Just Another Day

That One Youtube Pianist

One day Emma was showing me this amazing pianist on YouTube and we eventually ended up on his Myspace. We scrolled down through his comments and saw this Chris Townsend kid. Emma clicked on his name and it brought us to his page. The first song on his play list off of his CD was Stay Positive. We listened to it for a bit. The song was amazing and beautiful. Emma turned to me and said that this would be our song. She also told me that every time we heard this song we would think of each other. How could I disagree with her? The last week of Christmas vacation I finally worked up enough courage to formally ask Emma out. We had gone to many movies and the Christmas Dance together just as very good friends. We weren’t officially “going out” yet. We were sitting in her room reviewing for mid-terms. “Emma.” I called over to her. “Yes, James?” “I was wondering if you would like to go ice skating with me tonight.” “Like a date?” She asked turning around in her desk chair to face me. “Yes.” “I’d love to.” She smiled and came over to me and kissed me on the lips. There was an outdoor ice rink set up for the weekend at the museum in our town. I decided to take Emma there. Later that day I picked Emma up at her house. She came down the stairs in an adorable blue jacket and white knit scarf, hat, and gloves combo. We had a great time. April first came and went without a glitch. The next day I got to chem. and Emma was not in her seat. I worried the whole entire day. After school I stopped by her house and rang the bell. Emma answered the door and told me to come in. She took me up to her room and told me to sit down. I did what she said. She did not look like she wanted to be disobeyed. “James, I went to the doctor today.” She told me, sitting down next to me. “And?” I asked trying to prompt her. “They found something strange in my blood work. Something not good. They say that I have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. They need to do more blood work but-” I cut her off. “You have cancer?” I asked. Emma began to cry. “Yes, I have cancer.” She said matter of factly. “You have cancer?” I said again. “Yes, James I have cancer. There is nothing I can do about it but accept the fact that I have cancer and start an extremely aggressive chemo. Regimen and hope it works.” “Are you going to lose your hair?” I asked her. “Yeah. I guess I’m going to get that short haircut that I’ve been wanting.” She laughed. “Are you going to live?” “They say I will since I caught it so soon. There is an 85% survival rate.” “There is still 15%.” “I know. I’m going to kick that 15% in the butt and make it wish it never thought of saying I was going to die.” “Are you afraid?” “I’m very scared. Are you afraid?” “I think I’m even more scared then you.” In the background I could hear our song playing, Stay Positive by Chris Townsend. At the same exact moment we looked at each other and said, ‘Stay positive’. That was the last time I saw Emma cry.