Final Act

Drew said May isn't hot enough. She stops eating, starts wearing makeup, and starts trying out new hair styles. Drew said she wasn't smart enough, she stays up late studying barely getting any sleep. He said she wasn't nice. Now she always has a smile on her face and hides all her pain showing nothing but kindness. She hopes he will notice how hard she was trying for him but he doesn't even look at her anymore. Even when he has to talk to her in class he finds something else to look at, anything but her, and talks quickly, trying to get it over with as soon as possible. This goes on for about a month a half.

It's two in the morning. May is studying Math and she gets thirsty. She goes to get some water, gets up and is dizzy. She had skipped all her meals for almost three days and she thought maybe it was finally getting to her. She grabs her head and breaths. It goes away. She decides it best to also grab a granola bar from downstairs too. She takes a step towards the door. Blackness suddenly covers her vision and she rushes towards the floor. She wakes up the next day on the floor. Her head was pounding and she wasn't sure what had happened. She looks over to her bed and see's that her math book is still open to the page she was looking over the night before. She looks at the alarm clock next to her bed and it reads 9 A.M. She's late for school.

May rushes to the bathroom for a quick shower. She catches herself in the mirror and looks herself over. It wasn't hard to notices the bags under her eyes. Her hair was messy and out of control. It also wasn't hard to see that her ribs were starting to show. There was still a thin layer of fat that covered them but it also wasn't hard to see them. You could almost count them. This was the first time May had noticed them. She jumped on the scale, it read 83 pounds. Just a month and a half ago she was 110 pounds. That's when it hits May. What she's been doing to herself. She's been practically killing herself just so Drew would notice her and like her again. All of this for one guy that hated her.

May went to pick up her towel from the floor and hang it on the hook next to the shower and it made her breathless. She had no energy. No strength. And no more willpower to keep doing this just for Drew. May sat on the tub floor under the running water coming from the shower head and just let it pour over her. She just sat there thinking about Drew and remembering what she looked like in the mirror. She barely recognized herself when she looked in that mirror. What she saw wasn't her. It was the girl she was trying so hard to be for Drew. And she didn't like it. She didn't like who she saw in that mirror and vowed to change that. She was going to be the girl she once was again. Not for Drew. For herself.

May stays like this until the water became too cold for her to handle. By the time she was out of the shower and dressed in comfortable clothes she checked the time and decided to just stay home and have a day just for herself. She goes downstairs and gets herself a big bowl of whatever sugary cereal they have. She goes back up to her room to eat and watch a little TV. She barely gets through two bites before she feels sick. She's barely touched food in weeks. She wasn't use to it and didn't know how to process it anymore. She tried another two more bites before she felt bile start to rise up in her throat. She immediately swallowed it down and pushed the bowl away. She would try again for dinner.

She watched TV for another half hour before sleep took over once more. She woke up this time at five in the afternoon. She checked her phone, she had three missed calls from Dawn and twenty one text messages all from friends at school. From that day forward she started sleeping properly again, stopped wearing make-up, sometimes she stills tried out new hair styles but that was more for herself. She started eating more and was back up to 88 pounds in three weeks. Her ribs were disappearing. She started having more energy. She started becoming happier. She was getting use to life without Drew. She still saw him in class and at lunch, they barely talked though. They would only exchange a few words at a time. They didn't text or share any late night calls anymore. At first it killed May. She missed him so much but with time she found other things to do to occupy herself.

A month passes and snow starts to cover the ground. May is up to 103 pounds. Her and Dawn sign up for a local gym. May was hoping to gain some muscle tone, Dawn was hoping to lose five pounds. They decided to go every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays after school. Another two weeks pass, School was back in from Thanksgiving break. May was up to 108 pounds. Thanksgiving really helped. Her ribs were completely hidden and she was looking healthy again. But that was when the yelling started.

It was late, almost 1 am. May was asleep and was woken up to the sound of her mother screaming at the top of her lungs to her father. May was very confused. Her parents never fought. They got along perfectly. Half the time they wwere so gushy with each other May wanted to just throw up by being in the same room as them. May tried to go back to sleep but they continued until three in the morning. May couldn't get back to sleep until four. This continued. Even through Christmas and New Year's. Every night they fought. May was worried and scared. She stopped sleeping again. And her anxiety was so high and her stomach filled with knots that the sight of food made her feel sick. She tried to keep up with the schedule she had going but couldn't. She started canceling on going to the gym. She stopped eating as much, no matter how hard she tried she just had so much trouble stomaching food. She was losing weight again. Bags were appearing under her eyes again and depression was sinking in. This time she just became mute. It was the beginning of february when Drew came and sat down with everyone.

May, Dawn, Paul, Ash, Misty, Gary, and Gary's girlfriend Leaf were all sitting together talking about whatever when Drew slumped in a seat next to Paul. "Well I have good news for you guys." Everyone looked at him expectantly. "She cheated on me. We broke up."

Everyone was silent for a while but finally Ash spoke up, "I'm so sorry man... Are you okay?"

Drew shrugged. Everyone apologized to him, except May, of course, who just sat in her chair looking at her food and pushing some peas around. Everyone told him he was going to be okay and all that nice break up stuff.

Drew just nodded sadly and looked over at May slightly expectantly. He was slightly ticked she didn't even apologize but it immediately disappeared when he saw her state. Her hair was up in a messy bun, she wore old, loose clothing that didn't fit her at all, bags were under her eyes, and her cheeks were slightly sunken in. May was a mess. Drew almost instantly forgot about him and his break up and was filled with worry over May, how could he miss such a thing? And why did no one else look more worried.

Suddenly May got up to dump her tray and headed out of the cafeteria. Drew waited until the cafeteria door closed to go after her. He quickly followed behind her, "May?"

May jumped, obviously startled by Drew's sudden presence.

"Are you okay?" Drew asked.

May turned toward Drew but before she finished her turn she slightly stumbled. Drew reached out and grabbed her by the elbow steadying her. "May?"

She shook her head and pulled away. "Please don't touch me," She said quietly not looking at Drew.

"Sorry," Drew said. May nodded and turned back around heading to where ever she was going.

"Wait! May, I thought we could talk a little."

May tripped over her feet and collapsed to the floor. Her books scattered everywhere. Drew fell to his knees next to her and tried gathering some of her books. "May, are you okay?" He asked trying to see her face but she had it lowered at an angle so he couldn't.

She nodded and tried getting back to her feet. She got to her knees before collapsed again. This time Drew grabbed her shoulder, "May!?"

.~oOo~.

Dawn had just gotten out of class and rushed to her locker to get a book she forgot for her next period. She immediately opened her locker and a note fell out. Dawn was momentarily confused but she didn't have time to question it. She grabbed it and shoved it in her pants pocket then grabbed her books and headed to class.

Dawn forgot about the note until later that night when she was about to do her laundry and was checking all her pockets. Once her laundry was started Dawn grabbed the note, curiosity suddenly filling her.

She headed to her bedroom and got comfortable in her bean bag chair before opening the note. Dawn wasn't sure how to feel when reading it. She felt happy, angry, sad, and so many other things.

~The next day~

Dawn had searched all over but didn't find him until lunch. He was sitting outside, leaning on a wall, and reading a book. She walked over to him and sat next to him. He didn't look up though. She dropped the note in his lap, "You forgot to sign it."

Paul put down his book and picked up the note. He read it over himself before handing it back to Dawn. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Paul said handing her back the note and picking up his book.

"Don't do that Paul. I know your hand writing as well as I know my own. I know you wrote this." Dawn said.

"... And if I did?" Paul said dismissively.

"Paul give it a rest! No one else is even here. So give this attitude a rest." Dawn pushed out a deep sigh and calmed down a little, "I... I love you Paul. And I want to be with you. But not if you're going to keep acting like this."

"I'm sorry," Paul said quietly.

Dawn was quiet for a few seconds before sighing again, "I don't expect you change overnight Paul. I don't even expect you to treat me any different around the others. But I do expect to be treated differently at least when we are alone together. Or I can't do this Paul."

Paul just sat there quietly looking at his book.

Dawn waited a moment for Paul to say something and when he didn't she stood up, "Never mind, just forget it Paul." Dawn started walking away.

"Troublesome!" Paul called after her. Dawn stopped at the sound of her nicname but didn't turn around to face him.

"I... I'll do my best." Paul grabs Dawn by the shoulder and turns her around. "I want to be with you Dawn." Paul sweeps hair from Dawns face and cups her cheeks in his hands. "I love you so much." And he kissed her.

And she happily kissed him back.

.~oOo~.

"May?" She heard someone say from a distance.

"May, wake up." She heard again.

"Come on sweetie, open your eyes." Another voice. This one sounded like her father.

"May?" That one was her mother.

What about the first voice? Where did that one go? That was the one she wanted to hear.

May's eyes fluttered open and her mother and father immediately started calling for a nurse.

After the nurses and her parents fussed over her for about an hour she was left alone while her parents went to grab a drink for May from a vending machine.

May tried remembering what happened. Why she was suddenly in the hospital but she just kept coming up blank. All that kept popping up into her head was Drew and she wasn't sure why.

After a few minutes her parents were back with a bottle of ginger ale.

"I know you don't like it that much but it might make you feel better," Her mother said sheepishly.

"Thanks mom," May mumbled taking the drink and placing it on the little table sitting next to her bed.

Her parents kept standing next to her bed awkwardly. May just looked outside not sure of what to say.

Her mother cleared her throat, "May, We're unsure of why this happened..."

May just sat there looking out the window thinking. She wasn't sure of what she was supposed to say. She didn't want her parents to blame themselves for her being in the hospital. It was their fighting that stressed her out to this point. She should have said something sooner though. She should have dealt with it better. People's parents fight all the time and they are able to deal with it no problem. But when Mays parents fight she ends up in the hospital. How pathetic is she?

"Please May, we can't help unless we know." Her father pleaded.

Still May kept her mouth shut. If she told them they would only make it worse. They wouldn't know how to help. They would probably have her talk to a therapist or something and she didn't want that.

"What happened?" May says instead.

Her parents were silent for a moment and May watched as a muffin shaped cloud floated by.

Finally her mother spoke, "they said you collapsed from exhaustion. They also said you were dehydrated and that you haven't been eating properly for what appears to be a while. You were in school. Drew was with you when it happened. He was the one who got help."

It all came back to May. Drew and his girlfriend had just broken up. May didn't want to sit around and listen to him complain and tried leaving but Drew followed. They were in the hallway when she fell. He helped her up but then everything went black and she found herself here.

"You've been out for about three days. Drew has been here everyday by your side. He was here right before you woke up but he had to go do something with his father. He said he would be back in a few hours, before visiting hours are over. We tried getting a hold of him but it went straight to voicemail... May please tell us why this happened."

May looked over at her parents. They looked so sad and so upset. May opened up her mouth ready to confess everything but instead she just started to cry. She wasn't sure why she was crying but the tears wouldn't stop.

Her mother instantly sat next to May on her bed and brought her into a hug. Shushing her and telling her everything was going to be okay. Her father sat down on the other side of the bed and rubbed her back.

Eventually May was able to calm down. When May pulled away and looked at her parents she saw that they had both been crying to and May instantly feels like crying again for making them so upset.

Instead she spoke, "You guys just keep fighting. Every night you guys wake me up. I know you don't mean to but you do and I've heard everything."

Her mother gasped and her and May's father shared a look. "Oh May, we are so sorry. You were never supposed to hear any of that. We hadn't realized..." Her voice drifted off.

"Our fighting had nothing to do with you May it's just..." Her father drifted off.

May's mother picked up where he left off, "It's just that we recently found out that I'm pregnant and-"

May's head whipped toward her mother, "I'm going to have a little brother or sister?"

May's mothers eyes glistened and she nodded with a big smile on her face, "we did the same thing when I was pregnant with you. We get scared and start worrying about money and all that grown up stuff."

May just laid there stunned, she couldn't believe it. She was going to be a big sister. Her parents weren't getting a divorce or splitting up. They were just having a baby.

May started to cry again. "May! What's wrong?" Her mother panicked.

"I-I'm just s-s-so happy," May said smiling through tears. And suddenly they were all crying again. This time they were tears of joy though.

Once they all stopped May and her mother talked excitedly about what the sex of the baby is going to be and how they're going to decorate its room and all the other things they are going to do. Her father just listened with a crooked smile on his face. The same one that gave Mays mother butterflies, well at least that's what her mother always told her.

They talked like this for about an hour before someone knocked on her room door. Everyone looked over at the door and there Drew was standing awkwardly with a bouquet of flowers.

May's father cleared his throat, "well we should be going then." He kissed May on the forehead and mumbled something about feeling better then took her mother's hand practically dragging her out of the room.

May and Drew were left alone together and silence quickly filled May's hospital room.

Drew kept eyeing the flowers he brought and May stared outside, both were unsure of what to say.

Eventually Drew built up the courage to step over to May's bed and hold out the flowers. "I got your parents voicemail and thought you might like these."

May stared at them for a moment before taking them. There were a bunch of different flowers, and though May didn't know the name for half of them she thought they were beautiful and couldn't stop herself from sticking her nose in the middle of them and taking a deep breath.

May smiled, "They smell wonderful. Thank you Drew."

Drew slightly blushed at the sound of his name and looked down at his shoes nodding.

After getting a few more sniffs of the flowers May spoke, "Thank you for helping me when I collapsed."

Drew looked up at May, "I was scared something was seriously wrong with you. You would respond to me at all and you just laid there in the hallway unmoving." Drew shuttered at the memory.

"I'm so sorry you had to see me like that Drew. It was my own fault that happened and I promise I will start taking better care of myself once I"m out of here."

"This is the first time this happened though, is it May?"

May looked up at Drew confused unsure of what he was talking about, this is the first time she was in a hospital since she was kid and she fell off her bike, giving herself a huge cut down her leg that she needed fifreen stitches for.

"A few months ago I noticed all the weight you had lost and how tired you looked. You were trying to cover it up with make-up but I could still tell. You missed a day of school and never told anyone why. You collapsed then, didn't you?"

May hadn't realized Drew had noticed any of that or that he would even make that conection. May looked away from Drew in shame.

"Was it the same thing that caused it this time?"

May was silent for a moment unsure of what to say. She just shook her head, still not making eye contact.

"What was it May?" Drew asked.

"My parents had been fighting a lot recently. Late at night. They never fought. They would wake up in the middle of the night with their screaming, I was scared of what was going to happen with my family." May paused, "It will be okay now though. It turns out my mom is pregnant and my parents were just freaked out."

Drew was silent for a moment, letting everything process in his mind. "And before?" He finally said.

"Before what?"

"The first time all of this happened. You said it wasn't the same thing. So what was it the first time?"

May stayed silent n0t making any eye contact with Drew.

"May, please tell me what happened."

Still, she stayed silent.

"May, look at me."

May didn't look.

"Please May," Drew said his voice shaking.

May looked at him and his hand balled up into fist, shaking. She looked him in the eye and saw a small glint of tears. She still didn't say anything though.

"I watched you collapse in my arms May. I screamed your name but you would respond. I begged you to open your eyes and you didn't. A part of me thought you were going to die May, do you know what that is like? Watching the person you love more than anything possibly die in your arms?" Drew had started to cry a little and seem to notice the confession he had made until it was to late.

May sat there stunned but it didn't take her long for words to bubble up inside her. "The person you love? Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what you did to me from the day you started dating Brianna? You want to know what happened before Drew? You did. I loved you more than anything, but you picked her. You made me sit there everyday at school or with our friends and watch you hang all over her and made me listen to you when you called me because you guys got into some fight. And then after all that you called me ugly, mean, and dumb in front of everyone. You called me everything your girlfriend was. I loved you and you destroyed me Drew. And now you are going to stand there and clame that I am the person you love more than anything? Get out of my room Drew."

Drew stood there in May's room suddenly unsure of everything. "I didn't know."

"Get out Drew." May persisted.

"I started dating her as a way to get over you May. I never thought for a second you could love me. I found out Brianna liked me and decided to go for it and thought it would work out for the better that way. I tried so hard to like her back and did all the normal things couples do in movies and such but I still never had any sort of feelings for her. I went off on you that because I was fustrated with keeping my feelings hidden for so long. I didn't even mean anything I had said. We had just preformed our act the day before and every part of my being wanted us to finish that kiss at the end of our act but I knew I couldn't. I want you May. It's always been you." Drew finished, his voice only a whisper on the last sentence.

Without thinking May grabbed the front of Drew's shirt and she pulled him forward, their lips met. It was hard and awkward at first, both surprised by the sudden action but they quickly melted into each other.

May pulled away first, "I haven't forgiven you. I'm still angry for what you did. But I love you Drew and all I ever wanted to do was finish that kiss."

Drew smiled, "I will do everything in my power to make you forgive me for being the biggest idiot to ever live. As long as you will let me."

May just kissed him again in responce.

"You're my everything Drew," May said between kisses.

"And you're mine May," Drew said smiling into their kiss.

And that is where I'm going to end it! I can't believe I'm actually finished with this. I started this story five years ago and have gone back to it so many times but could never bring myself to actually finish it. I'm a little iffy about the ending but decided this is probably the best I'm gonna be able to write. If there are any readers still left from when I first started writing this story thank you so much for sticking it out this long! And to all the readers who just found my lovely story thank you for reading. 3 I hope all of you enjoy reading this as much I enjoyed writing it. Happy New Year everyone! Please R&R, it is greatly appreciated. -Lilac01