Title: Moments in Time
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Finding Sky in any way, shape or form.
A/N: To old readers, hi, to new ones, welcome. I have re-written this story, improved it, and added to it - now I feel I can continue and have it finished soon. It is the same storyline, with some changes. You may want to re-read the whole thing, as I have messed around with it, and Charlotte has been re-named as Adrianne for reasons of my own. Leanne has also been renamed. Enjoy, leave a review. I'd be glad to hear from you.
Chapter One
Life is a heartless bitch. No one knows where it's going to take you next. No one knows whether it'll give you fame and success, happiness and love, or failure and misfortune, sadness and grief.
This is what happened to me. Three years ago, I, Adrianne Rosanna Delemare was reasonably happy. I'd been in remission from cancer for two years; I had basically been told I was all but cured. I had a steady boyfriend, a group of best friends and was doing well as a senior at high school in Florida. My parents were in love, my older brother was achieving at his university. But, I repeat, life is a heartless bitch, and you never know where it's going to take you next.
My mind is in a haze as I slowly walk into the college cafeteria. Why me? Why the hell did it have to be me? Why couldn't someone else have had their share of bad luck for once? I could scream, sob, cry…but I won't. Doing any of that won't make it go away.
I find my best friend sitting in-between two boys with a third opposite her. I know them by sight, of course, having been in the same college for a year, but I don't know their names, as I've never talked to any of them before. They probably wouldn't want to be seen with a loser like me.
Obviously, the same doesn't go for my best friend. As I approach, Sabrina tosses her waterfall of long, dark hair back and giggles at something the blonde boy on her left said, then leans forward to talk to the brown haired boy across from her. Oh, I recognise him now I'm closer.
Will Benedict – captain of the baseball and football team, top of every class, every girl's heartthrob and every boy's best mate. Sabrina, like the rest of the females on campus, has been dying to go out with him, and now, I think dryly, she's getting her chance.
"Sab," I say quietly, tapping her on the shoulder.
She turns around, a hundred kilowatt smile already shining on her face. "Addie! Hey! How'd it go?"
"Sab, I need to talk to you," I say, trying to fight back the sudden tears that are choking my voice.
"Oh, babes, not now! I promise we'll talk later. Come on, sit down. Move up, Kian. I guess you guys don't know my best friend. This is Adrianne, but we all call her Addie. Addie, this is Will, Kian and Danny, and they sat with me, because I was all alone after you went."
I bite my lip as I slide into my seat. The thing is, I always give in to Sabrina, because I know my personality will never shine as bright as hers. I'll never be smarter than her, or cuter than her. She's beautiful in every sense of the word, and I'm just average. Always have been, always will be.
She turns to me, putting on a show of a caring best friend for the boys seated around us. "Are you hungry?"
When I shake my head, she laughs. "You really need to start eating, Addie, or you'll end up going anorexic on me. Trust me, I do not want an anorexic friend."
"Sab, I would not go anorexic on you. I'm just not hungry," I say quietly. The actual truth is that I'm likely to throw up if I eat something; my stomach is still churning with my horrendous news. If I vomited on Sabrina, she would never forgive me.
"So, how did it go?" she repeats, raising an expectant eyebrow.
"I don't want to talk about it now," I say. "Not…" I incline my head towards the boys, pleading at her with my eyes.
"Addie, I'm sure they wouldn't mind…" Sabrina starts but Will stands, running a hand casually through his hair.
"We'd actually better be getting off. Got training this afternoon," he says lazily, picking up his tray. "See you later, Sabrina. Adrianne." He winks at us, then lopes off, his friends following more slowly. Kian glances back towards Sabrina several times as they leave the dining hall.
"Addie!" Sabrina glares at me once the three boys are out of earshot. "I can't believe you were so rude! I was just getting there…"
"I was not rude," I retort, my anger and hurt bubbling to the surface now that we're alone. "Just now is not a good time, Sabrina!"
Her face pales, turning the colour of fresh-fallen snow. "Oh God…you…you…"
"Yes," I say shortly, closing my eyes. "I've relapsed."
"Addie, I am so sorry!" she throws her arms around me. "I should've guessed, I'm an awful best friend!"
I sigh, opening my eyes and returning her hug. She's always like this to me in front of the opposite gender, but when we're alone, or in our little group, she returns to being the best friend I made when I spilt orange juice all over her on our first day here.
"I forgive you," I say slowly.
"When's the first treatment?" she lowers her voice.
"Thursday," I say, resigned. "They want to knock it on the head as soon as possible."
"I guess that's sensible," she says, standing up gracefully. "Come on, I'll go and dump this, then we'll go shopping and get some cute scarves for when…you know…lose…"
"Good idea, Sab," I say gratefully, following her to the clear up area. Sometimes I am pleased that she's my best friend.
We stand in front of the mirror in a shop called 'Ever After', Sabrina shifting her fingers through my boring brown, shoulder-length hair, her eyes narrowed in concentration.
Scarves spill out over a chair, scarves in all different colours and patterns. Sabrina's fingers dance over them, and she picks out a gorgeous dark blue scarf with tiny little silver flecks in the material.
"This one brings out your eyes," she says, draping it over my hair so it trails down my back. "You have lovely eyes, Addie."
"Thank you," I say shyly, blushing.
"And then I think you should get several jewel tones – a green one definitely, maybe pink or purple, and a red."
"I bow to your fashion expertise," I tease, smirking at her in the mirror. She hits me playfully over the head.
We buy the scarves and leave the shop, absently wandering down the sidewalk in the sun-soaked afternoon. My stomach starts to grumble, complaining about the lack of lunch.
"I'm hungry," I say. "Starbucks?"
"Okay. Race you!" she calls, starting to run. I push off after her, but ever so quickly, startlingly quickly, I become breathless, and my vision starts to spin. I stagger to a halt, clutching my side and trying to get my breath back.
"Addie? Are you alright?" Sabrina runs back towards me, her face creasing up in worry. "What happened?"
"Its fine," I straighten up, taking in huge breaths of the cool, fresh air, feeling the dizziness subside. "Now I know not to have running races."
"But why?" she looks confused. I pull a face – Sabrina's never been exposed to cancer before, so she has no idea about any of it – apart from the whole losing-your-hair-because-of-chemotherapy thing, which I think most people associate with cancer anyway.
"Uh, I get breathless easily," I state the obvious.
She scowls at me. "I got that. Why?"
"Because my red blood cells can't carry enough oxygen to my muscles – therefore I get anaemia easily. But, I need that sugar rush…please, Sab?"
"Okay, come on, silly. But don't you dare collapse on me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I reply, smiling sweetly.
Starbucks is practically empty as Sabrina and I buy our snacks and drinks from the bored-looking barista, before perching at a table near the window.
"Yum," I say happily, biting into my cookie. "This is just what I need."
"Same," Sabrina closes her eyes as she chews on her raspberry muffin, taking a sip of her iced tea. I've gone for hot chocolate – I only have so much restraint when it comes to chocolate.
"What classes will you miss on Thursday?" Sabrina asks me absentmindedly.
Why did she have to bring it up? I've always hated talking about my treatments, because it makes me think of them.
"It's at nine o'clock, and it'll probably take about three hours. I might try classes, but if I'm feeling awful, I'll probably go and lie down, so if you tell Dr Harkness that I won't be in tomorrow…"
"Sure can do," Sabrina smiles.
We finish eating in silence, then Sabrina checks her watch and sighs. "We've got to be getting back! I have an essay for tomorrow that I haven't even started!"
"Silly," I chide. "I did all mine yesterday."
"Piss off," she says good-naturedly.
"Well if I'm pissing off, you'd better come with me!" I shove my chair back with a screech of metal on tile, and sling my bag over my body. "Come on."