemma? Are you okay? What....?" I think at this point the realisation came to the person that the hospital bed next to me was empty. "Gemma! Where on earth is Kate?"

I said nothing, and just continued crying. Half of me wanted to lie there and pretend I was dead, or asleep. The other half - the more sensible half - steadily got up, and stared at my intruder.

"Oh Mrs. H! She was really angry, and felt like we were all ganging up on her, and then she grabbed her clothes and ran off. And this was kind of after I told her that she was anorexic and should eat a bit more."

I didn't notice Dr Stevens come into the room. "And what did she say after this? Did she show any signs of guilt?"

"No, not really doctor. She just said that she had been eating, just not a lot. And she said she didn't want to become obese."

"And when did she leave?"

"About five minutes ago."

"Ok. I'm going to call security. She can't have gone too far in five minutes. And you," he pointed at me, "call her mobile phone." I nodded and felt around my coat pocket. I pulled out my HTC Desire. 2 missed calls, it said. Strange. I looked at the number. It was private. Yeah, nice try pervert. Did that person really think I was going to pick up?

Since Katy was on my speed dial, I hit the number 1 on my phone, and it immediately rang. And kept ringing, until I heard the long beep and I heard:

'Hey there. You've obviously reached me at the wrong time. Well, tough luck and erm, call me later. Bye!'

Why wasn't she answering? Well, I know why. I just didn't want to think about it.

"She's not picking up Mrs. H."

Mrs. H nodded and walked over to talk to Dr Stevens.

I thought about what Katy had said. Was it so wrong of me to try to get my anorexic friend to eat? Yeah, sure, she wanted to become a model, but I'm sure this wasn't healthy. And why should she risk her health for a job that is not even worth it. The longest she could work would be about 5, maybe 6 years. And then she'd have no qualifications in anything else. And her whole life would be wasted, or spent working in Tesco.

She couldn't even go on to designing, like Victoria Beckham; her textiles wasn't very good. She was very good at fashion and thinking of the right clothes to wear, but as I always tell her, no-one is going to want to employ someone who got a C in textiles into their fashion company. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put her down or anything, I was actually trying to encourage her to do good. And she is quite smart: her maths was an A, which is good for someone who is constantly complaining about geometry and algebra; her english was a B, though she is always saying it's a waste of time, even though I know she loves it, because she always has fun and her work is brilliant to read; and last but definately not least, her science is brilliant - she got an A*. She pretends she doesn't like this aswell, but deep down I know it's her favourite subject. She didn't even tell her dad that she got an A*. My parents would be so chuffed if I did that well.

I specifically remember about a year or so ago when we got our results, she was hiding her science result. No matter how much I asked her she didn't tell me. Then I got paranoid, and thought she had failed it, so in the middle of the night - I was staying over that day - I crept into her room and went to the desk. It was locked, and I knew she kept the key underneath the lamp. When I had gotten hold of the paper, I had gasped.

Right then, she had woken up.

"Gem? What are you doing? Shit! Give that to me right now!" She had asked as she had gotten up and snatched the paper out of my hands.

"Why didn't you tell me Katy? Why were you ashamed?" I was so confused.

"I...I don't know okay! Look, let's just forget this and go to sleep." She had said as she had folded the paper and put it in the pocket of the PJ bottoms. I had figuired she would explain herself the next day. She hadn't.

I closed my eyes. I could tell that this was going to be a very hard day.