Glory Days

Chapter 13: The Car Ride Home

-Aaron-

After working for over an hour and finishing 20 more questions, Kira's dad and older brother walk into the kitchen.

"I'll go get mom." Her brother says.

"Hello, I'm John." Her father says. I shake his hand.

"I'm Aaron."

"What'd you get for dinner?" Kira asks.

"I went to Kumo, is that ok?" her dad says.

"I love Kumo." I tell them. Kira's brother walks into the kitchen, their mom behind them. She is wearing sweats and a beanie... I smile at her. "Hi I'm Aaron."

"Nice to meet you Aaron, I'm Liz." She says. She looks very tired. I help Kira clean off the kitchen table and we sit down and eat dinner.

"So, how long have you known each other?" Markus asks.

"Sense the beginning of the school year, we have homeroom and bio together." Kira answers.

"Nice. Do you play any sports Aaron?" John asks.

"Yes, I play football and baseball." I tell him.

"Baseball? I don't think I ever saw you on the team?" Markus asks.

"You never payed attention to the JV team." Liz points out.

"Oh, I moved schools this year, I used to go to Lakewood." I say.

"Markus you have the memory of a fish." Kira jokes. He rolls his eyes and laughs. I remember when I had dinner like this with my family, back in elementary school.

"That must have been hard, moving schools your junior year, especially to your rival school." Liz says, compassion in her eyes. She has the same color eyes as Kira, light green.

"It was kind of hard at first, but I play football, so I already had friends when school started." I say.

"Oh, so is that how you know him?" Markus asks, raising an eyebrow towards Kira.

"You're so annoying." She says and lightly punches his arm.

After dinner Kira and I sit back at the island to finish the midterm. Markus sit on the opposite side on his own computer.

"And were done!" Kira says happily when we answer the last question.

"Only took us 4 hours." I laugh. She smiles and presses submit.

"Extra credit here we come."

"And, you don't have to worry about it anymore. Now you can relax till break."

"And you can go to Italy worry free." She says and smiles. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Uh yeah that would be great." I say. We pack up our things and get in her car. I give her my address and she start driving. She turns on the radio and we sit silently, listening to the late-night radio host. I check the time, its 9:30.

"I'm sorry you had to stay up late on a school night. If I wasn't going to Italy then we could've worked on it Friday." I say.

"It's ok, you don't have to apologize for going on a family trip." She says.

"Well, sort of family trip." I sort of mumble.

"What do you mean?"

"Eh it doesn't matter." I say. She glances over at me, confusion on her face, then a look of compassion. Like she understands. "Well, My parents divorced this summer. That's why I moved schools." I say. Man, that felt good to get off my chest.

"I didn't know." She says sadly.

"No one did. I didn't tell anyone really."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, a twin brother Mark. He lives with my mom back in Lakewood. I moved with my dad over here." I say. She nods her head and continues to drive in silence. Was that too personal? Did I tell her too much?

She pulls up to my house and parks. She shuffles in her seat to face me; I can see tears forming in her eyes.

"There's something that I haven't told people either." She says sadly. I think I know what she's about to say.

"If you don't want to tell me you don't have to." I tell her. She takes a deep breath and looks me in the eyes.

"In June, my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer." She says calmly. "I escaped this summer with Shania to her beach house then I did cheer, but it didn't help. And we found out that the Chemo hasn't helped, it's not shrinking." She starts to cry. I unbuckle my seatbelt and wrap my arms around her. She holds onto me tightly.

"Life really sucks, doesn't it?" I whisper.

"Yeah. I'm so tired of my mom's friends saying, 'oh it will be ok she's a fighter' or 'this season will pass, and she will grow stronger'. It sucks being in the house alone. I lost so much before school started." She mumbles.

"I get it. Loss hurts, a lot. Pain hurts way more." I say. She looks at me. "But from my experience with everything, you can either run from pain, or deal with it, and eventually become stronger. This is going to suck, a lot. But I know you're strong Kira. I've seen how strong you are, how brave you are."

"But this isn't like cheer, or a test. I don't know how it's going to end. I have no control, and that's what scares me. What if it gets worse, what if she can't recover?" She asks.

"You don't know. But what you do know is that your mom has some of the best doctors and surgeons working with her, that will help her do better. And I'm here, I always will be. If you ever feel alone, know you're not. You can text me, call me whenever or wherever." I tell her. Her breathing slows down and she hugs me.

"Thank you." She mumbles. I walk her to my door and give her one last hug. She's a lot shorter than me. I practically engulf her when were standing. I watch her pull out of the driveway and sigh.

If one thing is for sure, I told her the truth. I will always be there for her.