Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. I've been super busy with work and then busy prepping for the holidays. Its busy. So, if you've been reading my Hunger Games story (Here I Lie) be sure to check it out. I posted the very last two chapters earlier. It was a very sad occasion for me... :'( Also, if you like How To Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians please check out my crossover called 'Frost & Flames' featuring Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and Jack Frost!
Hope you all like this chapter:) Please comment and review!
~Wallflower95
8
Hazel Grace said that she was heading into a big Cancer Team Meeting with her doctors which is basically what my parents are doing with me right now. They sat me down and the kitchen table and they both sat across from me, looking at me very seriously.
"I haven't done any drugs or gone drinking or anything." I joked, holding my hands up. They didn't even crack a smile.
"Augustus..." My dad started to say.
"The Dr. Morrison insists on starting up the Chemo and radiation right away." My mom said. I shook my head.
"Nope. No way." I said.
"Why not?"
"I am seventeen years old. It's my body and I decide when to put poison into it." I said.
"Augustus...
"No. End of discussion." And I headed downstairs to my room and I didn't go back up. I knew it was kind of childish to storm away like that. I swear I'm not throwing a tantrum. I just knew that it wasn't going to work. None of it was going to work. I could feel it. All I want is to live the the life I had now without and poison in me.
That night I called Hazel Grace. She picked up.
"Bad news."
"Shit, what?"
"I can't go to Amsterdam. One of my doctors thinks it's a bad idea." I was quiet for a second.
"God. I should've just paid for it myself . Should've just taken you straight from Funky Bones to Amsterdma."
"But then I would've had a probably fatal episode of deoxygenation in Amsterdam, and my body would have been shipped home in the cargo hold of an airplane." She said.
"Well, yeah. But before that my grand romantic gesture would have totally gotten me laid." She laughed on the other end.
"You laugh because it's true." I said. She laughed again.
"It's true isn't it!"
"Probably not. Although you never know." She said. I moaned.
"I'm gonna die a virgin."
"You're a virgin?"
"Hazel Grace, do you have a pen and a piece of paper." She did.
"Okay, please draw a circle." I instructed.
"Now draw a smaller circle within that circle." She did.
"The larger circle is virgins. The smaller circle is seventeen year old guys with one leg." She laughed again. We talked for a while longer and then she left.
The next morning I left for school early so I wouldn't have to run into my parents. It was the usual boring stuff. Who knows? Maybe I'd be gone before I even graduate.
After school, I checked my phone and saw that Hazel Grace tried to call. I called back.
"Hi." She said.
"Hazel Grace."
"Hi." She said again. I frowned.
"Are you crying, Hazel Grace?"
"Kind of?"
"Why?"
"Cause I'm just- I want to go to Amsterdam, and I want him to tell me what happens after the book is over, and I just don't want my particular life, and also the sky is depressing me, and there is this old swing set out here that my dad made for me when I was a kid."
"I must see this old swing set of tears immediately. I'll be over in twenty minutes."
I said hi to Mrs. Lancaster in the kitchen and then I headed out to the backyard where Hazel Grace was.
"Hi." She said. I bent down and tried to sit down slowly. I felt the pain in my hip but I ignored it. I landed painfully and rather ungracefully on my ass next to Hazel Grace.
"Hi." I said finally. I looked towards the swing set.
"I see your point. That is one sad goddamned swing set." She nudged my shoulder with her head.
"Thanks for offering to come over."
"You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lessen my affection for you." I said to her.
"I guess?"
"All efforts to save me from you will fail." Because, I thought, maybe you're not the grenade anymore.
"Why? Why would you even like me? Haven't you put yourself through enough of this?" Caroline's face flashed through my mind. I didn't answer. I just held onto her.
"We gotta do something about this frigging swing set. I'm telling you, it's ninety percent of the problem." We then headed inside and sat down on the couch right next to each other with her laptop half on her leg and half on my fake leg.
"Hot." She said. I flashed my crooked smile.
"Is it now?" I loaded up this website called Free No Catch and together we wrote an ad for the sad little swing set.
"Headline?"
"'Swing Set Needs Home.'"
"'Desperately Lonely Swing Set Needs Loving Home." I said.
"'Lonely, Vaguely Pedophilic Swing Set Seeks the Butts of Children.'" I laughed.
"That's why."
"What?"
"That's why I like you. Do you realize how rare it is to come across a hot girl who creates an adjective version of the word pedophile? You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are." Together, we wrote an ad for the swing set
Desperately Lonely Swing Set Needs Loving Home
One swing set, well worn but structurally sound, seeks new home. Make memories with your kid or kids so that someday he or she or they will look into the backyard and feel the ache of sentimentality as desperately as I did this afternoon. It's fragile and fleeting, dear reader, but with this swing set , your child(ren) will be introduced to the ups and downs of human life gently and safely, and may also learn the most important lesson of all: No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around.
Swing Set currently resides near 83rd and Spring Mill.
After that, we turned on the TV for a little while but we didn't find anything good to watch so Hazel Grace grabbed her copy of 'An Imperial Affliction' and I read out loud to her. Hazel Grace checked her email an hour later and it turns out we had a great selection of swing set suitors to choose from. In the end, we chose this game named Daniel Alverez who sent a picture of his kids playing video game with a subject line below: I just want them to go outside.
She emailed him back telling him to pick it up at his leisure. I looked at the time and realized I had to meet Isaac at his crappy support group thing. I asked Hazel Grace if she'd come with but she was tired.
I pushed myself up to go but then fell back down. Oh what the hell. And I kissed Hazel Grace on the cheek.
"Augustus!"
"Friendly." I said. I pushed myself back up and took two steps towards Mrs. Lancaster.
"Always a pleasure to see you." I said. She held her arms open for a hug but I kissed her on the cheek as well.
"See?" I said, looking at Hazel Grace.
The next day, during lunch I got a text from Hazel Grace.
Still free May three? :-)
I replied.
Everything's coming up Waters.
I sat back in my seat and smiled. The Amsterdam trip is on!