Sorry this is late!!!!! I have been busy and traveling like crazy! I added a photo of Anna. Now I know she is supposed to be bald but I thought she looked so much like Anna, I just had to use it. Anyhow I hope this chapter makes up for being late! Also look out for the <> :)

Enjoy,
Darla H

"This will sting," a nurse warned as she poked me with a needle the next day. I felt the sting of the needle get pushed into my arm, but I didn't flinch since I was so used to having many needles in my arm. It really didn't bother me anymore.

Plus, my mind was somewhere else that was more important. I saw Peter get into a fight yesterday, and I hadn't really talked to him since he dropped me off last night. The events from yesterday replayed in my mind on repeat, making me wonder if he had acted out like that before to others.

"So how's that boy of yours doing?" she asked me as she got my treatment set up, trying to make conversation with me.

I'm convinced that I was their only form of gossip on this floor. I shrugged at her as I tried to be calm about it. "He's doing well." Except he got into a nasty fight last night and scared the crap out of me...

She smiled at me. "Good to hear."

As she walked out of the room, I turned on my phone and flipped through social media, where I quickly posted an old photo of Farrah and me, hoping that she would see it and feel guilty that she had spent little time with me. Ever since she got her new boyfriend, she had been distant from me; I kept on giving hints to her I missed her, but she was catching on. I hoped she would realize on her own that I might not much have much more time left on this earth. If she thought her boyfriend was more important than me, it hurt, but what could I do about that?

<>

Breaking me from my thoughts was Anna, when she popped her head into my room. She gave a smile at me but as I looked at her; I realized she looked different from the last time I saw her a few days ago. Under the florescent lighting, it was clear that she had lost all of her summer golden skin tone and instead, replaced by a sickly pale tone more so than I had.

"Hey Bud," she said with a small smile as she walked over to an empty chair next to me. "Care for some company?"

"Hey bud," I said to her. "No, please, entertain me," I smiled.

"I liked your post," she said and held up her phone to show the photo I just posted.

"You're too kind."

"I hadn't seen Farrah in a while. How has she been?"

I frowned, not knowing the answer to that question. Her boyfriend and her were spending a lot of time together, which made me feel like I had lost my best friend, replaced by a man that she barely knew. The Rugby match was the first time that we did something together in a bit, but even then she met up with that boy and left me within minutes. "She got a boyfriend, that's why."

"And you don't like him?" she asked me, as if she could read my mind.

I shrugged at her. That wasn't 100% of the reason. I didn't have a problem with her dating; I wanted her to be happy, but what I had a problem with she always leaving me or too busy to hang out with me, her only sister. "He seems nice, but I feel like he's taking Farrah away from me. I want her to be my best friend but often I find her absent when I need her most."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too," I mumbled.

There were a few minutes of silence since I killed the mood. I did that often, but Anna didn't seem to mind it, she either brushed it off or found something to be positive about. She opened her phone again and showed an old Instagram post of Peter and me. "I can't get over this photo of you two!" she gushed, changing the subject.

Anna was still hesitant about Peter, but she was trying her best to be friendly with him. And Peter did everything in his power to make up for everything he did wrong when he was younger. They still had a lot to work on, but it made me happy to see that they were trying for me.

"I see this and all I think is that my friend is so stinking gorgeous."

I blushed at her comment. "I should say the same thing to you."

"Psst. Yeah, I'm not the one dating the hot rugby player," she said, winking. "Tell me, is he a good kisser?"

I rolled my eyes at her. I didn't know how to respond, since he was the only person I had kissed. Of course I thought he was good, but I had nothing to compare it to. "Yeah, he's good I guess, but I wouldn't really know since he's the only boy that I have kissed."

"What? Hold up. Peter's the only boy you've kissed? I wouldn't have thought about such a thing since you're such a hot babe. I thought you would have dated so many other guys before him."

"Yeah, well, believe it or not, but it's kind of hard to make out with boys at the hospital."

She chuckled because she understood the sad reality of the statement more so than most.

"How many boys have you kissed?" I asked her, suddenly self-conscious.

"Like five, maybe more," she shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

"I should take tips from you."

"Ask away, I have the time," she said as she leaned back in her chair, ready for the questions to fly.

I was about to open my mouth to ask her a question when Doctor Patel walked in. I looked at him and smiled softly, knowing that I would have to wait for the Q&A to start.

"I didn't know you two were friends," he said to Anna and me.

We looked at each other and smiled. "Yeah, we are."

"Good to hear. Clare, can I talk to you after that group meeting today?"

"Yes. I'll be here," I told him as if I had anywhere else to go. He picked up some papers on the desk and looked over them for a second, but in this moment I wanted him to leave. I wanted to go back to talking to Anna.

Sensing that he wasn't wanted, he put the papers down and nodded at us. "Good. Good. Ok, I will talk to you later," he said and then walked out of the room.

"He's a really interesting Doctor," Anna said a minute after he left.

I shrugged at her; I knew he was different, but I liked that and that was why we have kept him for so long. "I like him. I think he's pure genius."

She nodded at him. "Maybe I should be his patient," she mumbled hopelessly.

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at her, questioning that statement. For the past week or two, she hasn't really texted me back about anything health-related like she used to do. Now she seemed as hard to read as I was about health issues, and I couldn't help but feel concerned about it.

Sometimes, I would try to start a conversation with her about how she was feeling, but it would always end fast. In fact, we hadn't talked a lot about how we were doing. I think both of us were pulling away from each other in that respect, too afraid to speak the realities of life. My face grew serious for a second as I looked directly into her eyes. "So how are you doing?"

She looked at the ground and then shrugged at me. She forced a smile, but the smile soon slid off her face as if it couldn't stick. For the first time since I had known Anna, she looked crushed. "I don't know. They think I have little time left. The cancer's spreading too fast and a lot of the treatments make me way too sick to even try," she sniffled and then looked up at the ceiling as she tried to regain herself.

I frowned as her words free fell onto me, burying me alive. That was why she had been so distant with me. And honestly, I couldn't blame her. I looked at my hands as I tried to formulate what to tell her. It took all I had not to break down in front of her. Someone needed to be strong for her. "Anna," I said finally as I put my hand over hers.

"You know, it's ok. It'll be fine. Whatever happens, it'll be ok," she said firmly as if she believed it herself. "I've made peace with it."

What she told me made me sick to my stomach. How could she just be ok with this? With dying? She was too young with both were too young to deal with any of this and it wasn't right. "No, that's not how it goes. You don't just make peace with it. Anna, you're going to fight like hell. I know you can. What happened to that drive you first had when I met you?"

She shrugged as she gave a little sniffle, trying to keep herself together.

I shook my head hard enough to make myself dizzy. "No, don't give me that. Tell me, that's what you're going to do. Promise me," I said forcibly.

She was quiet for a second, but she looked at my serious face and gave a small smile. "Ok. I promise."

I held up my pinky finger. "Now pinky promise." Because pinky promises seal the deal, always.

She gave a small chuckle. "Because you can't ever break pinky promises."

"You better believe it. Now there's no going back."

As our time together wore on, found ourselves at the support group meeting where I was once again reminded that my name was on for the talent show next week.

"Did you practice what you'll perform?" Anna whispered to me as the support group leader talked about how the talent show was going to be two weeks ago but some idiot didn't reserve the room and they had to reschedule for next week. It was obvious that the group leader was frustrated about this, which I found very amusing.

I looked up at Anna and smiled sheepishly. "No." I honestly wasn't planning to attend the show at all, skipping it completely since I convinced myself that I was going to embarrass myself on stage.

She hit me on the arm lightly with a frown. "Clare!" she said accusingly. "I expected better from you." She said as if she was my mom.

"I wasn't the one that signed up in the first place," I said back to her under my breath, careful not to make a scene.

She frowned at me. This time she didn't have a joking look on her face, as it turned very serious. "Please? I want to see you perform. I know you'll do great. Plus, I can even help you out! I can be your backup support." Her serious moment ended and by the end of her comment, she was back to her joking self.

"Like backup vocals?" I asked. I didn't remember her telling me that she could sing.

She chuckled at me. "Psssh. No, I can't sing to save my life. But I can be there on the stage if you feel more confident. I can even break out my great dance moves," she said and wiggled in her seat, showing what great dance moves she had up her sleeve.

"Is there something that you would like to share with the group Anna and Clare?" the support group leader asked with a slight frown.

As we both looked at her, I felt my cheeks grow hot, knowing that we got caught. I froze in my seat, not knowing what to say as all my thoughts flew like birds away from me.

"We were just talking about how cool the talent show's going to be," Anna spoke up.

She smiled at us and nodded. "Yeah, I think it'll be really cool!"

After a minute or two of silence, Anna elbowed me. "You need to learn how to keep your cool." She said under her breath.

I shrugged at her. "Want to teach me?"

She smiled. "The list of things I need to teach you is growing by the moment. I don't think I can live to teach you everything."

I frowned at her, knowing what she was referring to. The way she mentioned it so casually made me want to scream. "Don't even think that way."

She frowned back at me, but refused to say anything. And for the rest of the meeting we were silent, our mood killed by the sad fact of what was killing most of us that sat in this meeting.

As we walked back to my room with IV poles by our sides, Anna spun around the pole, then stopped to look at me with a smile. "Please let me know if you need help with the talent show performance. I'm an excellent dancer," she said and smiled widely at me.

For some reason I didn't believe that statement, but what I liked was that she wasn't afraid to make a fool of herself. She was just here to have fun, and I could see that from everything she did. "I'll keep that in mind," I said as we walked into my room to find Doctor Patel already waiting for me. I was sure he just used my rooms to avoid people. "How long have you be waiting for me?" I asked him.

He looked up from his phone, then stuffed it into his dress slacks. "Not long. I wanted to know how you are feeling?"

I shrugged. "Not the best, but I am surviving."

Anna looked at me, then to him, and with a small smile, she placed her hand on my shoulder, knowing that this conversation was meant for only me and Doctor Patel. "I'll see you later, bud," Anna said then left the room without another word.

"Bye," I said quickly then turned back to Doctor Patel as I waited to see what he would say next.

"I just wanted to go over the game plan for the treatments. You know we were upping them but I wanted to talk to you about how long you want to stay on it."

I nodded at him as I chewed on my lip as I waited for more information from him.

"I'm thinking about four weeks. But I want to do an MRI in two weeks to see where we are."

I nodded at him but didn't say a word.

"I see you are trying to be more social. I think people interaction will be good for you," he said and stood up from his chair. "Well, I think you are almost done with your treatment today. Who's picking you up?"

"My dad, I think?"

"Good, I would like to talk to him as well."

I gave him a stern look, as if I was in charge. "Don't you dare tell him what you told me a few days ago," I threatened him, referring to what he told me about how severe the cancer was.

"Relax. I'm not. Promise."

I nodded, believing him. I knew I could trust him, I always had.