Jump | Sanvers

Day 1

"Maybe there's something you're afraid to say, or someone you're afraid to love, or somewhere you're afraid to go. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt because it matters." - John Green

Day 1- John Green

Monday. First day of the week and first day of the bet. Maggie is supposed to give me a reason not to die, and frankly, I am not happy about it. I don' t know why I even gave her a chance to save me, but I did. And now, I will have to deal with the consequences. I bet that she did it out of pity. She didn't want to live with the guilt that would come along if she didn't even try saving me.

The bell suddenly rings, startling a few students in the process. I take my backpack from the ground, make my way over to the classroom, and take my seat.

First period and the teacher is absent, so we have to keep ourselves busy. I take my backpack and pull out a book with many post- its sticking out. I open the book at the page where a blue post- it sticks out.

The door slams open, and my eyes reach up to Maggie Sawyer, whose cheeks are pinched red from the cold weather outside. I frown as I bite my lower lip. There is a seat left next to me so Maggie approaches me.

"Why are you so late?" I whisper as I turn the page.

"Well, I forgot my book at home and I can't live without having a book with me. I went back to my house to get it and because of that, I missed my bus."

"You are such a nerd. Why would you go back to grab a book?" I ask, frowning.

"This is not just a book. It is freaking John Green!" Maggie answers, almost screaming.

"Wait, what?! Which book of his are you reading?"

"The Fault In Our Stars, of course." she says, before taking a seat next to me.

"That's funny, I'm reading the same book right now," I answer, before closing the book and showing Maggie the cover.

"What are your favourite quotes from the book?" she asks, assuming that I use the post-its to mark special quotes and parts.

"I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimilize the casualties, okay?" I say quietly.

Maggie stares at me, before saying "Heavy stuff."

"I just like that quote. It speaks to me, you know?"

"You want to know what my favourite part is?" Maggie asks, before reading "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am so in love with you."

And I can't stop staring as I listen to Maggie. Her voice is like a soft whisper, like the words are perfectly made to come out of her mouth.

"That is a better quote, I think," Maggie says. "It is a happy quote."

And as I look at her, I wonder why she wants to hang out with me. Why is this stranger so determined to save my life? What have I ever done for her?

"But I'm not happy," I answer immediately, "John Green is the only one who can lift up my mood a little."

Maggie smirks, "Well, it is day one and I think that I found my first reason for you."

I remain speechless, as I lower my head.

"Look at me," she says as she lifts my head back up, "reason number one, John Green."