[Chapter forty-five]

-Nevaeh-

"So this bitchass asked you to be his girlfriend last night, and now he's sucking faces with the K-Mart knock off version of Princess Leia?" Fifteen year-old me summarises everything Heaven just told me.

"Yup." She glares at her cheating boyfriend who is making out in the school hallway with a girl who's hair is done up in two buns.

"Are you sure I can't punch him in the face?" I whine.

"Yes."

"What if I break his nose a little?" I compromise.

"Vaeh." She gives me a warning look.

"Shutting up." I put my arms up in surrender. "Okay, I have a solution."

"Thank goodness."

"It involves fire."

"Absolutely not."

"Come on, I'll just burn the tip of his peanut dick off." I tell her.

"No."

He stops kissing the Princess Leia knock off and starts walking down the hall towards us, not knowing we just saw everything.

"Heaven!" He calls. "Hey, babe!"

He throws his arm around me and I tense up.

"Boy, if you don't get your damn arm off me, I'm going to pop you right in the mouth and drag your little fifteen year old, Gollum looking ass down to the fiery pits of hell." I seethe.

He gives me a shocked look and removes his arm. "Damn, mami, are you on your period?"

My eye twitches before I turn to Heaven. "What do you see in this dumbass?"

He gives me an offended look. "Heaven, wha—"

"That's Nevaeh. I'm Heaven." Heaven cuts him off, making him immediately step away from me and closer to her. "I saw you sucking faces with Princess Leia over there."

He looks like a deer caught in headlights. "It's not what it looked like."

"It's not what it looked like!" She mocks him in a high pitched voice. "Man, we're done. Get your Gollum looking ass out of here before I let Nevaeh whoop your ass and set your dick on fire."

He immediately scrambles away.

"Cinderella should've forgotten the prince and kept the shoes." I roll my eyes. "Boys are rats."

"Pubescent boys are rats." Heaven corrects. "I'm sure we'll find guys that aren't absolutely trash when we're older."

"Yeah, whatever." I shrug. "Want to ditch and go get ice cream?"

"Hell yeah."

*~*

My eyes flutter open and all I see is white.

"Am I dead?" I croak out.

"No, you arse." I hear Noah's deep British accent come from my right side. "You're in the hospital."

He helps me sit up before grabbing a cup of water and handing it to me.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Nevaeh Carter, I swear to god, if you don't drink that damn water I'm going to pour it down your throat." He threatens.

I pout at him before drinking half the cup and handing the rest back to him. He sets it on the table next to him before engulfing me in a tight hug.

"What happened?" I question. "Did Spider-Man come back to life?"

"Carter, you fainted." He whispers. "I was fucking terrified."

"How long have I been out?" I ask as he pulls away from me.

"Two days." He answers. "Your aunt flew in yesterday."

The door cracks open and I see Aunty Mila and Mrs King poking their heads in. Once they see I'm awake, they open the door fully.

"Aroha." Aunty Mila sighs in relief as she rushes over and kisses me on the forehead, wrapping me in a tight hug.

"Nevaeh, sweetheart, I'm glad you're awake." Mrs King kisses my head before turning to Noah. "Noah, honey, why don't you come out here with me and let Nevaeh spend some time with her aunt."

Noah nods before pecking my lips, then kissing me on the forehead and following his mum out.

"He hasn't left your side in the last two days." Aunty Mila admits, making me look at her. "He's been here, holding your hand the entire time you were out."

I smile softly before searching Aunty Mila's eyes, my eyebrows furrowing before I bite my lip in understanding. "Not long?"

"Not long." She sighs, shaking her head as her eyes get glassy. "The doctor said you don't have more than a week."

I look down. "Uh, I'm going to take a nap."

She looks at me sadly before kissing my forehead and sitting in the chair to my left. "I'll be right here."

*~*

-Noah-

Mum and I walk out of Nevaeh's hospital room and I see Megan, Max, Dylan and Danny sitting there, waiting to be able to see her.

"Kids, come here." She motions for Megan, Max, Dylan and Danny. They stand up and walk over.

"Mum?" I start slowly, making her turn around, her eyes glassy.

"Noah. Nevaeh, she-she," she cuts herself off, taking a deep breath. "The doctor said she doesn't have more than a week."

"W-What?" Megan stutters, making Max wrap her in a hug.

Dylan looks down and Danny sniffles. Dylan crouches down and hugs him tightly.

"Noah...?" Mum starts carefully.

"She—She can't—" I bite my lip. "She can't leave me. She can't leave me."

Mum wraps me in a tight hug, not letting go.

She, Megan, Max, Dylan and Danny are all crying.

I'm not. I can't cry. I just can't.

*~*

-Nevaeh-

"How do we keep getting into these situations?" Fifteen year-old Heaven whispers, her face scrunched up as we peak out of the window of the small storage cupboard in our science class.

"Fifteen years of being alive and I still don't know." I whisper back as we see our science teacher making out with our history teacher on his desk.

"This is disgusting." Heaven groans quietly.

"Then why are we still watching?" I question.

"To see when the hell we can get out of here."

"Why don't we just go out that window?" I point up to the small window of the storage closet which is providing us with light.

"You couldn't you have pointed that out ten minutes ago?" She glares at me.

I shrug. "You're the smart one, I thought you knew."

"Obviously not." She huffs. "Let's go."

We start making our way to the window but I trip over something and grab onto Heaven, sending us both crashing into a pile of boxes, creating a loud noise.

"What was that?" We hear our history teacher ask.

A few seconds later, the door is pulled open and our disheveled teachers are staring down at us.

Heaven and I both look at them like deer caught in headlights.

"How was your little dry-humping session?" I blurt out after a moment of silence, and as if god is giving me a sign to shut up, the skull of a skeleton model falls off the body and hits me on the head.

***

All of a sudden, I'm in a forest.

"Vaeh?"

I turn around and see Heaven and Lucy.

"Heav? Lucy?" My eyes water.

Lucy runs over, wrapping her tiny arms around my waist. "I missed you, Vaeh."

I give her a watery smile. "I missed you, too, Rapunzel."

She lets go of me and Heaven walks over.

"I still hate you for getting us stuck in that storage closet because you wanted to get dirt on our science teacher for giving you a Not Achieved." She points a finger at me.

"Wow, I love you, too, Heav." I roll my eyes before embracing her in a hug for a minute before letting her go. "And I didn't think he was going to be shoving his tongue down our history teacher's throat."

She laughs before the scene changes and we're standing in a hospital room.

"What the..." I trail off as I see my pale body sleeping in the hospital bed with Noah, Megan, Max, Dylan, Danny, Aunt Mila and Mrs King surrounding me.

"You don't have long, Vaeh." Lucy tells me sadly.

"We were hoping you wouldn't end up like us, but I guess the universe didn't agree." Heaven says quietly.

"I-" I cut myself off, looking at my sisters. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm finally going to be with the both of you again."