"Are you going to eat that?" Sonya asks me suddenly. She points at the other half of my sandwich sitting in my lunch box uneaten.

I shrug. "Do you want it?" I ask finally, although I already know what the answer is going to be.

She narrows her eyes at me. "Sure... if you're sure you don't want it." She looks at me and I shrug again. I would eat it but I'm not particularly hungry at the moment. Sonya takes my shrug as a yes and grabs at the leftovers of my ham and cheese sandwich and devours it in three bites.

After wiping her mouth and hands with a napkin, she looks at me with her piercing blue eyes. "You know, Ari, this is why you're so skinny. You don't eat anything!" She looks at me and laughs. "You should eat more. Gain some weight."

I shrug off the hidden insult and laugh. "Well, maybe I would eat more if I didn't have somebody always eating my lunch every day!" I laugh at her some more to show that I don't mean any harm by my words.

She throws her hands up in the air in mock innocence, rolling her eyes. "Well, you could say no, you know! And besides, your mom makes amazing lunches! It's not my fault that they're so good!"

Shaking my head, I sigh. "You know very well that I can't say no, Sonya. I never say no to anyone. I'm too nice for that." It's true. I can't say no to people, even if I really don't want to do something. Sonya looks pityingly at me and pats me on the shoulder.

"You are. Too nice, I mean. You should be meaner." That's Sonya for you. Instead of offering advice on how to fix your hair, she says things like "eat more" and "be meaner". She's notorious for being rather... rude and crude, shall we say, to people who aren't her friends. None of the boys particularly like her for it. It doesn't matter who it is—she'll say anything to anyone. We hated each other at first sight when we met but since then have grown to become close friends for unknown reasons. Maybe we both just needed a friend and found it in each other.

"Okay, I'll try to be meaner," I say, rolling my eyes and not meaning the words. "Now..." I dig through my lunchbox. "You want my chips?" I ask when I find the bag.

She grins. "No. I will not deprive you of your food any longer. Don't you want to gain weight?"

"Yeah, I guess." I sigh and open the chips and start eating. Suddenly, I don't feel like food anymore, though technically, I'm almost never hungry. It's a weird thing about me. All of my friends are always eating (and they're still supermodel weight for some unknown reason) and they think I'm strange for not liking to eat. In fact, I think I'm strange. But I can't help it. Food plus me does not equal happiness like it would for somebody else. I eat to survive and that's it. If I had a choice between eating and not eating and I would still be able to live I would honestly choose not eating.

She didn't mean anything by it, but sometimes Sonya says things that kind of get to me, especially when they're about my weight. It's not my fault I'm skinny. I do try to eat, but I'm picky and things don't particularly taste good and besides, I'm trying to become a vegetarian. I am not anorexic or bulimic or have any other eating disorder, contrary to popular beliefs throughout the school, and I actually like to eat a lot of fatty things, like sugary foods and dessert and soda and the occasional junk food, but they don't seem to make me gain an ounce. If I eat, I stay the same. A lot of girls actually envy me, though if they knew the real struggles, they wouldn't.

"Are you taking the bus after school today?" Sonya asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I sigh at her words and stand up and move to a shadier spot since the sun is making me feel sticky and gross. Sonya follows me, dragging her backpack across the ground and taking a seat in front of me.

To answer her question, I nod. "Yeah, I'm taking the bus. I'm going to the library. Same as always." I sometimes hate going to the library but I have to go since my mom refuses to give me a house key, saying that I can't stay home alone, even though I'm almost fifteen. It's completely unfair but I can't change the rules that my mom makes. And trust me, there are a lot of them. Maybe it's because of said rules that I've never had a boyfriend.

"I'm coming today, too," Sonya says and I brighten at her words. If I have a friend on the bus, it'll be so much better!

"Why?" I ask suspiciously. She never takes the bus and I can't help but wonder why she is suddenly deciding to today.

She rolls her eyes and grabs a pen from my backpack, clicking and unclicking it as she talks. "Dad is making me. I have homework for science and it has to be done at the library. But..." she pauses, "we can photoshoot for our Instagrams while we're there!" She giggles and so do I. We love to photoshoot though we've only ever taken one good picture together, which is on my feed.

"In the library?" I ask uncertainly. I like the librarians and I don't want to be kicked out forever.

"Yeah! There's that outdoor garden that we can take really artsy pictures in with books and everything! Make it seem like we're smart." Then she pauses. "Well, like I'm smart. You're already smart." I roll my eyes.

"Oh stop," I say, smiling. But it is what I'm known for, not to brag. And it's not like Sonya is dumb, though she insists she is.

"Okay, then it's a deal. Let's meet up after school," she says. The bell rings, signaling that lunch is over and it's time for me to head to PE and her to English (lucky). We throw away our respective trash and part ways and I can't help but let out a sigh. I hate PE.

After I change out in the locker room, we head out to the field and start our football drills. I partner with Genn and we throw the football back and forth between each other. I'm really bad at it, but Genn is almost worse so we make a good team.

"We're the best in the class!" I say as I chuck the ball haphazardly. She laughs at me and catches the ball, much to both of our surprise.

"Yes!" I cheer for her. Ms. Janey walks over.

"What's the matter, girls?" She looks bored and hot and I would be too if I had to stand outside all day in this humid weather watching people throw a football back and forth.

"Nothing. She just caught the ball," I say when I realize that Genn isn't going to say anything.

She looks unimpressed. "Well. Good job, Genn," she says, walking away with a strange expression on her face, muttering to herself.

Genn giggles. "That was funny." Then, shading her eyes with her hand, she looks up, the ball on the floor beside her. "She should let us inside. I'm dying out here in the heat! Let's go get some water." We walk over to the outdoor water fountain that's near the storage shed for our outdoor PE equipment. She takes a long drink and grimaces. I refuse to drink from the thing. The water tastes like old rusty metal.

Wrinkling her nose, Genn manages to gripe, "Disgusting."

"I know," I say, nodding my agreement.

We go back to throwing the ball again and all of a sudden, a queer dizzy spell overcomes me and I sit down on the grass. "Genn... I don't feel so good."

"Really? Are you okay?" she asks, jogging over to me.

"I don't know. I just... let's go talk to Ms. Janey." We trudge over to her, though my head is still spinning. She takes one look at me and says, "Go sit down in those bleachers," she orders, pointing at our outdoor metal bleachers. "Heatstroke." She lets Genn go with me and we walk over and sit down. I wince as the metal burns my legs which are bare since I'm wearing girls' gym shorts.

"I probably should have eaten some more at lunch," I say, groaning to myself. "I have no energy left!"

"Maybe it's just the heat," Genn offers. "Like Ms. Janey said."

"No, I think it's food deprivation. I'm going to go eat something as soon as class is over."

Ms. Janey blows her whistle after a few more torturous minutes. "Class is over!"

"Thank the Lord," Genn groans as we walk out of the bleachers. I still feel faint but as soon as I make it to the cool relief of the locker rooms, I'm sure I'll feel better, so I force my feet to keep moving up the long hill that leads up towards the school and off of the field.

"Finally. At last," I sigh in relief as we reach the door. We almost run into the locker room and moan as the cool air from the fan inside hits us.

"I feel so much better now," I say, fanning myself. "But I'm still gonna eat what's left of my lunch." I walk over to where I left my backpack and grab a bag of cookies and some applesauce that is so immature that I can't help but snort.

"Okay. Tell me if you feel better," Genn says as she watches me eat.

"I will," I promise.

This can't happen again. I need to start eating some more.

That was the first chapter! It's completely rewritten and it's much better. I hope you all liked it! Please vote, comment, and share! Thanks!
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