Milky Coffee (1D)

Chapter One

I stared at the letter in my hand with my mouth gaping. This couldn't be. This wasn't possible. I did not put forth all my effort in school for this to occur.

"MOM!" I yelled, hoping she could hear me over the loud vroom of the lawn mower from our pesky, obnoxious neighbors. "Mom!"

She looked up from her place on the front porch where she stood chatting on her phone to her friend. I rushed over to her and flung the hastily opened envelope and slightly crumpled letter into her hands as she hung up the phone. My mind raced, 'How could this have happened?' My mother seemed to have the same idea as she voiced my thoughts just moments later. I shook my head, tears threatening to fall. She leapt up and hugged me as I sobbed softly into her velvety soft track suit. My full-ride scholarship to Wellesley College didn't exist anymore. Due to budget cuts and other various reasons, I had a one-year-only scholarship. To put it simply, this was a disaster.

My family wasn't exactly poor, but we weren't loaded either. After my father's back surgery, we couldn't spend money freely anymore. The money that my parents were saving up for me had gone to his life-saving surgery twelve years prior, and when I was five I'd do anything for my dad-- including giving away those savings. I had realized at a young age, nine, how important my education was, and I strived to succeed and get a scholarship. Ever since than, I had been only performing my best in school for nine whole years. As a seventeen-year-old who just graduated high school, I was not pleased about this recent fall through.

"Sweetie, I'm not saying this is the reason why, but chances are your scholarship fell through because you're taking a gap year. I know you can do nothing about enrollment now, but you may want to look into a job for the next year." My mom consoled as she rubbed soothing circles into my back. My eyes widened and I took a step back from her, holding her an arm's distance away.

"I've been saving for my gap year for over two years," I whispered. "Once I found out about my early acceptance , I started saving. You know that. It's my dream."

"Yes, I understand. But you may want to weigh your options. You haven't booked a flight or a place to stay for any of the countries you wanted to go to yet. You still have the chance to back out of this. Just think about it," She told me firmly. "I have work to go to, I'll see you later!" She called out as she leapt down the porch steps rushing towards her car which soon pulled out of the driveway, leaving me confused and anxious. I turned around and pushed the door open, stumbling inside. I clambered up the steps and into the kitchen, still in a daze. The refrigerator held a cool pitcher of lemonade that I poured into a glass sitting on the countertop. I gulped it down as I thought about what my mother said. Should I stay or should I go? Those six words brought about the memory of the famous song, and I ran into my room.

I searched through my desk, where on earth could my Ipod be? The only thing to calm me down at a moment like this was music, and punk rock would help me get my nerves out. I spun around in a circle until I saw it sitting on top of my unmade bed. Typical. I put in my headphones and opened up the Pandora app. Soon, the familiar noises of the Clash were blaring and I settled down under my covers, ready for some hardcore thinking. As usual though, nothing went how I wanted it to go, and I soon fell asleep.

A soft 'PING!' woke me up, my text tone. I chuckled at myself as I shook my head-- how could I fall asleep to Punk music and wake up to a small beep?

New Message from: Broccoli

New Message from: Broccoli

New Message from: Broccoli

Missed Call from: Broccoli

New Voicemail from: Broccoli

Clearly, my friend needed to talk to me about something. Lav, or Broccoli, wouldn't try and reach out to me like this unless something major was happening, or she wanted to hang out with someone. I opened the messages and listened to the voicemail, all of which said to call her back. I hit redial and waited for five seconds before she picked up.

"Molly?!" She said frantically. "I need to tell you something extremely important."

"Yeah, yeah, Broccoli. It's me, what is it?"

"I'm not sure how to say this, but I'll just go with it. I'm at the hospital. I might have lung cancer."

I dropped the phone, was this a dream? Lavendar was a strong-willed person, who was carefree and wise. She was the person I turned to when I had to talk to someone about my self-esteem issues, she was the one who I had relied on with all of my secrets and troubles. Now she might have cancer? I reached down and picked up the phone again.

"Lavendar? When will they know for certain if you do or don't?" I whispered shakily.

"When the test results come back, so 3pm today at latest," She said, sounding surprisingly unstressed and carefree.

"I'll come visit you as soon as possible, okay?!" I practically cried as I pulled my shoes out and leaped through the door. "Are you okay?" I almost jumped down the stairs to the front door and pulled it open as I sprinted under the noon day sun across the grass.

"I'm fine. My mom and dad are devestated, but I'm fine. I gotta stay strong, right?" She replied with an almost cheerful tone. I wrenched open my car door and started the engine.

"Lav, I gotta go. I can't be pulled over by cops because of cell phone laws," I softly said. Low voices could be heard from the other side of the line as I waited for a response. A minute later, Lavandar came back on.

"Molly? Sorry, I know you have to go, but the results show that I have cancer. Bye!" She hung up, leaving me speechless. I drove forwards still in shock. My friend has cancer. That was it. I'm staying for her.