I could feel the fear creeping inside of my stomach. The oceans that kept me stranded began rocking me pretty rough. This was a storm I had to make it through; I looked Mel in eye and asked, “Where do we start?”

Chapter 18 Not a Punching Bag

The next day, I knew what I had to do, but I was scared. Mel told me to meet up with her after school. Going back to school that day made me nervous. There had been no sign of Lewis. He’d taken a shot to his ego, being beaten up by a girl in front of a crowd of students. I was sure there was a video of it somewhere. Kids filmed everything. It was the lunch hour, and I sat underneath the stairwell with Donny and Mel. I’d decided I should come clean to Donny. I told him I had an eating disorder, and I told him about the purging. He sat against the wall with a look of concern and confusion.

“Wow, Adrian. I honestly had no idea that’s what you’ve been doing,” Donny said.

“Yeah. Not a lot of people do.”

“You need to take care of yourself, bro. For real.”

“I know.”

Telling Donny about my eating disorder was awkward at first. I thought that speaking to men about insecurities was weird, but it turned out not to be so bad.

“Is there anything I can do to help, Adrian? I’m here for you, man.”

“Thanks, Donny. I’m still working on myself, but I’ll let you know. I appreciate it.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there yesterday. My phone was dead.”

“It’s all good, man. We took care of it. Well, Mel took care of it.”

I looked over to Mel. She grinned. Mel and Donny seemed to be polar opposites sometimes, but she knew I loved him like a brother. He was my brother, so it was time we learned to talk about the difficult things.

“Boys never like to talk about real stuff, but I’m glad you two just did,” Mel said. “I hope you’re ready for later, AC.”

“What’s going on later?” Donny asked.

Mel’s grin turned devilish.

“We’re causing anarchy and vandalism. We’re going to write on the side of the school, ‘LEWIS GOT BEAT UP BY A GIRL!’ And tomorrow his fragile ego will have him falling apart before our very eyes.”

Donny laughed. “There’s no way you two dweebs are spray painting the side of the school. What are you really doing?”

“We’re breaking my scale,” I said. “It’s time to let go of that stupid thing.”

Donny’s face lit up with excitement.

“After all you told me, that’s the dopest shit ever, my dude.”

He put his hand up and gave me props.

“You know, man, I know I’m not a very complimentary person, but I’m proud of you, Adrian. You made a huge transformation, bro. Not even just body wise. But you’re more mature, and you’re owning everything, even your mistakes. I’m proud to call you my friend. You’re friggin’ awesome, Adrian.”