A shy girl and a hot jock don't mix

threats and bad news

Chapter 8

Monday arrives faster then I want it to and as I'm grabbing my things out of my locker Monday gets even worse then it already is.
"Hey Rachel, can I have a quick chat with you?" Anya says in her snobby tone.
"What do you want Anya?" I ask clearly annoyed.
"I want to know what you did! Why did Brian end it with me? Why did you say to him you little brat?" Oh so I guess Brian finally did it. I can't help but smile.
"I didn't do anything, he just realized what a terrible person you are all by himself." I give her a sweet smile. She just glares at me.
"I know you did something. I am going to do everything I can to get him back and you better stay out of my way, cause if you don't, you will regret it." I roll my eyes.
"And what is exactly are you going to do?"
"I'm going to expose you to everyone?" I laugh.
"You are going to expose me? You don't know anything about me."
"I know you like Brian." She says with a grin. My smile drops.
"I do not."
"I know you do, quit the act. I see the way you look at him. Well guess what honey? He doesn't like you that way, never will. I'm guessing you wouldn't want him to know the way you feel about him right?"
"I don't like him." I say, I will never admit the truth to Anya.
"Yeah whatever keep telling yourself that. Stay away bitch or I will ruin your guys' little friendship." She then turns around and walks away with attitude. God I never thought I could hate someone so much! I see Grayson and Ethan walking up to me.
"Hey are you ok Rachel? We saw Anya talking to you. What did she say?" Ethan asks concerned.
"She told me to say away from Brian."
"Why would she say that?" Grayson asks.
"Because she's mad that Brian ended there relationship or whatever they had."
"He did?" Grayson and Ethan say at the same time.
"Yeah you guys didn't know?"
"Nope." Ethan says.
"It's probably cause he just told her today." I say.
"Something must be wrong." Grayson says. Now it's my turn to be confused.
"Why do you think something could be wrong?"
"Cause Brian would never do that. Anya is a total bitch but she's hot. Brian loved doing there stuff together. So either he's gay or there is a mystery girl?"
"A mystery girl."
"Yeah, Brian would only end it with Anya if he was liking someone else. There has to be a girl that is special to him." Ethan says.
"And why exactly do you guys think this?"
"Because we are Brian best friends and we know the guy, trust us on this one." They have been friends for a while and probably know more about his thoughts than I do so I decide to believe them. I finally begin to process the information. Brian likes someone? Like really really likes someone? Who is it? I suddenly feel sadness wash over me and I need to stop thinking about it so I change the subject.
"So how are your guys' relationship status?" I ask trying to sound happy and totally unaffected by the new information.
"Well I finally asked out Amanda, just this morning actually." Grayson says with a huge smile on his face.
"Yay! I'm so happy for you two. I've been waiting for you guys to get together. What about you Ethan? Have you asked out Jess?"
"No..." Ethan says gloomy.
"Why not?!" I say a little louder than necessary.
"Because I'm nervous alright?! I really like her and I'm not sure if she feels the same way."
"Trust me Ethan, ask her out ok? You won't regret it." I say.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes she's sure bro! Trust her, they are friends after all." Before I can say anything else the bell rings and we walk together to first period. Here I am surrounded by my friends getting into relationships and I'm stuck falling for a guy who has his mind on someone else. Wait? Did I just say falling for him? Shit, I did.
As I walk in I watch Grayson walk up to Amanda and they kiss and sit down next to each other. Than I see Ethan go up to Jess and she smiles and they sit down together and I realize that I was left in the dust. I spot Brian and decide to sit next to him.
"Looks like we've been replaced." Brian says to me.
"Yeah definitely." I agree.
"Well at least we got each other." He says with a grin. Yeah until you ditch me for your mystery girl. We listen to Mr. Fitzgerald talk about an upcoming assignment which I don't really care about and I begin to zone out. I'm interrupted from my thoughts when Brian taps my knee.
"So Rachel, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today after school?" Why don't you hang out with your mystery girl? I want to say that but I like him too much to pass up the offer.
"Yeah I'd like that." He smiles at me and I smile back. I need serious help. Here I am smiling widely at him and getting butterflies in my tummy and he's in love with someone else! I do my work and don't talk the rest of the period, I feel like if I do I might cry.
"Ray look what I got you." Brian says as he walks next to me on our way to second period. He starts to shuffle through his bag.
"What is it?" I ask. A guy has never bought me anything ever, well besides the time Brian got me that flower. My mood instantly lifts up.
He pulls out The Outsiders book and grins. I gasp very loudly.
"Oh my god! I can't believe you found this!" I say as I grab it out of his hand and scan the cover.
"Thank you so much Brian!" I say as I wrap my arms around him. I'm so happy I hugged him without even thinking about it. He laughs. 
"Your welcome." I open the book and flip the pages. I stick my nose into the book and sniff. I love new book smell and old book smell. He laughs at me. The fastest and easiest way to get into my heart is to buy me a book, and Brian was already in my heart so now he just got shoved even deeper. Which is a scary thought.
                          ~~
I walk into my house and it is quiet, very quiet. I don't see my mom or dad anywhere. There cars are in the driveway and they wouldn't have walked anywhere knowing they have to get Vanessa in half an hour. All of a sudden I hear my mom shouting. Oh no, are they fighting again?
I walk up to the door and listen.
"John! We need to tell them. The last time we had this discussion we agreed to tell them in 2 weeks and that was 2 months ago." I've been so wrapped in Brian land I completely forgot about my parents secret they needed to tell us.
"I know Rebecca but I just can't do it. I won't be able to stand to see the look on there faces when they find out."
"We have to John, tonight."     Tears start to form in my eyes. Are my parents really going to get a divorce? I really don't know what else it could be. They seemed so happy though. I go up to my room not wanting to hear the rest. I need to leave before they tell me the news. I want to stall as long as possible before my life changes forever. After 10 minutes I hear my parents come out of there room. I walk downstairs and this time my parents aren't acting like everything's fine.
"Hi sweetie, we didn't hear you come in."
"Yeah I just got here a few minutes ago." I lie, I don't want them to think I heard anything.
"Well I'm going to go to Brian's and hang out for a while."
"Sweetheart you've been out a lot lately. Do you think you could just stay here for tonight?" My dad asks. The only reason they want me here is to tell me bad news, well I don't want to hear it.
"How about tomorrow or something? I already promised to go, I don't want to cancel."
"Honey please just stay." My mom says. I begin to get angry. How can they do this? They want to make me stay here just so they can ruin my life?
"No!" I shout. I feel slightly bad cause I've never spoken to my parents that way.
"What has gotten into you?!" My mom shouts.
"What has gotten into me? What about you guys? Stop acting like I can't hear. I've heard the fights and noticed the change of mood. You have been lying to me and V for a while now and I'm sick of it!" I shout not being able to stop once I started.
"What have you heard?" My dad says calmly. No matter what my dad will never shout at me. He never wants me to be afraid of him.
"Just that you have some bad news. I'm not stupid though, I know what it is." I say bitterly.
"What exactly do you think it is honey?" My mom says with worry in her voice.
"You guys are getting a divorce huh?" I look at both of them in the eyes.
"No honey! Why would you think that?" Dad says.
"Well what else could it be?! Nothing is worse than that." I say a little happy that I was wrong. My parents look at each other and my mom nods her head at my dad, like telling him it's ok.
"Sweetie we wanted to tell you with V, but I guess I should just tell you now." Dad says. Why did he say I? Why wouldn't he say we? It is about him and mom isn't? Then a thought goes through my head. What if it is just about my dad? Why didn't I ever think of that?
"Ok, tell me." I say with a shaky voice.
"Honey, about two and a half months ago I started to feel terrible pains in my chest and I have had trouble breathing lately. So your mother and I went to the doctor to check it out and.." He pauses.
"And what?" I say with a stern but worried voice. I see a tear go down my mothers eye. My dad squeezes her hand. It's silent for a little longer.
"And what dad?" I say quietly trying to hold back tears.
  "I have stage 3 lung cancer." That is the moment that I literally feel my heart shatter. No, this can't be happening. Not to my father, my amazing, funny, smart father. My mom starts to cry but I don't move. I'm in shock. I can't speak or even move.
"Honey say something." My dad says with tears in his eyes.
"I just-" my throat croaks.
"I need to be alone." I say finishing my sentence and I run upstairs and slam my bedroom door. I lean against my door and my legs give out and I fall to the floor. I begin to cry harder than I've ever cried before. How could this happen? My dad is perfect, he's such an amazing guy. What can't this happen to anyone but him? I start to sob so loud I pretty sure the neighbors could hear me. No. No. No. I'm not naive enough to think that my dad has a chance. I know he's going to die and I know it's going to be way too soon then I want it to be.
I grab my phone. I need to talk to someone, someone other than my parents. Someone who I know will help me get through this.