The Bucket List

volleyball game

"Morgan!" Addison calls to me. I spike the volleyball into the middle of the court, it immediately hits the floor with a loud thump. "Holy crap, Morgan, that was really good!"

"Thanks!" I call over to my best friend. Addison goes back to the serving line, and overhand serves the white ball over the net. We continue to rally it around for a bit, when eventually a large girl on the other team spikes the ball over the net. I sprint towards it, reach out my connected arms to save the ball from hitting the floor. I fall onto my knee pads, attempting to bump the ball somewhat high. I hit my chest flat onto the ground. The ball hits the floor and I start coughing. The impact to my chest knocked the wind out of me, and my lungs, oh my poor lungs. I step off of the court, and grab a kleenex from the bench and continue coughing into it. Addison looks at me, concerned, and I nod to her assuring her I'm okay. Another girl on my team- Rachel subs in for me. My long ponytail falls away from my back and down beside me. Liam and his friend, Kevin walked into the building, coming to pick me up from my game, which is now running late. People are starting to feel disturbed from my loud coughing, so I take a few extra tissues and run out of the room. Liam notices me and follows me out of the building where I'm playing, into the spring air.

"Morgan! Are you okay?" Since my diagnosis, Liam has been much more... protective of me. Between coughs, I manage to make out a quick "yes." I throw out my bloody tissue and wipe my face with the last one.
"What happened?"

"I fell on my chest."

"Morgan! I told you to avoid that! What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't. You know what it's like to not think during a rugby game." He rolls his eyes at me, and I flash a quick smile. I spit on the sidewalk, blood coming out with it like every time.
Kevin walks out, and I roll my eyes. He's the bad boy/player type. The type that puts on a bad boy persona to get all the girls. The type that I absolutely hate. He runs his fingers through his brown hair.
"Hey." He says, winking at me.

"What do you want, shithead?"

"What happened to you? There's red stu- is that blood?" Embarrassed, I run back into the school bathrooms and wash the dried blood off of my face and walk back into the gym. No, Kevin doesn't know about my diagnosis. I don't want to ever tell him. Knowing the type of person he is, he would tell everyone about it so he can keep up his popularity rates. The game we were just playing ended, and everyone was grabbing water in the five minute break.
"ah, Morgan! There you are! I'll have you in as front left, Addison as setter, Rachel serving." My coach says. I take my position; front left. My left handism helps in this situation. Liam and Kevin walk back into the gym, and my cheeks turn a light shade of pink, still feeling embarrassed from the incident with Kevin earlier.
Rachel serves the ball and I snap back into what I'm doing. The other team bumps the ball, and sets it back over the net, over to Rachel. She bumps it up to Addison and she sets it over to me. From there I spike it, as hard as I can, feeling angered about how Liam brought Kevin to this game even though he knows how strongly he hates me. That was probably the best spike I've ever done. The ball slams down to the floor, faster than the speed of sound. It smacks hard against the floor. I glare over at my brother who slighty smiles at me in approval and Kevin who is in shock. I pull up my long sleeves, reposition my knee pads and squat with my hands on my knees waiting for the next serve. Rachel underhands the same way she did before, and same scenario.

We end up winning the game 25-6, and Liam and Kevin drive me home.

《》《》《》
"Hey, Morgan?" Kevin calls from the back seat.

"What the hell do you want?" I reply annoyed, as this is the fourth time Kevin has asked me a question in the last few minutes.

"What was with that blood on your face?" Usually his questions were pointless, so I was not at all expecting this question.

"I got punched." A small chuckle escapes his lips.

"Nice try. People don't get punched in your girly ass sport."

"People get punched all the time." You would know if you actually watched the game. Two girls on the other team got punched."

"I watched part of it. I saw that spike. It was cool."

I roll my eyes. "Thanks." I say. I'm grateful, though that he believed that I got punched in the face.
We drop Kevin off at his house and then continue the one minute drive to our house.
"Liam, can I talk to you?" I ask.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Lately I've been feeling really depressed about my diagnosis, and I've been taking my antidepressants, but they aren't working."

"Should I make a doctor's appointment?"

"Maybe, yeah, it's all I can think about, and I'm trying to find a way to cheer myself up."

"Make a bucket list." He says, "write down all the things you want to do before you die."

I think about the idea, it seems like a really good idea. God, Liam is a genius.

"God Liam, you're a genius."

"It's what I do."

I smile at him and he shoes me away. I'm in the way of his football game. I run up to my room and open my laptop, going into Microsoft Word. I title the page "Morgan's Bucket List" and begin writing all sorts of ideas into the computer that I could achieve in a year.
When I feel confident with it I print it off and keep a copy, and give a copy to Liam.
"You're so cheesy and cliché." He says with a small chuckle.

"I know; I love it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey.
I've had this book as a draft for a while, but I never got around to publishing.

I hope this book is something different then something I've already written, but I have big plans for this book.

Love, Kiley xoxo