Romeo And Julian (Part Two)

Chapter Ten

I stepped out of the nurses office with a hall pass and a water bottle. I made my way to gym and didn't bother changing, which seems like it was a mistake.

"Hey, fag!" I heard someone call out. The voice seems familiar.

"Jock number two? Is that you? It's been so long since you last decided to pick on scrawny ole me, I was worried you found a new target." I said, pretending to be quite pleased in the opportunity to have this chat.

"You little prick." The roid head muttered.

"Hmm, I think you're getting us confused. I'm not the one trying to compensate with muscle mass."

I may have taken it too far, because the next thing I knew, I had his fist in my gut as he punched me repeatedly. When he got tired of holding me body up to hit my stomach, he decided my jaw was lonely and smashed that with a quick punch.

The next few moments went quick, partially because I'm not sure what happened beside me getting a concussion as I hit the floor, partially because he punched me a few more times after I hit the ground, and partially because someone showed up and smashed him into the lockers.

When I came to, I was in the nurses office for the second time that day and I could hear someone talking to Miss Ingrid, but couldn't make out who it was. Everything was fuzzy an my head hurt (I feel like shit).

"Julian?" I heard Miss Ingrid say, noticing that I was awake when she opened the curtain. "How do you feel, honey?"

"Like I played a game of chicken with a falling boulder and lost."

"Well, at least you've got your sense of humor." She sighed. "You took quite the beating."

"I noticed."

"If it wasn't for Romeo, it probably would've been much worse. You'd probably be in a hospital bed for a few days." She explained.

I looked up in surprise. "Romeo?"

"Yeah, he got Deric off of you."

"Who the Hell is Deric?" I asked. "Oh! That's jock number two!"

"He's in the principals office with a black eye and a lot of bruising. Romeo is there too." Miss Ingrid told me.

"Why's Romeo there? He's the one that saves me, isn't he?"

"Yes, but school policy being what it is, and the lack of cameras, everyone involved is brought to the office." She explained. "Soooo, do you think you'd be able to go down there? I'll be going with you just in case you aren't ok."

"I'm fine, I've taken worse." I laughed (Note to self: laughing hurts).

"That worries me more than anything else." The nurse said quietly.

Before long, she had me in the office in a wheelchair (Which is dumb, I'm fine), and Romeo was sitting off to the side next to Deric, both of them looking terrible.

"Julian, what happened?" The principal asked.

"Deric attacked me in the locker room after using derogatory and homophobic slang. He punched me repeatedly in the stomach, and I think he punched my face a few times, but things are blurry after I took a hit to the jaw, which I will say still hurts." I explained. "I saw someone tackle Deric, but I didn't see what happened after that."

"He's not that hurt! That asshole doesn't need a wheelchair!" Deric shouted.

"That's what I said, but the professional has decide that my injuries are too severe to be wondering around." I said, then began coughing. Shit.

"What's wrong? Julian?" I heard Romeo ask as I continued coughing, my lungs becoming violently active.

Deric scoffed. "Nothing's wrong with him, he's pretending so that I'll get in trouble."

"Got him some water!" The principal called out.

I stopped for just a moment and then coughed out some blood. Shit. Shit shit shit.

Miss Ingrid gave me a water bottle and I drank most of it in one go.

"Someone get this cleaned up, we can't have open blood in the school." I heard the principal talking in the hall, obviously shocked.

"Julian..." Romeo whispered.

"I'm fine!" I snapped, trying to stand up, but instead being gently pushed back into the wheelchair.

"Calm down and rest. Just sit down until someone can pick you up." Miss Ingrid said to me.

Deric looked shocked. "I-I didn't hit him that ha~"

"Shut up!!" Romeo commended, pulling Deric up by the collar of his shirt. "Just shut up, you piece of shit!!"

"Take your own advice, Romeo. It's not his fault that I'm falling apart."

He turned towards me with wide eyes. "What are you talking about?!"

I looked at the nurse. "Can you let Romeo and I talk, or would that be against regulation or something?"

"You can't talk here because they need to clean up the blood, but otherwise... You're not contagious, so it's ok." She told me, starting to bring me back to the nurses office.

Romeo followed us the whole way, staying silent in the halls, but he obviously wanted to say something. When we got there, Miss Ingrid left us there to speak alone.

"Julian..." Romeo said through gritted teeth. "What is going on?"

I took a deep breath. I can do this. I can tell him. It'll be fine, he's my friend. "Romeo, I..." I froze.

"What is it..? Please..." He sounds so scared and so worried. I hate this so much.

"I have cancer. I'm dying."