Treacherous

Chapter 21: I'm Zander Black. It's nice to meet you.

{I'm sorry for the long wait}

Valentine's POV

In one day I was going to turn eighteen.

Eighteen.

I can't believe time had flew by so quickly. I let out a sigh as I looked down at my mom. "Come on, mom. You have to wake up before my birthday." I muttered as I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

I was met with silence, as usual and I once again let out a sigh before pulling out a chair and sitting near the hospital bed. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even noticed Zander entering the room.

"Hey." Zander said softly as he planted a kiss on the top of my head before pulling out another chair and sitting on it beside me. "Hey, Mrs. Wood." Zander said as he squeezed my mom's hand. A smile played on my lips as I looked at the gesture. Zander had definitely changed. He had showed me his true self and had lowered his guard.

"So, for how long you've been here?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow. I briefly looked at the wall clock and did a quick calculation. "Somewhere around an hour." I told him with a shrug. He nodded in understanding. "You're turning eighteen in like a day. How do you feel about that?" Zander asked after a brief pause.

Age was just a number and birthdays come and go every year. Concept of Birthdays were now just.... Plain, childish and boring.

"I don't really care. I'll turn eighteen, that's all." I told him with a nonchalant shrug.

"You do realise you only turn eighteen once in your bloody life?" He said incredulously. I bit my tongue from laughing and nodded with a poker face. "I don't care. We're still celebrating your birthday. And we are going to the cabin." My eyes lit up as soon as he said that we were going to his cabin.

But my thoughts were immediately crushed when I looked at my mom. "What if she wakes up when I'm gone?" I asked him as I turned my head to look at him. Zander grasped my hand and interlaced our fingers and said,"Well, as soon as we get to know that she's awake, the first thing we're going to do is go home." A small smile played on my lips and I nodded. I leaned toward him and gently pressed my lips to his cheek.

~~~~

"Hey, any idea where Zander is?" I heard an all too familiar voice ask me from behind. I spun around and came in face to face with Connor. I nodded as I recalled that Zander had a free period right now. "Yeah. He must be at the football field or at the back of the school. Finally decided to tell him?" I inquired. I noticed Connor sighing before saying,"Yeah. You were right. He deserves to know." I nod my head in a reply and shuffled on my feet.

Connor wasn't healthy anymore. He was losing his weight really very fast, he had bags under his eyes, he didn't even crack any lame jokes anymore and I knew all of this was a side effect of cancer. I wish I could help him in any way. It sucked to see a person who mattered to you was slowly dying. 

"Connor if you need anything, I'm always here. Let me know." I told him with a reassuring smile and he nodded his head as he smiled at me thankfully. Our conversation was cut short by the bell and I mumbled a 'bye' before hurrying for my class.

~~~~

Zander's POV

I was about to kick the football to one of the team players but was stopped when a voice called out my name. I turned around and saw Connor standing near the bleachers.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as many questions ran through my mind. What did he want now?

"What do you want, Bradley?" I snarled at him as I reached him. I saw him slightly flinch at my tone but he quickly composed himself. "I wanted to talk to you about something." He started slowly. I motioned for him to continue, almost impatiently. I heard him let out a breath and then he said,"Um. So, well, the thing is, I know we aren't friends anymore but I thought you should know this before you hear about it from someone else or well, start noticing it in me. I have lung cancer. Stage two. So, the doctors don't think I have any chances of surviving it." He ended after a lengthy pause. His words hit me like a brick. I was frozen in my place. I couldn't process what he told me. He had cancer.