Breathing

Chapter Six

I end up spending the whole evening with Alex, I think now have a best friend at this hospital, when I told Danielle about him she said

"Sounds like you like him." I didn't say it, but it was kind of true. My phone dings and there's a text from Alex that reads:

Meet me for breakfast at nine?

I reply:

Sounds great, I'll be there!

I decide to get a little dressed up so I put on my sparkly lip gloss and boots with a small heel (I don't know why my parents packed me anything fancy.)

* * *

It is 8:54 and he's still not here! Thoughts are running through my head. What if he stood me up? This isn't a date, he can't stand me up. I try to calm myself but I think I'm totally hung up on him. He is probably the kind of guy that doesn't come a minute to early and always runs on time exactly. And sure enough, I'm right. I'm looking at my phone and just as it turns 9:00, he plops down on the chair opposite of mine giving me a little jumpscare. I adjust my cannula.

"You look a lot younger than you are." Alex says with a cute little smile. I try to focus on just being friends so that's what I do.

"Yeah, it runs in my family, I swear I look three or four years younger than I actually am, but you don't look seventeen, you look fifteen."

"Hey! He responds. "That's better than looking like a thirteen year old! I laugh

"But I think you look perfect no matter if you look sixteen or six for that matter." The smile comes back, I smile as well. As a boy with blonde hair down to his neck walks by, Alex decides to say,

"Do you think you would date him?" I give him a look and he yells,

"Cmon! I'm your friend I'm supposed to help you get guys, right?" I start laughing when my phone rings, it's Danielle.

"I gotta take this" I say quickly as I'm going to the corner of the cafeteria.

"Hey Danielle, what's up?" I just hear sobbing from the other end of the line until I hear this.

"What's up with these kids at school?" I wonder what could have happened.

"Was it two girls?" I ask, wondering if it was those two girls that were snickering about me in the hall.

"No just one. She had reddish blonde hair and choker and-" I interrupted her.

"That's Mai. Stay away from her at all costs. Did you tell her about me?"

"Yes, she was talking and smiling and then I told her that I knew you and she pushed me away and laughed."

"Listen," I respond. "Tell her off to the teachers, to everyone! Make an announcement or a story of what really happened."

"What really happened?" She asks

"I fainted in class and she didn't visit me at the hospital because she finally had the chance to hang out with the popular kids and chose them over me and became a total scumbag in the process. You can lie as well, say she destroyed my favorite T-shirt or dated Creepstopher or has a dead body buried in her backyar-"

"Lexi! You're getting too carried away! I will just tell the truth, I won't expose her, that's not necessary. Get some rest."

"You're right." I say. "I will ask the doctors if I can take a few hours off and we can do this together."

"Okay." Danielle says

"Okay." I say. I hang up and return to another perfect time with Alex.