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“I’m so sorry. I understand why that would mean so much to you. Does that have something to do with why you passed out? Were you stressed?” Ms. Dominique spoke with genuine concern and empathy. “Well, I was kind of stressed. But that wasn’t why I passed out.” The nurse sat down beside her on the couch in her office. “I haven’t eaten in a week and a half. I felt so self-conscious after I heard them talking, that I stopped eating. I need to lose weight, but I’ve tried everything. Diets, exercise… They all just lead to me getting sick again and gaining more weight than I lost. The doctors are saying that if I don’t start losing weight, then that could have a huge impact on my immune system, and it could completely fail.” Ms. Dominique nodded her head in agreement. “If it fails… I can’t fight off anymore sicknesses, and my body could shut down as well.” There was a short silence before Amada spoke again. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You’re a nurse.” They both let out a small, but greatly needed, laugh. “How about you start eating again today? Because if you haven’t already realized, your body needs food in order to function properly.” She smiled and Amada nodded. “Thank you. For everything. I just needed to vent and get that weight lifted from my shoulders, and I feel much better.” With that final note, she left Ms. Dominique’s office and headed to the cafeteria so she could finally start to eat again.
    On her way to the cafeteria, she saw everyone staring at her. More than usual. Among those people were Gillian and Bryce. Bryce came up to talk to her. “Hey Amada! How are you feeling?” She forced a smile. “Wonderful,” she said and walked away. But he knew her better than that. He followed her and when he caught up to her, he said, “You’re lying. Tell me the truth.” She rolled her eyes and kept walking. So, then he placed his hand on her shoulder and she stopped walking. She smacked it off of her and turned around to look at him. She was so mad that her face may have been turning red. Bryce was completely clueless and shocked. “Okay, fine! You want to know what’s wrong? You! You and that backstabbing snake Gillian!” She didn’t even know she was crying, but she was. “I heard the two of you in the hallway talking about me. How I make her look bad, how she doesn’t even give a crap about me… and you didn’t even stand up for me.” Her voice trailed off as she looked down at her feet and the tears flowed from her eyes. She wasn’t quite sobbing because she was trying to stay strong. She looked up at Bryce. Tears were welled up in his eyes. “Oh my god…” he said looking her in her eyes. “You really think I didn’t stand up for you?” Amada’s face didn’t change. She was so hurt. “Yeah, I do. While she was talking to you, the only thing you did was nod. You didn’t say anything!” Bryce looked up at her as a tear ran down his face. Amada noticed that he was crying, and she looked shocked.
     She knew there was something she missed in the hallway, but she also noticed everyone in the hallway was staring at them. So, she turned away from Bryce and walked to the cafeteria. Bryce just stood there and watched her leave. He wiped his tears away with his sleeve and began to walk to the bathroom, but everyone’s eyes followed him. He soon realized that, so he stopped in his tracks. He didn’t even look back when he said, “Show’s over,” and started walking again. When he got to the bathroom, he washed his face off with water and a paper towel. He stared at himself in the mirror and mumbled to himself, “She really thinks I didn’t stand up for her.”