Remember Me

Please remember me.

Lisa found out she was dying six weeks into her sixteenth birthday. Her mother had cried so hard when they told them that Lisa was sure she might die of dehydration even before Lisa did.

Her mother pleaded with the doctors to do something, to save her to no avail. They couldn't do anything. The cancer had spread too far. Lisa was going to die soon and no one could do anything about it.

Despite the death sentence they had just handed out to her, Lisa was determined to live what little life she had left to the fullest. She smiled even harder in school. She laid in the grass during lunch admiring the flowers and the sun on her face and the laughter that surrounded her. She took it all in, enjoying it all as best she could while she had the time.

She didn't dare tell her best friend about it. About the fact she was dying. Rosie was so sweet and kind and she had stuck by Lisa's side ever since they both met when they were six. They were attached at the hip. Lisa couldn't possibly tell her she would leave her behind soon.

Rosie hadn't questioned Lisa's new found joy. She thought Lisa was so happy these days because Lisa had told her she was in remission. She had no idea Lisa had just found out she would probably die in a few months. Lisa really couldn't bear to tell her and burst her bubble because Rosie had baked her a cake when Lisa told her she would be okay now and then Rosie kept packing her healthy lunches for Lisa to eat every single day so that she stayed well. Urging her to eat as good as she could so that her best friend didn't get the cancer back.

_________

Jennie hated school. She hated her stupid 'friends' and she hated the way they all cared about the way they looked and the way they all cared about how they were perceived. They all tried so hard to be cool and rich and popular all the time and Jennie was so over it. They were all so fake. None of them even liked each other. They tolerated each other just so they could all climb the social ladder because they were the attractive rich kids and thats what they were taught to do. Jennie was over it, she was over the fake life. She couldn't wait to graduate so she could finally leave this shallow place.

____________

They all went to a party that Jennie really didn't even feel like going to that night. All Jennie wanted to do was curl into her pillows and read the book she had just started but her parents made her go when she tried staying behind, telling her she would lose her popularity if she didn't go.

What kind of parents approved of their kid going to parties in order to gain social status? Jennie didn't know, but her parents had always been like that. They didn't even give her a choice, calling her friends to come get her so she could go.

Kai picked her up an hour later and her mother almost drooled over him, calling him handsome and insinuating that Jennie and his kids would be so adorable once they got married and decided to take that step.

Jennie almost punched him for agreeing with her. They weren't even dating. She found him disgusting. He was cute and all but she could never date him. She didn't like him like that and she hated when he went along with her mother's whims. Her mother always assumed they were together despite Jennie telling her otherwise and Kai was so not helping.

__________________

Jennie got too drunk that night. She had to in order to survive her insufferable friends and their ridiculous banter over what brand of clothes was the best. Jennie could care less. Rich idiots.

She realized hazily that she was a rich idiot herself too but at least she was self aware enough to know that money was probably the root of all evil. Sure, she was grateful that she had it. She knew kids starved all over the world and she had never lacked anything, especially not food. She wished she could give the rest of her money all away to them though. Her family had too much. It was ridiculous. Her mother imported vases from Japan, paying entirely too much for them. She hosted parties for her father's clients, ordering caterers that served expensive caviar that no one even touched as if she was trying to be some bastardized version of European royalty. As if. Her father was no better, bragging about his cars and his house every time people came over. Jennie fucking hated it. She hated the rich culture and the way her parents forced her to try and fit in.