Finding Jaime

Chapter 89

"Good morning, Jaime," the nurse smiled at me as I settled into my chair in the chemo clinic.

"Hey," I said. Nothing against the nurse but I hate chemo and I don't want to be here.

"I thought you were away with your dad?" She said.

"He has two shows here, and it coincided with chemo. So..." I shrugged. She smiled and nodded as she put the bag of poison on the pole above my head. Mom was sitting in a chair nearby with a book in her lap waiting for me to get hooked up.

Once the nurse was done, she checked my new port and the spot for the old one and said everything looked good. She hooked up my chemo to my port and left. Mom knew I'd probably ignore her during it, but I hated being here alone.

"Hi!" A voice beside me said cheerfully. I turned my head and saw a kid getting into the chair beside me.

"I'm Ethan. I'm nine and I have leukaemia. Who are you?"

I didn't answer him and looked away.

"It's not very polite to ignore someone when they say hi to you, you know," the kid said.

"It's not polite to interrupt people who don't want to be interrupted either," I muttered at him.

He frowned and I rolled my eyes. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to kill my cancer.

"How old are you?" He asked me.

"Older than you," I responded.

"Well, duh. I could tell that much," Ethan said to me. I'm annoyed I even know his name.

"What kind of cancer do you have?" He asked. God this kid is annoying.

"Not the kind you have," I said.

Mom was looking over while I tried leaning back and ignoring the kid.

"Okay. So what kind?" Ethan asked again.

"Brain," I said, hoping that would shut him up.

"Oh. I'm sorry," he said.  "Wanna know my cat's name?"

"Not really," I said, closing my eyes and trying to tune him out. Why didn't I bring my headphones?

"My sister named her Boots. Know why? Because his paws are all white but he's a tabby."

"Great," I said. "Do you mind? I'd like to get poisoned in peace."

"It's not really poison you know," Ethan said.

"Kid, can you just stop? I'd like to pretend I'm anywhere but here. So think me rude or whatever, but I'm putting on music and ignoring the world around me."

"What are you listening to? Can I listen, too?"

I rolled my eyes. This kid was clearly not going to leave me alone.

"The Offspring. If you must know."

"Oh. I like them. Can I listen, too?"

I sighed but turned the volume up.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. Hopefully the kid would shut up now.

"Do you play video games?" Ethan asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"What do you play? I like Fortnite."

"That's nice," I said. I opened my eyes and looked over at Mom. She was totally pretending to read her book, but I could see the smirk on her face. She was enjoying watching this. I frowned.