" Your eyes are puffed , Anthony ," she said . " You cry at all last night ?" There ain ' t no point in lying to her , so I just told the truth .
" Yeah . . ." I sighed . " I ' m really sorry . . . I ' ve been givin ' you a lot of trouble , haven ' t I ?" Jasmine gave me another look . A different look , though .
" You ain ' t never been givin ' me trouble ," she said . I could tell she was a little annoyed . " You been more emotional than usual . So what ? We all get like that every now and then . It don ' t annoy me , though ." Her expression softened , and she became the understanding , kind Jasmine I ' m used to . " I ' m here for you , Anthony . If you need anything , tell me . Wake me up in the middle of the night . Wreck my plans . I really don ' t care ."
I gave a timid smile . " Yeah . . . thanks , Jazz ..." It was weird , seeing people care . Most of the time , everyone thinks I ' m calm and collected with my whole life together . Most of the time , everyone thinks I ' m the famous rich boy who always got the easy way out . No one really stopped to listen to me . But I noticed my Jazzy ' s face . I noticed her eyes . She looked upset about something , and I couldn ' t help but feel sorry . " I love you ," I said quietly . She smiled , but her eyes were still sad . " I love you , too ."
The longer we performed , the more sick I felt . My head was killing me by the time noon came . Everyone told me I should just go home and they could get someone to fill in for me , but I wanted to stay . I needed to stay . I hardly ever missed a day unless I had somewhere to be or I was throwing up . Other than that , I was at the theater .
Later on that day , Carleigh decided to try to convince me . I don ' t know why . She should ' ve known that it was pointless .
" You ' re obviously sick ," she argued . Yeah . Sick . That ' s the right word to use . " I ' m fine ," I said , but I was lying . I ain ' t ever fine . " No , you ' re not ." Carleigh looked at me with stern eyes . She always was the motherly type . " You need to go home , Anthony . If I see you here tomorrow , I ' m beating you up ." She likes to joke around , too .
" I wanna be here for Alysha ' s last curtain call !" I protested . That was a lousy excuse .
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