Jonas was in surgery for two hours. That had to have been the longest two hours of my life.

I sat in the hallway, occasionally letting stress and sadness get to me and a few tears would stride down the side of my face, landing neatly on the pocket of my jeans. The nurses who walked by would politely as Zach and me to move, but we didn't even reply. We just sat there, our hands intertwined, waiting for the doctor to come tell us it was over. That Jonas was fine. That Jonas would be more than fine, he'd be terrific. Everything would go back to normal.

But what is normal? I asked myself. Nothing would ever be normal again, Cammie. This has become your normal. The gang. "Z-Zach? Zach, I can't. I can't be this kind of normal."

"What do you mean, Cammie?" he sighed.

"This – the gang. I mean, I'm supposed to attend a nice college, and grow up, and find a cure for Dizzy."

"Who's Dizzy? Is she your daughter or something? I heard you talking to her on the phone last week."

"Dizzy isn't my daughter, Zach. Dizzy's my sister," I revealed.

His expression didn't change as he said, "You said you had no siblings."

"I lied."

"Why?"

"Do you remember last year's Homecoming Queen? Cheerleading captain? Mrs. CHS? DeStanie Morgan. That's my sister. She got cancer, and if anyone sees her, they'll pity me, and I don't want that. I want to go back to normal," I gushed.

"You said that earlier. What do you mean?" he asked again.

"It means I can't do this anymore Zach."

Finally, his expression changed. Except it didn't change to anger, or understanding. It changed to hurt. "Cammie, are you, are you trying to-"

"No," I cut him off. "No, I'm not going to break up with you, Zach. Actually, are we even dating? I mean, I just feel so confused about this whole situation right now."

He kissed the top of my head and squeezed my hand. "Cammie, there's nothing to be confused about. At least not about our relationship."

I nodded and placed my head on his shoulder. "I could stay like this forever. Sitting here, next to you."

"In a hospital. Oh, how romantic."

I laughed a bit and punched his arm. More nurses came by and explained to us that we were a fire hazard. Again, Zach and I just stared at her, as if she was speaking a language we didn't understand. She sighed and walked off, mumbling to herself.

I stared at the ceiling and tried to find shapes in the tile. I poked Zach's arm. I attempted to lick my elbow, and then my nose. I was bored out of my mind. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was worried about Jonas, but if I started worrying to much, I'd freak out and the nurses would think I was the one who needed a doctor.

At some point, Zach dozed off. His head was hanging down, and slow, relaxed breaths escaped him. I didn't even think twice about pulling a pen out of my purse. I tilted his head up, and leaned it against the wall. For a moment I thought I'd woken him up, but after a moment, he resumed his long, deep breaths and I knew I was safe.

I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing while I wrote on his forehead, "Just keep swimming." I don't know why I chose to write a quote from Finding Nemo, but it was the first thing that popped into my head.

A small giggle escaped my lips, and Zach's eyes fluttered open. I flung the pen backwards and it hit the wall before rolling in a semi-circle. "What was that…?" he asked, groggy.

"Um, what are you talking about?" I covered. He lowered his eyebrows. "Oh, that? Um, it's my… my… um… tampon!"

"Why did you throw it at the wall?" he asked, laughing as he said it, obviously seeing my black pen.

I chuckled a little and quickly replied, "I wanted to know if it would stick to the wall. Duh. Why else would a person hum a tampon at a hospital wall?"

We both died out laughing. Our laughing fit didn't last long though, because a doctor came up next to us. "Aren't you the ones who brought Jonas Allen here?" he asked.

Zach and I stood up, eager to hear what he had to say. "Yes, sir. Is it over?"

He nodded and pivoted around, making a hand motion for us to follow.

The doctor swung open a door, revealing Jonas, sitting in a hospital bed, with a bandage wrapped around him.

He smiled when he saw us. "Hey, Jo," Zach whispered.

"Hello, Zach. How are you on this fine day?" he inquired. Zach smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm alright, what about you?"

"Oh, just splendid! Getting shot isn't half as bad as you would expect. And the surgeon was so nice. She popped the vein on my right arm while trying to put the IV in, so had to move on to the left, which she had the hardest time finding. I swear, it took her a good half hour just to sedate me."

I laughed, "Well, I'm you're okay, Jonas. We were worried about you. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. But why does Zach's forehead say 'just keep swimming'?"

Zach's hand flew up to cover his forehead and he faced me. Somehow, I managed to keep a straight face while saying, "Next time, stay awake and talk to me."