Emma pushed the food on her plate around with her fork. She listened to the dinner conversation taking place between her nanny, Jessie, and her siblings, Luke, Zuri, and Ravi. Ravi was going on about school and how he'd done well on his latest math test. Luke told stories about his moment of victory, winning dodge ball in P.E. and Zuri complained about her substitute teacher at school. Jessie mediated the conversation making sure that everybody got to talk about their day.
"What about you Emma?" Jessie asked bringing Emma back into the present.
"Oh you know," Emma said, "the usual." She wouldn't look Jessie in the eye and she knew that Jessie had been growing more suspicious of her behavior.
"Are you feeling alright, Emma?" Jessie asked, "I've noticed that you haven't been eating a lot these past few days."
Emma just shrugged then forced a small smile on her face, "Yeah I'm alright," she lied, "I've just been feeling a little under the weather I guess." She sighed, doubting the Jessie believed her. The act was just as much for her younger brothers and sister not want to let on to anyone what was going on. "I think that I'm just going to go finish up my homework." Emma rose from the table and placed her plate and cup in the sink. Barely any of her food had been eaten, and despite Emma playing with her food to make it look like she had, Jessie knew she hadn't eaten dinner again.
"That's Bertram's cooking." Luke teased, "You know after eating his food I'm feeling a little queasy too." Luke gave a playful smile to Jessie, "I think that some ice cream would make me feel better though!"
Jessie smiled at him and laughed a little. The other children nodded their heads in agreement and held their stomachs and feigned stomach aches. "Okay" Jessie laughed, "But eat your vegetables first, then you may have some dessert." After dinner was finished and the bowls of ice cream had been scooped out, Jessie scooped out a forth bowl, left the other three children to delight in their ice cream, and went to check on Emma.
Jessie knocked on Emma's bedroom door lightly with her knuckles. "I have Ice cream." Jessie said softly, "May I come in?" Emma opened the door and Jessie followed her back into the room. Emma sat down on her bed and Jessie took a seat next to her. "I thought you might like some ice cream." Jessie handed her the bowl and Emma whispered a small thanks.
"I know something is going on." Jessie started, "I'm really starting to worry about you, is everything okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?" Emma shook her head but didn't meet Jessie's eyes. "Are you sure? You know I'm always here for you and whatever it is, I'm going to be on your side." Emma didn't move, she just looked down at the bowl of ice cream. Jessie sighed and gave Emma a tight hug. "I'm here for you when you're ready." With that she got up and walked out the door.
When she left, Emma put the bowl of ice cream on her night stand and went to stand in front of her full length mirror. She stared at herself for a long time, looking for any sign that she had changed. She lifted her shirt to get a better look at her body. What she saw in the mirror confirmed for her that she was doing the right thing, she knew she had to keep it a secret.