A/N: New chapter over here. Awwww yeah. Be excited. A whole chapter with 1,465 words. Woot. *Silence* Oh well... this is awkward. On with the story I guess.
Disclaimer: Yeah... I don't own Percy Jackson or anything to do with it.
The first night at the hospital was awful –and it wasn't just the crappy beds. Half the night I had tossed and turned, trying my hardest to even drift off for a short moment. The stress off everything was building up and I wasn't sure if I could handle it. I didn't even want to think about how everyone was going to talk about me the next few days until I was forgotten; only brought up as a joke. All the hard work I put into being popular flushed down the drain because I just had to get cancer.
It was six in the morning when I said "Oh screw it," and decided that it was waking up time. This was earlier than the time I got up for school at. Percy was going to visit today after school and I told him to bring Annabeth with him. He was very quick to say yes, and something tells me it wasn't the hospital food that got him all excited.
Finally, a nurse came in. With a quick hello she started looking at the various machines around the room and looking at papers on her clipboard before scribbling down something and repeating. Then she took a small amount of blood and did some weird test on it. It was claimed to be no different than yesterday and I took that as a good thing. I mean, I hadn't gotten any worse. Sure it'd be great if I was better, but that'd be miraculous.
Around noon I was allowed to walk around and stretch my legs. The hallways smelled of feet and grape cough drops. Also, there was lots of coughing, hacking and sneezing. Exactly how a hospital should be. I was enjoying the peace and quiet when suddenly there was a very familiar voice behind me.
"Thalia?" I whipped around, heart pounding. There stood Lacy Anderson who was in third period algebra. "Oh my gosh, why are you here? Are you okay, did you like, get hurt? Are you sick? Do you have some crazy disease? Or worse, did you try to like kill yourself of something? Because while like black is always stylish I read this article about how people who wear all black are 75% more likely to commit suicide." The speed she delivered this all at was astounding and aggravating all at once. I'd always gotten along with Lacy fine, she just wasn't my kind of person. She was an oblivious and innocent version of Drew.
"Oh, hi Lacy," I responded, not in the mood for one million questions. She looked a little put out for a moment before shrugging it off and reverting back into psycho lady mode.
"I'm here because my step-mom is having a baby. I have a new sister now. Except she's only my half-sister since obviously my step-mom isn't my real mom, but my dad is her dad. Her name is Laurel Rae Anderson. Isn't that just adorable? It fits her too. She has these adorable blue eyes and this soft blonde hair. She's the cutest thing ever. But seriously, why are you here?" She looked up at me, her bright blue eyes (just like her half sisters!) looking up at me expectantly.
"You know what Lacy? I have cancer and I'm probably going to die. Good-freaking-bye." And with that, I spun on my heel and stomped away. If you ask someone why they're in the hospital and they don't tell you, don't expect them not to be pissed when you ask again. Only thing is now Lacy's going to tell a few people and they're going to tell a few people and in the end I'm going to be thought as dead and they'll be phoning Sally asking when the funeral is.
Freaking fantastic. People would probably be hassling Percy as well, demanding to know what kind of flowers to bring. Come to think of it, lilies and roses would be nice.
When I'm back in my room I just kind of sit there and twiddle my thumbs. Not literally of course, only creeps and Dumbledore can do that. Actually what I did is take out my laptop and go onto YouTube. After watching a few videos I got bored and seriously considered doing school work. Get a head start and all. But then again, I'd just taken a whole bunch of meds so I could blame my temporary insanity on that.
If this was how the rest of my life was going to be like, I sure was not excited about it.
"Thalia," I glanced up. Sally was there, holding Chinese takeout. Sad to say, I was kind of excited about it, because hospital food sucked. It was either too stale, too soggy or too slimy.
I hopped out of bed and ran to her. I got down on my knees and jokingly kissed her feet. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. The food here is crap." Sally chuckled and shook her head at me. Slowly, I slide the takeout box from her hands and backed up until I could sit back on my bed. The lid was popped open and I dug in. In between mouthfuls I thanked Sally profusely.
"Now Thalia, are you sure you don't want anyone to know. Wouldn't you like visitors?" I bit my lip to keep from laughing, causing Sally to look at me oddly.
"I don't think it's much of a secret. Don't be surprised when people are calling about funeral times," I remarked, before letting out the giggles. It was unlike me I know, I should be pissed but everyone knew and just the thought of a flustered Sally having to explain that my heart was still beating and my lungs were still working.
"What happened? Why'd you change your mind?" she demanded.
"This girl from my school was here because her step-mom gave birth or something and then she kept pestering me and asking me why I was here so I kind of cracked and told her. It has to be around the entire school by now. Percy will be interrogated for the next few days. Poor him," I said, the last sentence half sarcastic.
"Oh yes, poor Percy indeed," Sally replied, also laughing. I could just imagine the look on his face when the first person came up to him and asked if it was true, let alone the 50th person. I mean, we live in a small town, nothing exciting happens here and once people catch wind of this it's going to be huge. Plus, I've already been the talk of the town back when I was little and I moved in with Sally and Percy.
"I have a feeling he's not going to be in the best mood when he gets here," I said, mockingly.
"I'm not," said a new voice. Both of us immediately looked over to the doorway where Percy and Annabeth stood. Percy appeared to be a little cranky, but other than that, the same as always. Annabeth however, looked awkward and nervous and a smidge confused.
"Hey Perce, hi Annabeth," I said like everything was normal and nothing was amiss.
"Well, I'll leave you three to discuss whatever it is you want to discuss," Sally said, exiting the room. Although I'm sure she left to make things less awkward, the awkwardness didn't cease and it went on steadily until Percy broke the quiet.
"Okay, you two need to have one of those weird girl apologizing party things that they always have in the movies," he said, seeming exasperated. I grimaced and he walked out, probably to find coffee, which any ADHD kid should never have.
For a moment, the silence went on with no one even making a move to speak. Soon it became unbearable.
"Annabeth," I said softly. She glanced up from the ground that her gaze had previously been fixed on. "I'm sorry –for everything. For ditching you, for not standing up for you, for going on like this for years. I'm so, so, so sorry and I hope that you can somehow forgive me," I paused and took a breath, making sure to watch Annabeth carefully. "And I'm sorry that it took me getting cancer to realize how much I needed your friendship. And I don't want you to forgive me just because of the circumstances, I want you to forgive me because we all make mistakes and I made a big one. I understand if you never want to see me again. I was a huge jerk and I was stupid... and yeah," I finished. I didn't dare make any movement or sound, I simply froze.
Somehow I'd expected her response; while at the same time never in a million years would I have thought it.
A/N: Thank's for reading, I wasn't very sure about this chapter. I have to admit it wasn't the best, but some things needed to happen for the rest of the story to go on. So please review, even a quick sentence or two saying something you liked or what I need to work on is great. Any review means the world to me.
Also: 661 hits and 345 visitors and 20 reviews? Thank you sosososo much.