The Story Of Us

The Story Of Us: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

JACINTA’S P.O.V

“Guys, I need to tell you something” I said, walking over to the table where we usually sat at lunch. Monica, Elise, Carly, Abigail and Becky-Lee’s heads turned to look at me as I brushed an ant off the seat and sat down.

“ I went to the doctors last night, to see why I have been so sick lately.” I looked into my friends’ faces, wondering how to tell them. After a long pause, I decided it would be easier to just come out and say it.

“ I have cancer in my kidney” To my right, I heard Abigail gasp. Carly and Elise exchanged a worried glance and Becky-Lee stared straight at me, as if she was working out whether to believe me or not. Monica stared down into her lap, and I wondered if she was about to cry.

“I will be okay, I just need some surgery and chemotherapy” I rushed on, wanting to get the news over with. Across from me, Abigail was shaking, with tiny tears falling into her lap. I hated seeing my friends cry, but I knew that telling them was the best choice I had.

“So you won’t… die?” Monica asked in a small voice, finally looking up at me through watery eyes.

“No, definitely not” I replied, sounding more confident than I was feeling.

ELISE’S P.O.V

I couldn’t believe Jacinta had cancer. It was all I could think about for the rest of the day, and I suddenly felt angry. Was I about to lose Jacinta the same way I had lost other people in my life? I wasn’t ready to deal with this yet, why was it always me? The words on my science worksheet became blurry, and I ran out of the classroom with tears in my eyes.

The bathroom was empty, luckily. I locked myself in a toilet and cried, letting all my feelings out. I thought about Jacinta laying in a hospital bed, bald and with wires connected to every part of her body. The image made me feel worse, and I started to feel like I was going to faint. Slowly unlocking the door, I pulled it open and walked over to the sink. I looked up into the mirror, and saw a tear-stained face looking back at me. My hair was sticking up, and my eyes were red and puffy. I turned the tap on and splashed the running water on my face as somebody opened the bathroom door and the sun’s rays flooded in, showing the outline of a tall, skinny girl. Abigail had joined me.

ABIGAILS P.O.V

When Jacinta first told me her news, i cried for hours and hours. My chat with Elise in the bathroom during science helped a little, and i could let out a few more tears without feeling self-conscious. 

When i was seven, i lost my best friend in a truck accident. I wasn't ready to lose another friend, and nobody should have to go through this pain. But if anybody could make it through this, it had to be Jacinta.

I threw my bag on to my bedroom floor and curled up in a ball at the end of my bed. I was determined not to think about Jacinta and her problem, which I had nicknamed her "Painful Little Problem", giving everyone the idea that she owned a dog that had a set of razor-sharp teeth. I pulled my iPhone out my dress pocket, put the earphones in and turned the volume up as loud as it would go on my favourite song. I heard my mum call my name a few times to let me know it was dinner, but by the third time she had given up and left me in peace. I was almost asleep when I realized what I wanted to do. I wanted to get out of there, and go far, far away.