Glory Days

Chapter 34: The Cancer Packet

-Aaron-

"Today we will go over cancerous cells." Mrs. Devero says at the beginning of class.

"Will this be on the exam?" Someone asks.

"Most likely." Mrs. Devero answers as she sets up the projector.

"Most likely there will probably be 2 questions on it." I jokingly whisper to Kira. She nods slightly. I glance over at her. She seems a little tense.

After Mrs. Devero finishes the review presentation, she hands out the review packet. The packet has 30 questions and is not done in partners. After I answer about 10 questions, I notice that Kira is slightly shaking and breathing rapidly next to me.

"Are you ok?" I whisper to her. She looks over at me, panic all over her face. She shakes her head and stands up and walks to Mrs. Devero's desk, asks her something and leaves the room. I look over at her packet; she hasn't answered any questions. Why hasn't she... I quickly stand up and walk up to Mrs. Devero's desk and ask her.

"May I use the restroom?"

"Yes." She says. I nod and walk of the classroom and look down the hall to look for Kira.

"Kira?" I ask quietly.

"Yes." I hear her say from the girl's bathroom a little down the hallway.

"Can I see you?" I ask her. She slowly walks out of the bathroom, her face as white as the tile. "Are you ok?"

"No." She says shakily, stepping closer to me. I step closer to the wall so we can't be seen by classrooms. I look down at her, she's trembling and breathing heavily. Her hands shake as she tries to breath, but she keeps taking short deep breaths like it's hard to breath.

"What's going on?" I ask her calmly.

"I- I can't do the packet. It... scared me when we went over the lesson. How the cells multiply quickly because one thing was wrong in the DNA." She says.

"It reminded you too much of your mom." I say. She nods her head and closes her eyes.

"I just want it to be over. All of it." She whispers, still breathing heavily.

"It will be. She just had a successful surgery, and the radiation will help." I say. She nods her head, her eyes still closed. "Hey, look at me."

She opens her bright green eyes and looks up at me, then wraps her arms around her chest.

"Count to ten, then count back down." I say. She looks at me confused but does the breathing exercise a couple of times. "Now clench and release your fists, while counting to 20." As she does that, her breathing returns to normal and she slowly stops trembling. She weakly smiles at me.

"Thank you." She says.

"Of course." I say and smile.

"We should um, we should head back to bio." She says.

"Right, we should." I say.

When were back in class, I keep glancing at her. She starts working on the packet, but I can tell she's still thinking about her Mom. I want to help distract her from everything... but how?

"Hey, do you have plans tonight?" I ask her quietly. She looks over at me, a little confused.

"Um, no I don't think so." She says.

"Do you want to go get something to eat or do something, you know to take your mind off of everything going on." I ask. She looks at me, a mixture of confusion and excitement on her face.

"That would actually be really nice." She says and smiles. "I'll text my parents after class, but I'm sure they won't mind."

"Ok, just let me know. I have practice till 5 so whenever you want to go will work." I say.

"We can go after your practice." She says.

"Alright, sounds good." I say and smile.

During practice it's hard to focus. I keep seeing Kira from this morning, and how scared she was. I hope she doesn't think of this as a date. Does she think this is a date? Is it a date?

"VanDorren, you're up to bat!" Coach Strassner shouts. I quickly get up from the dugout and head to home plate. I get into my batters' stance and watch as Devin, the pitcher, throws the ball. I don't swing, it was too low.

"Ball!" Calvin shouts. I look over as Coach Strassner rolls his eyes and nods. He then says something to Calvin, and he walks away. I get back into my stance and watch as Devin throws his next pitch and smack the ball to third. I quickly sprint to first base before the baseman catches the ball, and runover the base.

"OUT!" Coach Strassner yells. I sigh, the third baseman must have gotten him. "Aaron, that was a straight line to third, next time hit more towards second, or mid field."

"Yes coach." I say as I grab my glove and put down my helmet. I run out to midfield and warm up. None of the batters hit in my direction for a while, so I start thinking about Kira again.

"Midfield!" I hear someone yell. I snap out of my thoughts and reach for the ball flying in my direction but miss. I quickly run after it and catch it, then throw it to second and the batter it out.

"Nice job midfield and second base." Coach says as we all gather around home base. "Remember, next week we play Lakewood. I looked at their records and they are actually doing pretty well this year, so we need to keep up our game."

Once we get to the locker room, I check my phone and read the text from Kira.

"Why are you smiling?" Calvin asks me and elbows me.

"No reason." I say, not realizing I was smiling.

"Oh? You have plans after practice?" He asks, smirking.

"I'm going to an old diner with my mom, I haven't seen her in awhile." I lie. Sounds like a reasonable lie. I hate bringing my Mom into the lie, but it makes it more believable.

"Mhm, sure." Calvin says, still smirking.

"Well, see you tomorrow." I say. Calvin nods his head and I walk out of the locker room.