Carson

My mother picked me up from the hospital after Melody was admitted. It was about midnight by the time I got into the car. The drive home was fairly quiet at first, but of course my mom wanted to know how Melody was doing.

"She's alive... she got a concussion when she fainted and she was steps away from organ failure, but she was lucky to get there when she did," I sighed.

"Oh my God, organ failure?" My mom exclaimed.

"Yeah everything was low in her system... blood sugar, electrolytes, blood pressure..." I explained. "She'll be there for a month to recover, but hopefully she'll be okay. I don't really want to talk about it right now. I'm tired."

"Okay sweetheart," my mom replied softly, as she turned the wheel.

***

The next day, I slept in until about noon, when my mom finally burst through my room door and told me to wake up. I was surprised she let me sleep long enough to miss school, but maybe by some mother's intuition she knew I didn't get to sleep until well past three in the morning, worrying about Melody. I kept replaying over and over how scary it was to see her faint in the hallway, how tiny and frail she looked in the hospital bed, all the times she pushed food away and I missed why.

After dragging on my clothes for the day, jeans and a knit sweater, I headed downstairs. Smells both salty and sweet greeted me at the foot of the steps, and I followed my nose into the kitchen. Waiting for me was a plate of bacon and chocolate chip pancakes.

"Thank you," I said sitting down at the table. My mom smiled at me from by the counter. She poured herself a cup of tea as I poured maple syrup on my pancakes. I knew she was buttering me up, waiting for me to talk, but I decided to eat quietly as she watched from afar.

Halfway through my plate, she wandered over and sat across from me.

"How are you this morning?" she asked.

"Mom, you're not even trying to be slick," I laughed. She laughed in response.

"I'm sorry! You're not saying anything! I was trying to wait," she replied. I shook my head and bit into a piece of bacon. After swallowing I sighed.

"I'm okay; just worried about her," I explained.

"Do they know why everything was so low in her system?" my mom asked. I nodded, pushing around a piece of pancake in syrup with my fork.

"Yeah, she wasn't really eating or sleeping," I replied.

"Because of the Diesel situation?" My mom asked.

"That was part of it... it was why she wasn't sleeping, but then she found out her stepmother was responsible for the car accident that killed her mom," I sighed.

"Oh my God," my mom's eyes widened.

"I mean, she wasn't eating very much before, but those two things certainly made it worse," I added. I ate a little bit more before deciding to speak again. "She has an eating disorder... anorexia. That's why she's going to be in the hospital for a month. I wish I had put the pieces together so she could have gotten help earlier."

"You can't beat yourself up about it. I missed it too, and there were plenty of signs. She never ate much here. I just chalked it up to modelling at first, and then the Diesel situation later on," my mom nodded.

"But I was so much closer. There were days she would skip a meal and say she wasn't hungry or already ate. Or when she'd only eat a few vegetables at lunch. I always assumed she went home and ate, or was just shy... There were even diet pills at one point, but she told me it was a one-time thing for modelling. I-I didn't think she needed help."

"She was good at hiding it. That's not on you," she said, holding my gaze until I finally nodded. "Okay, now, hurry and finish your breakfast, because though I'm letting you skip school, I'm not letting you mope around the house. We're going to do errands!"

"Fun," I said sarcastically. I gave my mom a cheeky grin and she laughed.

***

The next day, my mom dropped me off at school since I'd left my car there. When I entered the hallway, I got this weird feeling Melody must have gotten every time she stepped through the school doors. The stares of students crept across my body like hungry spiders. They whispered, some subtly, others more obviously, all conversations about Melody and I. While it didn't bother me too much, I understood how it could chip away at someone day by day.

As I got to my locker, I could see Harvey, Alani, Emma, and Noah gathered there, ready to pounce.

"Is she okay?"

"How is she?"

"Where is she?"

"She's okay," I said cautiously. "I will explain the rest at lunch; I feel like everyone's trying to listen in." We glanced around and met sets of eyes that quickly averted their gaze, confirming our suspicions.

"Freaking vultures," Harvey muttered.

***

When I got to the art room at lunch, I was the first one there. Ms. Foster glanced up and smiled softly. I closed the door and put my stuff down where I usually sat next to Melody. I felt a twinge of sadness knowing she wasn't going to be sitting here for the next month.

"I was worried when I didn't see you yesterday. How is Melody?" Ms. Foster asked.

"She's okay now but has a long way to go... she wanted me to thank you for being there for her."

"She's a wonderful person; I just wish she could see that," she said. Ms. Foster's eyebrows furrowed slightly, before she smiled slightly. "How are you?"

"Tired, worried, but fine," I replied.

A moment later, the door opened, and my friends trickled in one by one.

"Okay. So, what's happening with Melody?" Alani asked, tossing her backpack on a table. Harvey closed the door and edged over to Ms. Foster's desk where I was standing.

"From fainting, she only suffered a minor concussion..." I started. "She told me to explain, but none of this can be shared with anyone outside of this room. So, if anyone asks, she's simply sick and recovering."

"Or we can tell them to mind their damn business," Alani muttered.

"That works too," I smirked. "But she was admitted into the hospital, where she'll be staying for a month to recover from anorexia. Hopefully she'll come back to school afterwards, but that's essentially why she fainted."

"Anorexia?" Noah and Harvey gasped at the same time.

"Oh my gosh," Ms. Foster said.

"I can't believe we missed that," Emma sighed.

"Neither can I," Alani added. "She literally never ate around us and we didn't even think twice about it!"

"I know. I didn't catch it either and I was around her a lot as well... but she was very good at hiding what was going on. And there was a lot more than that going on with her..." I said.

"Exactly," Ms. Foster agreed. "You can't beat yourselves up about missing it. But what you can do is be there for her when she comes back and while she's in recovery. She's going to need her friends and all your support."

***

• Two Weeks Later •

Things had started to settle down at school after about two weeks. While people hadn't quite forgotten about Melody, she was no longer the hot topic to gossip about. There were far less stares directed towards me, and the whispers had seemed to almost disappear. People were accepting that she wasn't here, that they weren't getting answers, and were moving on.

I was grateful that I was no longer being overwhelmed with phony inquires of how she was doing. The truth was I didn't know, as Melody wasn't allowed a phone in her program. I also knew that outside of our friend group, people didn't really care. Either way, all I could do was hope she was doing better than the last time I saw her and try to distract myself with schoolwork.

I was on my way to chemistry class when suddenly Rose was standing in front of me. I wasn't sure if my surprise or my annoyance outweighed the other.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I just..." Rose looked around to make sure no one was paying her any attention. It was then I noticed that her friends weren't with her. "Is she okay?"

"Why do you care? Do you want to spread some gossip around? See what damage you can add?" I sneered. It was probably a little harsh, but the role she played in this made me furious.

"No, I-I just feel terrible about what happened..." She tucked her blonde hair behind her ears nervously and I waited for her to continue. "The Diesel thing was my fault. It – it was some dumb attempt to make you mad at her. I thought he would flirt with her, and she would be into it, and you'd walk in and see them. I didn't think he'd try to take it that far."

"You've been harassing her since day one Rose. And you knew what happened and spread the awful rumours about it afterwards!"

"They've all been stupid attempts to get you to leave her and – and maybe to win you back..." Rose said softly.

"Win me back?" I huffed incredulously.

"I see how that could be stupid now, but maybe we could start over and be friends. Like before."

"Friends. How I could I even like you after this?" I asked.

"Please Carson. I-I'm so, so sorry!" Rose begged. Her eyes were filled with water, and I could see the guilt on her face.

"Don't tell me you're sorry. Show Melody you are. Find a way to make this all right and stop being so horrible to people," I said firmly, before leaving her there alone in the hallway.

_____________

Author's Note: Hello hello! I hope you liked this chapter! It's a bit longer than I anticipated AND it's Carson's point of view so what a treat! 25 days into the new year, I hope it's all treating you well! Let me know what you think of this chapter and what you think might happen next! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up and ready for you really soon!

PS. follow me on instagram! I'm posting covers now and all my artsy writing spaces haha! my username is @brittany.p.w