Rhi

As soon as Group was over a yawn racked through my body as I walked through the corridors of the sixth floor. I used my secret elevator and soon I was in my room and I took off my shoes at the door before shutting it, I'd actually taken a detour and went to organize Artemis' med-cart while he was still out. I walked further into my room and started getting ready for bed. I slipped into a pair of plaid pants and a tank top after stripping out of my day clothes.

I started shuffling my stuff around to get my backpack ready for school tomorrow. I shuffled my novels around on my desk before being content with it and walking over to my med-cart and taking my before-dinner medication. Another yawn racked through me as I swayed on my feet from fatigue. I was considerably tired, it wasn't much of a surprise seeing as I hadn't eaten much at breakfast nor at lunch and I was currently missing dinner.

Before my mind could dive deeper into my constant not eating, my iPad started ringing. When I'd finally reached it I noticed that it was a FaceTime from my dad and I excitedly answered. I settled onto my bed and placed the iPad in front of me.

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted as his face came into view and he was spotting a similar outfit to mine. I exaggeratedly waved at him and bubbling laughter came from him as he shook his head in humor. "How are you?" He asked as he shifted his glasses up with his forefinger.

"I'm living it up in Holby Hospital," I said enthusiastically, giving him two thumbs up. He shook his head. "I know it's pretty cool that we look like twins but why are you in pajamas during broad-daylight and why is it daytime there?" I asked.

"Always with the keen eye," he said pausing to push up his glasses. "It's not only pajamas, they are more than that. And it's bright out because I'm in South Africa, a whole other time zone. Your grandma has been sick and uncle Clement passed away, so I had to abruptly come home," he explained with his hazel eyes focused on mine through the laptop. "I actually thought your mom would tell you," he added before searching his light stubble.

"She doesn't like talking about you," I said in a whisper and his eyes fell to look at something on the floor, he looked sad. "She's also on a ridiculous diet," I said jokingly and he looked up, his interest piqued. "She basically eats one cracker for breakfast, lunch and dinner," I added. His expression turned to one of concern and so did mine. "She says she's got it under control but you know how anorexia works, she needs you," I said and he nodded his head.

My eyes flickered to his bald head for the first time during the call and a bubble of laughter ripped through my body and tears rushed to the corners of my eyes. "What..." I tried to speak but couldn't do it through the laughing. "What's with the bald look?" I asked after containing myself but ended up bursting into laughter not even a second after speaking. "Divorce habits gotten to you already?" I blurted out before I could stop myself and ended up laughing even harder and so did he.

There was a tap on the glass and I looked up to see Abby asking who I was talking to. I picked up the iPad and turned it towards her. My dad exclaimed, "oh Abby! I've missed you kiddo!" Abby greeted back with much enthusiasm before I turned back the iPad. "Really good that you guys have stuck through it together," he said, "well apart from you guys being in a hospital." He chuckled nervously. "Are Rya and Charming there too?" He asked and I nodded in response. "At least the bandits are still together," he added.

"So the lack of hair?" I teased before laughing out loud.

"Just preparing myself," he simply put it and I beckoned him to elaborate. "In most South African cultures we shave our heads when we have a deceased loved one. It's an elaborate way of cleansing yourself and starting afresh with that person being at peace," he spoke. "You really need to be more learned in your African heritage," he said pointing a finger at me.

"Well, I can't really say it's my fault that I'm blindsided seeing as you've taken another elaborate trip to South Africa without me after I've begged you to take me with you on countless occasions," I say smugly.

This goes on for a little more before a nurse walks in to tell me that it's time for lights out, I acknowledge her before she leaves and I turn back to my dad. "It's been good seeing you, little Rhi or not-so-little Rhi rather. I promise I'll see you soon." He said before waving goodbye and we hung up.

I placed the iPad aside but before I could settle into bed there was a knock on my door and Rya barged into the now dark room with a torch in her on hand. "Let's go," she whispered and before I could ask anything she had me by the arm and was tugging me out to the corridor. I put on my slippers before walking out with her and I wasn't surprised to find the bandits outside but I was surprised to find O'Rein along with them.

I pulled Rya back before whispering, "O'Rein, huh?" She looked at me as if I'd grown an extra boob on my forehead. "Don't look at me like I dont know what's going on here, you like her," I said but whispered the last part so that no one could hear. "Really risking catching some bacteria from her just cause you like her?" I whispered again before she could say anything.

"Maybe I like her, maybe I don't, who knows?" She said as she walked away from me.

"Gay!" I yelled out to her and she flipped me the middle finger before grumbling about how she wasn't gay but was actually bisexual.

Abby linked our arms at the elbows as she laughed at Rya and I. It wasn't a secret that Rya was bisexual and she'd gone through her handful of crushes, me included. She hadn't made it a big deal and that's how we got over it and are still friends regardless of it all. But her liking another CFer, that was something entirely risky.

We made our way into the freezer by the light that our cellphone torches shone and soon we found ourselves sitting in the freezer with spoons in our hands and tubs of ice cream in our hands. Everyone one sat with an ice-cream tub between their legs as we shared useless conversations. O'Rein sat six feet away from Rya but they still looked very much content with their closeness, which was actually not much. They seemed drawn to each other, it was something I couldn't place my finger on quite yet.

"So O'Rein, what's your sexuality looking like?" Amsterdam asked bluntly and I reached a hand over to slap him upside the head.

"You don't ask about that, you dip," Rya said as she reached over to do exactly what I'd done. This left Amsterdam rubbing his head with an annoyed look on his face.

"It's actually cool, I'm gay," O'Rein spoke as she ran a hand through her midnight-black hair and her green eyes gleamed with mischief.

"So bottom half or top?" Amsterdam went on to ask and we all cringed at how nonchalant he seemed about asking such personal questions.

"I actually don't consort to any of those, we'll see once I've found a girlfriend on who plays which role. I don't want her restricted to one thing just because I decided on it," O'Rein answered as nonchalant as the question had come. She turned her sharp green eyes back to Rya to continue their conversation. To say she was beautiful was an understatement, O'Rein looked like she was just modeling or acting as a CFer to raise awareness or for a movie. From her straight black bob to her piercing green eyes; you would never guess that there was something wrong with her.

Just as we were falling back into our individual conversations there were sounds of heavy footsteps before the door was roughly opened. We all tried to scurry away and hide, thinking we had just been busted by Jaclyn. The moment I saw the heavy black boots I stopped and looked over to see Artemis standing in the doorway. When they all realized that it was actually Artemis they all stopped.

"Oh, my god, really?" Rya said exasperatedly before we all settled back down with our tubs of ice cream.

"I'm actually very wounded," Artemis said before placing his hand over his heart, faking hurt. "I actually thought we were best friends, and best friends always hang out together," Artemis said as if he was actually hurt.

"Oh! Shut up, would you?" O'Rein said before tossing him a clean spoon and a tub of ice cream.

He settled down along with us in the cold freezer until a long while later when we heard the footsteps of an oncoming person. We returned all the tubs back to the shelves and hid our spoons away before we ducked out of the freezer and all made a run for our individual rooms.

. . .

I was jostled awake by my phone chirping on my bedside table and I squinted my eyes to avoid the harsh sun rays pouring into my room through the curtains. I grabbed the phone off the table but before I could even open the message my room door was opened and I turned to look at the doorway where Rome, one of the male nurses, had just entered.

"You have to wake up," he said as he went to check that the medicine for yesterday had all been taken by looking at my med-cart. "Your mom is in the cafeteria, waiting for you," he spoke as he pulled the curtains open further more and I cringed at the sun. "Also some nurse noticed that you weren't at dinner last night and decided to tell Jaclyn, so you better have a good excuse made up for Jaclyn's interrogation," he informed before I thanked him and he left to go about his business.

I groaned as I remembered that he'd said my mom was waiting in the cafeteria. I begrudgingly got out of bed and went through my morning routine to look half-decent in grey sweatpants and a white shirt. I grabbed my phone and a scrunchy before making my way to the cafeteria. I walked downstairs with my phone clutched between my lips, earphones hanging loosely out of one of my sweatpants pockets and my hands trying to get ahold of all the strands of hair and to tie them up into a bun. When I reached the elevator doors I had to press the lower floor button with my elbow and just as the elevator opened I shoved my phone into my pocket with me hair now in a messy bun.

I ride the elevator down to the second floor cafeteria which was for visitors. When I got off of the elevator I made my way to the cafeteria and when I reached the doorway i saw my mom occupying an patio table with her eyes trained to the view before her. I approached her slowly and the closer I got the more I could see that she had lost a lot of weight. I sat down with only a greeting falling from my lips. She smiled back at me with a wave.

"I hope you don't mind, I ordered you a burger, fries and a milkshake," she said and I nodded. I knew I was hungry but I didn't want to admit it, nor did I want to eat but I had to or else she'd know that there's something wrong.

Artemis walked by with three milkshakes in hand and waved his hand as he passed, I waved back with a smile. My mom examined me and the weird boy with a addiction of hospital milkshakes. She shook her head as if ridding herself of a thought and I decided not to talk about the boy at all.

"What did you order for yourself?" I asked and she pointed behind me. I turned to look at the waiter holding what's seemed to be our food, my burger and fries, and what looked to be a green salad. "A salad?" I asked as the waiter placed our food on the table and left. "Is the divorce diet still on?" I asked as I grabbed a few fries and encouraged myself to eat the food.

"Don't worry, I've got it under control," she spoke but I could see right through her, she didn't have it under control.

It was no secret that my mom had suffered from anorexia and it was a constant struggle not to revert back to being that way. I had learned from her back when I was young. Every time when dad would be gone for too long on business trips she'd start small by not including one meal each day and finally she'd go off the rails and would only eat watermelons because they had enough kilojoules to give you energy for a day but consisted of little-to-no calories at all. And with dad around she felt worth it all because dad would always make her love herself just as he loved her.

She needed dad.

"Let's split my burger, you'll be too hungry to get to work at that rate," I spoke as I reached over to place half of the burger in her now empty bowl. "Also here," I said before dumping half my fries into her bowl and pushing my milkshake so it looked like it was hers now. I took small cautious bites as I watched her. She looked terrified to even eat the burger. "Mom, you look beautiful either way and being skinny isn't pretty," I reassured and she took a small bite, although you could see how torn she was about eating this much.

After eating conversations were back to something cheery and bubbly as we shared the milkshake and giggled over many things.

"So, I have a surprise for you," my mom said as she reached for something at her feet. When she brought her hand back up she placed a teal helmet on the table in front of me. "So, I got you one of your own and you'll get to take it out for a spin once you leave here because your license just came in," she informed and I flung myself over the table to hug her, while accidentally spilling the milkshake onto the table.

"Thank you, mom," I say with a smile on my face as I touched the matte teal helmet.

My moms phone went off and she excused herself before standing to answer the phone. I watched her as her cheery mood declined as she continued talking on the phone. By the time the call ended her expression was grim. "That was work, they need me to come in for something," she said as she grabbed her phone off the table. "I have to go Rhi, I promise I'll come more often," she said as I stood to stand with her. "A few selfies before I go," she said as she waved her phone in front of my face and I nodded. She snapped multiple pictures until she was satisfied and smiled fondly at the pictures.

"Let me take you down," I say before we start walking to the ground floor. I walk slow and don't take the elevator so I could soak up all the time I had left with her. I just wasn't ready to let her go just yet. "I don't see the car," I say as we walk out into the parking lot.

"That's because I didn't come with that," she said as she walked up to her motorcycle and she took her helmet off one of the handles and put it on.

"So you're back to the motorcycle then?" I asked as I took a look at the motorcycle, her Harley Davidson motorcycle that had been a part of the family for a long time.

"Yep, the ladies and I brought the gang back together. We ride out every Sunday and take a cruise to the hill and just watch the sunset. They've been asking if you'd join," mom says and I look at her with a look that says that I truly would want to join. Her phone buzzes before she silenced it. "Let me head off, I'll come see you more," she said as she hopped on her bike. She turned it on and revved it before she started pulling out of the parking spot. "You love me!" She yelled over her shoulder just before she disappeared around a corner.

"You love me too," I whispered to myself before turning back to the hospital doors. I walked into the sterile hospital and I immediately missed the "fresh" air outside the hospital. I started making my way back to my room using the secret elevator.

As soon as I was back in my room I grabbed my backpack before checking the time once again and I started making my way to the dinning room for breakfast. As soon as I walked into the dining room the voices of all the teens filled the air around me and I looked down at my phone as it chirped with a notification from Abby. I joined the line for food as I busied myself on my phone. Once I was in front, I dished up a small spoon of muesli and some yoghurt before going to sit outside.

"Rhi," someone called.

I turned to find Abby calling me. "You missed Group. What happened?" She asked as she took me by the hand and lead me to the table that the group was seated at. She took a long glance at my food but said nothing about it. "Look who I found," she announced once we were seated and everyone greeted me with enthusiasm, I was even shocked to find Artemis sitting along with us.

"My mom came to see me," I whispered to Abby and she nodded before we both got back to eating.

. . .

Second lesson was over and I was glad to be in a room with someone else other than Artemis. I actually didn't mind spending time with him in class because he was quiet and really smart. I had English now which was all the teens together. I walked into the class just before the teacher did.

"Students, I'm Miss Adrienne Apple-bee but I just go by Adrienne," the bubbly teacher said with a smile. "So to start, CFers in one line with six feet apart and everyone else in a separate line," she instructed and we did as instructed. "So the first CFer in the line, what's your name?" She asked.

"Rya Croft," Rya introduced and the teacher nodded.

"Rya take a seat in that far row wherever you want," she said before Rya went to take a seat. "Next CF patient, name?" She asked again.

This went on for all CFers until they were all seated. Once they were seated she instructed us, the kids without cystic fibrosis, to take seats wherever we'd like. And for some odd reason I found myself seated next to Artemis— how lovely.

"I'll learn all your names in the near future. For now let's get busy with English," she said enthusiastic before she began teaching.

The "school" day continued as expected, nothing too heavy on the mind and therapy sessions seemed like a little bit of relaxation from the school day. It was my turn to go to Dr Perez for my therapy session and to say I was excited was an understatement. I was thrilled, like never before, to be going to Dr Perez.

I walked into the room and shut the door behind me. The big fatty was in his signature chair, the chair that went squick-squick every time that he swiveled on it, the fatty didn't even pay any mind to the chair's protest of pain. I took a seat on his comfortable couch before he turned to me.

"Rhiannon, great to see you today," he said. "So you missed group for your mom I hear, it wasn't anything big," he spoke and I only nodded. He moved from behind his desk to come sit on the couch opposite to mine. "Tell me something," he said softly.

This was when I updated Dr Perez to my psychological journey this far, I told him everything just missing out Artemis' near suicide and my lack of bodily control to eat enough. I've been with Dr Perez ever since Marley was diagnosed, it was compulsory considering that part of my support system at home had just been diagnosed with a condition that shortened her life span to something minuscule. Fat Perez wasn't that bad either, he was actually pretty good at his job and he always made sure to remind you that he did this because he cared and not because of the pay that it earned. He was pretty cool, I didn't mind this one-on-one at all.

"So, nothing else you wanna share?" Dr Perez asked as if knowing I had left certain things out. I shook my head at him and he closed the teal book that he kept for taking notes on me. "So I heard that a certain rebel now takes his regimen seriously, do you have anything to do with that?" Dr Perez asked with a knowing look.

"I had a small part in it," I said indicating how small by pinching my pointer finger and thumb nearly closed, which was a complete fabrication of the truth.

"Oh, really? You do realize that I talk to Artemis too, right?" He asked and I nodded. "Well he told me that you had a part in it, whether small or big I still know you had a part in it," he said smugly and I only gave him a nonchalant look.

Our conversation continued as casual until my time with him was up and it was now probably time for dinner, seeing as the sky was painted dark behind the sheer curtains in the room. "Look, you don't have to come here only when it's your therapy time, you could just waltz in whenever you need it," Dr Perez informed as we made our way to the door. "Anything you need, I'll be here," he said but paused and then continued, "also don't think I didn't see that you didn't have dinner last night." We bid our goodbyes before I walked away with my backpack slung on my shoulder.

I used the elevator to get to the sixth floor before walking past the Group room and head towards the dining hall. The energy buzzed and fizzled in the air of the dining hall with all the teenagers laughing and chatting away. I lined up behind Artemis who was talking to another girl with CF who stood six feet in front of him. I couldn't help gorge on their exchange. This was the first time I'd seen Artemis so carefree and so laidback, he looked as if he was in his element. He talked to the girl as if they were more than friends, a part of me was jealous but I pushed it down. The girl was beautiful with exquisite red hair and swirling emeralds for eyes, she was perfect and everything that I wasn't. When I looked at her figure my mood dampened further. They shared a joke and I watched as Artemis genuinely laughed and his nose turned pink and the girl laughed so much she began to blush. I looked away painfully with all my insecurities now heightened.

When I get to the front of the line, I've completely lost my appetite and felt like vomiting all the food I had eaten in the last past year. The chef looked at me as I looked down at the food on display. He said nothing but just watched. I grabbed a plate and dished out three wedges, two broccoli "trees" and a small piece of tofu. I turned away from the dishing station to look for my friends but when I saw Artemis laughing with the girl with no name I decided that I'd be eating alone.

The outdoor seating was pretty awesome so I sat near the balcony and looked out at the view. The view was suddenly more interesting than the food on my plate. I looked at the forest that lay ahead that seemed to call my name, wanting me to explore them and I subconsciously touched the amethyst necklace that hung on my neck.

"A penny for your thoughts?" I knew who it was before I even looked up to look into his stormy blue eyes. I didn't pay any mind to him as I turned back to look at the forest without answering him. "Hey," he said as he paused and pulled out a chair to sit in front of me, "what's wrong?" I didn't turn to him or acknowledge him but he wanted to be acknowledged. I felt his fingers tilt my head to face him and his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" He asked.

I looked from him to the food in front of me and I didn't know which looked less appealing. So I pushed back my chair and tossed the food before taking my plate to the dish station. I left the dining hall soon after that and found a vending machine to get some Lays for dinner instead. I walked back to my room with the thought of sleeping being the most prominent.

When I got to my room I tossed the packet of chips onto my table and placed my backpack on the vintage chair before heading straight to sleep, my stomach would have to just be content with the little food I had for lunch– I wast too fat either way.