17 Stars

Chapter 10

Monday.

The worst day of the week for two reasons:
1. School
2. Knowing that you have school for the rest of the week

Unfortunately, for people like me, there is a third one too.

3. Chemotherapy

Fabulous.

The chemo room in general is a hell hole. The whole room gives off a very dreary and dark feeling in the pit of your stomach. The walls are an ugly brown with pictures of monkeys and dogs to comfort little kids.  

As soon as I'm done getting chemicals pumped into my body, I exit the building and get into the car with Brandon.

"How are you doing, lil sis," he says pulling out of the parking lot.

"I'm holding up," I say and he nods.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about the other day when I blew up on you. That was completely irrational," he says and I sigh.

"Yeah, it was. But, I forgive you. I get why you were freaking out like that," I reach over and kiss him on the cheek. Even though he can act like a jerk sometimes, he is still my brother and I love him.

We pull into school and I go inside. The halls are empty since I'm late to school, but they are going to be jam packed in a minute since the bell is about to ring. Right on cue, the bell rings and students start flooding the hallways. I squeeze my way through the sea of people and someone bumps into my shoulder and knocks down all of my stuff. The person is picking up everything and when I look down, I'm greeted by the devil himself.

"Hey Chloe," Seth says with a stupid grin on his face. I mumble a quick hello under my breath, trying to avoid a conversation. Why out of all people do I have to literally run into him. "You look absolutely beautiful today," he says leaning up against my locker. I roll my eyes. What an idiot. The halls are starting to get less crowded. "Would you move, I have to get to class,"

"What's with the sassy attitude, princess? I thought we were in love?" Seth sneers with a smirk.

"I fell out of love with you as soon as you left my because of a disease that I cannot control," 

I go to shove him out of the way, but at the last second Seth grabs my wrist.

"Hey! Let go of her!" 

I look behind me to see Thumper rushing over to us with a not so happy look. Seth lets go of my wrist and walks over to Josh. 

"What are you going to do about it," 

"Oh I'll tell you-" 

"Okay boys thats enough," I say and grab Josh's hand and lead him away.

Even though we are outside, he is still glaring into school.  I put my hand on his cheek to face it towards me. 

"Thank you," I say and look into his eyes. There is a bit of confusion in his vision but it quickly vanishes.

"That piece of garbage actually touched you. I can't belie-"

"Hey, it's okay. I'm fine,"

Josh takes a few deep breaths and soon he's back to his normal. I try to get his mind off of the topic by changing the subject until we part our separate ways to class. The whole time, I think about the way Josh reacted to the Seth and how it made me feel.

I felt special.

I felt wanted.

My cheeks turn hot at the thoughts in my mind and I quickly make them vanish, then unwillingly focus on the calculus lesson.

**************

Thanks so much for reading!! 

XOXO

Ava <3