Chapter 4
The Group
Part One
…after the events in Chapter 3
"Josh, you did what?" Drake asked Josh while he sat at the breakfast table finishing
his organic whole wheat pancakes that his mother made for him before she went to
work.
They were the grossest things he had ever tasted, but he didn't tell her that.
Josh Nichols never had a bad bone in his body and he was a very well meaning guy,
but that did not mean that Drake Parker wanted his brother making his life decisions
for him.
"I signed you up for the San Diego Teen Cancer Support Group. Mom and Dad think
it's a good idea."
"You discussed this with Mom and Dad before me?"
"Because we know you won't go without any prodding."
"I think I've been prodded enough, thank you."
"Drake, I think you could learn a lot from the experience."
"I think I learned plenty already." He poured himself a refill of the fruit punch,
consciously aware that he could spill it all over the table if he didn't take his time doing
it.
Josh wasn't listening, as usual, and took out an orange colored pamphlet with a dove
flying over a rainbow on the cover.
"There was a meeting yesterday…It looks like there's another one today."
"Josh, do you ever listen? I'm not going."
"Drake, you don't talk to anyone except us. You are even keeping the guys in your
band at arm's length. You NEED to do this!"
Drake stood up too fast and had to hold onto the counter so he wouldn't fall.
Damn. I'm starting to make stumbling exits like Josh.
"I don't need to do anything that I don't want to do. If this support group is so important
to you then you go and leave me out of it!" Drake took his juice glass and slowly
headed upstairs to take a nap before he did his homework.
"Well, Drake," Josh said to himself as he licked the sugar free maple syrup off his own
fork while dialing his cell phone with his other hand, "I hope you don't hate me forever
for what I'm about to do. But it's for your own good, bro."
Later in the afternoon
They all lied to me.
I have cancer and they lied to me.
And I fell for it-forms that needed to be filled out
At the community center?
While you go to the library?
Nice going, chemo head.
Wonderful family that I have.
But Josh did one thing wrong when he walked in with Drake at the local San Diego
community center. It was as if he trusted Drake to follow the signs that were on pink
photocopied paper on the walls that read Teen Cancer Support Group: Room 105.
"Not doing it, Josh."
Boy, am I going to tell you off, when you pick me up.
Drake walked over to the water cooler and grabbed one of the paper cups with the
pointy ends and poured himself a cup of water.
Drake refilled his cup and threw it away in the wastebasket after he finished and
decided to walk over to room 103.
Open, empty, and dark.
He closed the door and gave a quick sigh of relief until he realized that
the room wasn't empty as he thought. He could hear the sounds of a woman crying.
"Who's there?"
This was going to kill his eyes, but he felt for the light switch and turned it on. She was
about the same age as him, wearing designer Junior Miss clothes, and her head
covered in an elaborate scarf.
"Who told you to do that?" She wiped her eyes in hopes that she wouldn't be exposed,
"I know your type! You plan on hiding out in here so you don't have to attend the teen
cancer support group meeting!"
Her attitude was like a razor blade. On one side of the coin Drake knew exactly where
she was coming from, but there was another side of him that didn't like being yelled at
especially when they didn't even know each other.
"Um, excuse me, but isn't that what you are doing?"
"No, it is NOT. I came in here to clear my head. I didn't come in here looking for a
place to hide."
"How do you know I didn't come in here to clear my head?"
"Just go away!"
"No."
"I was here first!"
"Well if you were here to just clear your head you'd leave so I could have some
privacy."
"A-ha!" She slowly jumped up, "You just contradicted yourself!"
"You're a mean person. I wonder if that's what caused your cancer?"
Okay, that was a cruel thing to say and Drake knew it, but he hadn't had a
conversation like this in a long time.
"T-that wasn't fair. You aren't going to get away with hiding in here so you can tell your
family you went to the support group. I will report you to the moderator!"
"Ooh, the moderator. I'm shaking!"
"You are."
"Well, I can tell you, it is not from your threats."
"Okay," The door swung open by a man in his mid forties, he was carrying a clipboard,
"What is going on in here?"
"This guy is only pretending to join the support group he wants to hide out in here.
Show him the door!"
"This girl was hiding in here, too. Even though she's too proud to admit it."
"Enough. Who are you kids?" He took the pencil from behind his ear.
"Drake Parker."
"Emme Jessica Watson."
He checked their names off on his attendance sheet.
"I'm Ted Smithers the group moderator and I'll be expecting you two to follow me to
room 105."
Smithers didn't know much about the Watson girl, but he spent about ten minutes on
the phone with Parker's stepbrother Josh and knew if it weren't for the fact that he got
caught hiding he'd have stayed in this room and skipped the meeting.
"Watch where you're going!" Emme said when Drake tried to get to the doorway
before she did.
"Sorry, your highness."
(he's such a jerk)
"Guys, do you think you could go five minutes without sparring?" Ted warned them yet
again.
She's such a jerk.
It was the real beginning of Drake Parker's journey. Not the diagnosis, the surgery, the
start of chemo, the wicked side-effects, the relationship with his family, or his existing
friends, it was meeting number one at the San Diego Teen Cancer Support Group.
It was going to change his life forever in ways that the seventeen year old could never
have imagined.
Author's Note: To be continued… and Emme didn't go to the previous day's
meeting. You'll find out why in the next chapter. I didn't want anyone thinking
that was a goof. Thanks for all of your reviews so far. I appreciate it.
Fixed small timeline error.