It Was Her Smile (#3)

Chapter Five

The next morning, Maisey was early to school and extremely giddy. Did last night actually happen?? Did he actually ask her to be his girlfriend?

Louis arrived shortly after with a grin on his face as he ran down the halls trying to find Maisey. Instead he ran into Edward.

"Woah, Lou," Edward chuckled, "I haven't seen you this happy since....ever. What happened?"

"I asked Maisey to be my girlfriend last night and she said yes!" Louis explained as his eyes scanned the halls.

"What about Niall?" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"I set it up," Niall replied as he walked up to them, "Maisey was all depressed and it was my fault so I fixed it."

"If this is what Lou looks like, I can't wait to see what Maisey looks like." Edward chuckled.

Maisey sauntered up to the group, smiling brightly, "Hey!"

"Hi," Louis smiled as his face turned bright red all the way to his ears.

Maisey slid her hands into her pockets, biting her bottom lip.

Liam walked up to the group, raising his eyebrow at the two, "Something going on here?"

"Louis finally asked Maisey out and now they're being all shy about it," Edward teased.

Shock was written all over Liam's face, clear as day, "Really?"

Maisey nodded,"Don't look so surprised!"

"Well, Louis is....well Louis," Edward shrugged, "So it's kinda surprising."

Louis held his hand up to his heart with a pained expression, "Ouch, I'm right here thank you very much."

Maisey chuckled lightly, then her expression turning serious within a matter of seconds, "I need to talk with you guys about something..."

"Maisey," Niall's eyes grew wide in understanding, "Are you sure you wanna do that?"

"Do what?" Edward asked in confusion.

She nodded, looking up at Niall, "I'm sure... I'll need Jamie, Talia, and Lily to be here too..."

"Then lunch would be the best time to tell them," Niall sighed, "That's the only time we know we'll all be together."

Maisey slid her hand into Louis' and began pulling to their class, "See you guys at lunch then!"

Niall nodded, "I'll make sure everyone is there." He said as he and Edward turned to walk down the hall.

"Am i the only one who's confused about what just happened?" Edward asked in confusion before they disappeared around the corner.

>>>> Later at Lunch <<<<

"So, what exactly did little miss Sunshine want to talk to us about?" Talia asked, sliding into her seat and breaking open her bag of chips.

Liam shook his head and shrugged, "She didn't say."

Edward grumbled, "I've been so confused."

Louis chuckled as he opened his can of soda, "All in good time my friend."

"Wait," Edward's eyes darted to Louis, "Does that mean you know what she's going to tell us?"

"That I do," Louis's face fell into a stern expression as he averted his eyes to his food.

"What is it?" Edward asked anxiously.

"You'll have to wait for her," Louis said flatly, "It's not my place to say."

Lily leaned back in her seat, worry creeping inside her. What could it be?

Maisey bounded up to the group, smiling brightly, "Hi guys!!"

Niall smiled solemnly, "Hey."

Edward looked at her with curious eyes but remained silent.

"Hello love," Louis smiled weakly.

"Everyone looks so down! You'd almost think someone died." She said with a small chuckle, sitting beside Louis.

Talia sighed heavily and leaned across the table, "Maisey, what is going on??"

Edward leaned forward in his chair, his food completely forgotten as he stared straight into Maisey's eyes, waiting for her to explain.

"...." Maisey looked down at her lap, "Uh... I-I'm not sure exactly how to say it... You know how I've been losing a lot of weight recently? And have those coughing fits?"

Lily nodded slightly, eyeing her frail friend.

"Yeah," Edward replied.

"I... I-I mean--"
Talia rubbed her forehead, "Just spit it out!"
"I have cancer." Maisey blurted it out, tears pricking her eyes despite her smile, "B-but I'm fine."

Talia dropped back into her seat, feeling as if her whole world just crashed down around her. Maisey... Maisey had cancer?

Louis took Maisey's hand in his own and gave it a light squeeze.

Edward, on the other hand, flinched as if he had been slapped across the face, "And...you didn't think to tell us sooner?" Edward asked angrily, "We've been worried sick about you and you've been keeping stuff like that from us?" Edward spat as he stood up from the table and grabbed his backpack.

Lily grabbed his arm gently, looking up at him with pleading eyes, "Edward."
"You shouldn't have forced it out of her like that." Liam scolded Talia.
Talia stood abruptly, forcing back tears, "J-Just shut up and leave me alone!" She yelled before running out of the cafeteria.

Maisey held on tightly to Louis' hand, "I-I'm sorry... I-I didn't tell you..'

"Who knows how long it would have taken her to tell us had Talia not forced it out of her," Edward's angry expression turned to sadness as he came to the verge of tears. He looked at Maisey, "I'm sorry you have cancer, Maisey. But there's got to come a point when you trust us enough with your secrets to not keep them from us for so long." He said before he shook Lily's hand off of his arm and left the cafeteria.

Maisey held herself together as best she could.

Lily moved over by Maisey, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"...." Maisey closed her eyes, her signature smile faltering, "I didn't want everyone to treat me like a baby.... I... I didn't want to worry everyone..."

"We wouldn't treat you like that, Maisey..." Lily wrapped her arms around her friend, "We care about you..."
Maisey let herself break down in her friend's comforting arms.