Living to Loving

Chapter 2

Hey guys!! Chapter 2, comin at you from Daniel's point of view! Hope you enjoy!

*Daniel POV*

Gemma. As I stand in the doorway with my blue backpack waiting for my sister so she can drive us to school, her name is on my lips. My hope for popularity, for acceptance, is riding on her now. The next three years of my life, and possibly more, are determined by whether or not she decides to spill the beans. I can't let that happen.

Four years ago I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I was eleven, I think. I was at my best friend's house, Henry.

We were laughing about something, I think. I wasn't feeling too good, but I tried to push through it. My head was throbbing and I was starting to feel nauseated, but I wanted to joke around with him and stuff. Then the headache intensified and this bright white light came. After a moment or two, I woke up in a pool of my own urine, dazed and disoriented, still in Henry's room.

Henry's eyes were wide as he stood over me. "I thought you were dead," he said, real intelligent-like.

"Me too," I said honestly.

Henry had glanced around awkwardly. "I'll get a towel," he said, running out. I knew he was eager to get out of the situation, and, all in all, so was I. So I sat there, confused as to what had happened, in a pool of my own pee, on my best friend's carpet.

Henry came running back in with his mother eventually, who was calling 911 on her cell phone. I remember red hot embarrassment invading my face, turning my cheeks red.

His mother called an ambulance, and as it screamed into the night with me in it, all I could think of was the embarrassment Henry could cause for me. Middle school was not fun.

I had woken up with my older sister Rina and my mother sitting beside me in the hospital, hwere I spent the next week of my life.

I was back at school afterward, where I'd learned Henry had destroyed me. Stares, whispers, and rumors followed me down the halls. The name Daniel Michaels had been affixed with Bedwetter, PeeBrain, and countless others. I was completely humiliated.

Henry had promised me that he would tell no one, but Henry was a blabbermouth. This I knew, ut by then I couldn't do anything. He came around once to apologize, but shortly after, he stopped returning my calls and texts. He started avoiding me in the halls, and all of a sudden Rina and my parents were all I had left.

When we moved, I saw it as a chance at redemption. And it was. I was the star quarterback of the football team, I was popular, I had girls crushing on me and everything. But the minute I saw Gemma at the support group, I knew it could all come crashing down the second she told one person. I was desperate to keep my reputation up after what had happened last time.

"Hey, Danny," Rina, my older sister says, walking up. Her dark brown hair glistens copperish in the fluorescent lighting. "Come on."

She motions for me to follow her out the door. I pull on the straps of my backpack, duck my head, and follow her out.

Rina slides in the driver's seat and starts the car.

"So how was the support group yesterday?" Rina asks.

I roll my eyes. "Stupid."
Rina raises an eyebrow. "How so?"

"They went around in a circle and had us say our diagnosis, and our mental state or whatever," I said. "And there's this one girl-Gemma Caddel who goes to my school." I give Rina a look.

Rina sucks in a breath. She knows about Henry and what happened at our last school. "Okay," she says slowly. "You asked her not to tell, right?"

I nod.