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Chapter 15

Calum laid in bed, staring at his ceiling. It was after dinner and he didn't want to move. The only noise he could hear was the telephone ringing. That reminded him of how Mack had called him earlier, she said Mikaela wasn't doing good. She had an infection, her organs were shutting down, her health in general was going down hill.

He heard a knock on his door and looked up. "Calum, that was Mikaela's mom. She'd really like you to stop by. They don't know how much longer she's got."

When he didn't move, she sighed and turned toward the stairs. Once she was gone, he stood and walked to the window. One of the streetlights was flickering. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his sweatshirt before walking down the stairs and out the door.

He walked all the way to the hospital. One of the nurses smiled sympathetically as he walked down the hallway to Mikaela's room. The door was open so he walked in.

"So, you decided to come after all."

He smiled and sat in the chair by her bed. She was connected to various machines and she looked tired. "What are you doing?"

She held up a hand held video game. "Adam brought by this game, I guess it's kind of like four in a row but computerized. It's been keeping me busy."

"I uh...brought this," Calum said reaching into his pocket. "It's my lucky necklace. I just thought maybe...you could have it for a while."

"That's sweet, but its yours. It wont work for me."

"But..."

"Calum," she said. "These past few months have been greatest time of my life. I finally had friends, real friends. I'm not scared, I'm ready for a new adventure." She squeezed his hand. "I know who I am."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I was here for a purpose and I know what the purpose was. I was supposed to make friends with you guys." She sighed. "You'll understand better when you're dying."

"You're the bravest person I know."

"You're the bravest person I know," she told him.

"What are you talking about? I'm a chicken, I wouldn't even come see you."

"Mack told me about your dad. I never would have been able to deal with that." She looked him straight in the eye. "We're all brave in our own ways, some just appear braver than others."

Calum smiled sadly at the dying girl. "I'll remember that."

"Good."

That night Calum couldn't sleep. He laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Downstairs, the phone rang and he could hear his mother answering it. "Oh...I'm sorry, of course I'll tell him..."

But Calum didn't need to be told, he already knew.

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Chad woke up bright and early on Saturday and got dressed. He hopped down the stairs, trying to tie his shoes at the same time. After he successful managed to fall down the stairs, he put on flip flops.

"Morning Dad," he said as he grabbed an apple out of the refrigerator.

"What are you doing up this early," Chris asked. "Are you sick?"

"Me and the guys are doing something for Troy."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I think he's really going to like it."

There was a knock at the door and Chad ran toward it. "See ya later!"

"Okay," Chris said shaking his head and taking another sip of his coffee.

"Chad, we thought you'd still be asleep," Zeke said when Chad walked out.

"No, I wasn't going to spoil this."

"Cam! You owe me twenty bucks," Jason shouted as they neared the car.

"He's up? Are you kidding me? No way, you guys called him and woke him up," Cam said, lifting his head off the dashboard. "I'm not even really up yet."

"Oh no, he's up and we didn't call him."

"It's a miracle," Ryan said from the back seat.

"Shut up," Chad said sitting next to Ryan.

The group just laughed as they drove over to Troy's. The radio was blasting and they were sure that Troy was going to like their surprise.

Chad knocked on the door. He held a piece of paper in his hands. After a few seconds Jack's face came from behind the door. He ushered them in and they walked into the kitchen, where Elaine was reading some papers.

"Is Troy up yet?"

"No, it's seven thirty in the morning Chad."

"Can we wake him up, we have something for him."

"I suppose," Elaine said.

"Nice." Chad passed the paper to Zeke as he and Cam rushed up the stairs. They tiptoed into his room and stood on either side of his bed. They silently counted to three before jumping up and down on the bed.

"Good morning, Sunshine," they yelled in his ears. Troy covered his head with his pillow.

"Leave me alone," he said.

"Aww, is Troy grumpy," Cam said as if he was talking to a baby.

"We have a surprise for you!"

"Oh, I'm just so lucky."

"Now get up," Chad ordered. "And go downstairs."

Troy rolled his eyes, but obliged. Chad led him down the stairs and into the living room where Zeke and the others had moved to.

"So last night, we just...skimming through the East High Athletics Packet thing," Chad started. "When we came across a section that we thought was interesting."

"And read more and then called the Athletic Director and he said it would be okay," Cam continued.

"What could be okay," Troy asked.

Zeke passed him the paper. "If we retired your uniform," Chad said. "I mean, if you don't want us to we wont but, we thought it would be kind of cool."

Troy looked at the paper and smiled. "You'd really do that for me."

"What are friends for," Cam asked.

"To pick you up when you're down. To laugh at you when you screw up. To play around with your brain when you're too happy," Chad answered. "And to retired your uniform when you were obviously the best player and can't play anymore."

"Thanks," Troy said. Then his expression changed. "Wait a minute, you woke me up for this?"

"Yeah, it was Chad's idea," Jason said.

"Do you want a head start," Troy asked.

"Oh yeah," Chad said jumping up out of his seat. After five seconds, Troy chased after him yelling about it being too early.

"We should stop them," Cam said. The group looked at each other before saying, "nah," in unison.

So that was chapter 15. Hope you liked it!

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