Chapter 5

I touch the mirror with my left hand, looking at myself. "How did this happen to me? How did I get so… thin?"

Best Friend puts her hand comfortingly on my shoulder. "Nate…"

I shake my head. "No… How could I have wasted away like that?" I turn to her, fear building up inside. "Best Friend, I need food. I'm so, so hungry."

"I thought you'd never say that," she smiles slightly and brings me back into the room, hooking me back up to all the machines. I get back in the bed after putting the gown back on and she leaves, only to return a few minutes later with a tray of food.

At the sight of it, my stomach growled. I cautiously take the fork and stab it into a waffle. I hesitate before putting it in my mouth and chewing it.

Best Friend picks up the Shane doll and puts on the Shane voice. "I'm so proud of you, Nate."

I laugh and eat some more.

Food tastes so good when you're a starving African child.

When I finish, I don't feel very well. My stomach does a flip flop and I move over to the side, barfing on the floor.

BF comes over to me.

"I didn't mean to," I say. "I'm sorry!"

"No, it's okay," Best Friend says. "It might take awhile for your stomach to get used to food again. Just try to eat small portions at a time, okay?"

I nod and lay back down. BF gets someone to clean up my puke and then she sits down next to me and we silently sit there.

Why?

Because there was nothing to talk about.

"Are you gonna eat more or should I throw it away?" BF asks.

"I want to eat more," I say, "but I'll just barf again, which would totally defeat the purpose."

"Just eat a little bit and you'll be fine."

"Promise?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

I think about it and then take a spoonful of cereal.

And I wait a couple minutes before eating more.

And the best thing ever happened – I didn't barf.

I didn't even feel sick at all.

That was when Shane and Jason came into the room. They both smile when they see me eating.

"You got your appetite back," Jason breathes as if he didn't believe it.

I nod and eat more.

Jason comes over to Best Friend and me. "How did you do it?" he asks BF. "What did he have?"

Best Friend shrugs. "He had a very strange form of the flu. Just a bit of antibiotics and he's good to go."

Jason hugs her. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Shane looks down at the dolls on the floor. He picks up the Shane one. "Um, what's with the dolls and why don't I have any pants?"

Best Friend and I look at each other and laugh. Best Friend takes the dolls from him. "They're my nieces." She starts putting them all back in her purse.

"Do I even want to know why you had a doll set here?" Shane asks.

I shake my head. "No. Not really."

"Okay," Best Friend says, "we'll keep Nate one last night and I'll prescribe him some medicine and you can go get on with your lives."

Jason hugs her again. "Thank you."

BF smiles. "No problem." She and her giant purse leave the room.

Shane and Jason sit on my bed.

"I'm so glad you're eating again," Jason says.

Shane nods in agreement. "Yeah, we were all so worried about you."

"Really?" I ask.

"Of course!" Jason exclaims. "You're our little brother and we love you."

"Even if I'm not perfect?"

"Nate, we would love you no matter what."

"Promise?"

"Stop being silly, Nate, of course we would."

"You still love me even though I had to cancel the tour?"

"Nate, why would we be mad at you for that? It's not your fault you got sick."

Yes, yes it is.

"And besides," Jason continues, "we postponed it and we're going to go next week, okay?"

I smile. "Yay."

"Look, you sleep well tonight and get plenty of rest, and tomorrow we'll come back to pick you up. And then we can go back home and practice our songs for tour, okay?"

I nod. "Sounds good."

X X X

We chatted for a while and played Battleship until it got dark.

Then when visiting hours were over, Jason and Shane left and BF came back in the room.

"Best friend!" I laugh.

She comes in the room with a bottle of pills. "Here's your fake-o medicine."

I take it from her and shake it. "What's in it?"

"Ginkobiloba."

"Huh?"

"It's really, actually nothing. All it does is increase your white blood count. It's good for altitude sickness, which you don't even need, considering the fact that you live at ten-thousand three hundred and fifty-three feet. There are only ten in there, so when you run out, fill it up with this." She tosses me a pack of white tic tacs.

I laugh. "Tic tacs?"

She nods.

"So why did you lie to them?" I ask. "I mean, thanks, but why?"

"Because," she says, sitting down in a chair, "you and I are so much alike."

"You did the same things I did?" I ask.

She nods. "But worse." Then, Best Friend rolls up the sleeves of her coat and shows me her wrists.

They look just like mine, but ten times as bad.

She rolls her sleeves back down. "Now I'm gonna make a deal with you. If I stop, you do too."

I nod. "Deal." We shake hands.

"Now," she says, "take one tic tac before breakfast every morning for a month."

I laugh. "Okay."

"And I think you'll be better in no time."

"Thanks," I say, "for the tic tacs." I put one in my mouth.

"Pill popper," she laughs. "Okay, well I'm gonna head home. I guess this is goodbye, Best Friend."

"Don't leave yet!" I say. "Best friends can't just desert each other like that."

"Well what am I supposed to do? Go on tour with you?"

"Yes."

"As much as I want to, I can't. I have a job to take care of people like you."

"Well it worth a shot, anyway. How can I repay you for helping me?"

"Don't forget about our deal."

"Well how will I know you won't forget about our deal?"

"How 'bout you email me when you're on the road."

"Okay." I give my best friend my email address and she writes it down on her hand.

"Now I got to go," Best Friend says. "I have a niece who wants to play dollies with me."

I laugh. "Tell her I said hi."

She smiles. "Bye Nate. Best of luck with your tour."

"Bye Best Friend."

BF leaves the room and I suddenly feel kinda sad.

I take the tic tacs and put them in my jacket pocket.

X X X

The next day, Jason comes to take me home from the hospital. I hand him the bottle of pills. "That's my medicine," I tell him as I make sure the tic tacs are still in my pocket.

Jason nods and puts it in his pocket. "I'm happy you're finally coming home."

"Me too," I say.

"Do you think you'll be ready to go on tour in six days?"

"Of course. I feel fine."

"But that's what you said last time and look what happened."

"Jason…" I grab his arm. "Let's just go home."

"Fine, fine," he says and we walk out of the hospital. We head over to his car and he drives me back home.

Right when I walk inside, I see a huge banner that says, 'Welcome Home Nate!'

I smile. My family is too nice.

Frankie comes running up to me with my cat, Buster. I crouch down to them and say, "Hi there!" in my best little kid voice.

Only Buster must have gotten spooked, because he bites the tip of my nose.

"Ow! Bubba!" I scold.

Buster leaps out of Frankie's arms, and Frankie says, "No, I make better." And then he bites my nose.

"Thanks, Frankie," I say sarcastically.

Frankie then runs off, calling, "Bubba! Bubba, bad boy!"

I stand up and my parents and Shane come over to me. We have a big group hug, and Mum kisses me repeatedly on the head.

"I love you too, Mum," I say.

"Nate, you had me so worried. You had us all worried."

And I stand there, surrounded by the people I love. They all care about me so much. They don't want me to be depressed.

And then I realize that they're the reason why I try to be so perfect. And why it kills me when I'm not everything they expect.

A\N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and reviewing my story! Please take some time and nominate your favourite stories for my new awards! There is a link on my profile! Thanks!! 3 starsnuffers