Soon enough the holidays flew by and school started up again. The morning of our first day back, Jack had prank rigged my alarm at full volume again. I really didn’t know how he did it, but at least Bohemian Rhapsody wasn’t the worst thing to wake up to. I felt no motivation to get up and weigh after Christmas though; I hadn’t even touched the scale since then. I knew I was probably lower than 80 lbs since I hadn’t eaten much since Christmas, but according to Diana, if I don’t weigh, I’ve gained weight.

Dad was also on my back non-stop. He was always trying to get me the help I apparently needed, but I always mysteriously vanished when the appointments came. He eventually quit that and just tried to get me to eat more. Prepared my plate and everything, but you can only do so much to make me eat. Anyway, back to school.

I normally was super stoked for school after a break, but I didn’t feel like I could get out of bed. I just continued staring at the ceiling whilst Bohemian Rhapsody played. My body felt too weak to move under the layers of blankets, and I was still freezing despite them. I had started feeling like this more and more often, but never in bed, and it worried me. Had I finally pushed my limit? Was this the breaking point where I couldn’t even get out of bed?

“Oh you can get up. You’re just too LAZY to do it. Stop acting like you’re sick or something.”

It’s true I had let myself get lazy. I pretty much just laid in bed and read most of the time. Walking got me lightheaded and woozy, sometimes even making my chest hurt. And workouts made me feel like I was about to snap. I figured if I just kept my calories to a minimum though, it’d all be okay.

“Come on Diane, GET UP!” shouted Dad from the kitchen. Guess I’d pushed my time limit on staying in bed.

Dad had the day off, so didn’t have to leave the house super early. The yell was the push I needed to sit up and grab my glasses. I sat on the side of my bed before taking a deep breath and standing up. Immediately the world faded away to darkness, and I felt my cold body fall to the floor. Dad ran into my room, apparently hearing the thud from the kitchen.

“Diane! Honey, are you alright?!” he cried. I tried to shakily get up, but I could hardly register what had happened. My arms kept giving out, making me fall back to the ground.

“I-I’m fine…” I mumbled as Dad helped me back onto my bed. “Just got l-l-lightheaded… and fell…”

“Lay back, and stay down,” he commanded.

“B-but school, and-”

“No. You can’t go to school like this. I’m not allowing it.”

He forced me back, and before I knew it, I was back where I started. Freezing under layers of blankets and struggling to get up. Dad made sure that didn’t happen though.

“I knew this was going to happen sooner or later! It was just a matter of time before it happened!” He sighed and looked at me. “Now do you see why I worry?”

“Dad, I-I’m f-fine-”

“No you’re not!” he exclaimed, raising his voice. “Damn it Diane, why can’t you see it?! I’m watching my daughter die right in front of me, your siblings are watching their sister die, and you don’t care!!! You’re the only one who thinks this is fine and I don’t know why!”

I was completely taken aback by the outburst. I knew he cared, but not this is too much for me to handle! It looked too much for him to handle too; the grown man looked on the verge of tears.

“Alright…” I said, not wanting to stress him out any more. “I’ll stay home, okay?”

“Thank you,” he sighed, taking my hand. “There’s just one more thing I want to ask you to do for me, alright?”

“Oh he is NOT going to play that card!”

“Can you please, without arguments, eat what I give you? At least for today. We can work on the other days later.”

“Do I have to…?” I whined.

“Please, Diane? For us.”

This was really a first; I’d never seen dad plead with me before. He was usually good at being strict and keeping us in line, but I had been stepping way out of line for way too long and he hadn’t stopped me. Pleading with me must’ve been his final gambit of sorts.

“...Fine,” I sighed. I did it just to make him happy and to see him not worried about me anymore. When I gave my answer, he looked so happy that I thought he would have cried. He hugged me tightly, crushing my chest before getting up.

“Thank you, thank you!” he cried, backing out of the room excitedly while gesturing for me to sit still. “I’m going to go grab breakfast, ok? I-I’ll be right back!”

He ran off to the kitchen and I relaxed, but started thinking. If Robin found out, she was probably going to come over here and give me what for. Might snap me in two if she found out in a bad mood.

Dad came back a few minutes later with breakfast, which consisted of peanut buttered toast with an assortment of fruit. I did some quick mental math and figured it was around 400 calories. Surprisingly reasonable. Suspiciously reasonable… If it wasn’t for the peanut butter, it would’ve been something normal for me. With it, the meal was just slightly on the higher end of caloric intake, but at least it wasn’t like a thousand calories.

“Is that ok?” Dad asked optimistically.

“I think so,” I nodded, waiting for him to go away while I ate. Being able to scrape off the peanut butter would shave off about 200 calories and make things easier. But Dad didn’t leave at all, and just sat down and watched me. I gave him a funny look.

“What?” he asked, giving me his own confused look. “I’m making sure you eat your food. I’m not stupid, Diane. If I left you’d probably scrape your peanut butter into the trash or something stupid. Don’t think I don’t know how this goes down.”

“Come on Dad, that’s stupid,” I laughed nervously.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, arms folded. “That’s why I’m still here.”

I sighed and tore off a piece of toast. I had to hold up my end of the deal. I dug my grave; time to lie in it. I tried to convince myself that it was for the better. Tomorrow I’d have lots of energy to exercise and burn off even more! Dad talked to me while I ate, which I think was to distract me, but it really didn’t work well.

The rest of the day went pretty much like that. About every three hours Dad would bring me something to eat, I would hold in a breakdown, and then I’d sleep. Dad seemed to want me to eat three meals and three snacks, which means by 3:00 I was already over my daily allowance, and was definitely going to gain weight. All day I had to listen to Diana screaming about how I had to purge all this crap. The thing is though, that if I tried to get out of bed I’d black out. Dad had to help me to the washroom, and if I purged while he was waiting outside, he wouldn’t be a happy camper.

I was pretty surprised that Robin hadn’t texted me asking where I was like she normally did when I was absent. I guess she just waited to come to my house in person though, because she came over right when school was out. I heard Dad tell her the whole story, and I heard her grow progressively more angry. Before long, she practically busted down my door.

“Diane!” she furiously roared with tears in her eyes. “You stupid brick! Your dad told me what happened! Are you a complete idiot or something?!” She ran over and threw her arms around me, and I could feel her shaking.

“A… a ‘how’s it going’ would’ve been nice too…” I said softly, not quite knowing what to say. I thought she’d come in saying “I told you so” or something like that. Not giving me a hug. It melted away the pissed off mood I had from being forced to eat. “You’re… not mad?”

“Mad?!” Robin asked, releasing the hug. “God Diane, I’m furious! I’m fuming, absolutely steaming!” She turned to me and I could see those tears in her eyes again. “But I’m more glad you’re not in the hospital or dead.”

“Don’t worry, Dad’s got me eating so much that I should be good by tomorrow.”

“That’s not how it works,” she said with a raised brow.

“Well I’ll gain a couple pounds and that’ll make me healthier, right? You guys are always saying something like that.”

“Diane, eating right or one day doesn’t fix months of damage.”

“What damage?”

“Really Diane? What damage?” Robin asked with an unamused tone. “Last time I checked, you literally can’t get out of bed.”

“Ok, today was a rough patch. But tomorrow I’ll be better, I promise!”

“I’ve heard you promise something like that before,” she said disdainfully. “Look at where we are now.”

My pissy mood immediately crept back into me. I shot her a glare for that last remark.

“Oh don’t be a baby,” she huffed. “You know you need to eat more. Not to mention you should be at least 30lbs heavier than you are now! So no, a couple pounds isn’t a problem solver. It’s maybe a starting point for recovery.”

“What recovery are you talking about?!” I snarled. “I don’t need to get any fatter than I am!” Robin’s face was one of pure disbelief and fed-upness.

“For the love of… Diane, if you don’t eat, I’ll cram it down your throat myself.”

“You wouldn’t.” I hissed, secretly feeling fear from the memory of Grammy doing the exact thing.

“Try me, Coutiere.” she growled.

“I don’t need more weight! I’m only like 80 lbs or something! Not even that thin!”

And there was my lesson in learning to watch my mouth. It turns out numbers are a big no-no to just shout like that. Robin’s face went from furious red to volcanic. She grabbed the collar of my shirt with her fist.

“From now on,” she said coldly, gritting her teeth and posing her words like a threat. “You will eat three meals a day. Three. Bloody. Meals. And if you don’t, I’ll take you to a hospital, and if you won’t go, I’ll send you there the hard way until they have a tube up your nose. Do I make myself clear?”

“…fine,” I mumbled.

“I couldn’t hear that.”

“I get it, I get it!” I whined. She let go and popped her knuckles.

“Who does she think she is, threatening you like that so she can just fatten you up?!”

I agreed with Diana. She wasn’t about to bust down everything I’d spent to build it up. I figured Robin would forget about it by tomorrow, so I didn’t think much of it.