~Chapter 2~

(Sam's POV)

I hated throwing up. It sucked. It really did. And I had to go through it just about every day. I could barely eat. I always felt sick at my stomach and I knew it was because I wasn't eating. But I couldn't bring myself to do it... It made my stomach flip just to think about eating. And when Tucker managed to get some food in me, I puked. Well most of the time. There were some days where he could do a victory dance.

I sighed. Today just hadn't been one of those victory dance days. It was almost like he suffered with me, the way he looked when I couldn't eat. His whole face just...dropped. I'd never seen anything like it. He'd never been this way before. I wanted him to stop trying to help me. I wanted him to live his life without me holding him back. But I knew he wouldn't stop. He was never the type to give up on someone when they needed him most. It was true that I needed him, but I felt like this was all pointless. I wasn't able to eat enough to sustain myself and one of these days...I would go. Forever.

But he wanted to help me anyway. Whatever made him happy I guess. Or at least satisfied. Or maybe content. Oh, you get the point.


(Tucker's POV)

Today was a failure. It started out looking up. Sam was getting the food she so desperately needed. But right when things were seemingly in the clear, she started gagging and couldn't hold it down. She didn't even make it to the bathroom. She had to settle for a trash can.

Her skin was pale. And I don't mean pale as in the glow a ghost radiates. I mean pale as in Danny's hair when he went ghost. And for some reason he hadn't noticed that. She'd stopped helping him fight ghosts entirely, and he seriously didn't notice. He didn't notice that she was getting skinny. She wasn't skin and bones, not yet at least, but she was losing weight fast. Anyone else would see it, but not Danny. She hardly talked, she barely moved...and when she did talk it was always just above a whisper and raspy, and when she did move it was slow and shaky. Why didn't he ever notice these things? I was more than ready to tell him myself but...Sam didn't want me to. Maybe it was because she didn't want his pity.

But I didn't necessarily have to tell him. I could simply start helping the oddities of Sam become a little more obvious. Even Danny would have to notice them eventually. I couldn't afford to wait until Sam was reduced to nothing but skin and bones, otherwise I'd just let him figure it out himself. That apparently wasn't going to happen. He needed to know. He needed to be there for Sam. And hopefully he could help me get her to eat something. Pfft, something...how about anything?! She could eat grass, tree bark, leaves, dirt, anything at all so long as she ate! And she really loved him... It would make her so happy to know that Danny was trying to help her.

Because it was becoming obvious that I couldn't do this alone.


(Danny's POV)

"Hey, Sam!" I heard an overly and very intentionally loud voice call out. It was a male's voice, and it came from behind a row of bushes just on the edge of school grounds. I turned to look. Nothing. "You look kind of skinny!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the message was for me. There was only one Sam in Casper High and Tucker and I were the only ones who knew her. Not about her, not of her, but knew her. Plus, it was Tucker's voice, so...yeah, that kind of gave it away. But come to think of it, Sam had looked thinner than usual lately. I wondered if Tucker knew why and was trying to tell me, or rather give me an implication, why.

Part of me didn't want to leave my wonderful seat this close to Paulina, but another part of me wanted to poke around and see what was up. It did seem pretty obvious, but there was always the possibility of it being merely coincidental, perhaps even a mistake.

"But you know! At least you're behind the bush, the one at the very end on the left side!" Uh... "Where no one would think to look!" Alright...well...um... "And nobody's gonna find you!" Ooookay...? "Especially not certain people!" What the...? "Namely someone with black hair!" Hold up, just- "And that person's a guy!" Ayup. That's me. "Because he's obviously not going to be Da- OW!"

...Yeah. My best guess was that Sam had just cut Tucker off by kicking or stomping on him with her combat boots. And I was usually right about this stuff, Tucker being attacked by Sam and whatnot. My curious part was starting to bug me, dying to know what was happening back there. But Paulina was right there, so close... And there went my curiosity bomb again. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go find out what was happening, and then come right back. Besides, Tucker was giving me mental mail, and the polite thing to do was check it, right?

I quickly made my way toward Tuck's "hints" about his and Sam's location. Getting the impression that Sam would rather be alone with Tucker, which kind of gave me some ideas as to what they might be doing all by themselves back there, I decided it was best to be inconspicuous, and only peeked through the leaves of the bush. They were thick and it was a very clear view, but I did see Sam's back turned to me, and Tucker holding a half-eaten piece of bread. Both of them were sitting cross-legged and although I couldn't see her expression, I could tell Sam was angry at him. But for what? Yelling out at me? Or rather, for me?

I was tempted to climb through the bushes but I opted not to after a few seconds of deliberation. If they were all alone it meant that they wanted to stay hidden, probably to hide something from everyone else...including me. Something in my gut told me this had nothing to do with Tucker at all. If my gut was right, then it was all on Sam. But what?!

"You were talking way too loud!" Sam hissed. "Danny could've heard that!"

So I was right after all, they were keeping something from me. And Sam clearly didn't want me to find out. But why? Why would she keep secrets from me? We told each other everything! Well, as of now, used to tell each other everything.

"That didn't give you the right to kick my guts out..." he groaned placing one hand gently over his stomach and wincing from the pain. That would leave a mark, I could tell. Which meant she was more serious than ever about keeping quiet about this...whatever it was. "Besides, it's not just hard for you. I keep trying and I know it's not your fault, but it's really hard."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I just don't want him finding out about this, okay? Please, don't tell him... For me...?" she choked out.

"Sam, it'll be so much easier on the both of us if you let him help. You know that as well as I do," Tucker replied softly.

I slowly pulled aside a branch, attempting to get a clearer view of what was going on. Neither of them seemed to hear the bush's leaves rustle.

Her voice cracked as she whispered in a strained tone, "No."

Tucker frowned. "At least think about it."

"I have! I don't want him to see me any differently, just don't tell him!"

See her differently...? She was my best friend and...though I had a crush on Paulina, I sort of had this little, you know...thing for Sam. Not that I could admit it to her, of course. Talk about seeing someone differently! Anyway, back to the original topic, no matter what it was, I wouldn't see her differently. She was Sam; always was, always will be. Honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I wasn't exactly the judgmental type.

Tucker sighed heavily. "Please, Sam, just let him help. I know you want to; I know it would mean a lot to you. He's not judgmental."

Uh, yeah! That's what I just said!

"Well I'm not taking my chances-"

"What chances, Sam?!" he whisper-yelled. "Danny is the sweetest guy on the face of the planet, he can help and you know he can! Let him!"

The sweetest guy... So...Sam needed me and I wasn't there for her... How is that sweet? How is that even friendly or good-natured?

"He won't see me the same way anymore! Besides, he's too busy drooling over Paulina to notice anyway so let him be distracted, let him-"

I decided at that moment that I'd heard enough and thought it was time to join their conversation/argument. I stood up and nearly tripped several times as I struggled to get through the bush I'd been hiding in. But I managed.

"He's right you know, I'm not judgmental. Whatever problem this is, I won't see you any differently." I sat down beside her, scooting a little closer. "And if Tucker says you want my help, then I'll do what I can."

She was pale with pinkish specks on her face, just as she had been recently. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and her lips were parted in shock.

"How long have you been listening to us?" she quivered.

I smiled, trying to make her a little more comfortable around me. She obviously wasn't but hopefully, if I could lighten the mood...

"Oh, just long enough to know that you two are keeping something from me. And long enough to hear Tuck call me the sweetest guy ever." I shrugged. "It'd be nice to know what's wrong though."

Tucker opened his mouth to speak but Sam quickly lifted one of her boots and brought it down on his ankle. He hissed in pain and held said ankle.

"Nothing," she replied. Her voice was still shaky but it held more emotion this time.

I chuckled. "Yeah right. C'mon, what's the matter?"

Knowing Sam wasn't going to tell me anything, I noticed Tucker rapidly scoot back, to a point she couldn't reach him with her legs...or her weaponized boots. Sam drew a sharp breath but for some unknown reason, held back from lunging forward and strangling him. He didn't draw a sharp breath, just a deep one.

"Sam's mom died and now she won't eat," he explained in the best nutshell ever heard by human ears.

I literally couldn't believe what I just heard. I couldn't! My brain was having a hard time processing this, about Sam's mother dying and the fact that was refusing to eat... It explained everything, why she was skinny, why she was pale, why she was always slow and tired, and why she always had those pinkish splotches on her face. I...I was unsure whether or not I could ever register this. Why did Sam keep something like this from me? If it was a little secret, that was one thing, but this...! This was a huge deal and she didn't even think about telling me?!

...Well, no. She said she did think about it but was too scared of what I would think of her to actually do it. I couldn't be mad at her for this. I mean, if she really was too scared to tell me, I suppose that could be okay. But I just wanted to know...

"Wh-Why are you not eating?" I breathed, still very much in shock. I probably wouldn't even be able to pay attention to her answer.

And it wasn't even her answer I heard. It was Tucker who told me. All she did was pull her knees close to her and tuck her head in the gap they created between her chest and her knees.

"It's...well, I think I said that wrong. It's not so much that she won't eat, but more so that she can't eat. At first she was too depressed and wouldn't eat anything, but now her body is rejecting any food I try to give her. She can't handle it anymore. Most of the time she'll throw up whatever she eats. I give her ginger ale to help keep it down but it hardly helps," he explained.

I slowly turned to Sam. She sniffled and as her breath softly hitched, I could tell she was crying. "Is this true, Sam?"

She nodded, very faintly, to the point where I almost didn't catch it.

"Well..." I continued, hoping to get her to say something...anything... "Why didn't you tell me? You told Tucker. I'm your best friend, we both are. So why didn't you tell me about this?"

She didn't, or maybe she couldn't, say anything. She merely sat there in the same position, not moving a muscle. The only signs of life she was showing right now were tears wetting her knees and her breath hitching. She had stopped the sniffling, I noted.