The weekend went by fast, I didnt have much fun because I was getting blasted with chemo, so I just rested up at home. The steroids im on for my side are helping, I can move around easier without a bunch of pain. I just hope I fully heal in the next few weeks. I plan on spending an entire weekend with Jack, the love of my life, sex is bound to happen, I'm just being honest. Fuck it, even if im not im going to enjoy the fuck out of that weekend. I have 3 whole weeks to heal up, and I'm excited. So excited I ended up being late to school on Monday after having a dream about Jack. It's been 2 days since I sent the letter, I hope I receive a reply tomorrow. I'm ecstatic. I run down the stairs, bag in my hand, a grin on my face. Freshly shaven and ready for school in a new hoodie I stole yesterday after my chemo.

"Mac, come sit and eat before you go. I know this weekend was hard so it's okay to be late today. Come and eat a good breakfast. We have maple sausage or maple bacon, even both if you wish. Ohh, pancakes or waffles? Scrambled or sunny side?"

I sigh happily and sit at the bay window, which has a small circle breakfast table in front of it. I lean against the window, feeling the ray of light on my neck. I hum and close my eyes.

"Sunny side up please, with bacon and waffles," I grin with my eyes closed.

I hear her laugh in response, my cheeks hurt from smiling so wide.

"Mom?"

"What's up, Hunny?"

"When Jack comes back in town, we want to go on a trip with the guys. Can I please?"

"It depends on the day. When and how long?"

"I dont know, but right when he gets back. He doesn't want to go home to his parents, and neither do we."

She continues cooking while thinking, then she turns to me, spatula pointed at me. "As long as it doesn't fall on Halloween weekend, you can go. But, only because we trust Jackson to protect you. You have to bring extra pods with you, no matter what you say."

"Thank you. I told him everything he needed to know to plan in my last letter, the one coming in soon should have the rest of the information needed. I promise to be safe and bring extra pods."

"If you need to reschedule chemo then alright, we'll reschedule," she stops and sniffs the air then quickly opens the waffle maker to see a burnt waffle. "Mierda," she curses to herself in Spanish. My eyes widen.

"Mom," I say to her, "You say no cursing," I point at her.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I slipped," she picks up the waffle and throws it towards the trash. "How did you know?"

"Grandma says it all the time, and she told me what it meant."

"Of course she did. I may have skipped the Hispanic gene but it surely got you. Grandma married a white man, and I took most of his genes when I had you with a white Italian man, you took the genes from your grandma. That's why your skin is tanner than ours, your scars come out brighter, and your eyes are darker. Even your freckles resemble your grandma. You have your father's handsome face and my mother's beautiful Hispanic genes. That's why you're so irresistible to Jackson," she winks my way.

My face grows hot and I cover it with the hoodie. She laughs at me lightly, my grin from the morning never faded. Mom offered to let me skip today, after the weekend I had, and I said no. I want to go and see my friends, I want to go and see how Tim and Gene are, plus I want to talk to Gene. But on the way out the door, I saw it. A yellow envelope smaller than mine. I yank it out of the mailbox and look at the sender.

"To my love, Malcolm Bandoni" then our address. I squeal happily and run to the car, my mom laughs and runs to the driver with me. Mom tells me to open it now, but I remember what I sent in my last letter and say I'll read it with the guys at lunch. I happily run up to the school, I hit the buzzer and they unlock the door once they see my grinning face.

"You look happy," the desk lady grins at me. "Everyone's in 3rd hour."

"Thank you!" I call out, clutching the letter to my chest as I run to my third hour. I slowly and calmly walk in, the normal teacher is gone. We have a female sub, she's young and gives me a smile and waves over to the desk.

"Hi there, I'm Ms.Castro. Can I have your name?"

"Malcolm Bandoni" I smile."Well, I'm going to be your sub. Only for 3 weeks. We're starting group projects. The projects are between you and the table in front of you. All info is on your computers, if you have further questions come see me."

I nod and turn to Lucas with wide eyes, he beckons me over. "It's okay. Ms.Princess knows to keep her mouth shut unless it's schoolwork. So, tell me, did you get your letter yet?"

"How'd you know?"

"Gene sent a letter same time as you and got one in return this morning," I pull the letter from my hoodie pocket and wave it lightly. "Hell yeah dude, what are you waiting for? Open it."

I swallow but im too excited to wait for lunch. I tear it open and the pictures fall out. I put the letters back in and pick up the polaroid picture. I look at Paige whos chatting with the girl next to her about the project. I deem it safe and move the pictures between Lucas and me.

The 1st one is of him wearing the necklace I gave him. His chin has a stubble of dark hair starting, it makes him look a little older and more mature. I add that one to my clear phone case. The 2nd and 3rd are of his training. I see him sparing, he's in a fighting stance with a male in front of him. His face is focused, not angry. I smile. The other is him holding a gun with noise-muffling headphones over his ears.

The picture is taken from a side angle. My eyes outline his body. Only the bottom half of his uniform is on, the top is tied around his waist. He has on a grey t-shirt, you can see his muscles bulging in the shirt. It hugs his abdomen, and because of sweat, you can see the curves of his torso. I feel my face hot so I slap my hand over the picture and lay my head on the desk. Lucas laughs next to me, that must have grabbed the attention of the bitch in front of us, but he stops and tells her off. I look back up and her arms are crossed as she looks at the pictures. I quickly cover them and slide them into a pile. I glare at her, then see her eyes drift to the actual letter. I reach for it but it's already in her hands. I stand abruptly. then before I know it I'm reaching across the table and yanking it out of her grasp.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yell at her, the sub looks over at me.

"Me?" She pulls it back to her chest. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I slide off of the table and I'm now in front of her. I pull it back to me and I slap her across the face.

"Do not ever touch my shit again," I yell, my hand throbbing. She lets go and I examined the letter. It crumbled but was still readable. "Jack never wanted you and that's not my fault! We are together, and you aren't! Get over it, you fucking bitch!"

"Malcolm, Paige!" The subs' voice booms, I look over, and she's in front of Paiges' table. "Your teacher warned me about you two."

"It's not my fault," My face flashes worry, then Lucas is at my side and hugging my shoulders lightly.

"It's not Mac's fault. Paige has been harassing him for a while now. She keeps trying to steal his property."

Ms. Castro's eyes go to Paige. Paige in question looks offended, cupping her face.

"Take any of my shit again," I curse at Paige, "And I'll do more than just slap you. I'm not worried about hitting a girl. I'm sorry you're jealous, but Jack is my boyfriend now and there's nothing that is going to change that. The only thing you can do is stay out of my life. I'm going to continue loving Jackson with all of my heart, and I will not stop because you are pissy."

The sub looks like she doesn't know how to handle this.

"Jacks' only with you because you fake having a fucking illness!" She screams at me, her face bright pink in anger."

Fake an illness?" The sub looks at me with pure confusion.

I ignore her and my fist clenched, then I set down the letter to not hurt it anymore. "There's something wrong with you Paige," I shake my head, then yank up my sleeve, my bright white scar shows from the internal prosthetic. "I have Osteosarcoma," I say loudly, in pure rage. "I have a fucking bone cancer! So fucking what? No one knew, not even Jack when he started dating me! No one! You know why, because of people like you!" Her jaw softens and her look becomes more confused and surprised. "I have an internal prosthetic, they broke my bone and pulled it out of my arm, then put in a fake bone," I pull down my sleeve and then pull up the other one to show a small X tattooed on my arm. "See that little fucking X?! That's where I receive my radiation now before it develops and ends up killing me!" I yank down that sleeve, then pull out my pen. "This! This isnt a fucking vape!" My hands are shaking. "It's medical marijuana because I am in so much fucking pain! All I want to do if fucking die I'm in so much pain! Why do you think my friends are so protective?! Why do you think I miss so much school?! Why do you think no one is allowed to fucking touch me?!"

"Mac," Lucas gives me a worried look and wipes the tears I didn't know were coming out. "Mac, you dont have to do this, dont do this man" His hands are now wrapping around my shoulder. I grab his jacket and cry. "Should I call Tim?" He asks letting me go.

"No," My forehead leans on his shoulder, I sigh and wipe my tears. I look at Paige. "So, what would you fucking know about faking an illness?" I ask weakly, giving a dead stare. The principal walks into the room, looking disappointed. It's now I realize my envelope is back in Paige's hand. "Give it back before I knock you the fuck out."

"Malcolm," The principal warns.

"Look at the front of the envelope, just look at it," I point weakly, so she grabs the envelope.

She gives Paige a disapproving look, "This clearly is addressed to Malcolm, Paige."

"Jack doesn't belong to him though! He was mine! He IS mine!" She yells and tears well in her eyes.

"Do you know how delusional you are?" I ask Paige and take back my letter. I hug it to my chest. I look at the table and see the 3 pictures still there, so I grab them and stuff them inside. "Of course, he doesn't belong to me, I dont own him. He's a human being, he's not something you can own. He loves me, I love him, that's it."

"He's not Gay!"

The principal tries to interrupt but I continue, "You're right, he's not gay. He's a person who loves another person. You dont have to be gay to love the same sex."

She opens her mouth but now the principal finally stops her. She has the SRO take her to the office. The principal turns to me with a sympathetic look, apologizing.

"Please, make her stop bothering Jack and I. I'm so tired, I can't deal with this anymore."

She gives a smile and a nod then walks out, I slide down the table and onto the floor, Lucas sits next to me with worry. I grab my phone and put it in my thumbprint, then hand it to Lucas, he nods and calls Tim. The sub looks confused and concerned.

"It's me, Lucas. Mac needs you here," He says simply then I hear beeping on the other end. He pulls my phone away from his ear and powers off my phone. A minute or two later, Tim is running in. "I dont think it's his cancer."

Tim falls next to me and pulls me into his hold, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I said it," I laugh lightly. He lets go of me and looks me in the eyes. "I said it out loud, I told Paige, I told everyone."

"Oh Mac," His eyes squint and tears fall from my eyes. "No, no no. It's okay, Mac, it's okay," tears build in his tear ducts, he blinks and they fall. "It's okay," then Gene is next to him, and he looks between us concerned. "Mac told Paige about his cancer, it's out there now, for real this time."

Gene gives me a sorry look, then it turns to anger as he looks at the floor.

"I said it," I mumble. "I hate it," Gene, Tim, and Lucas hug me. "I hate it! I spent years avoiding this! But she just pushed my fucking buttons! I hate her!" I sob uncontrollably.

My friends never let go of me, we sit there for what felt like forever. No one was working on their projects, just watching us. The sub tried desperately to get people back to work, but then she just gave up. I sat with my friends for the rest of the hour. 5 minutes before the bell rang, They helped pick me up, and I stopped crying, but now Im completely numb. They sit me in my chair and talk about what to do.

"We have first lunch together, we only have one more hour left before then. Do we take him to a counselor?" Lucas asks.

"No, they make him uncomfortable," Tim shakes his head. I watch as Gene hugs him, and Tim hugs back. "I'm going to take him to the nurse, then on lunch, I'll take him to Jack so he can spend time there."

I watch gene whisper into Tim's ear, then Tim tightens his hold on Gene and slumps against him. Gene frowns and shoves his face into my brother's neck. Lucas rubs my back, I watch Gene mumble into Tim's skin, then whisper in his ear. I watch him back up and smile at him sadly.

"Thank you," He says, then he looks at me. "Let's get you to rest in the nurse, then I'll take you to Jack's house. Does that sound okay?"

"No, I'll be okay. I," I pause then open the envelope and look at the pictures. A very small smile fights its way through my frown. "I need to keep up with school anyways. I'll be okay."

He sighs and hugs me again, I hug back and lay my head on his shoulder.

"Do you still want to rest in the nurse?"

"Yeah, for a little. I have to read this later with you at lunch though," I say with a smile.

Gene and Lucas smile at me, then Gene wraps his arm around Lucas's shoulder and tugs him to the subs' desk, I watch as they talk to her and start pointing at me. Her look goes from confusion, to worry, to a sympathetic smile. She nods at them and tells them a thank you for the explanation. They come back over, and I separate the hug from Tim. They take me to the nurse, and the guys sit with Tim and me for the first 10 minutes I'm in there, then are kicked out until I'm released another 10 minutes later. Tim walks me to class, I sit down then he waves and leaves. I have a few students staring at me, and a few more whispering. I know the news about my outburst is already on everyone's phones.Then I hear it, my voice starts playing from a phone in the back. I'm yelling about my cancer, my head snaps around. People are gathering around the phone, then more phones start beeping, then my phone beeps.

"Holy shit," a text from Rain. "You told Paige about your cancer?"

The door opens and I see Nic walks in. He sits next to me with a smile, when I dont smile back he gives me a worried look. Then he catches on to what's going on. He looks around pissed off, then his phone beeps. I recognize the name, it's a dude on the football team.

"Isnt this Jack's new fling?" The text read more than the video.

"Mac, what happened?" He gives me a worried look.

I lay my head down on the table, "I snapped at Paige. She said I was faking my cancer, so I snapped at her. I told her, but I was so angry I didnt realize I told her."

"It'll be alright," His hand lightly taps my back. I look over at him, my head still on the table. "This will all pass over soon, dont worry about it," he gives me a grin.

I give a light smile, then laugh as he starts furiously starts typing away at his phone. He's telling whoever the text was from to fuck off. I ended up sleeping the whole class. I woke up when the bell rang for the first lunch.