Theera

It's Monday. Mom walks into school with my backpack. I can't carry anything heavy, and my backpack is always heavy as hell. I carry my violin though, since it's pretty light.

Mom helps me put my stuff in my locker, which was weird, but I don't have a choice. Saami helps me to homeroom, and mom surprisingly agreed. I'm pretty sure that if she was allowed, she would've walked me class to class herself.

The nurse sent an email to all my teachers saying I have to leave class early, and with a classmate.

****

One person from each of my classes helped me to my next class without questioning it. If they did, I told them that my arm was sore, and that the doctor said not to carry anything.

****

Lunch is chaotic as always. I take my necklace off, because I hate wearing it while eating food. It's an unnecessary weight that constantly reminds me that I'm dying. So, I took it off and put it under my lunchbox so that no one could see it.

I'm talking to Saami and Anya when I accidentally bump into my lunchbox. It moved, and the necklace fell through the slit of the lunch table. Before I could pick it up, Aditi picked it up. I immediately grabbed it from her, scared that she might have read the words that say I'm dying.

"Wow, chill!" Aditi says. "Can I see it?"

"It's just a flower design." I brush her off.

"Can I see it though?"

Clutching the pendant in my fist, I gesture for Saamiya to do the clasp. She clasps it as Aditi keeps bugging me to see the necklace.

I put the chain under my shirt so that it's not visible.

"What's on the other side?"

"Cancer."

"What?"

"The Cancer zodiac sign."

"You're a Cancer?"

"Yeah."

"Can I just see it?" Aditi asks again.

That pushes me over the edge. Slamming my palms on the table, I stand up.

"I said no!" I shout. I can feel the heat rising to my face as I feel hundreds of eyes on me. It's dead silent in the cafeteria.

"Theera-" Saamiya starts.

"I-I'm sorry." I stutter as I quickly run out of the cafeteria. By the time I reach the front office, I'm crying. The secretary, Ms. Carter turns to me. "Is Mrs. Nunziata in?" I ask her.

"I'll call her, go on in, hon." Ms. Carter replies.

I nod before walking into the guidance counselor's office. I sit in the very comfy chair as I wait for Mrs. Nunziata. Five minutes later, she walks into the room, her heels clicking on the tile.

"Theera!" She greets me.

"Hi Mrs. Nunziata."

"Is everything okay? What's going on?" She asks as she sits behind her desk in front of me.

And I tell her what happened.

****

After talking to Ms. Nunziata, I had to leave for math. I was already ten minutes late, but Ms. Nunziata said to come back during study hall so I won't have to face Aditi after what happened.

She gave me a late pass, and I went to math after stopping at my locker. Saami probably has my lunch box with her, so I make a mental note to take it from her after school. I have to go upstairs, but I decided to carry my stuff at least once today, just to get the feel of being normal.

I knock on the door and Tanya opens it for me.

"Theera!" Ms. Hemmings greets me. Her eyes are full of pity. I have to fight the urge to yell and tell her that I'm fine.

"Hi Ms. Hemmings." I say instead as I handed her the late pass.

"Go take a seat." she says to me, barely even glancing at the pass.

I sit in my assigned seat and begin taking notes. My head starts hurting a bit, so I put in earbuds and start listening to music while taking notes. Ms. Hemmings doesn't say anything. She knows I have cancer, and that the doctor recommended listening to music to relieve stress or headaches. She just nods in my direction before continuing on with the lesson.

****

Then, the class I've been dreading all through math. Physics. After my little burst out during lunch, I was scared to face Aditi.

I walk into science. I look at Aditi, who doesn't look up at me. I immediately feel a pang of sadness. I see Neil looking at me too, probably thinking about what happened at lunch(we have the same lunch period).

I don't walk past him and ask for a high-five like I usually do. Instead, I quickly avert my eyes and walk down the row next to him.

I walk to my assigned seat and sit down.

"Heyy!" Bhoomi greets me.

"Hey."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You just seem so, like, sad." Bhoomi replies.

Bhoomi is always happy, which in turn made me feel happy. Her happiness always rubs off on me. I crack a smile.

"Yeah! That's more like it!" She exclaims, receiving a bigger smile from me.

"Alright, let's get started!" Mr. Cillens says, walking in as the bell rang. He goes through attendance, pausing when he gets to me.

"Hey Theera!" He greets me. He doesn't look at me with pity, which made me want to cry out in joy. "We missed you on Friday!"

I just smile. "Yeah, I missed being in school." I say, and he continues taking attendance.

He begins a lecture on velocity and speed and we all take notes. My head starts to hurt a bit again, so I started listening to music. Mr. Cillens just glanced at me when I did, but continued on with his lecture.

I barely listen to Mr. Cillens, because I know this stuff already. So, as he talks, I email Mrs. Nunziata that I would not be seeing her next period. I'm going to talk to Aditi myself.

Bhoomi helps me from science to study hall. After grabbing a seat in the middle row, I immediately start listening to music again to calm my nerves.

Aditi is one of my best friends, and I feel really bad for hurting her. The bell rings, and people start coming into the auditorium. As usual, Neil and Shiv sat in the back. Aditi takes a seat a few rows behind me. About ten minutes into study hall, I pull my earbuds out, close my computer, and stand. I walk up to Aditi, who ignores me.

"Aditi." I said. She looks up at me, clearly pissed off.

"What?"

"Can I-can we talk?" I ask, gesturing outside. "Please?"

She sighs, but closes her computer, before standing up.

"Fine."

We walk outside so that no one can hear us talking.

"What." She says, crossing her arms and looking at me.

I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip before taking a deep breath.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was very worked up, but that's not an excuse-"

"Stop. If you're going to say sorry, just leave it, okay." She says, turning to walk back into the auditorium.

"I have cancer." I blurt out.

She stops in her tracks and slowly turns around.

"What?"

I nod, tears brimming in my eyes.

"I have stage three brain cancer." I say, pulling the medical necklace out from under my shirt. "This necklace says that. If there's an emergency, the doctors need to know that I'm on chemo."

"Oh my god." Aditi says, walking up to me and hugging me. "It's okay. It'll be alright." She says as I return the hug.

I sigh. She was always terrible at consoling people. But her advice was always truthful. She gives it to people straight, without sugar-coating it, and that's what I love about her.

"I'm really sorry about lunch though." I said as she pulls away.

"It's okay."

"Mmm, not really. I started chemo on Friday, and it sucks."

"Oh, that must be harsh." She says, cringing slightly. "Sorry."

I chuckle and nod. "It's okay." I say.

We walk back into the auditorium, talking and laughing as we usually were.

****

Neil

Theera seemed so tired today, so weak. She tried to keep the smile on her face, but sometimes, when she thought no one was watching, the smile fell off her face. It broke my heart when the smile disappeared. I like her smile so much.

She yelled during lunch at Aditi, one of her best friends, and that honestly surprised me. She is so nice to her friends, and very protective of them. If anyone messes with her friends, she gives them hell.

During science, I could feel the tension in the air. She barely looked at me, and didn't come to me for a high-five, like she usually did. Theera had a smile on her face, but I could tell it was forced. It took everything not to walk up to her and tell her that it'll be okay. She had started listening to music in the middle of class as Mr. Cillens started his lecture. The teacher didn't say anything, which was weird.

During study hall, Theera and Aditi walk out. They come back ten minutes later, talking happily, and that smile on Theera's face is back. The only difference is that this time, the smile is real now. She walks up to me.

"Hey, high-five?" She asks.

I smile as I give her a high-five.

"I thought you forgot." I joke.

"Ha! I have to beat Mina's ass." She jokes, referring to her friend.

I laugh with her before she says bye and walks away.

I want to tell her that I like her, but I feel like she's gonna hate me for some reason. I don't know what to do. Abhi says not to, but I really want to tell her.