January 24, 7:27 a.m.

I cross the gym floor, where my classmates are already doing laps, running on treadmills, lifting weights, and throwing balls around. I start to open the door to the girls' locker room, the same as I do every day.

It's locked.

Before I can spend much time pondering why it won't open, Denesha Peyton, a girl from my English class, explains it for me. Her tone suggests that I'm not the first person she's had to notify, either.

"You have to go to Coach Eric's office," she tells me. "They've been having problems with someone breaking into the locker room and stealing stuff, so now the only way in is if he personally unlocks the door."

"Oh... thanks..." I tell her. I shuffle out of the gym and into the office at the side.

The door to the office is open, but Coach Eric isn't in there. Instead I find Fred perched in front of his desk.

"Hey, Daphne..." he tells me. "I guess someone must have told you--"

"Yeah, Denesha did... but she said Coach Eric--"

"He had to take an urgent call at the front office. Since I've been playing football and baseball with him since I was in Little League, he knows me well enough that he trusted me with the key."

"Sweet!" I tell him, smiling. I start to leave the office, but Fred won't get up from the chair.

"Fred--?"

"Hang on, Daphne." He motions for me to sit in one of the blue plastic chairs in front of the desk. I have to clear off a sweaty jersey (ew!) before I can sit down. I hope he makes this quick...

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah... sure..."

He reaches into the drawer and pulls out a Snickers bar.

"Special privilege Coach offered to anyone who would help him in the office before school today," he explains. "He's got a whole stash in there! Just don't tell Shaggy, or someone will be breaking into the office too!" He giggles slightly at his own joke. Then he straightens up.

"You want one?" he asks, not really even smiling now.

I shake my head, instinctively at this point. "No thanks."

He chucks the candy bar back into the drawer and closes the drawer slowly. I can somehow tell he wasn't really expecting me to say yes. An awkward silence floods the office for a few seconds.

"Listen, if you're not going to talk--" I start as I stand up to go. Maybe he'll just let me into the locker room and that will be the end of it.

"Daphne." He stands up but does not move away from the desk. "I was going to talk."

"Then can you hurry--?"

"You're really eager to get into the gym, aren't you?" I nod, frustrated.

"Daphne... that's exactly what I've been worried about."

I stare at him, uncertain. He rubs his temples with his hands, then continues. "You've... you've been exercising a lot lately."

"Well, I have to stay in shape; cheer competition is Friday, and--" I'm really trying not to sound out-of-control or anything, but somehow that's not easy.

"A lot lately, Daphne."

"Yeah? So what's your point?"

"My point isn't just the exercise. You... you don't eat anymore."

He said it. I feel a sensation not unlike a wrecking ball going straight through my chest. I feel as though a cold iron has penetrated my heart.

He knows.

"I eat!" I say, but my voice is shrill, and neither of us thinks I sound the slightest bit believable.

"Not like you should be." Great, now the one thing I need most of all is a preacher. "Daphne... I'm concerned about you. You haven't been feeling well lately at all, and I can tell." He checks the hallway to make sure no teachers are coming, then kisses me quickly. He starts playing with my hair. "After our last date, remember how exhausted you were? And then at the restaurant all you had was a salad. Look, I don't want to sound overly worried, but this has been going on so long. Something just doesn't seem right."

"Something like... what?"

He pauses. "Maybe it isn't my place to tell you this. But your behavior reminds me..." His voice trails off. A tear forms in his eye.

"Of Chelsea."

I stare blankly. "Who's Chelsea?"

"My cousin."

Fred stands up and starts pacing the room. "She was about my age, about two years older, actually..."

" 'Was'?"

"She... she's gone now."

I gasp and put my arm on his shoulder. "Fred... I'm so sorry!" There, maybe if I can deflect the issue to someone else...

"It's all right, Daphne. This was a few years ago. I was twelve, so Chelsea would have been fourteen. It's just... it's how she went. She was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa just a month before she died. She was really good at hiding it. Somehow nobody noticed she was starving until she passed out in the middle of my other cousin's graduation. They took her to the hospital, but even there they couldn't get her to eat. They had to feed her through these IV tubes, and someone had to watch her to make sure she didn't pull them out. Her heart failed soon afterward."

There's this painful silence as I really don't know what to say.

"Freddie..." I finally respond. "Chelsea was an extreme case. That doesn't happen to most people." A horrified part of me assures myself, That doesn't happen to people like me.

"Daphne, it didn't start out that way!" Fred's voice is raised somewhat. He breathes, then continues. "Daphne, if I had said anything, things might have been different! Chelsea and I were friends. We were the only ones close in age to each other, so at reunions, weddings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, we always would hang out together. I had noticed almost two years before her death that Chelsea wasn't eating."

"Fred?"

"Nobody else really paid attention to her, Daphne! But I did. I noticed that she would discreetly scrape her plate into the trash on Thanksgiving. I noticed that if we were in the backyard and the ice cream truck came by, she would pretend not to hear it. I noticed that her Easter and Halloween candy stayed untouched in her room. I could have said anything, to anyone... but I didn't."

"Freddie, you were just a child; nobody could expect you to--"

"I was worried, though, Daphne! But I didn't say anything. And now it's too late." He doesn't even try to disguise the cruelty in his voice. "I feel like I have another chance somehow, Daphne! I'm not going to let the same thing happen to you!"

"So that's all I am?" I fly up from my chair, angry. " 'Another chance'? Look, I'm sorry about all that happened, but look, Chelsea and I aren't the same. At all!"

"Daphne--"

"All I want is my exercise, okay? I'm not going to die or anything! And guess what? No matter what you do with me, she's still gone! Bugging me isn't going to change that, so save all your goody-good advice for the school newspaper!"

I look at the clock on the wall. 7:53. Class is going to start soon. It's obvious that I'm not going to talk him into letting me use the locker room anyway.

I gather my things and march to class. I already know Fred and I aren't going to talk for the rest of the day. Okay, so maybe he'll try to talk to me. But I'm sure not going to listen.