Biting and Scratching

Worst Day

Jessica drove faster than my dad or Bella, but nowhere near the speeds I was used to going in the Cullen's and Hale's cars, so while Bella was nervously clinging to her seatbelt, I was focusing on diluting my headache and hoping my nose wouldn't suddenly turn back into a faucet.

"Didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?" Jess asked, baffled when she discovered that neither Bella, nor I, had ever gone to a dance before.
"Never interested," I shrugged.
"I never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much." Bella explained.
"Why not?" Jessica asked, looking intrigued.
"No one asked me."

Jessica looked obviously skeptical as she rolled her eyes, "people ask you out here, you tell them no."
"Oh, that's a cute dress" I cooed, running my finger along the fabric.
"Well, except for Tyler" Angela mumbled quietly, and I cast her a curious look.
"Excuse me?" Bella gasped, "what did you say?"
"Tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom, Bella" Jessica informed my sister, who looked genuinely horrified at the lie.
"He said what?" She finally choked out.
"I told you it wasn't true" Angela mumbled to brunette, who looked highly intrigued with the gossip.
"That's why Lauren doesn't like you!" I gasped, shoving my sister's shoulder in my revelation, barely holding back a coughing fit that I knew would make my whole body hurt... why was I so sick lately?
"Do you think that if I ran him over with my truck he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? That he might give up on making amends and call it even?"

Unfortunately, I felt my headache increase ten-fold when we approached an area of the shop that had more teens; their worry that their dates wouldn't think they looked nice, that they would embarrass themselves, and the excitement that the guy they liked asked them... it was grating in my head like standing right next to a wood chipper.
It became near unbearable and I started thinking about Eddy's text, did this count as one of the things I should tell them? It was just a bad bug, right?
Almost as if to counteract my statement, wetness began dripping down my nose, and I quickly rose my fingers to dab at it, seeing red when I pulled away.
Eyes darting over to my sister and friends, I gratefully realised that they hadn't noticed my problem, and called over my shoulder that I was going to find a bathroom as I walked away.
Wandering around for a bit with my hand cupped over my nose, I sighed in relief when I found the lady's bathrooms, and quickly dealt with the red smeared under my nose and on my top lip.
"Ew," I muttered, glaring at my reflection as I washed away the mess.
"At least my head doesn't hurt as much in here... must be because there aren't as many people" I muttered, starting to feel worried about how much my whole body seemed to be constantly pulsing in pain, and worried about how much blood I was losing with the daily nose bleeds... at least this was all happening when the town vampires weren't in town... that could have been bad.
"Juliet?" I screamed as a figure suddenly appeared behind me in the bathroom mirror.
"Oh, holy shit Alice! You scared the hell out of me!" I gasped, laughing lightly at myself.
My laughter immediately dried up when I realised the cautious, hungry and scared look on my friend's face. "Fuck, the blood" I spat, turning back to the sink and continued ridding my face of blood.
"What happened Juliet? Why do you reek of blood?" I swear it was the most serious I had ever seen my friend... it was rather unnerving.
"I got a blood nose, no big deal" I shrugged, "I used to get them all the time when I was a kid."
"That's not a blood nose amount of blood Juliet" Alice snapped, her amber eyes glaring into my forest green eyes "there is way more than that... you smell like blood all over!"
"I... uhh..." I stuttered, my hands shaking as I held them under the cold water.
"Juliet, I can't see your future beyond the end of next year" she snapped, "tell me what's going on, now!"

I hesitated for a moment, there really wasn't anything going on, I just had a bug.
"It's nothing, I really think you're overreacting" I murmured, intimidated by her stare, "I've been getting bloody noses and everything hurts... I've been dealing with it though, it's not too bad" I shuffled, turning around to face the angry vampire, placing my gloves back on my dried hands.
"I can't see your future Juliet! Do you have any idea what that means?!"
"No" I shook my head.
"It means you die."

After bursting out into sudden, uncontrollable sobs at Alice's words, her eyes looking horrified as she explained it to me, Alice borrowed my phone and texted Bella that she ran into me and was driving me home, using the not-so-fake excuse that I was sick.
The ride home was, in a word, terrifying, Alice was speeding, even more than usual, and every now and then would send out a text quicker than I think I could get my phone out of my pocket.
"Out of the car, now!" Alice snapped, and I jumped out of the car faster than I thought I actually could.
"Alice... why are we here?" I sighed, relieved that I wouldn't be a victim of a car crash.
"I texted Carlisle, he's expecting us." She said smoothly, linking her fingers with mine and walking into the blasted building that was also called a hospital.
"It was a bloody nose! I don't need to go to the hospital for a bloody nose!" I hissed angrily, pulling against her stone grip in vain.
"Please Juliet, please just do this for me" Alice suddenly begged, showing the first emotion other than anger or annoyance since she found me in the Port Angeles bathroom.
Feeling guilty, I silently followed after the pixie vampire, finding a worried-looking Carlisle in his office where I was quickly taken out of Alice's grasp and had about a dozen tests done.

I don't like blood tests.

After the *shudder* blood tests, urine tests, head scans and finally a full body scan because Carlisle was clearly becoming desperate, he cast me a nearly broken glance.
"I need to call your father" he muttered walking away as I called after him, finally scared.
I tried for a moment to read his mind, desperate to find out what was going on, but a screaming white noise kicked me out, making me gasp and hold my head at the sudden increase in pain.

It took dad fifteen minutes to get to the Forks hospital, and he immediately began running around the hospital searching for Carlisle.
"What's going on Juliet? Are you ok?" Dad asked as soon as he found Carlisle who led him to me. I was sitting in the chair next to Carlisle's desk, fidgeting with my gloves nervously, trying to hold back tears of worry, of fear, and of pain.
"I don't know what's going on dad" I whimpered, feeling a tear streak down my cheek.
"Mr Swan, Juliet, I am so sorry..." Carlisle drew off, and from just outside the room I heard a loud sob, Alice...
"Dr Cullen, Carlisle, please... just tell us what's going on" dad begged with an arm cast comfortingly over my shoulder, and Carlisle knelt in front of me, sadness clear in his eyes as he grasped my hands.
"I don't know what's happening" he began, "but it seems that your brain is making your body... self-destruct in a way, it's killing you, Juliet." I gasped, feeling frozen as I heard the words... killing me? How...
"At a guess, I'd say you had maybe a year and a half left... I am so, so sorry." A whine echoed through the room, and it took me a moment to realise that I was the one to make the noise, that it was a result of me trying to hold back my sobs.
"Please tell me you're joking, this is some mean prank that Alice did as revenge for not telling anyone about my nose bleeds!" I begged, practically coughing through the words in a desperate act to hold back the tears.
"I'm so sorry Juliet..."
I broke.
I cried.
I was going to die.