At Death's Door

Chapter 2

Going to school felt weird and different. I had a disease inside of me and yet I was expected to stay in school for one more week, but I knew why. It was obvious the moment my parents began to tell me why I was going to have to go to school. I was to say goodbye. I was to say goodbye, to the cafeteria filled with unusual and mysterious meat. The cafeteria that I spent most lunches in, talking and laughing to my friends, enemies, crush, teacher. I never realized how much a simple cafeteria would matter to me. I was to say goodbye to my best friend, Kasey Smith. My friend who taught me how to be confident about myself. Who convinced me to go to the school dances dressed as a princess. I trusted her so much with secrets, school grades, and problems. We studied together at each others' houses, gossiped about the boys in our grade and who had a crush on who, and went to the mall and the park all the time just to spend time together. Kasey Smith was a wonderful friend, who taught me everything. I would have to say goodbye to my crush, Nick Johnson, a boy with so much kindness, humor, and honesty. A boy I could not stop thinking about and looking at. A boy who made my heart skip whenever he said anything, even if it was a simple greeting to me. I would have to say goodbye to Mia Williams, the queen bee of the school. The one who took her time to embarrass the weak, unpopular girl with her minions around her at lunch and passing period. I was surprised to find how much I would miss Mia, because it made me wonder, who would be the one to get harassed by her. Who would be the unlucky fellow to be pushed and teased almost everyday? Who would be the one to actually fight back to her even if she harassed you everyday? Lastly, I would miss the joy and fear of school. I would have to say goodbye to the feeling you have on the first day of school: excited to be a grade higher, nervous to meet new teachers, and curious of what school now would be like. I would have to say good bye to everything at Wind Creek Middle and High school. I would have to ignore the fact that I will not make it to high school next year. 

As I walked to the entrance of the school, I took a deep breath.  This is my last week. Just thinking about that made we want to cry. The principle and teachers already know that it is my last week and why. The only thing I had to do was say goodbye. I don't have homework or tests anymore. Kasey would wonder why I don't. I was having a hard decision about who I would tell first. Should I tell Kasey? The best friend who will cry and tell me she would miss me. Or should I tell the Queen Bee? What would Mia say? She would probably laugh and think I was joking, but if she didn't I wonder if she would hug me or cry. I wonder if she would stop harassing me and probably feel bad. Or should I tell Nick and confess the feelings that I have for him. What do I tell him? How much he means to me? Will he like me back? Or will he just turn me down? 

I shook these disturbing thoughts out of my head and opened the doors to the school. It felt different going back to school from spring break. People in the halls were talking, laughing, smiling, joking, gossiping, and just doing regular things that teenagers do. I tried smiling as I walked to my locker or at least look like everything was normal, but they had no clue that somebody who was sick was walking around school. 

As I got to my locker, I saw Kasey leaning against it, looking for me. She seemed excited to tell me about her spring break and of course would want me to tell her about my spring break to. It broke my heart, though to see her, because I was hoping that she would not be here today so that I wouldn't be able to tell her. 

"Hi," I said as I reached my locker, with a small smile so that I didn't look so upset.

"What's up? I had a fun break. How was yours?" she asked me, peeling off of my locker so that I could open it. 

"Oh, same old, really. Nothing important. You look excited to tell me about something though, what is it?" I said, glancing in her directions, trying to make as little I contact as I could.