Jasper watched the others as they laughed together. It was always like this now; all he got were sympathetic looks. His life had changed dramatically for the better and for the worse when Alice Fisher had come into his life a week before the end of term. She had walked into school, head held high; her short stature and black hair that stuck out at all angles gave her a pixie-like appearance. She walked right up to the most popular girls in school and introduced herself. Jasper had watched with a grimace on his face. He knew that the popular girls could completely ruin someone with one small comment or rumour. He didn't want to see this happy to the pretty little pixie, but on the other hand if he tried to intervene they might ruin him as well. But he got a great shock when Alice just smiled at the popular girls when they rejected her, and skipped away. Throughout the last week of school Jasper seemed to see her everywhere and she was always her little easily excitable self and each and every time he looked at her he couldn't help but smile. But Alice was the last thing on his mind when summer break came around, football and sleeping in till noon were the only things on his summer agenda.
This changed about two weeks into summer. His mum had become ill and was taken into hospital. Jasper was the ever doting son and visited her at the same time every day. Well there might have been another reason why he visited everyday. A certain pixie was also in the very same ward as his mother, the oncology ward. The first time he had seen her he had been stunned, how could someone so joyous and exuberant be seriously ill. Jasper hadn't worked up the courage to go talk to her until about 4 or 5 days after his mum was admitted, he noticed she never seemed to have any visitors and decided to go talk to her. While his mum was resting he walked on over to Alice's bed. He gave her a half smile and she smiled her full scale one back at him. It was quite awkward at first as neither knew what to say. Jasper eventually just came right out and asked what was wrong with her and from there the conversation escalated. Everything after that first day went at a tremendous speed. Their friendship grew stronger and stronger with everyday he visited her. Most of the time they just talked about pointless things, finding out everything there was to know about each other and just genuinely having fun.
Jasper's mum had been released from hospital about a month after she was first admitted. It turned out she wasn't as ill as they had once suspected and her treatment had only taken a few weeks, she wasn't completely healed but she was slowly getting there. None of this, however, stopped Jasper from going to visit Alice at the hospital every single day without fail. The last week of the summer holidays was the best one for Jasper. Alice and he were growing ever closer. The way her eyes lit up as soon as Jasper walked in the room was only one of the telltale signs that the feelings between them were special. Alice was allowed out of the hospital for a special visit on the last day of summer and she chose to spend it with Jasper. The day they spent together was a happy day for them both. It was spent just sitting about in Jasper's front room watching chick flicks which Alice cried at while he moaned and horror films where Alice would use Jasper as a blanket to protect herself from the 'zombies'. Even though the day was spent doing basically nothing, saying goodbye at the doors of the hospital that night was one of the hardest things Jasper had ever had to do. It was tear filled for both of them as the next day Jasper had to go back to school and they wouldn't be able to see each other till the weekend. This would be the longest the pair had ever been apart since they had first spoken.
Everyone at school soon found out about him and Alice and most people understood but some people didn't understand how he could be in love with someone who was sick. Jasper just ignored everyone and focused on getting through the week so he could see Alice again. On Saturday morning he was up and ready to go to the hospital way earlier than any normal teenager should be. By 10 am he was sitting beside Alice's bed, holding her hand and just watching her sleep. How could she look so much worse after only a week? Her hair hang limp around her face, her cheeks sunken and her bones were practically visible. She had lost so much weight. What was going on? Jasper just sat there until Alice woke up. The first thing she did when she did awake was look over at Jasper with a weak smile on her face, a big change from her usual toothy grin. She struggled to sit up and the look of pain on her face as she tried worried Jasper greatly. He carefully lifted her up until she was sitting comfortably and then climbed in the bed next to her and just held her. Most of that day they just sat holding each other. Nothing needed to be said, both of them knew that the future wasn't looking good for her. After another tearful goodbye, Jasper went home and just sat in his room in silence with the tears streaming down his face. Sunday was mostly the same as Saturday with the two of them just happy being together.
After another torturous week at school Jasper couldn't wait to see Alice again, but when he arrived at the hospital that morning his happy demeanour changed drastically. Her bed was empty. He rushed over to the nurses' station, the daisies in his hand long forgotten, and asked about Alice. As soon as the nurse looked at him he knew it was bad. "NO! NO! , She was fine a week ago, she has to be fine!" Jasper sank to the floor in tears, refusing to believe that his pixie was gone. He stayed on the ground there until one of the nurses phoned his mum to come get him. The car ride home was silent. His mum just kept looking over at him, her eyes full of upset and pity. When he got home he ignored his mum's protests and ran up to his room and lay face down on his bed, the tears starting again. This was the way he stayed all weekend. He refused to eat or leave his room except for the bathroom. When Monday morning came around Jasper got ready for school in a daze, as if he was on auto pilot. In fact the whole day was pretty much the same. The looks of pity became too much for him to tolerate and he ran and hid in the art classroom. For the first time since he got home from the hospital he actually just sat there and thought about Alice. He thought about the good times they had in the short time he had known her. How had she been so strong throughout her illness? He realised that if she wasn't going to let the disease win then why should he? Yes, it would take time before the pain in his heart started to heal and yes, he would remember her long after all his classmates had forgotten. But he would remember her for all the good things and not let the evil disease win.