Adam arrived back at the doctor's office at exactly 3:00, but he still had to wait ten minutes before the doctor could see him. When he got into the room he had to take off his shirt and pants again, but this time when Dr. Barnes looked over his bruises she seemed much more concerned.

"Go ahead and get dressed. I'll be right back, I just need to make a quick phone call to your parents," she said to him. "About the bill," she added seeing the look on Adam's face.

"Okay." He sighed nervously and began to wonder if this was a lot worse than she was letting on. She walked back in about ten minutes later and told him that his parents were on their way over. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, since you're only seventeen, we need them to sign some forms allowing us to perform some tests..."

"Tests?" Adam interrupted. His heart was racing. "What kind of tests, and please, none of this around the issue, sugar-coated bullshit. What do you think is wrong with me?" Dr. Barnes sighed.

"I really think we should wait for your..."

"Nevermind my parents, tell me what's going on!" Adam yelled.

"Okay, okay. I have taken a look at your family history and there is a certain disease that runs in your family. I believe that you may have it."

Adam's heart sank and he began to feel sick. But it couldn't be what he thought it was. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"Leukemia," Dr. Barnes said not able to look into Adam's eyes. "We've still got to run the tests, but I am almost certain that is the problem." Suddenly a voice came over a loudspeaker in the corner of the room.

"Dr. Barnes, you're needed in room 15 please." said the voice.

"I'll be back soon," she said to Adam and she walked out the door. Adam suddenly felt dizzy. He grabbed the bed to settle himself. Leukemia? How could this happen? He was sure he was dreaming. There was no possible way any of this could be real. Then, he heard his cell phone ring. He pulled it out of his back pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Julie was on the other line. "How's everything going. You gonna be all right?" she asked concernedly.

"Yeah, everything is just fine," he lied. "I won't be too much longer hopefully. See ya in an hour or so," he said.

"G'bye" She hung up the phone. He clicked the off button and put the phone back in his pocket.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called. Dr. Barnes walked in first followed by both of Adam's parents who looked quite unaware of what was going on.

"Mr. and Mrs. Banks," Dr. Barnes began. "I would like to ask you to fill out these forms so that we can perform a few standard tests."

"Okay," said Mr. Banks. It was obvious that he was unaware of Adam's situation. "Wait a second, are you sure that these are the right forms, I mean, why do you want to run these tests?" he asked looking over at Adam who had sat back down on the bed and looked extremely pale. Adam's mother took the forms and looked them over. Then she took the pen out of Mr. Bank's hand and signed the forms.

"If it's for Adam's benefit, then what does it matter what kinds of tests they are? You're not a doctor, so don't argue," Mrs. Banks snapped. She handed the forms to Dr. Barnes.

"Thank you," she said as she pushed a button on her intercom and asked for one of the nurses to come to the room. She gave the nurse the forms and Adam's file and told Adam to follow her downstairs to another room where they would be running the various tests to seal Adam's fate. His parents stayed behind and as he was leaving he figured that Dr. Barnes would tell his parents what she thought was wrong. There was no use in waiting for the results; she had seemed so sure when she told Adam what was wrong. He wondered briefly if he should've told Julie the truth and then dismissed the thought by saying to himself that it would be better if she didn't know, that way she didn't have to worry about him on top of everything else.

One and a half-hour later, the tests results came back and Dr. Barnes' theory was confirmed. Adam's mother broke into tears and his dad looked a little bit sick. Dr. Barnes scheduled another appointment for him to come back in two weeks so that they could start treatments. Until then, Dr. Barnes advised Adam to be very careful in any activity, and she pretty much banned him from playing hockey.

"But I gotta play," Adam complained.

"No, definitely not, no hockey whatsoever. Not even practice. As of now, you are finished with hockey!" He didn't know what to say so he just fell silent for the next few minutes. His parents walked with him to his car and then he hugged his mom and began the journey back to school. He didn't know if he'd be able to face Julie and lie to her. It was hard enough to do it over the phone, but he didn't know if he could look into her eyes and lie to her.

He arrived back at school at about 5:45.

"Hey," Julie called to him as he walked into the mess hall. He walked over to the usual table and sat down next to Julie. "How'd everything go?" she asked looking into his eyes. He wished she hadn't asked.

"Um, fine, I'm all healthy." he lied, but he was right, he couldn't look into her eyes when he said this. Instead he looked at the table. Thank God she didn't notice.

"What about the bruises?" Guy asked.

"Yeah, I mean, those didn't just magically appear," Connie said. They weren't gonna make this easy were they.

"Uh, well," he tried to think of some lame-ass excuse as quick as he could. "She said I probably just overdid it, just like I thought to begin with. There's absolutely nothing wrong." He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. Sooner or later he'd let it slip. He decided to tell Guy and make him swear not to tell a single soul. After dinner, the four of them went to the rec. room (which was where they spent most of their time) and watched a Seinfeld marathon. Adam had to try really hard to relax, but by 8:00 he couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going to go to bed," he said.

"Goodnight," Connie said.

"See ya in the morning," Julie said giving him a kiss.

"I'll probably be in at around ten," Guy said.

Adam left the rec. room and walked slowly to his dorm room. When he got inside, he flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. He had felt sick since Dr. Barnes had told him that she thought he had leukemia. It seemed to be getting worse. Now instead of just a stomach aching with anxiety, his head throbbed painfully. He couldn't sleep if he wanted to. Guy walked in at about 9:30 and Adam mustered the courage to tell him what had really happened. He took a deep breath sat up on his bed.

"Guy, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Guy asked.

Adam took another deep breath. "I lied about what happened at the doctor's office today."

"What do you mean? You're not really okay?" Guy asked getting worried.

"Yeah, umm, I uh," he wasn't sure how to say it. "I umm, have, uh," he took yet another steadying breath and finished, "Leukemia."

Guy's mouth dropped open. He'd been right. This couldn't be happening. This had to be some kind of sick joke. "Leukemia?" he repeated still not wanting to believe what he was hearing. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw tears rolling down Adam's face.

"Yeah," Adam said shakily. "Apparently there's a history of it in my family. I can't believe this is happening. Everything has been going so great lately, everything's just gone right up until this." Adam looked down at the floor and wiped away his tears.

Guy didn't know what to say. He was too shocked to speak. His best friend had Leukemia...he never thought anything like that could happen to anybody he knew. After a while in silence, a question came to Guy's mind. "Why'd you lie to Julie about it?"

"I didn't wanna worry her or anything," Adam said.

"Don't you think she's gonna notice that your bruises are getting worse and you're getting weaker, not to mention that you won't be able to play hockey anymore?" Guy asked.

"I guess I didn't think about that. I was a little caught up in the fact that I have an incurable disease," Adam said hatefully.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way, but you shouldn't lie to her."

"I'll tell her when I'm ready to tell her," Adam said but not hatefully this time. He looked over at Guy who was looking down at the floor with his hands folded in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Guy whispered. "I didn't mean to piss you off."

"You didn't piss me off, I'm just on edge about this whole thing." He sighed and calmed down.

"I can't blame you for that," Guy said

"I keep thinking it isn't really happening. That I'll just wake up and this will all have been a dream but I don't think that's gonna happen," Adam said.

"Maybe we should try and get some sleep," Guy suggested, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I guess," Adam said. He lay back down on his bed and fell asleep a few minutes after he heard Guy's soft snores coming from the other side of the room.