LXXXVII
The lump in her throat prevents her from enjoying lunch.
"Chris, is there something wrong?" Jason suddenly asks her. "You haven't touched your food."
"Oh, I'm on a diet," Chrissy murmurs, forcing a smile.
Her boyfriend smiles back at her, completely oblivious to her concerns. "Yeah? That's good, I think it's great you take care of your figure. Surely if you continue like this and stop having dinner, you can go down even a couple of sizes more."
Chrissy nods absently. Normally, Jason's comment would have hurt her… But it's not like he knows what's happening to her, right? She is the one who has chosen not to tell him, after all. And this is not the time to regret bad decisions of others that affect her, when obviously there are bad decisions of hers that affect others.
Thinking about this, Chrissy looks towards the table where she usually sees Jane…
… only to find her friends eating in silence, a somber expression on their faces.
When she hears Angela giggle for the fifty-fourth time at one of Jason's basketball jokes, she simply can't contain herself anymore.
"Angela… Why did you do that?"
Not even someone as cowardly as her can remain silent in the face of the obvious.
"Excuse me?"
"Chris?"
Chrissy inhales deeply and finally looks up from her plate. "You… You destroyed Jane's notebook. One of the ones I asked you to return."
Angela remains silent, her smile frozen on her face. Jason frowns and lets out a weak "who's Jane?" which Chrissy chooses to ignore.
The girl, however, hangs on his question: "She's my classmate, an incredibly clumsy girl."
"Clumsy?"
"Well, there was this time, for example, they asked us to present something in science class, and can you believe that this idiot can't even read—?"
Chrissy purses her lips and blurts out: "Angela. I am talking to you."
"Oh." Her surprised expression is completely fabricated. "Sorry, I was just answering Jason's question… Yeah, well, it was a joke." As if to make this clear, she giggles (fifty-fifth time, now). Her boyfriend laughs with her, even though he doesn't understand the joke.
Wow, are you going to eat that piece of cake, Chrissy? Be careful: Jason could very well find himself another girl if you gain too much weight... But don't be like that, sweetie: it was just a joke!"
"It's not a joke… if you're hurting the other person."
Jason and Angela stop laughing at her words.
"Uh, it's not that big of a deal. Seriously," Angela replies.
"Babe," Jason calls her in a soft voice, "don't be like that. Angela has already explained that it was just a joke…"
Noticing that her boyfriend's teammates are looking at her strangely—as if she were the one in the wrong—Chrissy just nods and looks back at her plate.
However, she does not give up. As her next math class approaches, Chrissy stands at the side of the staff room, waiting…
"Miss Cunningham? Shouldn't you be in the classroom already? I'm just heading that way…"
The girl is quick to put a smile on her lips. "Oh, yes; in fact, sir, I wanted to talk to you about something, but I hope you'll keep it between us…"
The teacher's thick eyebrows draw together in a concerned expression. "Of course, Miss Cunningham. Do tell."