~ Chapter 9 ~

"It's sad when people you know become people you knew."

~ Emma ~

I ran towards the room the nurse had pointed out to me and looked through the large window, staring at the small girl on the bed. She was my best friend, but I didn't recognize her. I looked at the two people sat in the room with her, Zane and her Dad. Talking to each other, neither of them knew what was going on. But I did, I knew what was going on. I knew everything and I couldn't say anything to them. Rikki would hate me. I slowly open the door and try to smile at Rikki's Dad "Emma." He says as he nods "Do you know what happened?" I asked him, he nodded "Dehydration the Doctor said." He looked at his daughter sadly and then looked at Zane "I am going to get some of her stuff." I nodded at him and Zane did the same, then he walked out of the room. Zane walked to her bedside and put his hand on hers. I looked at how pale and fragile she looked. I noticed the tube coming out of her arm and walked up to it. "Whats this for?" I said as I lightly touched it "She needs some nutrients back into her body." He looked down at her and gently smoothed her curly hair out her face, smiling down at her. I could tell he loved her so much, but their relationship couldn't take much of this. Even Rikki knew that, she had told me so many times before. "I should have noticed something was wrong." He muttered "What do you mean?" I looked up at him and shook my head "Don't you think I have noticed the weight loss?" He shook his head as he looked at me "She was on a diet for the prom. But she stopped dieting after it." I knew she wouldn't want him to know what she was doing, I had to protect her "Why is she in hospital then?"

"She must have forgotten to drink before the run. She just wanted to come first for once, it was this stupid little bet we had. We wanted to see who would win. It was stupid." I looked down, it wasn't that big a lie. We did have a small competition going on, just an unspoken one. He nodded "Would you tell me if something was wrong?" I nodded at him "She sleeps over mine a lot. I think I would notice if she wasn't eating." He nodded at me and then looked back down at his girlfriend, I took a deep breathe and then sat down on the chair next to her bed. I grabbed her other hand and just stared at her. Zane kissed her on the cheek and then looked at me after a while "I have to go for a little while." I nodded at him, kind of glad that I could talk to Rikki on my own. She wasn't awake but I needed to speak to her anyway. He walked out and I smiled at her, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want know what to say, now that I was alone with her. "I wasn't sure if you wanted him to know. I didn't know what else to do Rikki." I looked at her and waited for her to talk back, she should be awake soon. She couldn't be asleep for this long. I jumped as I heard the door open and then looked behind me, it was my Mum. "What happened?" She whispered, "Dehydration." I answered back, "She pushed herself to hard." I nodded, "I guess."

"She will be okay though." I nodded again and then looked back down at Rikki, wondering what was going through her mind when she was running around that field. What she was thinking. I shook my head and felt another tear fall down my face and onto the bed "I told her not to go so fast Mum, I tried to make her slow down." She stood beside me and put her hand on my shoulder "It's not your fault Emma. You didn't know this was going to happen." I nodded "I guess."

"You ready to go home?" I shook my head, "I will be home later. Lewis and Cleo are coming. I will ask them to take me home."

"Okay then." She kissed me on the forehead and then smiled at me, I tried to smile back but then looked at my friend in front of me and turned away. I heard the door shut and I closed my eyes "Why Rikki?" I whispered, more tears fell down my face and then I looked away from her. Standing up, I walked to the other side of the room and looked out of the large window "I should have known something like that would happen. I have done so many runs, I know the dangers. I should have stopped you." I started to pace back and forth. "Emma?" I heard a groan come from the bed and I looked at the girl who was trying to sit up "Rikki." I ran over to her and put my arms around her "I was so worried." I started to cry and Rikki put her arm around me "I am fine." She said as I pulled away from her, I shook my head "Thats why you are laying in a hospital bed right now then?" She shook her head "I just took it too far this time, I am sorry." She stared at me, I was surprised at the way she had said those words, she sounded so spiteful and so annoyed. Did she blame me? I looked at her and shook my head "Whatever. I tried to stop you, you never listen. You always think you know best. You always want to be better than me." I sighed and then turned away from her, I don't know why I was so annoyed, I don't know why everything is getting to me. I quickly turned around when I heard a sob and then looked at her, she was crying. "Rikki..I am so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" I turned towards the voice and noticed Cleo was standing there, I looked at Rikki and then at Cleo "She was just.. angry because I took our bet too far." Rikki sniffed, "Why are you crying?" Cleo looked at her and then walked towards her bed, Rikki just shrugged, "I'm just tired." I looked at her and then back down at the floor, I didn't fit in here. She deserved friends when I didn't. She tried hard, she was able to starve herself but I never can. I will never be able to.

"How are you? We heard that you were dehydrated." Rikki just nodded, "I didn't drink enough water before going for that run. I wasn't thinking." She looked at the tube going into her arm "I am worried about it bursting or something, I don't want people knowing about the whole mermaid thing. I want it out of me."

"Whats in it?" I looked at her, I didn't know what was in it. She seemed worried, more worried than I would be over just water "Water, sugar.." Lewis chimed in, he was still waiting at the door, "Sugar?" Rikki seemed to get paler, "But.." I knew what she was thinking but I shook my head at her, she couldn't afford to get caught, "What?" Lewis looked at her suspiciously and stepped forward, Rikki tried to calm herself down "I want it out. It hurts." She whispered, I saw the tears fall down her face before she managed to quickly wipe them away and then turn around. I shrugged when Cleo looked at me "There is not many calories in Sugar." Lewis said, I looked at him and wondered how he knew. He just stared at Rikki "We love you so much Rikki, you don't need to worry about that." He went to her bedside and then took her hand in his "I wasn't worried about that."

"What are you worried about then?"

"The water.." She whispered "I could turn into a bloody mermaid any minute and none of you seem to care."

"You won't. These things don't come loose."

"What if when they take it out then the water spills out and some of it gets onto my skin and then.." I walked over to the other side of her and put my hand on her shoulder "Breathe Rikki. We will be here just in case."

"What can you do.. Oh sorry Doctor can you get out of here now?" She looked challengingly at me and then at Lewis, I knew she was right. If any water did fall on her then everything would be ruined, we would be caught and in some stupid science lab. I sighed, "Nothing will happen." Lewis and Cleo nodded and then Rikki just lay back down "I am tired." She said, I knew it was really saying 'Can you get out now I want to be alone." I nodded at her "I will be back tomorrow." She just shook her head "I will be out of here by then, I will call by yours." I nodded and grinned at her "Good. See you then." I hugged her and then followed Lewis and Cleo out. I nodded at Zane as I saw him going towards his room "She wants to be alone." I told him, "I am just going to say goodnight." I nodded at him and then walked towards Lewis's car. He was the first one to be able to drive out of all of us, even if Cleo was older than him. But it meant we have lifts everywhere I guess.

I thanked him as I got out the car to my house and slowly walked in "How is Rikki?" was the first question Mum asked me when I walked in "She is going to be okay." She nodded and walked towards the kitchen "Emma!" I heard her call me after her, I rolled my eyes and followed her into the kitchen. She nodded towards the dinning table and I sat down on it. Wondering what was going on, I looked towards her as she moved towards me with a plate "I don't know what is going on between you and Rikki, Emma but it has to stop. One of you has ended up in hospital." She put the plate in front of me and I looked at it, "Nothing is going on Mum, we have been exercising a lot because we are hoping to take P.E for A level next year. Rikki explained what happened to the Doctor in front of me Mum." I remembered when the doctor had walked in not long after my Mum had left. I was trying to talk to her for a while and then he walked in, he has asked her questions about her eating patterns and drinking. I remember thinking how good she was at lying, they just kept coming out and she was just so believable when she said them. I almost believed her even though I knew it wasn't the truth. "She told them she had gone for a run in the morning with me, because we had been training to get onto the cross country team for a while, as we have Mum, I told you that before. She didn't have a drink then, she said she forgot. And then the cross country was too much on her body with no water." I shrugged and then started to eat the food in front of me "She didn't mean to Mum, she just forgot." She seemed to believe me and then she nodded "Make sure you eat all of that." I nodded at her and then smiled "Shes going to be okay. Shes coming over tomorrow. We are going to carry on training if she is okay." Mum looked at me shocked "You're going to let her?"

"Well.. she asked to and I said only if she feels okay." I looked down at the food in front of me as I ate it and then back up at my Mum "We both got onto the team, there is only a few more races until the final one. And then there is nothing much to train for. We are both going to stop going for so many runs then, because after the final race we will only be training for next years P.E." Mum nodded at me and then smiled "Thats okay then." Grinning at her, I looked back down at my plate and continued to eat it. She had no idea what I was going to do when I was done, she didn't even want to know. "Done." I said after about 10 minutes. She nodded at me "I am going to finish some homework." I kissed her on the cheek and then grabbed some water and an apple on my way up. She thought I was fine, she believed me. I smiled to myself as I walked up the stairs, she had no idea. I closed and locked my bedroom door and looked around, I quickly guzzled the water and then ran into my bathroom. Closing the door, I ran the bath taps as though I was about to have a bath, and then stuck my fingers down my throat.

When I was done I looked into the mirror and grimaced at myself. I had puffy, red cheeks and eyes, mascara was running down my face and I looked pale. I shrugged at myself "At least I will be thin." I whispered as I washed my face and walked out the bathroom. Thats the only thing that mattered at the end of the day.

Being thin.