Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern Read Free Book Online

about their kids and get paid a lot of money to enforce lame rules like no pillow dropping. I wonder if my parents checked this place out before they brought me, or if they just trusted that this place would “fix” me and they could feel OK about themselves because I’m being “taken care of,” when really they should feel like shit for abandoning me.
    Sandy was smart enough not to tell the staff that she was contemplating suicide, so she’s wearing her own clothes. Unfortunately, she seems to be stuck in some sort of small-town ’90s time warp of big hair, stone-washed overalls, and white leather Keds. At least she hasn’t given me the finger.
    After briefing Sandy on the rules, I went down to dinner. Sandy is only a Level I; therefore she ate in our room.
    I am starting to look forward to the elevator rides. There’s something very forbidden about touching someone’s arm “by accident” when there’s no touching allowed. Unfortunately, I am always next to Eugene on one side and Victor on the other. So far no Justin contact, but I’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any pertinent arm-touching occurrences in the future.
    Dinner was once again kind of fun, in the “I’m-still-trapped-ina-mental-hospital-and-eating-shitty-food-with-a-bunch-of-guys-I-barely-know” kind of way.
    Justin complimented my Ramones shirt in the food line. “You like the Ramones?” I asked, too eagerly.
    “Well, I used to.” It was his turn to order food and then my turn, and by the time we got to the table that conversation was gone, and the buzz was all about Sandy.
    “Is she hot?” drooled Phil/Shaggy. He’s sick. He looks like a hyena, all desperate and greedy. He even laughs like a hyena! I can picture him doing that little prancy pacing that hyenas do while they wait to feed off of someone else’s kill. I told him that Sandy was cute and that she has a very large boyfriend back home.
    “Well, he ain’t here.”
    “As if that would make your chances any better,” I retorted. I wish I could have thought of something spunkier, but I’ve never been one for classic comeback lines. Still, I got some laughs. Even my not-so-funny lines are funny here in Bummerville.
    I noticed that Justin was eating with his left hand. Another lefty? I must have died and gone to beautiful left-handed boy heaven (if that heaven has fluorescent lighting and smells like burnt mac and cheese).

SNACK TIME!
    We get Snack Time every night before Relaxation. They bring raisins or apples or granola bars and one of those juice cups around on a cart, and we have snacks in our room. How quaint. If Sparkle is here during Snack Time, she slips me and Sandy an extra box of raisins. Tonight she told me I looked good. “You looked pretty messed up when you first got here, but now you look nice. I like your hair down.”
    In suckier news, I got my period tonight. I have to use hospital pads because SOMEONE forgot to pack them (OK, that someone is me, but my mom could have thought about that in my fragile state). It makes me think of when I first got my period, and my mom had to help me buy pads. We went to Cub Foods, and she let me pick out the “Teen Style” ones. Why my pads had to be stylish, I don’t know. Then we celebrated with DQ. I wish she could bring me some teen pads and DQ now, because these pads
suck! Not only do they not have wings, but they’re so thick it’s like wearing a couch in my underwear. Can you imagine how nasty it would look if I was wearing one of these with a pair of bike shorts (not that I’d even wear bike shorts)? I wonder if people can tell I have a giant pad on. It feels like I’m walking all widely, like a cowboy approaching a showdown. I hope Justin doesn’t notice. Pardner.
    Speaking of Justin, Sandy is in Justin’s Group. I’m dying to ask her about him—what does he talk about? Who does he sit next to? Has he confessed his undying love for anyone (wink wink)? But I haven’t said anything yet. I don’t want