My Unlikely Best Friend

Chapter 2

As my mom pulled into the school parking I was having second thoughts about going to school again and anxiety started to make my stomach twist into knots. As this happened my mom saw the distress on my face, and softly said to me, "Baby girl, everything is going to be alright. Just have a good attitude about everything that comes your way. Even when things aren't going as planned."

Then I said frustratingly, "Mom you don't..." but I stopped myself, sighed, and said calmly, "Okay mom, I'll try to do things your way." Then she smiled and wished me a good day.

As soon as I stepped out of my mom's car she sped off into the road so fast that you can hear the tires on her car make this skreeek noise. She did that because she just knew that I'd change my mind again, and she was right. All I could think about right now was to jump right back in the car, but it was too late.

As I started walking towards my school I honestly don't know why but I felt like crying. My mom just left. I was alone.

I was out of school for serious medical reasons. I was either at home resting or at the hospital getting treatment. My hair suffered big time from all the chemo.

***

Six months ago, I begged my mom to take me off chemo, because I believed it was doing more harm than good. I couldn't keep anything down and was losing weight fast. At my height, I'm supposed to weight around 120, but when I stepped on the scale I weighed 105 pounds. I knew the number would keep going down unless something was done about it. The light in my eyes had been snuffed out and replaced with dark circles. The chills at night were brutal, the pain in my bones was agonizing, and no medication that the doctor gave, made it better. During that time all I wanted was my dad here with me, to hold me and tell me everything was going to be alright. But then, just when I could almost get a hold of him... I'd wake up.

After all my pleading my mom finally agrees to ask the doctor to take me off. It pained her to see me like that. During my following doctor's visit she had asked him to do so, his eyes widened and asked my mom if he could speak to her outside. Even through the shut door, inside his office, I could still almost clearly hear their conversation.

"What, are you out if your mind woman? The treatment she's on right now is the very thing that's keeping her alive, are you just going to take that away from..."

"With all due respect Dr. Campbell," my mom interrupts. "I appreciate all that you're doing for my daughter, but the treatment that you're giving to her is sucking the life out of her. You're literally pumping poison into my baby's veins! And it isn't the very thing that's keeping her alive, God is." She said, emphasizing God.

"Well He's not doing a very good job at it.. is He?" He scoffs. "Listen to me Alana, without it, she is going to die! We have no other option, but chemo. With it, there's still a slim chance that she can beat this cancer." I can hear the concern in his voice.

"Are you not hearing me?! I don't know about you Doctor, but I am a woman of faith. I believe in miracles, and I believe that God can heal her! Even without the medication."

"Oh okay, if you're going to get all religious on me, then how about you answer me this one question. Ms. Smith... did He heal your husband?" At that my mom was silenced, she didn't know what else to say after that. "That's what I thought," he sneered. "Oh, and I don't believe in miracles." He added.

Then I heard someone touch the door knob, so I quickly pretended not to listen by looking up at the ceiling. I tried to hide my deeply damaged feelings, by giving the doctor a slight smile, as he opened the door. When Dr. Campbell, got inside he sat down on his chair and explained to me how risky it was for me to be taken off the treatment. Saying that my already short life expectancy would be cut in half, or him telling me horror stories of other people who made the same decision I had made, and died.

I respectfully nodded at everything he had said, but again I requested to be taken off, I couldn't take it anymore I didn't think about the after effects of me being taken off. I was just so desperate.

***

Now I'm on several different heavy steroids to balance my white blood cells. Thankfully the steroids don't affect me the same way the chemo did, and during those six months my hair was slowly growing back and it just reached my ears.

I hated the fact that the humidity in the air started to make my hair frizz up as I walked to the school. Even after all the conditioner, I'd used. But I tried my best not to think about it because I knew it would make me depressed, I just put on my favorite Beanie to cover my hair. I loved it so much because it read 'warrior' on it, and was colored in red, white, and navy blue, my three most favorite colors. And I mostly treasured it because my dad bought it for me when I was five. I'm still surprised that it still fits me, I guess I had a big head when I was little.

My school is called, "Turtle Bay High School," because we're known for turtles in North Carolina. Once in a blue moon, these little critters would crawl out their hiding place to find food, but that was rare.

So now I entered the school and was looking for room 413, my art class. After looking around the school for some time, I found the four hundred buildings. 408, 410, 412, I thought to myself finally I'm here, but to my dismay, there's no 413. Next to room 412 was a room number of 316. "What was room 316 doing in the four hundred building?" I said to myself. This was... unusual.

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Hey, guys, I hope you liked the chapter! And remember I'm not the best when it comes to grammar, so I ask that if you see a mistake kindly point it out to me. :-)

Also, what do you guys think of the doctor? Did he have good intentions?  Tell me in the comments, and don't forget to share and vote <333

~Jiana