Nothing is For Sure

Chapter 3-Stand By You

Liam helped Niall shave his head the night before. It was hard for Niall to be able to run his hand through his hair and have it come out. So they just cut it off. Harry doesn't like it and it makes him nervous, even though he loves Brooke despite her baldness. After they cut his hair off, Harry hid in his room. When Niall tried to go in, his little brother screamed.

The next morning, Louis goes in to wake Niall up. He finds him already awake and looking at himself in his mirror. Niall turns towards him and has tears on his face. Louis goes over to his little brother and gives him a hug.

"Why are you crying bug?"

"Just look at me!" he yells. He pulls away and turns back to the mirror. Louis looks at him. Yeah, his hair is gone and he has circles under his eyes from not sleeping a whole lot, but he doesn't look too bad. "I'm sick with cancer and it's ugly! Look at it! No one will talk to me today!" he yells. "Brooke told me to wear a beanie, but I don't have one so I don't know what to do," he says. He sits down on his bed and picks up a shirt before putting it back down. Liam has already left to take Harry to school and to go to his morning class so he's not home. Niall was upset that Liam hadn't thought of something to cover his head.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." Louis leaves and comes back not a second later with a beanie of his. He slips it on Niall's head and stands back. "Better?" Niall considers and nods.

"What about my port? You can see it through a shirt." Even though the connecting tubes are gone, it still is a raised square.

"Well put on a shirt and we can see." Niall throws a shirt on and looks in the mirror at it. "I can't see it."

"I can." Niall turns around and frowns down at his body. Louis hates that Niall can't be happy with himself. He's always been like that, insecure.

"That's just because it's your own body. I can't tell. You don't have to go to school today if you don't want to. We can have someone come over and watch you." Niall shakes his head. This is something he has to do. Even though people will ask and talk about him, he has to do it at some point.

"Ready then?" Louis asks. Niall nods and they go to grab breakfast before going to school. "Hey, good thing you did your homework Friday," Louis jokes.

"What if I hadn't? If I were you I would have had to do it this morning... Even if I wasn't diagnosed with cancer." Niall is able to joke about cancer, but it makes Louis uncomfortable. As they pull up to the school and it comes time to get out, Niall can't move. Louis has opened Niall's door and is waiting. He watches as Niall practically shakes in fear.

"Bug, come on." He shakes his head and looks at the school where hundreds of kids are going in the doors. "I'll walk you to class, come on." Niall gets out and Louis hands him his backpack. He takes a deep, shaky breath as he adjusts his beanie and they walk towards the school.

Everyone in school knows Liam and Louis so naturally, everyone knows Niall. As they walk to the year 8/9 wing, Niall can feel the older student's eyes on him. Louis smiles and greets his friends and they greet him and Niall. Even though they address him, Niall doesn't look up. He's going to have a rough day and Louis knows it.

Louis walks Niall to the door of his first class. "Text me or Liam if you need anything. You'll do great. Liam let your teachers know what's going on." Niall nods and walks into class. He is one of the first ones there because most kids stop in the halls to talk or they go to their lockers.

"Good morning Niall!" Mr. Hemsworth says. "First one here?" Niall nods, finding it hard to talk all of a sudden. Mr. Hemsworth follows Niall to his desk and sits on top of the one next to him. "Niall, Liam told me about this weekend. If you ever miss school and need help in maths, let me know. If you can tell me what days you will miss, I can teach you the material ahead of time. Sound good?"