Last Steps

3. Getting Worse

I wake up to my alarm. Its 7:00 am. I have school in an hour. I get up and turn the alarm off. Our school has no uniform code. It's free dress. I get a grey t-shirt with a black and silver butterfly on it with black leggings and grey boots. I put a black leather jacket over the top. I tie my hair into a ponytail, grab my bag and head to the kitchen. Mum's in there cooking breakfast. "Morning, Jamison" she says without looking up. "Morning" I sit at the bench. She puts some bacon onto a plate with a spoon of scrambled eggs. "The toast is still in the toaster" she gives me the plate. "Thanks" I take it and poke the bacon with a fork. It looks chewy. I take a bite. "Thanks for breakfast" I push the plate back and get up. "You going to finish it?" mum looks at me for the first time this morning. "Not hungry" I shrug my back onto my shoulder. "I've gotta go. I'll miss my bus" I leave. "Jamison!" my mum follows me outside. I turn around. "What is your problem!" she yells at me. "I don't know mum. What is my problem?" I sarcastically yell back. "Jamison. We are trying to deal..." "Don't talk about me like I'm a problem. Look I'm sorry for getting a tumour! I am so sorry, if me finding out that I'm dying is too much for you!" I yell. She backs down a bit. "I have to go" and I turn around and walk to the bus stop. I look at the time. I just missed it. I get my phone out and call James. He picks up on the second ring "Hello?" "Hi, it's me" I say. "Jamie. Why are you calling me at 7:34 am in the morning? Are you on the bus?" he asks. "Mum and I had a fight and I missed it" I sigh. "Can you come and get me?" I hear him laugh softly "Can I? What happened to fit Jamie from yesterday?" "Look James, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was a bitch. Okay? Can you just..." I start to say when he interrupts me. "I'm already here" I look and see his car come out from the neighbours driveway. He stops in front of me. I hang up and get in. "Hey" he leans forward and kisses me briefly. He then steps on the gas and we leave. No one talks the whole ride. When we arrive, everyone looks at me. They must know. I take James' hand and we go to the office. We look at the form next to the window with our classes on it. "12d. What are you?" James asks me. "12a" I frown. We have never been in the same class since year 7. The bell is about to go. "Be careful today. Don't stress yourself out. Okay?" he hugs me. "See you later" he smiles and leaves. The bell goes and I head to my locker. I chuck my bag in and grab my semester folder. The bell goes again and I head to class. I sit in the middle of all the desks. After a minute our teacher walks in. She looks about 25 with black hair tied in a bun resting on the back of her neck. She has a black and white, dotty dress on with black flats. "Good morning class. My name is Sally, but you can call me Miss.Alexandrof" she writes her name on the chalkboard. "Pull out your English textbooks to page 143" she sits down and opens her book while everyone gets theirs out. I open mine and the words seem to be flying. I blink a few times and they go back to normal. "Miss.Kaylour, are you alright?" Miss.Alexandrof asks me. I nod "Fine miss." "Very well. Who knows who Shakespeare was?" she goes to the front of the desk and leans on it. I raise my hand along with the rest of the class. "Jamison" she looks me in the eye. "Shakespeare was a poet and a play writer. He created words and sentences as well. For example; "To be or not to be is the question." I finish. Sally smiles and holds the chalk out in front of her "Would you care to write that on the board Jamison. Just the last sentence." I nod and get up. I walk towards her and grab the chalk. I start to write when I start to feel faint. I drop the chalk. "Jamison. Are you okay?" she walks towards me. I turn around and collapse. I hear everyone gasp just before I black out.

-

I wake up in the hospital again. I feel someone holding my hand. I look and see my mum. "Where's dad?" I mumble. "On his way" she smiles. The nurse walks in and gives me a grave look. "You passed out in class today because, your tumour is growing faster then we thought. It's taken a few months away. You 3-4 months not 6. I'm sorry" she leaves with one last glance at mum. I feel tears coming but I fight them back. "I love you" I say to mum. She smiles and wipes her eye "I love you too." "Hey" I look up and see dad come in. I half sit up and we have a half hug. "How are you feeling?" he sits next to mum. "Like ice on fire" I smile. It's true my stomach is hurting. "Jamie!" I look and see Casey run in with James hot on her heels. "Hi" they sit next to me and Casey holds my other hand. "I thought..." Casey interrupts. "I forgive you. Your doing it tough. You might not be around long enough for me to forgive you if I don't do it now" she smiles. "Hi" I direct it at James. He's wearing a grey beanie that I bought him last year on our anniversary. "I told you to be careful" he smiles and avoids eye contact. "Did someone get my bag? My phone and book is in there" I half direct the question to Casey and James. They know my locker combination and I know theirs. James gives a heavy sigh and pulls my bag from under his chair. I didn't even see him bring it in. "Thank you" I bit my lip as I grin. He puts the bag under the chair again. "I'm going to get some drinks" dad announces. "I'll come" mum follows and they leave the room. James get up and takes mum's place beside me. I lift my hand up and caress his cheek "I like your beanie." "Someone very special got it for me" he smiles and leans down so that our faces are millimetres apart. I lean up and quickly peck him on the lips.We both laugh and then he kisses me. I go to put my other arm on his neck when I feel Casey pull it back. "No, no, no. It's your only connection to the real world" she says with a bit of attitude. James pulls back and sits up again. "So when can I get out of here and go back to school?" I smile. "Your not going back to school" James goes all serious. He's good like that. One moment he can be having fun and being stupid, the next, he's mr serious. "Your simply not well enough" he says it like its obvious. "You get out whenever you want. You can leave now if you want" the nurse walks in. "We didn't take you out of your clothes this time" she smiles and goes to leave but I stop her. "Wait. I never got your name" I sit up. "Brianna" she says and leaves. James helps me up. "I suppose you have to go home" he frowns. "You could always come with me. You too Casey" I smile. "I can't. I have training for something" Casey gives me a quick hug and leaves. "Just us then" I put my arms around his neck and he puts his hands on my arms. We kiss again. "Ahh" I whisper as I pull back. "What's wrong!?" James grabs my shoulders as I grasp my stomach. "Nothing. Just not feeling great" I crouch down and he follows me down. "Maybe we should go home and watch a movie. Yeah?" he pulls me into a hug. "Okay" I whisper into his shoulder. "Hey, what happened?" I hear mum and dad come in. Mum rushes towards us. "Nothing mum. I'm fine. Can we just go home?" I ask. She nods and I pull away from James. We get up and he grabs my bag. We all leave and go in my dads black van. When we arrive at my house, I take James straight to my room, shutting the door after us. I sit on the bed and James grabs a DVD from the pile on the desk. "How about 'Anonymous'?" he holds it up. "You gonna quote Shakespeare for me?" I ask. "Why make me quote Shakespeare when he could do it himself?" he says as he inserts the disc. He grabs the remote and sits next to me. "You might want to turn the tv on. It usually helps" I laugh. James sighs and turns it on. He skips through the ads then hits play. We both lie down so he is behind and I am in front. He puts his hands around my waist and I rest mine on top. "I love you" I look at him just as the movie starts. "I love you too" he kisses my forehead and I turn back and watch the movie. We watch the movie in complete silence. At the end of it James has to go. He still has school tomorrow. I convinced him to go, he didn't want to. "Be careful" he gives me a hug and then he leaves. When I go to the kitchen there is dinner on the bench. There is a steak with mashed potato and peas. Next to it is a note that says 'Eat this in your room. We aren't hungry. If you need us, we are in the living room. Love, mum.' I take the plate with some cutlery and go to my room. I sit at my desk and turn my laptop on. I take a bit of steak and try it. Its over cooked. Just the way I like it. When I look at the screen again, Casey is trying to Skype me. I answer it and she is on the other end sitting on her bed. "Hey Casey" I say as I shove a fork of peas and potato into my mouth. "Hi" she smiles. "What's up?" I ask. "Nothing" she sighs. I shove the last bit of steak into my mouth and then I push the plate away. "Why did you call?" I fold my arms across my chest and smile. "Wanted to make sure that you were still breathing. James could've smothered you with a pillow for all I know" she looks me in the eye. I look at the time at the bottom of the screen. "Shit, its already 8:14" I gasp. "I better go" I smile apologetically. "Bye" she says. "Sorry" I squeeze in before she hangs up. I get into a long shirt and pull my hair out. I give it a quick brush and then crawl into bed. I fall to sleep within seconds.