The Beginning of it All

{the last year, a short story}

Hey Guys!

Tonight I ran into Jeremy Culld! 'Who is he?' you may ask, well he is only the hottest, most popular guy in the school! He also has the prettiest girl in the school as his girlfriend but that's just a minor detail... I met him at the Sam's Diner, apparently, he works there. We talked for awhile but then my mom texted me and said I had to go home...

I write my blog once I get home from the diner. I can't believe we talked! He even said that he wanted to hang out sometime! I hope it's soon...

The Next Day...

"Hey Sadie!" I hear someone shout. I turn around to see Jeremy jogging towards me.

Everyone stares once he catches up. I mean why wouldn't they, the hottest, most popular guy in the school talking to one of the most unpopular girls. Yeah right.

"Hey..." I say quietly trying not to attract attention.

"I was wondering if you wanted to sit together at lunch, I mean I would hang out with you before but we don't have any classes together so..." He trails off awkwardly.

"I'd love to sit with you at lunch, but..."

"But what?"

"I have this appointment, it's at lunch and I won't be coming back to school..." I say nervously.

"Oh okay! Maybe some other time!" He says.

I nod and agree, "sounds great!"

Three Months Later...

"Jeremy! Wait up!" I shout and pick up my pace so I can catch up with him.

"What?" He says once I catch up to him. I take some deep breathes trying not to cough but I end up coughing anyways. I stop walking and move over to the side of the hallway, Jeremy follows me and hands me his water bottle. I take a few sips and hand it back to him.

"Are you okay?" He asks, sounding worried.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I say but I end up coughing again.

"Are you sure? You don't sound fine."

"Yes, I'm fine," I tell him once I'm done, "how was physics?"

"Fine," he says, going back to answering me in less than 5 syllables.

"What's wrong? You've barely been talking to me for the past few days," I question him.

"Brianna and I broke up on Wednesday," he says. I stop walking and face him, I tell him that I am sorry and he just turns away from me. After a moment he turns back around.

"Why have you been away from school so much? It's like you've been ignoring me!" He shouts. People start to look at us and I cower. I grab his arm and pull him into an empty classroom.

"Please don't yell at me," I whisper. He looks down at me and notices how scared I look. I hate it when people raise their voices at me.

"I'm sorry," he says as he sits me down on a chair. He grabs another and sits down in front of me, "just tell me where you've been."

"Promise me you won't tell anyone; I hate it when people find out."

"I promise, what is it?"

"I have Hodgkin lymphoma and Leukemia and I'm in the last year my doctors gave me to survive. Lately they've been doing a lot of tests, trying to make sure that everything is going okay," I tell him quietly.

"That's it? Cancer? Why didn't you tell me sooner! I couldn't care less!" He says, an expression of relief spreads across his face.

"I just hate getting happy about doing okay and I like not having anyone know because something always goes wrong."

Later That Night...

"Thank you for letting me sleepover Mr. and Mrs. Hamada," Jeremy says as he walks into my house.

"It's no problem! Have fun!" My mom says and they walk up stairs.

I lead Jeremy downstairs and after much discussion we decide to watch Into the Woods. We get settled down and start the movie in silence. Suddenly, the usual bodily pain I experience daily increases and my chest starts to hurt. I attempt to move into a different position so that my chest is hurting less, but I just end up hurting my legs even more. I groan out in pain and Jeremy asks what's wrong. I explain to him that my body hurts but that it's nothing to worry about so we go back to watching the movie.

We're about half way through the movie when I start to cough and have troubles breathing. Jeremy starts to freak out so he yells for my parents who come running downstairs.

My dad picks me up and carries me out to the car. He sets me down and quickly gets into the driver's seat, as we pull out of the drive way I black out.

A Week Later...

Yay... back to school I go! I think to myself as I walk through the doors. As I start down my grade's hallway, everyone stares at me.

I see Jeremy amongst a group if his popular friends. They're all looking at me as if I'm a disease, while he's just staring at me sadly.

A girl in my Chemistry class walks up to me and tells me that Jeremy told my secret at a party a few days ago. The entire school knew by the next day.

Jeremy starts to walk towards me and I try to run past him but he grabs my arm.

"Let me explain," he says quietly.

"Let me go," I murmur weakly, a few tear drops escaping my eyes. Instead of letting me go he hugs me. We stand like that for a few seconds before he whispers into my ear how everyone found out.

I think I might have heard him sniffle.

After awhile we start to walk to class and Jeremy is telling me a joke when I fall to the ground unable to breathe. I grab my throat, my eyes wide. I see people gather around me. I start to loose feeling in my legs and arms, my head feels heavy and my chest is killing me. I see flashes of people as I'm rushed out of the school. The last thing I see is before I black out is Jeremy mouthing 'I love you', I go to say it back but all I manage to get out is 'love'.

I'm in the state of knowing what is going on around me but not being able to do anything about. I can feel the life seeping out me like a mid-summer sunset. I begin cry for all of the days I will not live, all of the people I will not love, and all of the adventures I will not have.

But at least I had this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, Wattpaders!

This is probably my favourite short story I've ever written. Tell me what you think!

Where I live it's not technically Wednesday anymore (it's 12:17am on Thursday) but I figured that most of you are in a different timezone anyways.

Comment, vote, follow!

May your writing, or reading, be as marvellous as you are!

-Emily