storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter thirty-one ; graduation

Madej glanced over at his phone screen: 2:37 AM was in bright white text on the screen. He'd woken up not too long ago, rushing to the bathroom to throw up his supper. He turned onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He sighed, putting a hand on his stomach gently. It ached something bad, and he was apprehensive about taking any more painkillers.

Tomorrow was graduation.

He'd gotten through all of his exams. In a way, Madej was proud of himself. He'd managed to get those pesky exams done despite his cancer. That was something he prided himself in.

Madej didn't have his hearing aids in, but he could sense someone walking around in the hallway. It had to be Benedict; their mom was working late at the hospital. He wondered what his brother was doing. He was probably worried about Madej. There wasn't a lot that didn't worry Benedict nowadays. Most of it revolved around Madej, his only brother left.

He got up from his bed, pausing when he felt lightheaded. Once the blackspots left his eyes, he stood up straight, making his way towards the door, opening it.

Lo and behold, Benedict was there, pacing their hallway.

'What's wrong?' Madej signed when his brother looked at him a slight frown on his face.

Benedict shrugged, going and sitting on the top step. Madej pursed his lips a little before he went over and sat beside him, grunting at the effort.

'I miss Zeke,' Benedict told him after a moment. 'You two should be graduating together. He should be here.'

'I know,' Madej nodded, feeling the way it stabbed at his heart. 'Zeke should be here, should be worried about what he'd do after high school. Worried about me,' he paused, thinking hard. 'In a way, I'm glad Zeke isn't here. He doesn't have to deal with this pain.'

Benedict wiped at his face. 'I get it. But now we lose both of you.'

Madej wrapped his arms around his brother's arm, head resting on his shoulder.

"S'not fair. But we got shit to do. I'm not gonna die before Dominic, that's for sure. I can promise you that, brother,"

Benedict rested his head atop Madej's, and the both of them tried not to think about how shit their luck was.

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"These are so fucking ugly!" Madej said with a laugh, looking at the robes and the cap. "Gross piss yellow."

"If your piss is that yellow, you need to go to the doctors," Mike said, and Madej just raised an eyebrow at him.

Their group pulled on the robes and the cap.

Jessica looked at them. "God, we look so ugly. Forks High has really done us dirty,"

Angela smiled at her girlfriend, looping their arms. "At least you manage to rock this damn colour. It just clashes on the rest of us." She gestured to them, Madej, Mike, Eric, Bella and herself.

In response, Jessica kissed her cheek.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you, Mads," Bella said, turning to look at him. "We'll just be a minute, OK?"

The others nodded and Bella pulled Madej aside.

"What's up?"

Bella frowned a little, looking like she was trying to find the right words. "I know I forgave the Cullens, and I initially got back with Edward, but that damaged us. So I decided to step away from that relationship, and try and find myself again before I'd do something like commit to a relationship. Edward wasn't pleased, and he seemed really angry over it,"