Alpha Erased (Alpha Girl 9)

I went back to the kitchen and flipped the sandwich. Nearly done. I grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge, a plate from the cabinet, and then my phone started buzzing.

Damn it.

I checked the readout. Georgine was calling, and I would’ve rather smashed it against the counter than answer.

The phone kept vibrating. I seriously thought about not answering, but delaying would only make things worse.

Georgine cared about me. She was an asshole in the way she showed it, but I should be grateful to have someone in my life that cared about me.

Which meant I should answer. I swiped my finger against the button and popped it on speakerphone. “Hi, Georgine.”

“You made it home okay?”

I put the sandwich on a plate. “Yes.” After the way she freaked out about me running into the crazy girl, I’d done my best to downplay how I collapsed, but it didn’t work very well. I shouldn’t have told her anything about the hospital. That was my bad. I was too honest sometimes.

I took a bite and moaned. I was totally going to need another one.

“Are you eating right now?”

“Yes.” I took another bite. “They think it might have been hunger that made me collapse.”

“You’d just gotten two sandwiches. There was no way you were that hungry.” She was quiet for a minute. “Are you not telling me something? I can try to find your mother if—”

Mother was the last person I needed right now. “No. I’m fine now. There’s no reason to worry her.”

“No?” Her voice had an icy edge. “Did the girl show up again? The one you—”

I rolled my eyes. “No. I told you that was a mistake. She thought I was someone else.” Another thing I should’ve kept to myself.

“Fine. Did you email—”

“Yes, I emailed Dr. Richmond. I’m an adult, Georgine. I can take care of myself.” I took another bite of my sandwich.

“Apparently not if you’re passing out from hunger. I can’t have you dying on me. Your mother would kill me.” She was so overly dramatic.

I doubted Mother would care enough to commit murder. She didn’t love me, at least not how other parents seemed to care for their kids. Mother seemed to care that I was alive and safe, and if those two needs w

ere met, then she didn’t really check in on me much. At least not anymore. Who knew what she was like before the accident?

“Why don’t you meet me before class tomorrow? You are going to class, right? I could come by in the morning and—”

“No, you don’t need to do that.” She lived a block away, and I saw her way too often. I didn’t have the patience to deal with her for longer than I already had to.

“Fine. The coffee shop, then? Nine?”

I took a sip of my soda before talking. “I’ll see if I can meet up before class, but I’m not making any promises. I don’t want to push myself too hard, and I might just sleep until I have to get to class.”

“Fine. Text me if you’re awake and will be there.” With that, Georgine hung up.

I stared at the phone for a second. “Goodbye to you, too.”

I put my phone on the counter and turned back to the pan. Time for sandwich number two. I tossed a hunk of butter in the pan and grabbed more bread and cheese. As I waited for the bread to brown, I rubbed my hand along my side and felt each rib.

Something was wrong with me. I knew it, but I didn’t know what. I’d had every test that my doctor could think of, but he never found anything.

But I was always hungry. Worse than that, I was always losing weight. But I counted my calories. Not to cut them, but to make sure that I was eating enough. I ate nearly double what a girl my size and age should eat, but it never seemed to sate my hunger. This anxious feeling in my soul told me something was really wrong, but I didn’t have answers. Every time I asked about my past, I either ended up in the hospital or my mother flipped out on me. Neither were pleasant.

There was nothing else for me to do but keep eating and hope that one day I remembered whatever it was that I’d forgotten.