It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 42

“Brianne, come on you’re going to be late for school!”

I rolled my eyes, stuffing two discs cleanly into my backpack before standing up from my bedroom floor.  I checked my hair quickly before sighing.  Today was the day.  Presentations were due in history class.  Today I would stick in the disc that held the key to Dannon's life—well, excluding the fact that he had cancer. Everyone would see what a goofball he was outside of school. Not like he wasn't a goofball inside school, but whatever.

It'd been a week since the visit where Dannon and I drew pictures of Garrett. Dannon was still in the hospital. He gave me his disc, making me promise him to tell him what I thought of it the next time I visited—which would be tomorrow. Tomorrow was Dannon's birthday after all. Poor guy was going to have to spend it inside the hospital. That sucked, it really did.

“Calm the hormones, I’m coming!” I called, grabbing my bag and hurrying down the stairs, toward the kitchen.  My family was gathered around the kitchen table, munching on their breakfasts.  Okay.  So my mom was hurrying me while she was sitting there eating food?  That made so much sense.

“Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean the hormones are to blame for everything,” my mom snapped, rolling her eyes.  “Gosh, you guys act like I’m possessed by the thing.”

“You just called your kid a thing,” I pointed out, grabbing a poptart from the cupboard.  I stuffed one into my mouth, quickly chewing and swallowing it.  I wasn’t really hungry, but I needed something to hold myself over until lunch.

My mom scowled at me.  “Whatever!” she exclaimed, practically throwing her arms into the air. 

Yep.  The hormones hadn’t taken over her at all.

A loud beep cut into the brief silence, almost making me jump.  I tossed my leftover poptart to Garrett, who caught it smoothly and plopped it into his mouth.  I wondered how he could eat everything and still manage to be fit.  I didn’t understand.  At all.

I tossed my bag onto my back before hurrying out the door.  Kyla was waiting for me in the driveway.  She waved as I padded down the walkway, making my way toward her.  She looked worn out.  Who could blame her?  The crew was becoming frantic, demanding to know what was going on with Dannon.  Telling them that he was sick at home wasn’t going to last much longer.  And, on top of that, Kyla had been forced to keep this secret from Oliver, the one guy that she’d been with for more than two weeks.  This was probably killing her inside.

“Hey,” I greeted as I hopped into the passenger seat.

“Heya.”  Kyla smiled briefly.  “You ready for your presentation today?”

I pursed my lips, shaking my head.  “No, not at all.  But at least Shelley and Garner are in there with me.  And I have two projects to present since Dannon didn’t have the decency to show up.”

Kyla laughed, shaking her head.  “How dare he?”

I sighed dramatically.  “I know right?”

The conversation grew steadily lighter as the car ride continued.  We talked about how we were going to bring balloons to Dannon’s hospital room and force him to watch my presentation.  I didn’t really want to since there was this part at the end that would embarrass me to have him and Kyla watch.  I was so lucky that I finished last minute or else my mom would have watched it.  Now that I thought about it, why did I even put it in?  It was so unlike me, really.

“Oooh and we should bring him cake and ice cream!” Kyla called out.

I nodded.  “What kind of cake and ice cream?”