What's eating you?

Chapter 2

*Tate's POV*

I had gotten a call from Jacky's father, that she had gone to the hospital. My heart instantly hit the floor. I knew Jacky had an eating disorder. I knew the toll it was taken on her body, but she had begged me not to tell anyone; in return she would work at gaining weight. Something inside me felt uneasy. I know I should tell someone, but I am afraid of what she would do to herself once her disorder is out in the open.

"Is she alright?" My voice was shaky.

"She will be. She cut her hand pretty badly." It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.

"Oh, thank god. When you see her, tell her I'll see her tomorrow at school." I ran shaky fingers through my hair. It was just a cut, but I couldn't help but wonder how she had gotten the cut. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her father.

"Alright." I heard the click from the other end, silence soon followed. Jacky was gonna be alright, it's was just a simple cut on her hand, nothing to worry about. Jacky was going to be alright.

*Jacky's POV*

My hand felt like it was on fire when the doctor started to stitch it up.

"That's a pretty nasty cut you got there Miss Jacky." The doctor was old. He had deep-seated wrinkles on his forehead, and his hands where soft yet rough at the same time. A halo of snow white hair sat like a lopsided crown on top of his head.

A slight silence hung in the air. My mother still looked my over once in a while, her eyes full of wonder. I knew what she was thinking. How could a child I raised grow up to be such a fat slob? How could my only child be so ugly?

"Alright Jacky. I'm going to need to talk to your mother about something. You can go give this to the woman at the desk." He ripped a small white piece of paper of the clip board.

"Okay," I mumbled. I stepped gently off the bed and quickly made me exit.

"Mrs. Reed, I have to talk to you about Jacky." Ice ran through my veins.

"She's so skinny. I asked her to step on the scale, so I could check her weight, and it took a few minutes of me coaxing her to step on. When the weigh in came back it was just- Mrs. Reed, Jacky only weighs 96 pounds and dropping. At seventeen and her height, she should at least weigh 105 pounds, and even that's underweight." I drew in a sharp breath. How could he call me skinny? Had he even seen what I looked like? I was gross looking.

"I notice Jacky hasn't been eating well, but she says she never hungry or she went out to eat with Tate." No, this couldn't be happening. They were talking about me. Without thinking I jogged toward the exit. It seemed the hallway was endless, my chest was tight and my lungs ached for air. Suddenly a deep black colored desk came into my view. I forced a small smile and ran up to the desk.

"The Doctor told me to give this to you?" The woman behind the desk looked up form the computer. She had thick rimmed glassed with a tangled mess of dyed red hair. She yanked the paper from me and punched a few words into the computer.

"All set," she snapped. I was taken aback by her tone toward me.

"Thank you," I whispered. Of course she was nasty to me. Who wouldn't be nasty toward such an ugly person?  I walked out of the doctor's office, and the cool wind made my heated cheeks feel amazing.

"Come on Jacky." I felt my mother slip her arm around my waist. I jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. She held me closer to her side, like I was going to slip away.

"Mom you can let go of me. I don't need you to hold my hand," I laughed. She stopped in her tracks and turned toward me. Her blue eyes where bright, and she looked like she was about to cry.

"Let's go out and eat." She gave a feeble smile. My heart sank; eating was the last thing I wanted to do right now. Right now I wanted to crawl into the deepest hole in the world and just sleep the world away.

"Okay," I whispered.