The car glided to a stop outside the gray stone building, barely making a whisper of a sound. Students in tailored uniforms, forming pairs and trios, converged on the double oak doors. Cool early Spring light fell across the top of building, glinting off the golden crest that stood upon the doors. Above it, clear cut letters announced Wellington Private High School. Ari stared out the window, her gaze lost in waves of movement. Her mother reached out and tucked a stray piece of her white blonde hair behind her ear. Ari looked over.

"How are you feeling?" her mother asked.

Her eyes darted to the watch on Ari's wrist, the smooth screen displaying a pulsing heart rate. Ari pushed down the tinge of annoyance and looked back to the school.

"Fine," she said.

Her mother brushed aside a strand of her own honey blonde hair.

"Your father's jet arrives early this evening. He should be home for dinner at six. I have an afternoon tea, but it shouldn't run late. Will you be fine being by yourself at home?"

"I'm almost seventeen. I should be able to not die in the span between the end of school and your return. Besides, Howard will be with me every single second."

At the sound of his name, the android raised his head and appraised Ari. Ari's mother glanced at him and nodded.

"Of course. You'll be fine. How are you feeling?"

Her eyes jumped to the watch once again.

"I'm fine. I'll see you at home."

Ari pushed open the door and waited as the humanoid metal android followed her out, carrying her satchel. Ari closed the door and joined the throng of students filing into the school. She made her way through the large, open foyer and down the clean polished hallway. She kept her face blank as conversations stopped and eyes followed her as she passed. The sensation was nothing new.

She cut through the sea of students like a ship through water, Howard by her side. Around her walked surgically enhanced girls. Their faces all wore their own definition of what perfection looked like, while Ari had to settle for my mother's delicate features and her father's bright blue eyes. Makeup wasn't even an option, the chemicals too dangerous.

Ari stopped at a long row of lockers and pressed her thumb into a small pad. The lock clicked and she pulled the door open. A cheery voice called out to her, as she reached for her data pad. The warm tenor brought a smile to her face as she glanced down the hallway. Oliver appeared from around a group of flawlessly skinned girls. His easy smile and light hazel eyes greeted Ari as he leaned against the locker beside her's.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

His eyes flickered to Ari's wrist, watching as the jagged line cut across the screen. Ari's expression fell as she turned away.

"I'm fine," she said, switching on the data pad.

"What did Dr. Michaels say?"

"He said I was fine. Just like I've been for the last year and a half."

Oliver's smile widened, his shoulders relaxing.

"Good." Oliver looked to the android stationed behind Ari. "Hey Howie." he said, nodding to the android.

"Morning sir," the robot said.

A smile tugged at the corner of Ari's mouth.

"Ollie did you understand the physics homework?" she asked, scrolling through the data pad.

"Yeah. Do you want help over free period?"

Ari nodded. Absentmindedly, she reached back to her locker door when the metal edge cut the back of her hand. She jerked her hand back as a line of blood instantly appeared. The watch on her wrist started beeping and a symbol flashed a warning. Ari didn't have to look to know it was alerting her to the fact that she was loosing blood and her heart rate had spiked.

The data pad dropped as she brought her injured hand into her line of sight. Oliver straightened and took her hand. He rested his other hand on her shoulder, steadying Ari as she became light headed. Howard moved forward, his chest popping open, revealing rows and rows of tubes and medicine bottles.

"Ari, stay with me," Oliver said, making her meet his eyes.

Oliver quickly grabbed a cotton cloth from inside Howard and covered the wound.

"Ari, you're okay. Stay with me, okay?"

Ari tried to say okay, but the lightheaded feeling started clouding her thoughts. She blinked, trying to focus them. Howard pulled out a tube, that resembled a large marker, and Oliver took it. With practiced motions he popped the cap, removed the cotton cloth, and dragged the base of the marker along the cut. The skin sealed together. Ari let out a shaky breath as the light headed feeling receded. A second later the beeping of her watch died. Ari smiled at Oliver, a little sleepily.

"You're pretty good at this."

He returned the look and checked the wound, running his thumb over the faint white scar, that would take weeks to disappear.

"Well I hope so, I've been doing it for four years," he said, as he started wiping away the extra blood. "I say with this much practice I should be allowed to skip at least two years of medical school."

"I'm only one patient."

"Yes, but you have provided a myriad of challenges."

Ari shrugged.

"That's true."

He released her hand, satisfied she wasn't going to start bleeding again. He tossed the cloth into a nearby trash bin.

"There you go. You live to fight another day," Oliver said.

"The days still young, you never know what could happen," Ari said.

"I believe that your rebel tendencies will keep you alive for at least one more day."

They exchanged smiles. It was the only thing they could do. Joke to cover up the fear, because the alternative was to live in panic every second of the day, and that would be as bad as letting a cut bleed for longer than a second.

Ari looked down at the faint scar on her hand, one of many her body had.

The doctors didn't have a name for what she had. They had never seen a case like her's. Ari had once asked for an explanation. Her doctor's response had been, that her body seemed to be working so hard on the normal day things like breathing, keeping her heart pumping, and keeping her brain running; that it didn't have the reserves other people had to deal with extra problems. Where everyone else could comfortably deal with stress, or over-stimulus, Ari's body couldn't.

Oliver reached out and lifted Ari's other wrist. He briefly flipped through the small screen's data, taking in every single piece of medical information that the watch detected.

"See you're fine," Oliver said.

"I know, Ollie."

Ari pulled her wrist away and turned to close her locker. Oliver bent down and retrieved her fallen data pad. The door closed with a metal click and Ari took the pad, tucking it into the satchel Howard was holding. Before shutting Howard's interior, Oliver grabbed a water bottle and handed it to Ari.

"Here, this will help your head."

Ari took it without question. He watched as she drank half the contents, wearing a look she had seen so many of her doctors wear, when they expected her to follow orders.

"Better?" he asked.

Ari nodded, the last of the light headed feeling ceasing. The crowd parted behind Oliver as a girl with lose black curls emerged, wearing the hour glass curves Ari's metabolism would always keep her from having. The girl's green eyes flashed with excitement and her red lips curved into a smile.

"You are never going to guess who is now going to our school?" Bristle almost shouted.

Ari cringed at the noise. Oliver instinctively turned his back on Ari, blocking half of her with his body, his hands raised.

"Brit, calm down. Ari's head isn't in the mood for the noise."

Bristle waved away Oliver's worry, but settled herself down.

"Fine, now, can I tell you who is going to our school?" Bristle asked.

Oliver stepped aside and leaned casually on the lockers.

"Sure Brit, tell us whose at our school now. We're dying to know," Oliver said, crossing his arms.

Bristle shoot Oliver an annoyed glare, that he merely smirked at.

"I could actually die from the anticipation, so you should probably tell me," Ari said.

Bristle rolled her eyes, but didn't comment on what Ari said.

"Damian Strider is going to our school," Bristle said, in barely contained tones of excitement.

Oliver and Ari exchanged looks, not joining in Bristle's giddiness. She stopped beaming when they made no noise.

"Seriously? Damian Strider, hot millionaire's son?" Bristle asked. "Strider technology? His great great grandfather was the one that designed the first self operating vehicle? How do you not know any of this?"

She looked at them, clearly dumbfounded by their ignorance. Oliver raised a finger.

"I know who he is, I just don't care about him going to our school."

"I have no thought as I don't listen or watch or follow the news at all," Ari said.

"Fine, Ari, gets a break because she's well, useless."

"You're too kind," Ari mocked.

Bristle waved the comment away.

"But Ollie," Bristle said. "How are you not even the least bit interested in having one of the most famous guys going to our school?"

"Simple, I'm not a girl. Come on Ari, class is calling us."

Oliver rested a hand on Ari's up arm and guided her away.

"Fine, I'll find other people to be excited with me," Bristle said.

"Good," Oliver called back.

Ari's lips curved into an amused smile as she glanced back and saw her cousin scowling.

"We could have acted a little more interested," Ari said, looking up at Oliver.

He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"We could have, but what's the point?" Oliver said, running a hand through his short wavy brown hair. "So a millionaire's son moves to Evergreen from New York. Big deal? Almost everyone wants to move here, it's the only truly clean city left."

Ari nodded.

"Do you know what he looks like?" she asked.

"I think he has eyes and a nose."

Ari smiled and nudged Oliver with her elbow.

"Funny. Anything more specific than that?"

"There might have been a pair of ears in there as well."

Ari laughed, the sound light and airy. Oliver looked at her, the corner of his mouth curling. The stairway rang as a crowd of guys rushed down the steps. Oliver edged closer to Air and gently pulled her out of the way of the rushing horde.

"Thanks," Ari said.

"Yeah."

"I wanted to ask-" Ari started to say pausing as a cluster of girls stormed by. Oliver glanced at her.

"What do you want to ask me?" he asked.

"I was getting to it."

"Of course you were."

Ari gave him a flat look.

"I wanted to know how your father's work on the museum is coming? Will it be opening soon?"

"It's going good. It should be open on time, in about four months."

"Good, I want to go."

Oliver let out a deep laugh.

"You are odd."

"Hey! I'm not that odd." Ari looked at him, her brow crinkling. "Am I?"

The laugh fell from Oliver's face.

"No, you're not odd."

Ari nodded and looked away.

"I'm serious," Oliver said. "You're not odd. Sorry, I said anything."

Ari shrugged it away and gave Oliver a half hearted smile.

"I know. You're the odd one. You've chosen the medically challenged girl as your best friend."

Oliver gave a soft chuckle.

"Well, that's true."

They paused as a group of students passed by, their voices bright with excitement. At the center of the group was a tall, toned guy with sharp, attractive features. His brown eyes met Ari's for a brief instant, before his attention was pulled elsewhere. Ari watched as the group moved down the hallway, their laughter filling the air behind them.

"You probably guessed it," Oliver said, still looking towards the group.

Ari looked at him.

"Guessed what?"

"The guy in the middle." Oliver turned his gaze on Ari. "That was Damian Strider. I told you he had ears somewhere."

Ari smiled and followed Oliver into the classroom.

***************

Hi!

One More Day is about a girl struggling to live her life while living with the fear of death each day. Her small world is turned upside down when the new guy decides, that since she's has been marked as off limits, he will break past those boundaries. She discovers that life is more than just surviving and that she can be a person instead of just a patient.

This idea stemmed form the phrase, 'I guess you could say I was a rebel from the beginning.' I came up with that and wondered how being a rebel could be a good thing. How fighting what everyone says you can and can't do could make you stronger. I've faced sickness before and so I combined these two thoughts to come up with Ari and her story.

What do you think? Interested to read more?

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