“I didn’t get any surgery.” I tried walking away. It seemed like every time someone asked a question, another person appeared, until I was surrounded. I was overwhelmed, and my heart began beating like a drum.

“Hey, come on, guys. Leave him alone.” Donny stood up and tried to say something. His words got lost in the crowd.

“I NEED some weight-loss advice, Adrian. I’ve been trying to lose ten pounds since September,” I heard.

“You’re actually starting to look really cute,” another said.

“What an inspiration you are. I mean, unless you got liposuction.”

I hated it. My body wasn’t a circus act. I was allowed to feel human. I didn’t know what to say or how to reply. I wasn’t used to any of it. I felt like my sudden wave of popularity was skin deep and the skin I was residing in at that moment didn’t feel like home. I felt like I was standing in front of an audience, but didn’t know my lines. I’d never liked attention, so it was weird. Most of the time when I got attention was when people were making fun of me, but this was different. People were treating me different ever since I lost the weight. It made my mind race and my stomach turn.

Nobody would back off, and I felt trapped. That was until I heard a loud whistle that grabbed everyone’s attention. Everyone looked up, and there she was. Everyone’s head turned to Melody.

“Listen,” she said in a stern voice. “If he isn’t responding to any of you, leave him alone.” Her words vibrated through the crowd.

“We’re just giving him compliments, calm down,” a guy said.

“Does he look like he’s enjoying them?” Mel shot back.

I was visibly shaking.

“Whatever,” the guy replied. Shortly after the crowd died down.

Mel jumped off the table. She approached me, and I kept my head down. She looked at me like she didn’t even know me anymore. When I did see her in the hall, her emotions seemed caught between anger and sadness. She was still angry with me for lying to her, but deep down I think she felt bad. I was still the same person. I just had a new body. Not everyone else knew that. Everyone else saw me as this inspirational superhero who defied all odds. In reality, I was ruining the only body I would ever have.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” I said.

Mel let out a sigh and I stayed silent.

“Hey . . .uh,” Donny said, “I’m going to leave before this gets awkward.”

“Yeah. You do that, Donny,” Mel replied.

Donny left, and there we stood.

I could feel Mel’s eyes following up the sleeves of my arm.

“I only ever see you in sleeves now, you have excess skin, don’t you?”

She could see right through me. She was right. I did have excess skin. I had a doctor’s appointment the next afternoon about it. But nobody knew besides me. Not even my mom knew about it.