Chapter Three

I

 stared at the clock hypnotised by the ticking it produced. Only 5 more minutes until the nurse brought in my dinner. I had been gaining weight like a slinky, I had to do something. Before I was admitted I was only a couple of kilograms away from my goal. Now that goal was becoming further and further away. “Here you go Em.” The nurse said as she placed my dinner on the table. “Bon appetite,” I smiled back at her and thanked her. As always the meal did not look at all pleasing, “Do you know what it is?” I asked the nurse unsure as to what any of it was. “They said it was fish,” 222 calories, “rice,” 205 calories, “salad,’ 122 calories, “and for desert, 4 scoops of ice cream.” That’s a huge 546 calories. Altogether that’s 1095 calories. I stared at the tray mortified at what they expected me to eat. “I can’t, I can’t eat this!” I stammered, the nurse looked at me and sympathised with me for awhile. “I know sweetie it’s hard but you have to, it’s the only way you’re going to get better.” I stared at her with disbelief, “better? What are you talking about? If I eat this junk all it’s going to do is make me fatter!” The nurse’s mouth gaped open, her mind flipping through the manual that she was forced to read every 6 months. “Don’t you like ice cream? Didn’t your friends have ice cream at their parties? Surely they had chocolate or lollies, what did you do there? Surely you must have eaten?”
My friends had lots of parties and get togethers, most of the time there was swimming involved. There were plenty of times where I had gotten away without eating but one time always replayed in my head whenever my friends are mentioned.
It was a small get together, not for any particular reason, just to have fun I guess. I wasn’t in the mood for socializing with my friends at the moment. They had been getting on my nerves lately questioning why I never ate at school and always threatening to tell the teachers. It was a joke really. One had actually told the teacher and she started lecturing me about how I’m not fat and how not eating properly affects my concentration. That was the slowest 5 minutes of my life.  As usual I didn’t eat anything and had to lie and say I forgot my lunch. The get together was after school and it was all my friends could talk about. Finally the day ended and we all headed home to grab our togs and collect our stuff.
I was the last one to arrive and was first greeted by the dogs. “Hi girls!” I chirped as I rubbed their bellies. I looked around unsure as to where to go. This was my third or fourth time at Mikayla’s and I had a horrible memory. “You must be Emma.” I turned around to meet Mikayla’s mum. I nodded suddenly becoming very shy. “I’m Mikayla’s mum, Miss Lee. The girls are already in the pool out the back. Follow me, I’ll show you.”
Everyone was drenched by the time I had arrived and Sally had bought her camera…like always. All my friends were in their bikinis. “Hey Em!” Sally shouted as Gracie pushed her in. “Where’s your bikini?” Sophie asked who started to regret her decision to wear one due to her modesty issues. “Oh, I feel more comfortable wearing this.” My friends fell silent as they assessed my black one piece covered by my black knee length board shorts and extremely baggy blue shirt. “Right… why is that, to hide all your fat?” Melanie joked, I faked a giggle. She was exactly right, “Careful Em, you better not do a bomb dive in you’ll make such a big splash there will be no water left.” Mikayla joined in, my friends all fell into giggle fits swallowing water which then sent them into coughing fits. I smiled trying to force out some kind of noise that sounded like laughing. “Seriously Em, we’re only kidding you know that right?” I nodded and they seemed pleased with my answer.
Afternoon turned into evening, and the sun began to set. My friends all decided that they had had enough swimming and dried themselves off.  “Here you go girls, some snacks.” Miss Lee said as she placed lollies, ice cream, chocolate and chips on the table by the pool. “Careful mum don’t say that too loud, Em will hear and we’ll have no hope of getting any food.” My friends all laughed, “Oh does Em eat a lot?” Miss Lee asked curiously, Gracie decided to have her say,
“To say Em eats a lot would be an understatement, the trouble is getting her to stop.” Miss Lee chuckled as she made her way back into the house, as my friends were laughing I felt tears beginning to drip from my eyes. I quickly dove underwater to erase them. I covered my ears but it didn’t work I could still hear them laughing, laughing at me, at how pathetic I was. I came up for air, to be greeted by my friends still laughing at me. “Did you know you look even bigger underwater?” Sophie managed to say before laughing even harder. I quickly got out and wrapped the towel around me. I checked my phone, “oh mum wants me to come home and babysit, she has to go out, I’ve got to go bye,” I quickly lied as I packed my things up and slipped my thongs onto my feet. “Already?” Mikayla whined, I nodded my head as I unlocked the gate, “But you’re the life of the party, we were only just getting warmed up!” Gracie shouted after me. “That’s exactly why I’m leaving.” I whispered as I began to run down the street. Tears streaming down my face I finally stopped and leaned against a pole to catch my breath. ‘Why you upset, aren’t what there saying the truth isn’t it? Somebody had to tell you and now that you know you can do something about it can’t you, or would you rather keep being the joke you are?’
“Emma? Are you ok?” The nurse rubbed my arm, I realised that I had begun to cry reliving the memory. “Sweetie I know it’s hard but you have to, doctor’s orders.” Anger begun to form inside of me and I could feel myself about to erupt. “Why, why is it that you insist on me eating when all I want to do is lose weight! Why is it that you never hospitalise people who go on diets like me but for some reason you’ve forced me here and are making me unwillingly eat over 2000 calories a day! I hate this you don’t understand! Why can’t you leave me alone! Why can’t everyone just leave me alone?” I began to sob I ran into the bathroom and locked the doors. I knew they could unlock it but it was the only place where I could be alone. ‘Just think how many calories you are burning, lying there, crying, you almost look as pathetic as that time at Mikayla’s house. Do you honestly think that you will ever be worth something if you gain this weight that the doctors so desire, what tastes better than thin?’

Reviews

[AloysiaVerben]

Another amazing chapter :D
You should really get published one day, I'll be the first to buy your book!