Outnumbered

Chapter 3

"I wasn't on my phone," Peter says, sniffling, and it's only now that he turns to Tony, reveals his face, red and streaked with tears. "I p-promise I wasn't," he adds.

Tony sighs. "I know you weren't, kiddo."

"I got a Dexcom alert that I was high, only I'd just b-bolused for lunch forty minutes beforehand, so I w-went to g-go bolus again and he asked m-me to hand over my phone, only it was my p-pump, and I was high and had a headache and I just f-froze. And that made him m-mad, so I tried to hand him my actual phone, and he read your text, about me being h-high, and he flipped out, asked me if I was on drugs, and I felt like s-shit and was afraid to say something rude, so I didn't answer him. On the way down to the nurse, I realized that my site failed. I couldn't go to the Dean until I got my blood sugar down. I-I'll do the detentions, it's okay, I just–"

"You're not doing the detentions, Peter," Tony interrupts, shaking his head.

Peter's glassy eyes widen with panic. "Please don't go up there, Tony! It's totally fine. I can just do the–"

"You are not doing those detentions, and I'm going to tell you why! Your 504 plan, a legal document that Mr. Griggs should have read and signed a form stating that he'd read as your teacher–"

"I don't want you to talk to them! It's bad enough that I interrupted class and then cried in the nurse's office! Everyone thinks I do drugs now! I don't want to be treated any differently than anyone else! I just had a really shitty day, and it's fine, I can do the detentions!"

"We need to start talking about all of this."

Peter frowns. "About me getting in trouble at school?"

"About you bottling up everything about your diabetes and not advocating for yourself when you should."

"Well, maybe I don't want everyone to know, and asking for things means I have to do it publicly! You don't understand what it's like at school!"

Tony sighs, bringing up a conversation that he knows Peter hates having but needs to hear again. "Remember how we applied to College Board for your AP and SAT accommodations? How we had to submit a letter to the decathlon competition?"

"I told you the last time we talked about it, I'm just gonna take my pump off and hope for the best. I don't need any accommodations!"

"It's time to start thinking about how we are going to handle this going forward. I'm not just talking about testing and competitions, kiddo. There's driving, college, living on your own, getting a job..."

"'We'?! Since when is there a 'we' in this? You and May don't even know what a pump site change or low feels like, so how can you say 'we' when I'm the one who is doing this on my own every day?"

"You're not doing this completely on your own, Peter. You have so much support, so many people who love and care about you."

"But I am doing this on my own, Tony! You and May have been really great and helpful, but it's not...it's not the same as what I go through!"

"May and I think therapy or a support group might be a good idea."

"Oh, so now that I've admitted this is hard, I have to go to therapy?!" Why did I even open my mouth?

Tony sighs. "No, Peter. That's not it at all. I've gone to therapy a few times now, and it's always given me some clarity, some tools–"

"I've been to a therapist before, Tony! After...after Ben! And I don't need one now because I'm fine! This is just hard right now, but I'm okay!"