Photographs (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 29

I heard my alarm clock go off and I groaned.

It was the first day of my senior year. I luckily had almost all of my credits so I was eligible to start school at 9am rather than the horrendous 7am.

I pulled myself out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I had been out of the hospital for about 3 weeks. My family and everyone around me were keeping a close eye on my health, but lately I felt great. I felt like nothing ever happened, but the thought of my brain tumor was still stowed away in the back of my mind. I knew that eventually I would start to feel bad all over again, but I was hoping that would come later rather than sooner.

After I was ready I pulled on my shoes, swung my backpack onto one shoulder, and made my way into the living room. Within minutes, Luke was pulling up in front of my house. I made my way out the door and over to Luke's car, keeping my head down the entire time.

"Hi," I said quietly once I got in the car, showing Luke I was still tired.

"Hey," he said kissing my cheek before pulling out of my driveway.

"I see you're on time today. Actually... you're early!" I exclaimed to tease Luke.

"Only because I knew if we weren't at least on time, you wouldn't be very happy with me," he said with a slight smile.

"You know me so well," I smiled at him.

It was true, the first day I wanted to at least be on time. I actually wanted to be early to meet up with Casey.

After we parked, I pulled open the door to the school and let out a silent sigh. I was excited because it was senior year but I wasn't excited about school in general.

I spotted Casey standing by our usual spot near the door. She was typing on her phone as I approached her.

"Hey," I said walking up to her. Luke laced his fingers with mine as we began to walk the familiar hallways.

"What's your first class?" I asked.

"Psychology" she said, and I told her I had world history. It worked well because our classes were across from each other.

We all walked towards our classes making small talk. I looked around at all the people walking in the halls. Some were wearing their sports uniforms and some frantically running around looking for their next class; freshman.

Luke and I dropped off Casey at Psychology before making our way across the hall and to my class.

"I'll see you after class," he said kissing my cheek.

"Have fun in math," I smiled before walking into the room and taking a seat.

-

The bell sounded, signaling the end of the day. I was glad because it felt as if 2pm couldn't come any faster. The day had dragged on forever.

"Are you feeling okay? No headaches?" Luke asked right as I met him in the hallway.

"I'm alright," I assured him as we walked to his car.

The doctors told me I could get headaches easily for a little while, especially when I had to focus for long periods of time. Luke was always super worried about my health, he always asked how I was feeling.

The first day was just listening to teachers ramble on about the class and rules, it wasn't very mentally demanding.

Casey was already standing next to Luke's car. We had planned to hang out at my house while Ashton and Luke had hockey practice.