*2 years before hand*

"Yo, Gaskarth!" shouted Ronnie, the school's top of the line bully. I was traversing over to Art Appreciation when he stopped me with his shout. I turned around with widened eyes and scarce drowning my veins. Ronnie stepped up to me with his duo of friends, Ryan and Max. I looked up at Ronnie, biting my lip. I could still taste the cream of my Koffee Kake on the surface of my chapped lips. "Getting back from lunch, we see?"

"Um, yeah. I have to go -- erm -- Art Appreciation now, so can you please -- "

"Please what, Gaskarth!?" Max snapped. I jumped at the harshness in his voice. Ronnie looked over at Max and pushed him back a little.

"Chill, bro, chill." Ronnie then turned his attention towards me. "Anyways, Gaskarth, I have some things left over from my lunch I thought you'd enjoy." Ronnie pulled a tasty cake and a Twinkie from his pocket. I looked at them with pinched brows. Then, I felt my stomach grumble from its desire of the sugary sweets. I couldn't though; I couldn't weaken in front of them.

"I'm not hungry anymore, fellas. I-I need to --"

"You sure, tubby?" Ronnie spat. "You sure you don't want this Twinkie?" Ronnie took my body and shoved it into a locker. The thud of my back to the locker stopped the voices of the people in the hall and even their motion. Now, all eyes were on my pathetic ass. I was trembling now, and if I wasn't so sure that I spilled some of my bottled water on my jeans, I would have believed that I pissed myself from my increased fear.

"I-I'm sure, Ronnie!" I sputtered out. My fear amused him, for he smirked and inched his sticky face closer to mine. Along with his face was the head of the, now, unwrapped cream-filled sponge cake. The tip of the overly-sweet goodness touched my lips with a peppery kiss.

"You sure, Gaskarth? Aren't these your favorite fucking snacks? These fat boy snacks are you favorite, aren't they?" Now, Ronnie was taking the cake and smashing it into my lips. The soggy sponge cake was now crumbling all over my lips and cheeks, and the cream was on the verge of oozing out. I was wincing at the actions; was this really necessary. I hadn't done anything to Ronnie to have him come at me witch such abuse. But, I guess this is how bullies got "paid" -- interrogating the innocent.

Behind Ronnie was Max and Ryan who was hollering at the entertainment before them, and behind them were halted students who watched in mixed emotions of horror, amusement, and disgust. "Stop it, Ronnie!" I shouted. "Get off of me, and let me go to class! I don't want it!" Why wasn't anyone getting a fucking administrator?! I needed fucking help, and everyone just stood there in watch for the exception of the bullies who were getting off by this circus act. Ronnie just laughed off my pleads while proceeding to mush the cake deeper into my pores. Now, the cream was leaking from the crumbling pastry like a water fall. My shirt was covered in yellow cake crumbs and the gunky leftovers of the cream.

"You're such a fucking fat ass, Gaskarth! You roll around school, and you don't even care. Get on treadmill, tubby!" Before I could react, the Twinkie was taken back and smashed directly into my face, for the final time, with excessive amounts of force. Then, the tasty cake was slammed onto my head, coating my honey-comb-hair in the chocolate goodness of the once in tact pastry. Ronnie took himself a few steps back to admire his work; in his eyes, you could see the sick sense of satisfaction. Ronnie knelt down one more time to look me in the eyes. My tears were soaking into the cake which made the mess on my face a even worse, moistened mess. "You listen, and you listen to me good. Why don't you do this school a big favor and kill your fat fucking self? You don't deserve to live, and if you think you did, I'm glad to be the one right now to break it to you that you don't."

Those were his final words before Ronnie, Max, and Ryan walked off. I was still huddled on the floor, crying my eyes out. The people around me slowly started into their flow again, and not one came to my aid. I just aided myself; I held my own trembling body as I repeated his words in my head like a broken record.

You don't deserve to live.

Kill your fat fucking self.

You're such a fat ass, Gaskarth.

You're... such ... a fat ass.

---

*a week later* (PRESENT TIME)

"And, that's what happened." I sighed as I finished the story to Mr. Way, "That's why I stopped eating." After my break down last week at my first meeting with Mr. Way, Nurse Tay sat me down and had a good long talk to me. She even had my mom on the phone to talk and comfort me. I cried ... a lot, and we worked a lot of things out. I felt a sense of comfort, and that sense lasted for a good full week for me to be able to tell Mr. Way as to how my eating disorder rose up into my life. Mr. Way, once I concluded, wrote something down in his notebook before looking up at me with a wide smile.

"That was brave of you to tell me that, Alex, and I am really glad you did. We can finally get to the core of the issue over the next few weeks you're here." I grinned at his words. "Now, before I conclude today's session, is there anything you'd like to say to add on?" I looked down at my hands, and instantly, I began to think of Jack. I flipped out on him the worst that day, and still, I felt horrible and guilty for my actions. Mr. Way caught on to my change of attitude, and he perked up with, "Alex? Is there anything?" I only nodded. "What is it?"

"I... I flipped out on this guy I met last week, Jack Barakat. He was only trying to help, and I started yelling at him. I feel awful for what I did, Mr. Way, and I don't know what to do." Mr. Way frowned at my words.

"Why don't you go talk to him? Maybe, you could give him a gift of some sort to show even more how apologetic you really are." I looked up.

"You think that would work?" I questioned.

"I know it'll work, Alex." I smiled and stood up. I held out my hand for him to shake.

"Thank you for you help this week, Mr. Way. I'll see you next week?" Mr. Way stood up and shook my outward hand.

"Of course, Alex. I'll see you soon." With that, I walked out of the therapy office and down the hall to where I remembered there was a gift shop. It was in the lobby. I ran inside of it and looked around for the perfect gift for Jack. Everything in the shop was so foo-foo-y like flowers and teddy bears with hearts on it. Instead, I settled on a balloon with SpongeBob on it. Stupid, but it was the most logical thing to get since I wasn't wishing him well from illness or anything along those lines. I didn't have to pay for the balloon, either. The lady said that the payment would be put on tab that would be sent out to my parents for them to pay at the end of the month. Nifty.

As I was walking to find Jack, I passed Hayley and Rian who seemed to be having a decent conversation in sign language. I stopped them, asking, "Do you guys know where Jack is?" Hayley looked at me in the tone of voice that screamed Jack had told her what I had done. I internally frowned. Hayley looked at Rian before speaking up,

"He's in his room."

"Mind telling me what room?" I asked impatiently.

"334C on the Cancer Wing."

"Thank you!" Without a goodbye, I fled down the hallway to catch an elevator to Jack's room. After waiting five minutes for an elevator to come down with cackling hens of nurses, I was finally able to get onto the elevator and up to Jack's room. I got onto the floor and searched around for room 334C. It wasn't too much of search to find it since it was two doors down from the elevator. When I approached it, the door was open, and the music of Good Charlotte waved out of the room. I peeked in and knocked on the door frame. My knock made Jack look over at the door. When he caught glimpse of my face, his expression changed to one of disappointment, and he looked away from me. It saddened me.

I walked over to Jack's bed and sat my butt down on the edge of it. "Um, hey, Jack." I mumbled a greeting. Jack didn't even look at me when he greeted back.

"Hey, Alex."

"Look," I sighed, "I am sorry about how I acted the other night. I know I shouldn't have done that, and I got you this to apologize. I know it's not much or even that great of a gift, but I didn't think you'd want a pink bear with a 'Get Well Soon' heart on it." I handed over the cartoon balloon, and Jack looked at it. He instantly let out a chuckle, and a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Aw, Lex, I love it." Jack took the balloon and set it in a vase on his bedside. I felt my cheeks burn at the nickname he gave me. Lex? No one called me Lex except my really close friends, and I didn't have many of them. Jack looked back towards me with the smile still on his face. "I'm really glad you came to apologize. I was worried I lost you and our newest member of the Red Band Society."

"I was just angry that night. A lot was on my mind, but today, I went back to Mr. Way, and we talked. I thought you deserved the same, Jack." Jack's smile got bigger, and he leaned in to give me a large hug. I snuggled into the hug happily. "I'm really glad you're not mad at me anymore, Jack. I was so scared that I lost you, too. I know we've only known each other for a week, but you're... you're holding the honor of being my first friend in this place."

"I wish you had the honor of that, dude." Jack laughed. "But, you do hold the honor of being our newest member, and we don't allow people into our group often. We only let special people in our group, and to me, Alex, you're super special."

"I am?" I blushed harder.

"Yeah, super special." Jack looked down at his hands to hide his red cheeks. After that, I did something so stupid. I did something that an idiot or a drunken moron would do. Something that would make me vomit and run off to hide away from the world.

I did something that would ruin a friendship just like that.

Notes

AND THAT'S IT FOR THIS UPDATE. YUP, LEFT YOU ON A CLIFFHANGER.

maybe i'll be nice and update tomorrow ... or be a bitch and update next month (;

decisions, decisions.

until next time, have the new-update-jack-gif.



xoxo krys