A/N: Hey, everyone! This is a little oneshot about Okay for Now that I thought up the other day. If you haven't rwead Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, I reccomend you do. It's a really great book.
Disclaimer: I do not own Okay for Now or its characters. They belong to Gary D. Schmidt.
One in four. That's the last stat I'm going to give you, because stats don't matter anyway. Lil was in the hospital, and school wasn't interesting anymore. Not even talking to Mrs. Windermere was. Not anymore. Mr. Powell forced me to keep drawing stupid birds, and why I was happy about that…well, that's none of your stupid business. And everyone kept asking me if I was okay. Do you know how awful that is? Everywhere you go, people are looking at you with stupid pity in their eyes and making sure you're okay, and you have to try real hard not to be a chump, but there are a couple times that you almost start bawling anyway. There were some times that that happened too many times and I was tired of trying not to be a chump, so I said, "Gee, I don't know. How would you feel?" I know, sounding like Lucas. But the truth was, Lucas wasn't like that anymore. Now it was my turn to be sullen and mad at the world, the way Lucas was before he changed and the way Chris was when Lucas was away. But I was a chump way too many times at home. I don't call it The Dump anymore. Anyway, Chris walked in on my one day just bawling on my bed. He was nice enough to leave right away. Later that day, he grabbed me in a hug and didn't let go for a long time. That was nice of him, too. I visited Lil every other day. I had late night conversations with Chris and Lucas. I stayed late after school most days to talk with Mr. Ferris and help out Coach Reed. Finally, one day when I was visiting Lil, her doctor walked in. He was smiling for once. "Well, Lillian," he said, "it looks like you're going to be the one in four." Right then I decided I cared about stats again. And it's none of your nosy business what I did all around town after I heard that, but I was happy the rest of the day.
THE NEXT SUMMER
The air was clear, the sun was bright, and I took a fully recovered Lil to the Ballard Paper Mill Annual picnic. Everything was perfect, and I could see my mother and father laughing together, the way they did all the time now. And when the cart full of Popsicles came I ran over and pulled out two orange Dreamsicles, one for me and one for Lil. You know how it feels to sit in the shade with the person you love and eat an orange Dreamsicle? It feels almost as good as being able to run around town and tell everyone that she's going to make it. And the smile on your face feels like it's going to split the world wide open because you're so happy. That's what it feels like.
A/N: Was it okay? Do you guys like it? Let me know!