Too Skinny

"What have you had to eat today?" my mom asked me.

"Mom I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"But you haven't eaten a thing..."

"Mom! Really I am totally fine." I knew I wasn't. But none the less I went to school with an empty stomach. In fact I was pretty proud of myself. I lost six pounds in only two days.

When I got to school however, I began to feel light headed while walking to homeroom. I could tell by the facial expressions on my peers that they were concerned. I felt as though every conversation that was being held was not about a movie they saw this weekend or who broke up with who, but rather about how skinny I was. People would whisper, glance over to me and then continue to whisper. Even when I approached my best friends they looked at me and then gave each other a look as if to say 'What happened to her?'

It didn't stop there. In first period I got called down to the guidance counselor. She asked me the same old cookie cutter questions. 'How are things at home?, Did you have breakfast this morning?, Are you being bullied?' and other questions like that. Then, in period three the nurse called me down to her office. The first thing she did was weigh me.

"101 pounds." she said with a disapproving look on her face. "Did you know that the average 14 year old girl weighs about 120 pounds?"

"Well I guess I'm not average!" I grabbed my backpack and slammed the door as I left. Tears began to flow out of my eyes like water out of a faucet. I ran into the bathroom and took a long look in the mirror. I felt like I was going to puke. Then I got a ringing in my ears and blacked out. I panicked and fell to the ground. I couldn't catch my breath from all the crying.

Next thing I know I am in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital. One of the doctors told me that my blood sugar was dangerously low and that was the reason for me blacking out. My mom was at the hospital to greet me with tears in her eyes. She sat beside me and rubbed my head as doctors hooked me up to IV's and oxygen tubes.

A few hours passed before my mom sat down to talk about what had happened. She told me that I was not healthy and i would have to be in the hospital for the next few days. They kept me in the hospital until I reached a healthy weight.

When I went back to school, everyone was happy to see me. They no longer whispered about me or gave me mean looks. I had to go back to the hospital every so often to get weighed in. They tapered off after a while. From then on I never missed a meal or chance to eat in fear that I would black out again.