It's My Life - Melody Carlson [47]
This whole biz is worrying me quite a lot these days. But at least I think her mom is on the up-and-up now. And Beanie and I have both been really praying for Jen, and even Aunt Steph is praying for her. Beanie told her all about it, and I guess Steph (who didn't inherit those same “slim genes”) came pretty close to being anorexic herself, just after she got out of high school, but she told Beanie it was a piece of cherry cheesecake that finally cured her and turned her around. Maybe we should try that with Jenny, although I think something chocolate might work better. Last year she used to just love chocolate.
I'd really like to call her right now and see what's up, but at the same time I'm a little worried she might have figured out somehow that I'm the one who ratted on her about this whole thing. Okay, according to Beanie, it wasn't ratting. Beanie keeps saying I did her a huge lifesaving favor and that she'll never guess it was me. But just the same I feel pretty guilty.
FIFTEEN
Saturday, October 6 (chocolate cheesecake falls short)
Today I called and invited Jenny to go to the mall (thinking I'd try to get her to eat something there), but she said she wasn't feeling too well and that's why she'd missed school yesterday. I asked her if it had anything to do with her not eating and she got a little irate. “You know, I'm getting a little fed up with all this talk about anorexia, Caitlin. I've just got a cold is all. Is it okay for a person to catch a silly little cold these days? Or do you want to ship me off to the psycho ward too?”
“The psycho ward?”
“Yeah, some moronic teacher, or maybe it's that stupid counselor Ms. Fieldstone, sent my mom this totally ridiculous letter telling her that I may be anorexic. And now my mom's all freaked and ready to check me into the loony bin.”
“Oh no!”
“Yeah, tell me about it. She put in a call to some stupid shrink friend of hers at West Haven.”
“You're kidding?” Guilt, guilt, guilt,…big-time guilt.
“I wish. My mom's already made me stand on the scales, which sent her straight into hysterics, then she actually tried to force-feed me, and she's now saying I cannot leave this house without eating something. I feel like I'm in prison.” I heard her voice choke. “I just don't know why this is happening to me, Cate.”
Well, I hardly need to say that I'm feeling absolutely horrible by then. Like this whole anorexia thing was totally my fault, and how could I possibly stop whatever I'd set into motion with her mother. “Uh, is there anything I can do to help?” I asked lamely.
She just groaned. “No one can help me, no one but me. And I don't even know what I can do to change.”
“Do you want me to come over?”
She paused then said, “Sure, if you want to. But I'll warn you, my mom is just totally wigging out on me. I can't be responsible for anything she might say or do.”
I tried to laugh. “That's okay. Parents are like that.”
So, remembering what Aunt Steph said, I stopped by Celeste's Bakery and got two fat slices of their “to die for” chocolate cheesecake and then headed over to Jenny's.
She acted all excited about the cheesecake (I'm sure to impress her mom) and made a big production of putting them on plates and getting forks and napkins, and then we sat down at the breakfast bar to eat them. And I have to give Jenny credit, she did put a couple of bites into her mouth. But then she started to gag. Literally gag! And she had to run to the bathroom, and I felt so bad for her I couldn't even eat the rest of my cheesecake. And believe me, it really was the ultimate in chocolate cheesecake!
Well, the whole time this was going on, her mom kept flitting around the kitchen, all nervouslike, and saying stupid little things (that I don't think were making Jenny feel one