Not Another Faker

Chapter Eight

I never understood the point of dating in high school. Like okay sure you date for a while, say you're in love, but then you break up and still have to see each other in the halls. In the real world the chance of seeing people you date is slim. That's why I made a pledge never to date in high school. I saw how my parents turned out, and I don't want to be anything like them.

I walk into study hall and the groups already there. I turn to see a boy who I had never seen before standing by Gigi. "Hey Sawyer, who's that?" "Oh that's Blake McClain. He wasn't here when you moved here because he got suspended, but if you ask him he'll say he was on vacation. He's on vacation a lot. If you ask any girl about him they will all say he's the biggest pig in Southern California. Yet he's never been rejected by any girl." He looks over our way. "Speaking of the devil, look who's coming over to talk to us." "Hi I'm Blake and you are? "Julia also know as the girl with cancer." "Well Julia how about we hang out on Friday just you and me?" "I'd literally rather light myself on fire, also it's you and I not you and me." "Um okay." He walks away. "Oh my god I saw that." "Saw what? Me rejecting the guy that never gets rejected? Yeah pretty cool." "No, you like him!" "What no. I don't date guys like that." "Then what kind of guys do you date Julia?" "Why do you want to know Sebastian?" "Dang she got you there."

"Besides guys like Blake can never keep a relationship. I bet all the girls that don't reject him he dates them for a week, and then breaks up with them and gets with another one." "Damn read him like a book." "How about you Seb? How are you with the ladies?" "Um amazing." "Yeah right." "Sawyer shut up." "He's never had a girlfriend before." "Sawyer!" "What?" "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, I've never had a boyfriend." "No way." "Having cancer kinda chases them away after a while." "Well it's their loss, any guy would be lucky to have you. Even me." "What was that?" "Oh nothing, I gotta go."

Another day in English class is like the equivalent of hell. To Kill a Mocking bird isn't as interesting the sixth time around. "Alright class does anybody have any questions?" I don't know why she bothers asking, no one ever does. "Julia do you have any questions?" "If I had questions I would ask." "Just making sure. You do have a lot on your plate, I'm just looking out for you." Sawyer leaned over to me. "What a self centered little." "Actually I do have a question." "Alrighty." "What kinda teacher thinks it's okay to call out a student everyday, ask them if there struggling because they have leukemia, even though the student told you that they read the book five times?" "Oh I can answer this one, a bad teacher." "Correct Sawyer." Blake stood up. "Yeah Mrs. W what's up with that? You said at the beginning of the year never to single people out. I don't know about you but it sounds like you're singling out Julia." I looked at him. "Now Blake what word would you use to describe someone like Mrs. W?" "Oh I don't know Julia, maybe hypocritical."

"That is enough, all three of you to the office, now!" "Gladly, I'll tell the principal all about this little conversation." We walk out the door. Sawyer and Blake turn the opposite way of the office. "Uh where are you guys going?" "We're gonna go grab some lunch from Subway." "But Subway is like fifteen minutes away from school." "Come on Jules, Mrs. W thinks that we're in the office. So who cares?" Blake walks over to me. "Come on Julia." He put out his hand. "What's the worse thing that could happen?" I grabbed his hand and we walked out the front doors of the school.

Walking down the street when you're supposed to be in school is weird. "Blake you can let go of my hand now, we're almost there." "I know I just want to make sure you don't fall into the road." "Right. What if someone sees us?" "Jules calm down, everyone we know is in school." "Not everyone." My mom has no job which means sneaking out of school isn't as easy for me as it is for others.

We put our orders in and waited for it to get done. "So Julia." Blake sat beside me. "My grandma had cancer and they used treatments like chemotherapy." "They tried many treatments on me when I was younger, none of them worked. At this point they're just letting me live my life out." "Well why don't you try now, maybe it will work since you're older?" "Chemotherapy made me feel like a zombie. I was so tired that I couldn't even walk. Chemotherapy really just isn't worth it in my mind." "Well just think about it."

Think about it? I told him the truth but he still tells me to think about it? I'm not doing this, I'm not gonna let someone convince me to do chemotherapy. Kara did that, and I regretted every moment of it. We got our food. "You know what, I'm gonna go eat this at the park." Blake stood up. "Oh I'll come." "No I want to eat alone." I walked out the door. "Blake what did you do?" "I don't know." "Well I'm gonna go chase after her, and fix whatever mistake you made."

I find a bench at the park. I see Say coming up to me. "What did he do?" "Do you care that I have cancer?" "What no. Honestly I probably wouldn't like you if you didn't." "What?" "I'm just kidding." "He was trying to convince me to start chemotherapy." "What why would he do that?" "I don't know, but what I do know is I never want to go through what I went through when I did chemo." "Screw him, he thinks every girl owes him something. You do not owe him anything." "You're right."