Blaine hated weigh day. Sue called them into her office, one by one, to track their weight loss progress. The girls all complained, except for Becky. Sue didn't make her weigh. In fact, she let Becky help with the process.
"Gay Blaine!" she yelled, poking her head out of Sue's office. "Your turn!"
Blaine sighed as he walked in. Ever since joining the Cheerios he had started eating healthier, to become fitter overall, but Sue always told him that it wasn't enough. He just hoped that she would go easy on him this time.
"Anderson, you're up a pound," she reported. "I expect you to lose five by Friday's football game."
"Five?" Blaine's jaw dropped. It was Monday. There was no way he could lose five whole pounds in four days.
"Yes, five," Sue confirmed. "And I recommend Sue Sylvester's Master Cleanse to get you there. Show him, Becky."
Becky set down her clipboard and pulled something out of her backpack. She had a water bottle with some kind of nasty looking drink in it.
"Replace every meal with one of these and you'll be on your way," Sue explained, taking a drink. "I'm trying to push Figgins to sell them in the cafeteria, but you can make them for free. Becky, give him the recipe. And Anderson, I expect those five pounds to be gone first thing Friday morning."
Blaine nodded. There was nothing else he could do. He knew the stupid "master cleanse" couldn't be healthy. But he also knew that if he wanted to remain on the Cheerios, he was going to have to deal with them for the next four days.
He went home and told his mom he was too tired to eat dinner, even though he was starving. Blaine had one of Sue's drinks instead, even though he could hardly keep it down. It tasted like vomit and pepper, and the aftertaste lingered in his mouth.
Only nine more, Blaine told himself. He knew it would be worth it once coach Sue saw that he was capable of losing the weight that quickly.
He didn't sleep well at all that night. His stomach growled, desperate for real food. Blaine tried to ignore it, even though he felt like a zombie the next morning. Even after another shake, he felt terrible.
The day passed slowly. Blaine was exhausted, and he even felt shaky. He allowed himself to eat some celery at lunch, only because he was craving at least something solid.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
"Huh?" Blaine asked, snapping out of his daze. "Oh. I'm fine. Just really tired."
He knew if he told Sam about Sue's radical new diet changes, he would make him stop. It was hard to keep his mouth shut, but Blaine had no energy to explain everything.
Cheerios practice after school was rough. Blaine could barely keep up with the fast-paced routine, and he felt dizzy. He just wanted to go home and sleep. If only Friday would hurry up.
"Sloppy!" Sue yelled after their fourth try at hitting their routine. "Again! You're not leaving until it's perfect!"
Everyone was sweaty and worn out, so thankfully after they got it right on the fifth try, Sue let them cool down and be done.
"That was impossible," Tina complained. "I hope they're able to start glee club up again. I don't know how much longer I can do this."
Blaine nodded in agreement, taking a long drink from his water bottle. He wanted nothing more than to go home to his mom's cooking, even though he knew he couldn't. He went into the locker room alone, moving as fast as his body would allow him.
But then it hit him. Sue was probably making Tina lose weight, too. He could talk to her about it without having to worry about her telling Sue.
Blaine hurried and changed clothes, and pulled Tina aside once she came out of the girl's locker room. "Hey. Is Sue making you lose weight for Friday? I gained one pound, and now she's making me lose five."
Tina looked at him like he had just confessed that he was in love with her. "Do you think she's doing it to everyone? She's making me lose ten by next Monday."
Blaine almost didn't believe her at first. Sue wasn't trying to get them into shape. She was trying to starve them.
"A-and she's making me drink these cleansing drinks," Tina continued. "They taste awful, and the first one made me throw up. I haven't even lost any weight since yesterday."
"I think they're really unhealthy," Blaine confessed. "I'd rather be hungry than drink them."
At that point, they were the only two left in the gym. Blaine just hoped Sue wasn't sticking around, listening to their conversation. Just in case, Blaine walked Tina outside.
"I'm just going to give them up," Tina sighed. "I can lose ten pounds on my own. No problem. You're lucky; she's only making you lose five."
Tina was right. Blaine figured he shouldn't be the one complaining if he only had to lose half as much weight.
"But you don't even need to lose ten pounds," he told her. "That's why I don't understand. She thinks if she has one cheerleader that's over a hundred pounds that the team will be anything less than perfect. I'm gonna keep up the shakes until Friday, just because there's nothing else I can do to lose weight that fast. Please be healthy, Tina. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Don't worry," she assured Blaine confidently. "I'll be fine. I need to go, though. I have English homework. See you tomorrow."
Blaine watched her leave and then got in his own car. He felt a little better after confiding in his friend, but still didn't feel right about the whole "crash diet" thing.
The next two days were even worse, even though Blaine didn't think anything could have been worse than Tuesday. He snapped at his mom when she tried to make him eat a crepe, managed to doze off at a red light on his way to McKinley, and couldn't focus in any of his classes at all. He had a pounding headache, which Blaine figured was due to lack of sleep.
"You look horrible," Tina said in between classes on Thursday. They were at his locker, and about to go to English together. "Did you sleep at all?"
"Not really," Blaine yawned, grabbing his Macbeth book. "You?"
"Sort of," she admitted. "I actually ate breakfast, though. You should try to eat at lunch. It'll help you feel better."
"Maybe," Blaine mumbled noncommittally. He had already lost almost three pounds, and wasn't about to jinx it. He had no intentions of eating at lunch. Sue's Master Cleanse proved to be working, after all.
Even though the dizzy feeling was beginning to set in again, Blaine ignored it and pushed through his last class before lunch without falling asleep.
But lunch proved to be the worst. Blaine drank more of Sue's cleanser, but was still sleepy and irritable. And when he got up to get a straw, his dizziness increased tenfold.
He tried walking back to the table, step by step, but he couldn't. His vision was already spotty, and he closed his eyes to try to fix it.
He could feel himself falling, but luckily lost consciousness before he hit his head on the hard cafeteria floor.
It felt like a dream. Someone was picking him up, walking him out of the cafeteria. Blaine could feel hundreds of eyes on him, but he ignored it.
"Stop," he argued, pushing whoever it was away. "I need to finish lunch."
"Open your eyes," the voice said. It was Mr. Shue. He was on one side of Blaine, and Sam was on the other. Tina walked anxiously next to them, trying to keep up.
"Take him, Sam," Mr. Shue said, letting go of Blaine. "I'm going ahead to let the nurse know what happened."
Blaine's limbs felt like jelly. He leaned heavily on Sam, even though he felt awkward. Tina took Mr. Shue's place, and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"Blaine, have you eaten anything today? You look so pale…" she worried.
"Why wouldn't he be eating?" Sam asked. Blaine was confused for a second, but then he realized that Sam didn't know. Only he and Tina really knew the truth behind Sue's weekly weigh-ins.
"Sue's making us both lose an insane amount of weight," Tina explained. "I don't think he's eaten anything since Sunday."
"Dude, that's not good," Sam said, hauling him into the nurse's office. Mr. Shue was in there, and they all helped Blaine onto one of the cots.
"I'm fine," he insisted, even though he knew he sounded weak. He just wanted to take a nap, and wake up five pounds thinner.
The nurse poked his mouth with a thermometer, and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm.
"Sit still," she ordered. "Give me a minute to check you out."
Blaine closed his eyes, trying not to be sick. His stomach had gotten used to the cleanse over the past day, but suddenly it wasn't sitting well with him at all.
He swore he dozed off, but Blaine jerked and opened his eyes when the nurse pulled the thermometer from his mouth.
"Your temperature is normal," she said, and smiled at him. "That's good. But your blood pressure is low. That's why you passed out. Are you hungry? Maybe you just haven't been eating enough. That can do it, sometimes."
Starving, Blaine thought.
"I'm fine," he told her. He hated lying like that. Especially when Sam and Tina knew the truth.
"I'll get you some water and crackers just in case," the nurse insisted. "And I'll call your mom. I think it'd be best if you went home to rest for the afternoon."
Blaine nodded and shut his eyes again. He wasn't about to argue with the idea of sleep. He just didn't want to have to eat anything. He was determined not to give up on Sue's weight loss mandates.
"Blaine, have you really not been eating?" Mr. Shue asked. Blaine could tell he sounded concerned, but Blaine didn't feel like talking. Especially since it was true. If his mom found out, she would kill him.
"Just… sometimes," he mumbled, feeling sleep tugging at his mind. But once he realized what he said, his eyes shot open. "I mean, uh- Mr. Shue, it's fine, I promise. I've just been under a lot of stress this week, and coach Sue really isn't helping, and it's fine. Just don't worry about me, please."
But Blaine knew he was worried. So were Tina and Sam. Tina even seemed to be doing better, even after just one day of being off Sue's cleanse. Blaine shot her a look, silently begging her not to tell the others.
"Just do what's best for yourself," Mr. Shue told him. "I know you know how to take care of yourself. Don't let Sue or anyone else tell you that you need to change anything. You and Tina are both fine the way you are."
Blaine wanted to believe that. And he did, to a degree. But without glee club, he needed some extracurricular. And Cheerios was his best bet, even with the severe diet restrictions.
"Thanks, Mr. Shue," Blaine said. "I'll be fine."
Mr. Shue clapped him on the shoulder and got up to return to his office. Blaine secretly wanted his friends to go, too, but they insisted on staying.
He drank the water the nurse brought him, and eventually gave in to eat some crackers. He expected to feel worse, but Blaine was surprised at how much better he felt. He thought what Mr. Shue said was true, and ate them all. He no longer cared what Sue thought about his weight. And if she didn't like it, she could kick him off the team. Blaine didn't care.
Author's Notes:
I was rewatching season one and that episode where Sue makes Mercedes and Kurt lose weight stuck out at me. So I made this for you guys here I hope you like it. I wasn't sure if what Blaine was doing could be considered a full blown eating disorder, but I did my research on them anyways. Let me know if anything was wrong so I can make it better next time!
(PS if you guys get me to 650 reviews before I go back to school Tuesday I'll put up the first part of a three-parter I've been working on.) I hate when people beg for reviews but I genuinely want to know if there's enough interest for it. Thanks!