The Smallest Parallel

Chapter 15

Over the past two weeks, Geoffrey had been spending most of his time with Marguerite. He was both puzzled by and thankful for their newfound friendship. He noticed that there had been many changed within her, and he couldn't help but feel the looming melancholy of their situation.

            Was she changing because she had realized the importance of embracing the world for what it is, or was she changing because she had realized that she was dying, and that mortality was as unavoidable as life itself? He remembered the moments throughout their friendship that she'd shown him small glimpses of her own humanity. Specifically, he'd remembered when she gave him the spyglass keychain and how he'd realized in that moment that she did listen and that she might have even loved him in some strange way.

            For the longest time, Geoffrey deluded himself into believing that she could have romantic feelings for him, but perhaps it was time to move past that period in his life. He'd been chasing this phantom, the idea for a long time. It was difficult to move past those preexisting romantic ideas and fantasies after living with them for so long. He'd fostered these ideas from his adolescence, even though he'd known they were unhealthy.

            Marguerite had inspired him with her sudden changes. Though they had agreed not to talk about her cancer, he couldn't help but feel that she was giving up. Her decision not to receive treatment puzzled him. If he'd been living in his head for as long as she had, he'd be fighting for his life, for the chance to see the world with all of its flaws and beauties.

            Alas, he wasn't her. He handled things in a practical manner from a very young age. A particular moment in history came to his mind when thinking of the profound differences between himself and his best friend.

            It was their sophomore year of high school, and they had been partners in biology lab. They were set to do a dissection, and Marguerite had been dreading. Geoffrey, on the other hand, didn't care. He only wanted to make an A in the class. He wasn't concerned about ethics or anything similar.

            That month, Marguerite had decided that she was vegetarian and that harming animals was fundamentally wrong. She was also going through a Buddhist phase, though that is unimportant.

            She joined Geoffrey in the lab on that dreaded day and took her seat beside him. She'd looked paler than usual, which was worrying because a human being can only be so white. Geoffrey wasn't sure what to say. He'd seen Marguerite in many a phase, and he was never sure which ones would take and which ones would fade out within the next week.

Marguerite was the most passionate girl he'd ever known, but her passions were always incredibly inconsistent. Today, she was passionate about vegetarianism, but why should she let those feelings get in the way of her making a good grade. Perhaps Geoffrey had already sold his soul to the school system, or he was too much of a coward to stand up for moral principles and personal beliefs.

She began shaking on her stool, her eyes darting between the door to the lab and the dissection tools on the counter.

Geoffrey looked over at her, concerned about both her grade and her feelings. What would really be compromised if Marguerite dissected a frog? What would be compromised if she didn't. He looked over at her and watched her as she grew paler and paler. He'd never seen her this way. She was speechless.

The teacher began passing out dead frogs, and Geoffrey began to wonder why this was required for high school students. Not all high school students were going to be doctors, and he honestly considered this entire act arbitrary. He leaned over and grabbed Marguerite's right hand.

"Marguerite," he whispered, diverting her attention away from the approaching teacher.

"I can't do this Geoffrey," she said, and he could see the tears forming in her eyes.