Anorexia is like a game: you play, you win, and then it's over. Or, you keep playing.

-Anorexic quote

One more week with Emmett passed. Rosalie discovered that her throat had healed, and she could resume her purging, which lightened her mood considerably, making her all around more likable. Don't tell Emmett this, he still thought that Rosalie had gotten help by now. He was so wonderfully blind to the world around him, Rosalie could be herself and not worry about him taking a comment badly or any thing, she was free from all the thoughts of him spreading her rumor around, and of him finding out she was back right to where he found her that day two weeks ago.

She actually found herself kind of liking him, as strange as it sounded. She started to look forward to the times they spent together, and they talked often outside of school. One night, he called her at three in the morning, just to tell her than he was thinking about her. She hadn't been up at the time, but that didn't stop him. It took him five voice mails to get every thing out, but he did finish eventually, and Rosalie didn't stop smiling the whole time he talked.

Emmett made Rosalie want to do better on her diets, so she could be totally perfect for him. He was probably the type of guy to want a perfect girl, and Rosalie had the will power to give it to him. This meant that she only ate when she felt like she was about to faint, and even then, it was just enough to keep her from passing out. As soon as she can, she would throw that up, making herself clean again. She loved the feeling she got of being totally, one hundred percent empty. She felt so light and graceful, like she was taking a step toward the perfection she tried so hard for every day.

And the beauty of it all, she still lost weight. At five foot six, she was nearing one hundred pounds, giving her hope that she might one day be the beautiful skinny person you saw in magazines. She could only hope, pray, starve, and purge her way there, and she was doing a good job of it. One day, she would be perfect. Perfection was the only way to live, the only way to make it in the crazy stage called life.

It also had it's drawbacks. Emmett was watching her now, Rosalie had never had one person always watching to make sure she didn't shed any more fat and pounds, and to make sure that she found some. She couldn't get rid of too much now, or she risked it all. Her way of life, the only one she could clearly remember.

"Don't make me do some thing we'll both regret." He warned her every day before they parted ways, a lasting goodbye that not once made Rosalie double think her actions. She had gone back on Ana and Mia enough simply talking to Emmett and letting him hold her emotions, the least she could do for them in return for not killing her every time she gave them the chance was to listen to every word they said to her, and to not complain while she was at it.

She lied to him every single day. Every day she told him, "Don't worry." When in reality, he did need to worry about her, but she refused to believe that herself. She could only hold onto to three things, the truths Ana and Mia told her, the lies Ana and Mia told her, and the lies Rosalie told herself. Rosalie didn't tell herself the truth any more, she was too used to lies. She was probably one of the best liars in the world, so good, she even fooled herself. It could be years before she could trust herself again.

Two weeks to the day Rosalie had her terrifying moment in the girls bathroom, she got a ride home from Emmett, like she did almost every day now. She didn't drive herself, she was too scared of having one of those moments were she was so dizzy she felt like some one picked her up and threw her across the room while she was driving. She had a hard time even standing when she was still at home, how did she expect to stay steady at the wheel of a car? She just felt all around safer with Emmett driving than herself. Besides, she loved having a few more minutes with him, even if they ended all too fast. She wondered why she ever even avoided him in the first place.

"Rosalie," He said, sounding like he was afraid of being bitten. Oh no, she knew just where this was going, "Are you sure you're doing okay? No offence, but you look awful."

"I'm fine Emmett," Rosalie told him, then broke out the familiar lie, "you have nothing to worry about." She couldn't feel bad about lying to him, she had lied too many times.

"I'm always going to worry about you." He told her, tyring to look at her and the road at the same time.

"Why?" She asked, "If I don't do the thing any more, why should you?"

He was quiet for a long time, and Rosalie wondered if she should just drop it and forget she ever asked it, change the subject maybe.

"Because Rosalie," He said, just when she was about to start a new topic, "I like you... as more than a friend."

Rosalie was stunned. Did he have to take the so shockingly first grade way of telling her? He couldn't have made it a little more high school leveled? But within the second, she forgot all about it, because there there three trains of thought running around her head.

What are you think?! You can't date any one! He'll get nosy!

You shouldn't even be talking to him!

he is so cute...

Do I like him back?

No. No! NO! You don't! Shut up Rosalie or I swear!

Well he is pretty cute...

And sweet...

NO!!

She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say she liked him too, and that she didn't mean any thing she ever did last week that might have hurt him because she was being too big of a bitch to let him in. She couldn't. She opened her mouth, and no sound came out, not one word.

"I'm sorry," He said right away, "I just totally crossed the friends thing, didn't I?"

"No," Rosalie told him, finding out how to speak again, "It's...okay." She was hesitant to say any thing, she didn't want to set any thing off, trigger a chain reaction inside her mind. She had done this so many times, and didn't want to do it again.

"I kinda like you too" She added in a much lower voice, like she was scaring herself by talking this way.

"Really?" Emmett asked, sounding both happy and confused, both at the same time.

"What's with the tone?" Rosalie asked, wondering how she could slow Emmett down to prevent him from getting to her house sooner. She needed to finish talking to him in person, not over the phone or text.

"It's just, I never guessed a girl like you would fall for me." He told her, color rushing to his cheeks as he said the words.

Rosalie laughed, "I never thought a guy like you would fall for a girl like me."

And it was true. Most boys hated drama, and Rosalie had drama written all over her forehead. Any one in search of reason only needed to look at her waist.

"Are you kidding?" he asked, laughing back, "You may have your issues, but who doesn't, you know?" He didn't get that Rosalie didn't have an 'issue' and that it wasn't going any where.

"I guess." Rosalie agreed any way, figuring an argument was some thing she did not want to get into right now with him, when the could be having a major moment. It was always best not to get her going on 'skinny equals problemed' when Rosalie wasn't even skinny to begin with. She had so much more weight to lose, she was only making a dent in her goals.

It was just then Rosalie realized they were outside of her house, and her mother's car was in the driveway.

"My mom is never home when I get back from school." Rosalie said, halfheartedly, wondering what could be going on. She unbuckled her seat belt and thanked Emmett for the ride, promising to call him that night. She was upset that she didn't get to finish what they were talking about, but there had to be some thing wrong. Rosalie knew for a fact her mother didn't get home until nine tonight, there was no reason for her to be home unless something bad was happening.

As soon as she opened the door, she knew what it was. Her heart stopped for a minute, and her breath caught in her throat. There, sitting on the side table in the hall, was the bloody toothbrush she had thrown away two weeks ago in the school bathroom, blood smearing and faded, but there none the less.

It was hers, and she was caught.