The next day was just an ordinary day. People still talked about me and called me that foreigner kid with an eating disorder no matter how many times I say it isn't true, but now i'm starting to think that maybe it's becoming true. It's been a long time since I last ate. Though, I do eat a little bit at home because I don't want my mom worrying about me not eating. She's pretty overprotective.
In gym class, we're outside and have to exercise so no sitting around for me anymore. I'm not even sure if i'm up for it because I've been feeling dizzy all day, but I don't want anybody to worry about me so I have to push through it. We're all supposed to jump over hurdles and run the track and when it was my time, I was so nervous about falling.
"Tachibana Arata, your turn!" The gym coach said.
"Okay!" I shouted then stood in front of the hurdles.
In a minute, I was off and I managed to jump over one hurdle, but as I felt myself falling, my legs gave out and didn't want to work so I ended up hitting the ground and passing out yet again.
When I woke up in the nurse's office for the thousandth time, the nurse, Rei and Remi were standing over me. I stared up at them, wondering what was wrong.
"Arata, tell me, have you been eating?" She asked.
I hesitated then shook my head. "No..."
Just then, Rei jumped in and sat down in the small rolling chair next to my bed. He grabbed my hand and firmly held it in his.
"Why not? Why haven't you been eating? Or at least tried? I know you have an eating disorder, but..."
"I don't!" I shouted, cutting him off.
Rei was surprised that I yelled at him.
I sighed. "I...I don't...Or at least I never did in the beginning, but...I dunno. Ever since I came here and was labeled as the foreigner with an eating disorder, I thought, what's the point? If I just ate anyways, everybody would think that I'm gonna puke it back up later and call me gross..." I explained.
"But that doesn't mean you should stop eating! Forget about what everybody else thinks. Your health is more important." Rei said.
"Your blood sugar levels are becoming dangerously low. Almost to the point where you might need to be taken to the hospital to get examined. It's not good to skip a meal and then go straight to doing physical activity. You can seriously injure yourself on the outside and inside." The nurse explained.
I nodded then looked back at Rei.
"Promise me. Promise me you'll eat something. Today?"
I slowly nodded. "I promise..."
Rei smiled softly. "Good." He said then kissed my forehead.
"I'm sorry for scaring you guys so much..." I mumbled.
"Don't worry about us. Just worry about your health okay?" Remi said.
I nodded.
"Why don't you two head back to gym class? I'll look after Arata and when he's better, i'll send him back to class." The nurse suggested.
Rei hesitated with the suggestion then nodded and stood up.
"Alright. Arata, make sure you eat something please." He said then gently kissed my hand before letting go.
I watched as Rei and Remi left before the nurse handed me some water to drink.
"Drink that and i'll go to the cafeteria to get you some food to eat okay?" She said then left the infirmary.
I sighed as I stared down at my water bottle. I really messed things up. I can't afford to keep harming myself like this. Especially since I have gym right after lunch and I really don't want to keep worrying Rei and Remi. Especially Rei.
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