Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ First Crush ❯ Make Me Better ( Chapter 9 )

First Crush 9

Make Me Better

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Who here does?

Thanks and notes:

Jinako-chan: Thanks for telling me who the elder Wong boy and girl are. So the girl is Jaarin and the boy's Rinchei, eh? Are those their dubbed names? I don't think they use them. I wish they got more screen time.

Archforge: I think I'll change that part. I pointed them out earlier and just forgot! And yes, Kazu did go psycho. That was the whole point!

Psyocho Moon: You're making a KazuxSuzie shrine now? Well, hurry up so I can see it!

Mimi, Myself, & Iz.: Thank you for making the First Crush cel and poster. FFN readers go to mediaminer.org to see them.

An hour or so passed but to Suzie's loved ones it felt like an eternity. She became stabilized so people could come and see her but she was still unconscious. Mrs. Wong sobbed while Mr. Wong held her, saying how thankful he was that she was okay. Rinchei, Jaarin and Henry looked at their sick young sister with a look of disbelief on their faces. Through out the visit, Henry's hand was tightened into a fist.

'I'll make this guy pay for doing this to my little sister,' he thought, 'I swear it.'

"Suzie, I'm sorry," Henry mumbled, "I'm sorry if I wasn't a good enough big brother for you to look up to. I'm sorry if I did…anything…anything to make you become like this."

Henry felt so horrible seeing his baby sister lying in that bed hooked up to all those machines. His baby sister, bright eyed and rosy cheeked who used to play with Terriermon as if he were a stuffed toy and dressing him up as 'Princess Pretty Pants', his baby sister, who used to be so full of live and innocence, his baby sister, who became a tamer to a Deva, was now lying hooked to machines to keep her alive. Henry never thought such a thing would happen to his little Suzie.

Unable to watch anymore, the Wong's left the room and her friends went in. Kenta, Takato, Jeri and Rika all went in together. A late Ryo came in running after him.

"I just heard," he gasped. "Came as quickly as I could."

"Where's Kazu?" Kenta questioned.

"He saved her life," Jeri whispered, "where'd he go?"

"I think he's still with Ai," Rika guessed.

"I feel so awful," Takato said. "I wish there was something I could do. I wish I did what Kazu did. I just wanna…"

"Stop it, Takato," Jeri muttered, "that's not going to do any good now, okay? Suzie needs us here. Kazu had already done that."

"I somehow feel responsible," Kenta mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Ryo questioned.

"She almost ordered a lot of munchies on our movie date," Kenta explained. "She said she was only joking about it. We only got popcorn, nachos, chocolate covered peanuts and our drinks. But you should've seen how she ate the nachos. It was when she noticed Chip and Millie were in front of us."

"And you think it was your fault?" Jeri asked. "Kenta, you did nothing wrong. You didn't know. None of us did."

"Yeah, dude," Ryo said. "And you were trying to cheer her up."

"Yeah…but," Kenta moaned, "I still feel like I should've done something. I was a gentleman and everything…but I just feel so…so responsible."

"We were all fooled, Kenta." Takato said. "If I had a little sister in Suzie's place, I don't know how I'd take it."

Rika sat down at Suzie's bedside and took her hand. "Anyway, Kenta, if anyone should've done something it should've been me. I knew something wasn't right when Suzie came to see my mom about modeling. But as usual, I did something stupid and didn't say a thing." Rika groaned, "She's here because of me. Henry will never forgive me for this."

"Don't be like that, Rika," Jeri said.

"You saw him," Rika said, "He was so angry at me."

"How were you supposed to link that to bulimia?" Jeri questioned. "She said it was for a report. Henry will settle down after this is over."

"But Suzie always said she was going to be a vet."

"I'll go get Kazu," Kenta said and walked out of the room to look for Ai and Kazu.

***

Kazu and Ai were seated in the nurse's station still talking.

"I'm scared, Kazu," Ai admitted, "what if she's…"

"Don't think that." Kazu said firmly.

"She looked so weak after lunch today," Ai went on, "and I bet she's just wasting away in there. I should've stopped her and now my best friend's at death's door because I failed to do anything."

"That's enough!" Kazu muttered. "Don't talk like that. You've got to do strong. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to do any good. Sure Suzie's in a hole but she's going to get out. I'm not going to believe that she's just going to get worse and you're not either. Hope for the best, because that's how it's going to be. Understand?"

"Hey," Kenta said.

"Any change?" Ai asked, standing up.

"No." Kenta said, shaking his head. "But we can see her."

Ai bit her lip and Kazu took her by the arm. "She'll be okay. Let's go and see her."

Ai nodded and they followed Kenta to the room. The others turned to Kazu and Ai when they came in.

"Way to go, dude," Ryo said to Kazu, "you're a hero."

"I am not," Kazu grunted.

"You are too," Jeri said. "If it weren't for you, Suzie would be in big trouble."

"Hey, I'm not a hero," Kazu insisted, feeling heat come to his face. "I just…did what I had to do. Someone had to do something and I was the only one there that knew."

Ai gasped when she saw Suzie. She put her hand to her mouth. "Suzie…" She felt Kazu squeeze her shoulder. Ai could only stand there for a few seconds. "I can't…I can't bear to see my best friend like this."

"It's all right, Ai," Kazu said.

"No," Ai mumbled, "I have to wait until she gets better." Ai shook her head. ""That's not Suzie…that's someone else. That can't be Suzie!" Ai broke into a sobbing fit, turned and bolted out of the room. Everyone let out a heavy sigh.

"I wonder when she can come off the machines," Kenta said.

"I hope it's soon," Kazu sighed, pulling on a chair and sitting in it.

"Kazu, you want some time alone with Suzie?" Takato asked.

"What?" Kazu raised an eyebrow.

Ryo nudged Kenta. Kenta stared at him blankly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…uh, I'll go see if Ai's okay." Takato and the others filed out of the room,leaving Kazu with Suzie. ****

Suzie felt as if she was sinking but she wasn't sinking in water. She couldn't tell what it was. The stustance was sticking to her, like glue. It was pulling her down and she couldn't fight. Though she tried, she was just too weak. Her strength was quickly wearing away.

"Someone help me," she said helplessly. Her voice too was weak, almost gone. She fought to speak louder. "Someone, help me please! Please, someone! Help me! Anyone!"

Now the substance began to cause her pain. She couldn't get it off. Couldn't do anything. The substance smelled awful and it pulled her down further.

'Don't let me die this way. I don't want it to end like this!' she thought frantically. 'Won't anyone help me?'

She was being pulled farther to her prison. Suzie was too tired too tired to fight. She wanted to be saved but no one came. She just let it take her and hoped it'll be done quickly. She gave up.

Then, she felt a tug coming from the opposite way. Suzie opened her eyes and saw…

****

"Kazu?" Suzie whispered.

"Suzie," he squeezed on her hand. "You're awake."

"You're really here?" she slowly opened her eyes.

"Why, of course I'm here."

Suzie focused on him. "It's real. It all wasn't just a dream. You saved me."

"I've heard that a lot today," he said with a grin.

She noticed his black eye, "oh no…did Henry hurt you?"

"Oh, this? No." He shook his head. "That was from Chip."

"Chip? Kazu, what did you do?"

"Well I…paid him a visit," Kazu replied. "Don't worry, he looks a lot worse than me. He just hit me once and it's not as bad as it looks."

Suzie lay in bed not speaking. She stared at the ceiling.

"Please say something," Kazu said. "What are you thinking about? You mad that I got in a fight with Chip?"

"No. I was just regretting that I wasn't there," Suzie said. "I wanted to see everything you did to him. If I wasn't here, then I'd probably put some hits in myself."

Kazu blinked. Was Suzie actually saying this?

"Thanks for saving me, Kazu," Suzie said, "but you really didn't have to."

"What do you mean?"

Suzie turned on her side her back was to him. "I got what I deserved. I knew what I was doing to myself was wrong but I kept doing it anyway. Didn't you hear what I told Ai? How…how bad I was? I bet she hates me!"

"That's not true."

"Isn't it? Then why isn't she here?"

"She is. But seeing you hooked to all these machines scared her."

Suzie swallowed. "I shouldn't have said those things. I wanted to stop but I couldn't. It wasn't just about being thin, it was about being empty and clean. Having all those bad feelings emptied out of me. When I got mad at Ai…it gave me more pain, more bad feelings and reason to keep eating and throwing up."

"You're addicted."

"I want to throw up now if I had anything left inside me."

"There's other ways to get rid of those feelings, you know."

"Like what?" she demanded.

"Talking helps." Kazu suggested with a shrug.

"No one understands how I feel," Suzie grunted.

"Bull," Kazu said, rising. "We all got problems Suzie and talking to others helps. I do understand how you feel, Suzie. Really, I do. Talking does help. I'll listen."

"Thanks, Kazu…but I don't see the point in talking."

"There's other things too. You can do something to get your mind off it. I like to sing or listen to music."

"But you do that all the time."

"It keeps me occupied."

She sighed and turned over, "well, anyway, after what I did…no one will want me now."

"Oh come on."

"It's true. Who'll want to date me?"

"I will in a heartbeat."

"You're just saying that," Suzie said. "I wanted to get a date but thought the only way to get one if I become thin like Millie. When Kenta aske dme, I thought it worked. I thought he asked me out because he liked how thin I was becoming. So I kept eating and throwing up."

"But that's not why he asked you," Kazu said.

"I know, because Henry asked him too. I should've known." She sighed, "what was your reason? To show off?"

"No. I knew Kenta didn't do something right. He was supposed to show you a good time and he didn't exactly do that did he?"

She shook her head, "he didn't kiss me goodnight."

"That's it?" Kazu questioned. "He didn't trip and fall on his face?"

"Nope. He just didn't kiss me goodnight."

Kazu chuckled.

"You think that's funny?"

"Well, yeah. If you wanted a goodnight kiss, why didn't you just ask him for one?"

"I thought he was going too."

"Kenta would not kiss someone unless he was asked too," Kazu said, "or I paid him to do it."

"What?!" she cried. "You didn't…"

"'Course not." Kazu laughed, "anyway, you're being a bit too hard on yourself. Bulimia wasn't' the right way to get a date. You've made a mistake but you can get past it. Soon a lot of guys will be asking you for dates. I'm sure of it."

"I'm never going to get out of here," Suzie said.

"Sure you are. You'll get better, Suzie."

"I will not. I don't know how."

"I'll help you. The first thing to start with is eating right." Kazu said.

Suzie groaned, "no way. I don't' want to eat a thing."

"Oh don't become anorexic after being bulimic," Kazu said. "I'll make damn sure you'll eat again, even if I have to spoon feed your jell-O!"

Suzie had to smile, "What would I do without you?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," Kazu replied as he squeezed her hand.

"Kazu, will you help me get better?" she asked. "Can't do it by myself."

"You just did by asking me," he said. "See, the first step is admitting you've got a problem and asking for help. You're almost there. In no time you'll be out of here." He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Thanks."

"I've got to get going but I'll come visit you soon, K?"

"You'd better."

Kazu stood up, waved at her and left the room. A moment later, Kenta came in.

"Kenta?" she asked.

"Kazu told me you didn't have a good time on our date because I didn't kiss you."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "But…"

Kenta leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. She blushed.

"Next time," Kenta said, "just ask."

"Okay."

"I'm glad you're up," Kenta said. "I've been worried. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I feel responsible for this."

"You did nothing wrong." Suzie said, "I knew what I was doing was wrong but I kept doing it anyway. You had no idea. I shouldn't have made a big deal of you not kissing me goodnight. You were just trying to be a gentleman and for the record, I did have a good time."

"You're not just saying that, are you?" he asked.

"Kenta, if I wasn't," Suzie said, "I wouldn't have gone with you in the first place."

Kenta smiled and took her hand. "I'm glad. Get some rest, 'kay?"

Suzie leaned inot her pillows and relaxed, "All right."

Kenta stood up and again, Suzie was left alone. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

****

A few days later, Suzie started to get better. She could eat solid meals and Kazu volunteered to feed her food to her. Suzie was too weak to hold a fork.

"One last bite," Kazu said, dipping the spoon to her fruit cup.

"Oh I can't," she sighed.

"Come on, Suzie," Kazu insisted, "open wide. Here comes the air plane!"

Suzie laughed and as her mouth was open, Kazu put the spoon inside. He pulled it away when she closed her mouth and she swallowed her last bite.

"Look at that, Suzie." He nodded to her tray. "You ate everything. I'm proud of you." He kissed her temple.

"Well, if you didn't feed it to me," Suzie smiled, "I probably wouldn't have ate it."

"Anything else you'd like?" he questioned, "a brownie maybe?"

"No. I should start small, you know," she said. "If I eat too much, my stomach will think of throwing up."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Kinda like riding a bike. You've got to get on before you can pedal."

"Let's just hope I can keep this all down," Suzie said.

"You didn't throw up anything before."

"Well, I was on IV's."

A nurse came in to give Suzie her sponge bath.

"I"ve been dying for a bath," Suzie groaned.

"Oh, I guess I'd better go," Kazu said and kissed her hand. "If you ask me, you look beautiful."

"Be quiet," she blushed as Kazu left.

The nurse closed the curtain around Suzie and gave her the sponge bath. Suzie rather would have a nice long bubble bath but she'd have to wait until she got home for that. As soon as she was well enough to be realeased, she would eat a medium sized meal and take a real bath and not just say that was she was going to do. She'd even bring Lopmon with her. Back when she was a little girl, she and her digimon partner took baths together almost every time. She couldn't wait to go home to see Lopmon again. Lopmon knew of the food she had in her room but she said most of it was for her when she wanted to digivolve. But Lopmon didn't eat as much as Terriermon did. Lopmon thought it was kind of strange but didn't think Suzie was bulimic. She didn't even know what that was.

"All done, hun," the nurse announced. "Can I get you anything else?"

Suzie shook her head and the nurse left. Suzie felt tired and leaned back. She wanted to get out of the room for a difference in scenery but the doctor didn't say she could leave the room yet. When she closed her eyes to catch some Z's, she felt something poking at her gently.

"Wake up, Suzie." Said a high and chipper voice. "Wake up, wake up."

"Huh?" Suzie opened her eyes and saw a pink rabbit in front of her. "What the--"

The pink rabbit was pulled away and Suzie noticed it was on a hand. It was a puppet.

"Hi Suzie," Jeri said, "I picked this up for you." She took the pink puppet off her hand and put it on Suzie's. "It'll keep you company when no one is around."

"Thanks, Jeri," Suzie said. "It gets boring here."

"I know. My mom gave me my old puppet to me when I had my tonsils taken out as a kid."

"And you donated it?" Suzie questioned.

"Yeah," Jeri said, "last thing she ever got me." She shrugged, "but that thing was getting old and I didn't see much use for it anymore."

"But, your mother gave it to you."

"I didn't need to keep it to remember. Besides, I bet someone else needed it more than I did." Jeri grinned and blinked. "It'll come in handy. You can talk to it when there's no one around and when someone's bugging you, you can use it to make them leave."

Suzie talked out of the corner of her mouth, "Suzie says thank you."

Both girls laughed and then Suzie had something to say.

"Uh, Jeri?"

"Yeah, Suzie?"

"I just want to apologize for getting mad at you the other day," Suzie said, "you were just trying to be nice. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay. That's all behind you now. No point in dreading on the past, right?"

"I bet you know that better than anyone, huh?"

Jeri nodded, "I guess I do. We all have bumps in the road but the important thing is to never give up."

"I'll remember that."

"Well, I got to get going." Jeri said. "Feel better soon!" She waved at Suzie and left the room.

Suzie looked at her gift from Jeri and pondered what she just said. Her advice was supposed to make her feel better but it made her feel a bit worse. This was coming from a girl who had lot trials in her past. First with her mother dying, her digimon leaving her first by desertion and again by death, being a tool in the D-Reaper's plan to destroy the world and yet she still was able to smile and all that good stuff. Everything was just a memory of her past. Suzie put her health in danger and all because of a boy. If Jeri could get though what she did alive, surly Suzie could get over this. It was only bulimia.

"I'm such a dope," Suzie groaned, "Here I was, feeling sorry for myself and all because Chip didn't like me back. Poor Jeri has been through much more than I did and she didn't get an eating disorder. She got better. If she can do it, so can I!"

Suzie looked at her puppet and made it talk. "Sure you can, Suzie. Just believe in yourself! It's like what Jeri said. Never give up!"

Suzie giggled, "hey, this is more fun than playing with Terriermon."

She took the puppet off and put it aside, sat up and stretched. Though she wasn't on the IV's now, she still had to stay put in her room and it was getting tiring.

"Can't wait to get out of here," she said and stepped to her window. She couldn't open it even though she tried. The window wasn't made to open. She just wanted a breath of fresh air. "Oh, how is this supposed to make me any better, staying in here with nothing to do? They could at least keep some video games in here or something. Oh…"

The sound of high heels entered her room.

"Hello, Suzie."

"Huh?" Suzie turned around and gasped. "Wha, what are you doing here? Go away!"

"My, my, my," her visitor said, shaking her head of thick, blond hair. "Is that any way to greet your guest? I only came to see how you were doing."

"Get out of here, Millie!" Suzie said thorugh clenched teeth, "the nerve of you showing your face here. It's because of you that I'm in the hospital anyway! You and Chip!"

"Me?" Millie gasped, putting her fingers to her chest and shaking her head. "Oh, no, no, no. You're in here because you're pathetic." She wore a tight sleevless blouse and a short skirt. In her right arm she held a shoebox.

"And you're full of it!" Suzie snarled. "You never acted like you wanted to be my friend before. Why are you trying to play pals with me now, huh?"

"Well, I knew you weren't happy with the way you look, why," Millie said, "if I looked like you, I woudlnt' either."

"Get over yourself, Millie. We look the same. Skinny and bony…but that's going to change! I'm getting better." She noticed the shoebox, "what's with the shoebox? Brought your lunch so you can throw it up afterwards?"

"Oh, you're such a kidder, Wong," Millie said, holding it out. "I brought you a get well present."

Suzie raised an eyebrow.

"Go ahead, open it."

Right outside the door, stood Ai. She stopped and listened to the conversation. "What is she doing here?" Ai wondered quietly.

Suzie walked forward, took the box and pushed the lid up. Inside was a water push up bra.

"A bra?" Suzie demanded, dropping the box on her bed as if it held flesh-eating rats.

"Not just any bra," Mille insisted, picking the bra out of the box. "It's a water push up bra. Inside there's a gel. You're looking a little flat so I got you one."

"Do you enjoy making others hurt, Millie?"

"Don't be silly." She put it back in the box.

"Thanks for coming by but I don't want your gift. I doubt they even work."

"They do too!" she shouted. "I'm wearing one even now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes!" she heaved out her chest. "They're quite comfortable too." She unbuttoned the first 3 buttons and pulled up the pad of her bra, "see?"

"Oh… I see." She pretended to be interested. "So, do they come in every color?"

"Just about," she replied as she buttoned her blouse up again.

"I appreciate you coming in, Millie," Suzie said, "Can I give you a hug?" In one quick motion, Suzie grabbed her salad fork and stabbed it into Millie's water bra. "Ooh, oops…"

"Hey!" Millie shouted. She stepped back and checked her bra. "You have any idea how much these bras cost? You're crazy!"

Suzie held her fork in her hand with a satisfied grin on her face. "Sorry, my bad." She giggled, "I always knew they were fake."

"You know…I was going to say if bulimia didn't work you can try becoming anorexic," Millie said, "but forget it! I hope you become one of those disgusting fat ladies that need to get around by a motorized cart!"

"Motorized, oh, is that a new word for you, Millie?" Suzie demanded.

"I'll get you for this, Wong!"

"Oh please," Suzie groaned, rolling her eyes. "You call me pathetic? I'm not the one who goes around buying water bras for everyone without a chest! I've lost my reason to stay bulimic, when are you going to lose yours?"

Millie gasped and stared as if Suzie hit a nerve.

"Go away," Suzie said.

Millie stood frozen.

Suzie sighed and put her pink puppet on her hand. "Suzie said go away! Get lost! Rar! Rar!" She poked Millie with the puppet.

"You're crazy, Wong," Millie grunted, taking the shoebox containing the water bra and left the room.

"And don't come back!" Suzie added as she left. She looked down at her gift from Jeri, "Whoa, Jeri was right. This is fun!"

Ai and Millie locked eyes for a while but Millie laught before Ai could humilate her anymore. Ai walked in and laughed. "Just saw Millie. What was she doing here?"

"Ai!"Suzie hugged her best friend. "Don't worry about it. She's just trying to stick it to me."

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Ai asked.

"I've been in bed all day," Suzie groaned. "I just needed to stretch my legs." She got back in bed.

"Hey, maybe we can ask the nurses' desk if Beelzemon can fly you around the city," Ai joked.

"That's a very tempting offer," Suzie said.

A doctor came in to check Suzie's pulse and vitals. He went over her chart.

"Doctor, I'd feel a lot better if I can get outta here." Suzie said.

"I'd like to keep you here for another day or two."

"I don't mean home," Suzie said, "I mean outside the hospital. Or at least out of this room."

"I can go with her," Ai said.

"Hmm," the doctor said, "well, I'm not sure about you walking around but some fresh air might do you some good."

"How about I push her around in a wheelchair?" Ai suggested.

"Wow, that sounds like fun!" Suzie exclaimed.

"All right then," The doctor said. "I'll have an orderly come by with a wheelchair. I only want you out for ten minutes at the most."

"Yes sir."

A moment later a sandy haired, green eyed ordely with a cute smile came in with the wheelchair. "Hi, you must be Suzie. I'm Tony."

Suzie found herself blushing, "oh, hello, Tony."

"I can take you outside."

"Can you take her to the movies too?" Ai asked.

"Ai!" Suzie gasped.

It was then Tony's turn to blush.

"No thanks. My friend Ai here was going to take me."

"Okay. Bye." Tony said and left the room. Both girls watched him stare eyed.

"Wasn't he cute?" Ai questioned.

"I uh, didn't notice," Suzie mumbled as she got into the wheel chair.

"Didn't notice?" Ai demanded. "I wish I was in the hospital!"

"Maybe if you ask your brother nicely he'll break your ankle," Suzie suggested.

"Very funny."

"You're so hooked on him," Suzie said as Ai rolled her out. "I'm going to tell Masahiko!"

"Don't you dare!" Ai snapped. "Besides, who says I can't look, right?"

"Yeah," Suzie sighed and they reached the elevator.

"'Sides, I saw you checking him out."

"I was not!"

"Oh, you were too! Just wait until I tell Kazu!"

"Ai, you do and I'll never forgive you!"

Suzie laughed until her cheeks started to hurt. Ai smiled.

"It's good to see you laughing again, Suzie." Ai said. "Even if it's at my expense."

"I feel good." Suzie said and noticed her puppet, "and it's only going to get better. Thanks to all of you guys."

TO BE CONCLUDED