Four Days Later

I think the only thing that got me up was knowing that it was Friday. So I tumbled out of bed, stumbled to the kitchen, poured myself a cup of ambition, and- Ah, just kidding, I went back to sleep because I couldn’t be bothered. I’ll take Mom yelling in my ear today.

“Sophie!” screeched the horror from the depths that was my mother. “Out of bed or I get the spray bottle again!”

Shit, I’m not getting sprayed again. I don’t know how long the water’s been in that bottle, but it’s old enough that one spray and you’ll be smelling it all day. It’s probably a biohazard by now, but Mom thinks it’s a great motivator.

“I’m up, I’m up!”

I ran out of my room with a bundle of clothes in my arms and almost tripped over Ben, who was running to the kitchen. He really needed glasses or something I swear, because he was always almost bumping into people and things. I don’t know how much they’d help if he still never paid attention anyway though. Even when he wasn’t reading comics, I swear he’s still in his own world most of the time.

I made it to the bathroom and checked my phone. Yeah, I definitely didn’t have enough time to take a shower and make it to school. I threw on some nicer clothes as fast as I could and started working on my hair, then a bit of makeup. Sometimes I’d go to put on lipstick and find it just missing without any warning. Usually when Ben runs out of red coloring for his drawings. That’s pretty much when I know he needs more art supplies.

By the time I made it out, Dad was waiting by the door giving me the “why can’t you just get up at your alarm” look again. Ben was also waiting, tapping his feet nervously. I know not being on time made him anxious, so I decided I’d fly through making lunch and breakfast. I took the box of cereal and poured it into a small bag, which I zipped up and left on the counter. Boom, breakfast for the car ride.

I started throwing my lunch together when I noticed something weird. Tucked into the corner of the pantry was Ben’s lunchbox. Empty too.

“Ben!” I shouted, taking out the lunchbox and throwing it to him. “Pack your lunch, dude.”

“Oh… thanks sis,” he mumbled, taking the box and beginning to put food into it. He looked strangely reluctant about doing it though. Of course, he’s been acting kinda off lately anyway. Can’t place how, but he’s just been. He’s quiet and goes off on his own normally, yeah, but it’s like he’s just more… distant in a way. It could just be me though. I’ll ask Dad about it later and see if he’s noticed anything too.

“Hey, wait.” I said, stopping him. I swiped his lunch bag and looked inside. “You forgot your sandwich. Here, just take mine.”

“But we’ll-”

“We’ll still be on time. Just a bit later.”

I shoved my sandwich in his bag and watched him slowly put it in his backpack. As he turned away to go back to the door I started making another sandwich, and stopped him again.

“Hey, Ben.”

“Yeah?”

“You know you can tell me whatever, right?”

“...Yeah.”

“Did you leave your lunch on purpose?”

“No,” he rushed out. “I just forgot. Honest.”

Before I asked anything else, he walked out of the kitchen and was probably standing next to Dad at the door again. Well now I know something wasn’t right. Just not what or why. I just knew it was affecting my brother, and I couldn’t have that…

*   *   *   *   *

The girls and I hadn’t gone out at night since our small fight on Monday. I was hoping that maybe we could talk about it again and just smooth it over. Maybe I could even get them to come out tonight and do something together. Anyway, the three of us were sitting together in our Biology class just doing busywork.

“Which chemical makes you hungry again?” asked Brittany, scratching her head. “Because I’m pretty sure it’s ghrelin,”

“It could also be orexin,” said Maria.

“The crossword clue has ten spots, Mars.” she said.

“Oh.”

“I think it’s ‘orexigenic’.” I said

“Well, it fits,” yawned Maria.

“What about the one that stops hunger?” Brittany asked.

“Are you going to actually do your own work, Britt?” I laughed.

“I forgot to take notes on the endocrine unit! Give me a break.”

We all heard a bell ring and my classmates started packing up. While I put my stuff away and went to turn my paper in, Brittany looked like she was begging Maria and I.

“Come on Sophs, I just need this last one!”

“Just that one?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her half-empty crossword.

“Well… maybe just a couple more?”

“Ask the teacher for an extension maybe?” Maria proposed.

“I can’t ask her for another extension for a fourth assignment in a row.”

“Your loss then,” I said. “Just do it during lunch then.”

“Fine,” she said bitterly, folding the paper up and taking a pencil with her.

The three of us grabbed our food and walked out into the lunchroom. School cafeterias are just absolute jungles, I’m telling you. People talking and milling around, trying to filch the best food from you and trying to run away from the lunch lady with extra portions. I don’t blame them though, because I think that school lunch has basically no nutrients. I think eating it would actually speed up malnutrition.

We made our way over to the table where Cadence and Megan were already seated, chatting it up. The others started talking right away, but I just took out my lunch and started eating away. I didn’t always have a lot to say really; unlike some people, I liked to save my mouth for saying actual meaningful things instead of spewing which Victoria’s Secrets model looks the prettiest.

“Sophs,” Brittany said, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed. “What hormone do the adrenal glands release?”

“Britt, you’re killing me here.” I glanced back at everyone else. “I was thinking maybe tonight we all could go out again, actually.” I was met with mostly silence.

“That would be fun,” smiled Maria, taking a bite of an apple. Cadence stayed silent.

“I just don’t know…” Megan said.

“But we love going out!” Maria reasoned. “We always have! Spending time together is what we do.” Megan darted her eyes to Cadence, as if to look for a sign of approval.

“Well… I just-”

“She’s right,” Cadence interrupted. “We’re all besties, so let’s just take another night out already and act like it.”

“It couldn’t hurt, I guess,” said Megan. Suck up lapdog.

“And Sophs,” she said, beaming towards me. “What happened last time, I wasn’t thinking, so it’s all water under the bridge.”

I don’t know if she was asking if we were fine, or if she was telling me that we were fine whether I liked it or not. Either way, I was willing to just suck it up and play along like nothing was wrong until it all smoothed over. Maybe I didn’t care for Cadence as much, or maybe even Megan, but it was for Brittany and mostly Maria.

“Yeah, it’s all… uh, it’s… I…”

I’ll admit, I got distracted mid-apology. In the distance behind her, I could see Ben sitting at a lunch table with other kids his age. My problem was that kids his age were assholes, and they were proving my point by letting me just watch them reach into his lunchbox and take whatever they want. 

It, once again, was weird though. Normally Ben just sat by himself and ate. And he would’ve probably ran before letting his lunch get snatched up like that. At least he would’ve normally, but he’s been acting weird, so this probably wasn’t helping.

“Hey, Sophs,” Brittany said, waving her hand. “You having a stroke or something?”

I had apparently just been mumbling over and over for about a minute straight and everyone at the table looked at least mildly concerned about it. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes.

“Sorry, no I’m just tired.” I said. “I need a second though.”

I stood up and walked over to Ben’s table. I think all the kids could tell I wasn’t about to come to just talk, because the second Igot there they started inching away from me. I looked actively pissed at the people still eating his food.

“Ben, you’re just going to let them take your lunch?” I asked. He shrugged.

“I don’t really care,” he mumbled. Unbelievable. Like, for real. I turned to his classmates, who I think were starting to realize just how pissed I was.

“Who wants to give his lunch back?”

I kid you not that everyone, even the ones who didn’t take any lunch, ran from the table the second I said that. Even Ben gave me this slightly cowering stare. I gave a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a groan.

“When we get home you’re having a bigger snack. In the meantime, here.” I tossed him my sandwich. “Eat it.”

“But-”

“Eat it,” I said, growling slightly. He ate it without complaints.

I walked back to the table, worried about Ben’s lack of caring about, you know, eating his lunch. Ben cares a lot about really small things, and I think eating was one of them. Ate like, the same thing every day without complaint, and I think he kinda liked it. I just wondered why he would suddenly flip a switch to not want to have his lunch today…

“Hey Britt,” I said, turning my head back to her.

“Hm? Yeah?”

“It’s anorexigenic.”

“What?”

“The answer to 14 down on the crossword, the hormone that stops the body from feeling hunger anymore, it’s anorexigenic.”