„I'm sorry mom." Tori said as she was sitting on the couch. Her mother was sitting on the other end of it, crying uncontrollably. Her father was reading the paper a hundredth time, just as Andre did. The same expression of disbelief was visible on his face and noticeable in his voice. He lowered his hand with the paper and covered his eyes with his other one. He tried to stop the tears, but to no avail. He sat down next to his wife, putting an arm around her. Trina was sitting next to Tori, her arms wrapped around her baby sister. Tori sat there, knees hugged to her chest, her head resting on them. Silent tears were running down her face. She felt guilty. She knew that none of this would be happening had she gone to the doctor sooner.
"It's going to be okay." Trina whispered to her, trying to calm her down. She felt Tori lean on her, so Trina pulled her a bit closer, leaning Tori's head on her shoulder. She gently stroked her hair. She looked over at her dad, who was trying to calm Holly down. David and Trina seemed to communicate simply trough the way they looked at each other. They both understood one thing. They were going to be the support for the sick daughter and the desperate mother.
"Tori, let's get you to the specialist Dr. Walters has written down. I want my little girl to get better as soon as possible." David spoke up calmly.
"Okay. I need to change quickly." Tori said as she got up and went upstairs. David looked back at Trina, who sighed and brought her hands up to her face. She leaned on them, trying to get herself together. She couldn't break down like her mother.
"It's going to be okay. Tori is strong. She can make it and she will make it." David said looking at Trina first, then back at his crying wife.
"You are right. She will." Trina said as she got up and walked towards the door. "I'll wait outside." She said and left.
"Holly, please. Get a grip." David said as he looked back at his wife.
"Get a grip? David, Tori has cancer. Do you know what that means?" she yelled.
"Shh." He shushed, looking over at the stairs, hoping Tori didn't hear her mother's outburst.
"Holly, I know what that means. But we have to keep it together for her. She is the sick one, not you!" he whispered, cupping his wife's cheeks, making her look at him. She saw the tears slowly form in his eyes. She exhaled sharply, the desperation overcoming her. He wiped away the tears when he heard footsteps on the stairs.
"I'm ready." Tori said as she came down into the living room.
"Trina is already waiting outside honey. We'll be there in a moment." David said to her in a soft voice. Tori nodded and went outside. David sighed and turned back to his wife.
"I'll take her to the specialist. You don't have to come. I don't think you'll be of any help in this shape. Stay here and calm down." He said as he gave her a small kiss and went upstairs to change himself. He was still in the uniform, since Trina called him while he was working. He couldn't remember ever driving so fast when he heard that Tori was sick.
"Keep it together, David. Keep it together, she needs you. She needs all the support in the world." He told himself while he was searching his closet for something to wear.
Tori walked outside and saw Trina leaning on her car. She rubbed her eyes with one hand while she held the other one on her stomach. Tori slowly walked over to the car. When Trina noticed her, she quickly turned away and wiped her tears away as good as she could.
"Dad said we'll leave in a few minutes." Tori weakly said. She blamed herself for the pain her family was in. This was the reason she stayed silent for so long. She could take pain, as long as it didn't affect and hurt the people around her. Now, she saw her mother completely break down, while her father and Trina tried desperately not to loose it themselves. She wasn't dumb. She saw how they wiped away the tears. She heard the quick, sharp breaths they did while fighting the sobs.
"How do you feel?" Trina asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked at her. Trina was worried. Behind her egotistical façade was still her older sister. She knew that Trina had always been overprotective with her. When she found her lying on the bathroom floor that day, it took hours of begging and convincing from Tori so that Trina didn't drag her to the first hospital.
"I don't know." Tori honestly said. She didn't know. She was overwhelmed with everything. Guilt, fear, anger, desperation, sadness; simply all of it.
"You are going to be fine." Trina told her as she placed a hand on her sister's arm, gently squeezing it. She felt Tori shaking under her hand. She saw the tears forming again in her eyes. "Tori?" Trina asked, worry clear in her voice. She didn't try for a moment to hide it.
"I'm scared." Tori said before she began crying herself. Guilt and fear: two emotions that haunted her since she found out. She felt strong arms around her. She leaned her head on Trina's shoulder as she softly cried.
"You don't have to be scared. I'm here." Trina said trough her own sobs. She never imagined that something like this could happen. Until today, their lives were peaceful. They had no worries. School was doing great. They have great parents who love them and care about them. But now, life wanted to take away her baby sister. No. She wouldn't let that happen. She didn't care what she had to do, but she wouldn't give up on her.
They heard the door open, as Mr. Vega stepped outside. He bit his lips when he saw his daughters standing there, both sobbing. It took the man everything he had not to cry himself right now. He let out one heavy breath before he walked over to them.
"Let's go." He said as he opened the door for his daughters. He got into the drivers seat and drove off.
At the same time, Andre watched his friends around him stare at him in disbelief. He had called them to come to his place, telling them he had very bad news. Yet, none of them even imagined that it would be this.
"Are you completely sure?" Beck asked again.
"I am. I read that damn diagnosis at least a thousand times." Andre said as he dropped down on the chair. He watched his friends. They didn't believe it. And he couldn't blame them. He saw it with his own eyes and couldn't believe it himself. Jade got up all of the sudden.
"Where are you going?" Beck asked her.
"I'm going to see her. I won't let her stay by herself, she'll do something stupid." Jade said, yet her voice lacked something. It wasn't as cold and dreadful as it always was. She was concerned herself. It was hard to see, but everyone noticed.
"She's at the doctors now. She texted me a few minutes ago that her father was taking her to the specialist her doctor had told her about." Andre said. Jade sighed and walked back to her place. She sat down next to Cat again.
"Are you okay?" Cat asked her. Jade looked at the redhead next to her. She wanted to say something sarcastic, but decided against it.
"No. I'm not." Jade said before looking back at Andre. "How was she when she told you?"
"How do you think? She was crying here for at least two hours. It was hard even looking at her, I can't imagine how she must feel." Andre said before getting up. He began pacing around.
"Dude, calm down." Beck told him as he grabbed his arm.
"How can I calm down? She has cancer, Beck. Do you even know anything about cervical cancer?" Andre basically yelled back at him.
"I do, okay." Beck yelled beck before walking a few steps away. "My mom's cousin had that a few years back. That was why we went to Canada so often."
"Mariah?" Jade asked, looking up at him. He nodded as he drew his hands trough his hair.
"And how is she?" Cat asked, hopefully looking at him.
"She… she didn't make it." Beck said before sitting down again. "She didn't. She died a few weeks after the surgery. They weren't able to remove the tumor, and she was already too weak for chemotherapy." He explained. He watched everyone's expression change, except Jade's. That didn't surprise him, since she already knew about it. He also expected that it was the first thing that came to her mind when Andre told them.
"That won't happen to Tori. She is going to make it." Jade said, trying to sound convincing. But it didn't help. Everyone already had run the scenario in their head. The scenario where Tori dies.
