A/N: I am SO sorry I didn't update sooner! I have finals all this week (then I'm free- yay!) and today I randomly decided to re-arranged everything in my room and throw out old stuff... Anyway, I don't like the title of this chapter very much, because I couldn't think of one and just made one up quickly. It's just a filler chapter, but the next one should be coming soon!

Lucy Knight: So you have things to study for, too... good luck with the SATs! Sorry I had to make you wait so long for an update!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Piper gazed desperately up at the staircase. Why did she always have to be so defiant? If she hadn't spent this last week cleaning the house, against everyone's wishes, then she wouldn't feel the agonizing exhaustion that she did now. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and take a nap, to get her strength back. But that was the problem. She didn't have enough energy even to walk up the stairs. Standing there helplessly was one of the worst things Piper had felt in her entire life. Half of it was pain, and the other half was realization that she was "giving in" almost, as if listening to others instead of being stubborn was killing her more than her actual illness. It was just how she was. As she stood there and sighed helplessly, Chris walked in the front door with two of his friends.

"Remember Chris, we're getting that family portrait taken in about three hours," Piper said.

"I know," Chris answered. "We're just gonna film some stuff for our school project, it shouldn't take too long."

Chris had spent the last few weeks grumbling about this project. One of his teachers had made the class split into groups and make a "movie" about their topic. He'd also laid out strict, specific guidelines for them to follow. Chris felt it was pointless, and after all his ranting, Piper was starting to agree.

"Uh… mom… do you need something?" Chris asked. He knew the look on his mother's face all too well. It was that my-illness-is-making-itself-present-and-I-feel-helpless look.

"Um… well, it's just…" Piper kept telling herself to just say it. Just ask for his help. Finally she got the words out. "I'm really tired. I need— I need some help up the stairs."

"Oh. Okay," Chris said, understanding. He turned to his friends. "You guys can wait in the living room for me." They shuffled in.

"It's Parlor Room," Piper teased. She had given up on making him and Wyatt use the "proper" room names long ago. It just wasn't in the nature of the average teenage boy. Chris walked over to his mom and took her hand. He was about to orb her upstairs when they heard the voices from the other room.

"Can you believe that?" one said. "His mom can't even get up the stairs by herself." The voice laughed, and so did another.

"Totally, man. The lady's a cripple, put her somewhere and get on with your lives," the other voice said.

"Nah, Chris is too much of a mama's boy to do something like that," the first voice said.

"Why do we even hang out with such an emotionalwuss?" the second voice pondered.

Piper couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked over at Chris and saw the look of hurt on his face. She instantly felt guilt wash over her. Her illness was embarrassing to Chris. Why hadn't she realized it before? No, instead she asks him for help right in front of two guys who probably weren't going to be his friends much longer. What would they say? Would they ridicule Chris? Would they spread it around school? Would everyone single him out? Piper felt terrible as she realized that she could be permanently damaging his reputation.

Upon hearing the hurtful comments, Chris immediately orbed his mom into her room, so she couldn't hear any more. He knew it was jerks like that who would make her feel terrible about herself. People were now judging her on something she couldn't even control.

"Oh God, Chris, I am so sorry," Piper apologized sincerely to her son as she sat down on her bed.

"For what?" Chris asked.

"For that. They were talking about me, and it backfired on you. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault mom. Really, I'm not mad. Some guys are just assholes like that."

"Hey! Language!"

"Sorry."

"I should just instill a swear jar rule…" Piper mumbled as Chris sat down next to her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah… I'm not sad or anything if that's what you mean. I'm furious that they'd say something like that about you."

"Well, don't be. You worry too much, mom." Chris got up and left the room to head back downstairs. Sure, he seemed fine with what those boys had just said, but Piper knew he was just hiding his real feelings to make her stop putting herself down. He might've been able to act like nothing was wrong and forget about it, but Piper wasn't. If she was doing all this to Chris, then what affects did she have on the rest of the family. What if she was hurting everyone who knew her? Piper gazed over in the mirror at her pitiful image. No matter how many times everyone had said that she still looked the same, Piper saw herself as a completely different person. A pathetic, weak, and sickly person who caused her family members to endure ridicule. It was almost as if she could see her deadly illness right on her face.