What is going on with you, pretty boy?
Chapter Thirty-Four
Bodhi King
One Month Later
“Hey, man. Want to come grab some lunch with us?” Camden’s peeking his head in through the slight crack in my bedroom door, a black Carhart beanie covering his dark hair that’s in dire need of a cut.
“Nah, I’m not that hungry,” I reply. “Thank you, though.”
He sighs, pushing the door open wider, stepping inside. “Come on, Bodhi. You never come out with us lately. You’re always holed up in here with the lights off like some type of new-age vampire.” He bats at my foot as he sits on the edge of my bed. “Besides, I haven’t seen you eat anything in days.”
Here we go.
In the last few weeks, it’s like Jules, Camden, and Elias have all ganged up on me about my eating habits. I’m half convinced Jules set them both up to this, or maybe vice versa, because they’re relentless.
“Don’t fucking start this,” I warn. “I have eaten.”
“Oh yeah? What exactly have you eaten?”
My eyes narrow into slits as I hold his gaze. “Knock it off, Cam.”
“I’m serious, Bo. What have you eaten? Because I haven’t seen you even come out of this room in like a solid week.”
My heart pounds behind my ribs as the bitter taste of defensiveness crawls up my throat. I hate having to explain myself, and I hate even more than that being under their scrutiny. It’s none of their damn business, but I know if I don’t give them something, they’ll probably force feed me against my will, which is why I blurt out, “I just had a granola bar and some ice chips!”
His mismatched brown eyes stare at me imploringly. I have to fight the urge to squirm and look away from the weight of it. But I know if I look away, break the eye contact, he’ll see right through my lie. All I seem to do anymore is lie. I can’t remember the last time I went an entire twenty-four hours without telling at least one lie.
I lie to everyone. Camden, Elias, Jules, my mom. Even my professors about why my homework wasn’t done, why I failed the last three exams, or why I’m barely above a passing grade in most of them.
But as Camden’s gaze shifts from me to an area beside me, I know he caught me. I know he doesn’t believe me. It’s made even more clear when he drags his attention back to me and says, “You mean the granola bar that’s unopened on your desk?”
My stomach sinks, plummeting under the weight of his disappointment. Under the hurt written all over his face at my bold-faced lie. Under the concern and the desire to want to fix me. Even when I lie, I can’t manage to be the carefree, stable friend I used to be to him—or at least, who he thought I was under the façade.
“Th-that’s another one. I already—”
“Just stop,” he hisses. “Stop fucking lying to my face, Bodhi. Have you even looked in the mirror lately?”
Uh, no. I make a point tonotdo that.
He continues, clearly a rhetorical question. “You’re practically half the size you were when school started not even six months ago!”
I scoff, rolling my eyes. “That’s not true. You’re being dramatic.”
“Oh, okay, Bodhi. Sure, let’s go with that,” he retorts, standing off the bed. “You know what, fine. I’m not doing this with you right now. Have fun hiding out in your room.”
He leaves without so much as a backward glance, slamming the door behind him. Shame and anger bubble inside of me in equal measures as I grab the granola bar from the desk, chucking it at the door while muttering under my breath, “Fuck you and your holier than thou bullshit, Camden.”
My phone rings, startling me. Glancing at the screen, I swipe across, answering it.
“What?”
“Well, hello to you too, grumpy.”
“What do you want, Jules? I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“What’s wrong?”
