Chapter 8 - I can be your hero, baby, I can kiss away the pain
Keely sat chewing the end of her pencil. It was 8.00 at night, and she had been pretending not to understand for the past four hours. It was time to finally get it. And then maybe Phil would walk her home.
"Keely? Earth to Keely!" Phil said, waving a hand in front of Keely's face. "Is anyone in?"
Keely snapped out of her daydream, and smiled. "Sorry. I drifted off for a minute there."
"I could tell," Phil nodded. "Now, do you understand this?"
Keely pushed her hair out of her face, and stared at the problem on the page. "Um…is it…x2?"
"You got it!" Phil exclaimed.
"I did?" Keely faked shock. It was actually very easy. Acting like she was shocked.
Phil put his arm round her. "Great! I knew you'd get it eventually Keels. Even if it took all night."
"You would have stayed up all night with me, just so I'd get a better grade on an algebra exam? Why?" Keely asked.
Phil blushed for a second, but quickly recovered. "Because you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I want you to get a good grade?"
"I dunno. It's like asking me why I wouldn't want to help you get a good grade in English or something," Keely shrugged. "I'd help you no matter what."
Phil nodded. "Exactly. Same for me. No matter what."
"Um…" Keely began to start a sentence, but then she shook her head. "No."
"What?"
Keely lifted her head. "Do you think that best friends make cute couples?"
Phil was surprised to hear her ask this. "Well, if they both like each other. And they get on well. And they're a guy and a girl. Then yeah, why not?"
Keely smiled. "Cool."
"Why did you want to know?" Phil asked, wondering if it was what he wanted it to be.
Keely gulped. She had known that he'd get suspicious, but she hadn't thought about what to say. "Um…well…Via likes Owen, and I just wondered what you thought about those two, who are best friends, becoming a couple."
"Oh," Phil said. He felt almost relieved that it hadn't been what he had thought. Not because he didn't want to go out with Keely. Just because he didn't want his careful planning to be ruined. He wanted it to be just right.
"Is that okay with you then? Via and Owen?" Keely asked, making sure.
Phil nodded. "Sure. We guessed something was up when they went off together after the Ladies Choice Dance. I mean, we all go in together, and then Owen and Via go off. It was a bit obvious."
Keely grinned and nodded. "So I wasn't the only one that noticed? Good. Because if I had been, then you would have accused me of meddling again."
"Yeah," Phil nodded. At least she hadn't interfered this time. Last time he had to sit and pretend to be out with another girl, when the one he wanted was sitting right next to him.
Pim walked in and made a bee-line for the fridge. "Oh look, Blondie is here. You never would have guessed it, would you?"
Keely looked up at Phil. "I'd better be going home…"
"You could stay for another half hour. Teen House is on," Phil offered. "I mean, if you wanted to."
Keely smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that Phil."
"I'd like that Phil," Pim mimicked. "Pass me a bucket, I'm gonna be sick!"
Phil rolled his eyes, and Keely laughed.
"Yeah, that's right. Gang up on the youngest. Bullies!" Pim cried, as Phil and Keely left the kitchen and walked into the living room. "Whatever."
--
The phone rang in the Diffy household. Pim ran and picked it up, ensuring that nobody else got the chance to talk. If it was one of her clients, she would be busted if someone else picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Is Keely there?" Via cried.
Pim rolled her eyes. "I don't know a Keely."
"Pim! I need to speak to Keely urgently. She needs to get to the hospital. Like, now!" Via said.
"Look, there's no one called Keely here. There's Little Miss - " Pim started, but was cut off by Phil yanking the receiver out of her hands.
"Hello?" Phil asked.
Via sighed with relief. "Phil, can you get Keely over to the hospital as soon as possible? It's her dad. He's really ill."
"Okay. We'll be there in five minutes," Phil promised.
Via was confused. "But how? I mean, the hospital is a mile away. There's no way you're getting here in five minutes. You can't drive. You don't have a car."
"But I have the next best thing," Phil said, and produced a red glowing ball. "Later Via."
--
"What did Via say again?" Keely asked for the thousandth time, as Phil put the Skyak ball back in his pocket.
Phil grabbed her arm and pulled her round to the frotn of the hospital. "She said that your dad was gravely ill, and that we need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Well, we're here. Now get in there!"
Keely ran inside, and up to the information desk. "Um, can you help me? Apparently my dad has been brought in. His name is David. David Teslow."
The receptionist found the ward number, and gave Keely directions. Both her and Phil ran up to the lift, and Phil pressed the button urgently.
"Phil, my dad won't die, will he?" Keely asked.
Phil shrugged. "We don't know what the matter is yet, do we? And we can't make assumptions until we know how much danger he's in."
They got out of the lift, and ran to the ward. Mandy was standing outside.
"Keely!" She sobbed, her arms outstretched.
Keely fell into her mom's arms, and let her hug her. "Mom? What's the matter? With dad?"
"Apparently he's had cancer for a long time. He chose not to tell us because he didn't want us to worry," Mandy said, pulling a tissue out from her sleeve. "Yeah right. And now that we know we're not worrying at all. Keely, it doesn't look good. He wants to see you. And I think you should see him."
Keely nodded. "I want to see him too, mom."
"I'll wait here," Phil said. He didn't want to intrude on something that seemed so personal.
Keely shook her head. "No. You have to come in with me Phil. I don't want my dad to see me cry. So you have to come in with me. You make me stronger somehow."
"Okay," Phil whispered.
Keely took Phil's hand, but the nerves stopped the tingly feeling from occurring. Or maybe it did occur. And that's why she felt stronger all of a sudden. "Thanks for this Phil."
"No problem," Phil said.
Keely opened the door to the ward, and walked in, hoping that she would find her father sitting up, fine.
She didn't.
He was lying down, with wires and tubes attached to him. Keely gasped, but kept the tears back. Her dad needed her to be strong. So strong she was going to be.
"Hi dad," she whispered.
Her father's eyes flickered open at the sound of her voice. "Keely…"
"I'm here dad. I'm here," Keely said, feeling like a mother of a child who had just had a nightmare.
She hoped that that was all this was. A nightmare. That she would wake up now, and her mom would be stroking her head, telling her that it was all a bad dream.
"And who's this?" her dad's eyes flickered onto Phil, who's hand was still trapped by Keely's.
Keely looked at Phil and smiled. "This is my best friend Dad. This is Phil. I've todl you about him. On the phone."
"Oh, so this is Phil," her dad smiled, weakly.
Phil nodded. "That's me. Sir."
"Sir?" Keely raised her eyebrows.
David laughed, even if it was a small laugh. "I haven't been called sir since I was a teacher. And even then, it was only once. Call me David, Phil. Even though you probably won't have to call me anything soon."
Keely's eyes filled with tears. Her policy not to cry was never going to work. "Don't say that Dad. You'll get through this. I'll help. And so will mom. Heck, Phil will do all he can. You just have to get better."
"Keely, I'm not getting any better. I'm getting worse. And all I need you to do is to be here. Talk to me. That's all you can do, sweetheart," her dad spoke.
Keely shook her head, the tears streaming down her cheeks now. "No. No. You're going to get through this. God can't let you die. It wouldn't be right."
"Honey. God gave me you. He gave me this life. He gave me one healthy, happy life. I can't ask for anything else from God. He's given me enough," David said.
Keely shook her head. "So you're just going to give up?"
David shook his head slowly. "No. I'm not giving up. I'm not going down without a fight. But I will go down."
"With that attitude you will. But not if you don't believe you are," Keely demanded. "Please, dad. Fight this. For me."
David nodded. "I'll try. For you. But please don't hate me if I can't."
"I won't," Keely said, hugging him. "I promise. I could never hate you. You're my dad."
Sorry to spring that one up on you, but it had to be done. The story was getting boring. So now you have another storyline to be following. Phil's plan. Via's plan. Via and Owen. And now Keely and her dad.
I think this is probably my longest chapter. I dunno, I'll have to check. But it looks like it.
Review people!
