Breathing

Chapter Eight

it's been exactly a week since I heard that Alex has Cystic Fibrosis, no seriously, it's October 21st at exactly 9:40 in the morning, an exact week. I'm about to ask Doctor Tenner if I can maybe get some time off for a few hours. I press the talk button on the machine as I take a sip of water, it gets caught in my throat and I start choking, releasing the button and wildly coughing.

"Lexi, can you respond to me?" A voice comes out of the speaker, I think it's Doctor Tenner but I'm not really sure. Somebody bursts into my room but I can't see who it is because my head is moving to much. Another doctor (or is it a nurse?) joins the first one and gently presses on my stomach. Water comes shooting right back up through my throat and out of my mouth, splashing on the floor right in front of me. A male nurse helps me to my bed as Doctor Tenner tells me,

"Deep breaths, Lexi." I do what she says and she sets me up with an oxygen tank connected to my cannula. After they leave, I see someone standing in the doorway, Alex. I feel like I can't talk to him, I'm mad at him for no reason but I'm just not ready to talk, he'll ask why I had my breakdown and I'm just not ready to talk about it. I take off my cannula, walk over to the door and look at him. I take the door in my hand and slam it in his face.

* * *

When Doctor Tenner came into my room to check on me, I decided to ask her if I could leave for a bit to help Danielle, this is how the conversation went:

"Doctor Tenner?"

"Yes Lexi?"

"I was wondering if I could go out for a few hours."

"Where would you go?"

"School."

"Why are you going there?"

"To help my niece with something."

"You have a niece?"

"Yes, can I?"

"You would keep your oxygen tank with you?"

"Yes."

"And keep your cannula on?"

"Definitely."

"And you won't exhaust yourself?"

"I'll try."

"Absolutely not." So after that conversation, I'm sneaking out, it means a lot to me to tell off Mai. I put a blue hoodie with a peace sign on, I try to hide my face in the hood and I open the door, wheeling out my cart that has my oxygen tank on it, that's a hard thing to hide. I'm heading for the door, dodging the doctors, the nurses are fine, they don't know me very well. I turn my phone off as I walk out the door.

* * *

Danielle said she would meet me in the hallway by the lockers, so that's where I'm headed. No surprise, I run into Mai.

"Lexi, what are you doing here." She asks, wide eyed in a high-pitched tone. I don't want to tell her the real reason I'm here, to tell her off, so I just stammer.

"Um, I-um-" But luckily, she doesn't care what I'm saying and moves onto a different subject immediately.

"I'm really sorry about, well you know, everything. I didn't know you had Lung Cancer back then. When I heard that you have Lung Cancer, I instantly regret everything I did. Can we stay friends?" For someone who doesn't really know our situation, they would find this speech touching and beg me to accept the apology, but she wants to be friends again because she's sorry for me, she's not acting like herself. I say something that she probably wasn't expecting to hear.

"I already have a new best friend, keep walking." She stares at me with a dropped jaw and even wider eyes than before, she looks behind me and yells,

"Hey Maddison! What? Okay, be right there!" I'm guessing she was faking because when I looked behind me, there was nobody there.

* * *

I'm in the storage room with Danielle, talking about what we're going to do. I'm starting to have second thoughts because although Mai has been horrible, she's trying to be better, it isn't working but she's still trying. I don't know what to plan at all, I don't even know what I'm doing here anymore.

"Ok, we just go straight to the teachers, and tell her off." I tell Danielle.

"No, they'll think we're just plain mean, I'm not sure about that." And then it hit me. We act.

* * *

"Alright Danielle, are you ready?" I say right before we're about to give our performance.

"I'm ready when you are." She responds.

"Then let's go." I grab her by the hand and into the hallway, showtime. I start out by saying,

"What do you think you're doing?" I say, loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear. I next push Danielle against her locker, she's looking kind of worried so I wink at her.

"Oh my god, Mai was right about you! They weren't stupid lies!" I say even louder.

"You're crazy!" Danielle yells, she's really good at acting. The plan is working, everyone is crowding around us and Mai comes into the scene and what I want her to say is,

"You finally agree with me Lexi! Everyone around here is so stupid and now we can laugh at them together!" But plans never work out how people want them to, and what Mai said next, took me and Danielle by surprise.

"I can't believe you're doing this to your own niece! You are cruel to everyone and you have been mean to me and all the teachers and the doctors at the hospital!"

"That's a lie!" I yell, but nobody seems to care, of course they believe Mai and not me.

"This fight wasn't real, we were trying to tell you off, right Danielle?" Danielle looked from me to Mai and then said,

"Everything Mai said is true, this fight was real and she has been mean to everyone as far as I know. Lexi has told me before that she wants to tell off Mai even though she's innocent." I couldn't stand her. Mai knew this wasn't true and so did Danielle, why is she doing this to me? Mai chose to go along with it.

"See, proof. Come on Danielle, let me get you away from anyone that's abusive." Danielle follows her. I run down the stairs just as a teacher comes into the hall to see what's going on, I sit on the bench just outside of Silverbirch to catch my breath. I turn on my phone to see a lot of texts and missed calls from Alex saying:

I know where you are.

Everyone in the hospital is looking for you.

You're in trouble.

I don't have a choice if you don't respond, I'm telling them where you are.

I read the last text message just as my dad's car pulls up in the parking lot, I have a lot to deal with this month.