Chapter Twelve
"It was horrible," I whisper to Bianca as she practically races own the street to get to school on time.
"I bet." She said as she checked her blind-spot and moved over. The car behind us honked loudly at her and she raised her hand out the window and flipped him the bird.
I role my eyes and smirk. I've only been in the hospital two weeks and an extra week before I could return to school and it looks like some things never change. Bianca's attitude is something I'm sure she will take to the grave.
"She was really…upset." I continue.
"Worse than you were?" Bianca asks in fake surprise.
I glower at her, "Can you be serious for a second?"
Bianca glances at me and sighs, "I'm sorry. So your mom was pretty devastated to learn that her baby girl has cancer?"
I nod knowing that she was still being a smart ass, but I knew that this was the best that I was going to get. "She was in denial, then she cried, and then…she locked herself in her room and wouldn't come out."
Bianca raises an eyebrow at me as she turns the corner. "So, the reason why we are going to be late is…"
"Because my mother would not come out of her room this morning and was refusing to talk to me."
Bianca pulled into the Degrassi parking-lot and her tires squealed as she rounded a sharp corner. "Looks like with your driving, we're still going to be on time," I comment sarcastically as I hold on to the handle above the passenger side door.
She rolls her eyes at me and tells me to shut up as she finds a suitable parking spot. As we get out of the car she comes over and throws her arm around my shoulders, "Just think, if you do start that new treatment that your doctor was talking about, you can get medical marijuana."
I laugh as I shove her away. "IF I do go on the treatment that does not necessarily mean that I will start doing drugs." At the look on her face I quickly add, "And I won't get it just for you either." She pouts at me as we reach the stairs.
"And here I thought that we were friend. Looking out for each other. Doing what we can to help one another." Bianca exclaims dramatically.
I giggle and say, "As long as it's legal."
She grimaces at me, "Where is the fun in that?" I smirk at her and side-step a niner who was running out of school and almost hitting her with the door. "Hey," She cries after him in outrage, "You could have hit me, you little twerp!"
"Sorry," the boy mumbles and keeps running.
We shrug at each other and walk into the school. "Man I've missed this place." I say nostalgically. Out of the corner of my eye I see Bianca looking at me like I was crazy, but I was too busy looking around and smiling to myself. It felt good to be out of the hospital and looking at these familiar blue walls, I had never been happier to see them.
"Did you girls just get hear?" I hear Dallas ask from my right. I turn and smile at him.
"Yeah," I say as I give Adam a hug. Drew throws his arm around Bianca and kisses her temple.
"You're cutting it kind of close. We only have five minutes until class starts," Adam says with a frown.
"Well, Clare didn't leave the house until five minutes ago, but I'm awesome and got us here with time to spare," Bianca says triumphantly.
Adam frowns and looks at her quizzically, "Clare lives ten minutes away." Dallas smirks and Drew looks confused.
I roll my eyes. "Only if you are obeying traffic laws, which she wasn't."
All three guys nod in understanding and Bianca's smirk wideness to a full smile.
"Come on, Adam. I have to get my books and then we can go to class." Adam nods at me and walks with me in the direction of my locker.
"Eli asked about you." Adam says knowingly.
"Oh did he?" I say purposely being coy. Adam knows that I have not really talked to Eli since I have been out of the hospital. I can't really say why I haven't talked to him, or let him come over, or answered any of his video chats…it was complicated. After he saw me all gross in hospital I didn't want him to see me again until I was looking better and back to my old self.
"You have to talk to him," Adam says as I key in the combination of my locker. "He's worried about you."
"I know, Adam."
"Just explain to him that you didn't want him to see you while you were ugly and recovering and I am sure that everything will be fine," Alli says from my left side making me jump and lean into Adam who has placed a hand on his chest in surprise.
"Christ," Adam says in a whisper. "Where did you come from?"
Alli rolls her eyes, like it was not big deal that she just did a magic trick by appearing out of nowhere. Sav did mention to me before that Alli was great at sneaking around…I guess I never know how true that statement was.
"I was walking to class when I heard you two talking and thought that I would come and join you." Well, that made sense. Adam and I look at each other and shrug.
"You should never use the Lords name in vain," Becky frowns at us.
We all look at her and then roll our eyes. "Go away," Alli says to her snidely.
Becky glowers at us, but turns swiftly and walks away. We shake our heads and I look at my folders that are full of our assignments. Alli and Adam have been bringing me our assignments and spare notes since my stay in the hospital.
"We only have two minutes to get to class," Adam says looking at his phone. I grab my books and close my locker and follow Alli and Adam to class.
I was kind of nervous about seeing Alli again after the whole hospital thing. We had talked about me not telling her and how could I not trust her and that I was her best friend and that she thought I was hers and that we had no secrets from each other. I reminded her that I did tell her and the only reason I didn't tell her sooner was because I was scared and I didn't want it to be true. After that, she forgave and we cried together.
In the past few weeks, I've cried more than I have in all the time I'd gone to Degrassi. I didn't cry this much when Darcy moved away. I didn't cry this much when KC dumped me for Jenna. I didn't cry this my when my mom and dad got a divorce. This was the first time I could remember crying so much in a very long time and I hated it.
I hated feeling weak.
As I walked to my desk, I vowed to myself to be stronger. My mom needs me right now, my friends need me, and more importantly, I need me to be strong.
…..
…
…..
Lunch.
Jeez I was starving. I could not wait to eat. I felt like my stomach was about the devour itself. The new medication the doctor has me on makes me hungry. This was better than not eating, but only slightly.
As I was walking towards my locker I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw Bianca racing down the hallway and knocking into people. For a moment I was scared. Different scenarios were running through my head; someone had a gun in the school-but it was only Bianca who was running, she had seen Vince Blake outside of school-then where is Drew?, she did something terrible-she would just leave and text me about it later.
Man, I really am neurotic.
"Clare, we need to get to your locker. NOW!" She said frantically.
I stared at her terrified. "Why, what is going on?"
She grabbed my arm and began dragging me down the hallway, passing Eli and Adam on the way. "Hey, Clare." Eli said as he approached us.
"Can't talk right now, Lover Boy. We have to save your girlfriends ass." Bianca said, still tugging me down the hall with Eli and Adam following us.
Eli caught up with her quick strides, "What is going on?"
We had arrived at my locker and Bianca started to spin the dial and my locker opened. "I never gave you my combination."
"I've seen you put your combination in a hundred times, Clare. I know it by heart now." She said with an eye roll as she started rummaging through my things.
"What are you looking for?"
"Your medication," she huffed.
"Why?" Eli and I asked at the same time. I looked over at him and smiled shyly at him as he smirked at me.
"Because, a friend of mine just told me that Principal Simpson and Officer Turner are doing locker checks of all upperclassmen today and Clare has her prescription drugs on her."
A look of realization crosses my face as I began to rummage through my backpack for my bottle.
"I don't understand," Adam said. "It's prescription, you can't get into trouble for it."
"Yes, but I never reported it to the office. And that can get me in trouble. Also, the drugs are experimental and Mr. Simpson has already told me that I was not allowed to take the medication on school property because they do not know how they will affect my performance in class."
Both boys look at each other and then look at me, "They why are you taking the pills if they can affect your performance?" Eli asked the question that even I had asked when Doctor Lee told me about the pills.
"Because," Bianca spun on them, pill bottle held triumphantly in her hands. She glared at them, "the medication my mess with her a little bit, but they will save her life. Now," her tone went from serious to sarcastic in seconds. "Would we want a dumb Clare or a dead Clare?"
I winced at the harsh way she said that. Sometimes she could be just a little too blunt for people to handle.
"That's not fair," Eli said to her. "You know we want Clare to get better, but if the pills can mess with her brain even more than the cancer is, why is she taking them?"
Bianca rolled her eyes and began to stride down the hallway. We all followed her like good little lap dogs. "IF," she snapped. "She starts going dumb, it won't be a lasting effect. It will only be for the duration of the time she takes her pills." I blink at her. How does she know this? "I read the packet about the treatment." She confessed with a blush. "You were sleeping and I was bored and I saw it laying there and I read it. The manuscript said that it does not cause permanent brain damage, just makes her brain slow down so that the tumor cannot spread to any other major parts of her brain."
We were quiet for a second before Adam asked, "So where are we going?"
"To hide the pills," She tells us as if it's obvious. Even with her back turned I know she rolled her eyes. "Cam!" She calls as she sees him and Maya and Tristen standing by some lockers.
"Hey, Bianca." Cam says with a confused look. I can understand. Bianca had told me about his little…incident in the girl's room and how since then she hadn't talked to him. I think a part of her felt so embarrassed and sorry for him that if she did talk to him, she would try to fix him like she was trying to fix me.
"Is this your locker?" She asked without waiting for pleasantries.
"Y-yes." He stammers looking at her nervously.
"Good," she sighs. "I need you to put these in there for the rest of the day." She tells him handing him my pill bottle.
"Why?" Maya asks skeptically.
"Because," Bianca snaps at her. "I asked him to."
Cam began opening his locker and looked at the pills, "These are Clare's."
"Yeah, I know."
"Bianca," I admonish her. She crosses her arms. The pills jingled. "I haven't told Mr. Simpson about them and he is doing a locker check for all upperclassmen and if he finds me with them I could get in trouble."
"And because he's in grade nine he can hide them for you because his locker won't get checked?" Maya said in confusion.
"Now she's getting it," Eli snipped from behind me. Bianca smirked at his joke and I rolled my eyes heaven wards.
"Please, they are prescribed from my doctor and I really need them and if they find out I have them, they will take the pills away and I cannot afford a new script right now." This was a lie. The medication was free, courtesy or my new neurosurgeon Doctor Scorpio.
Cam looks like he is in deep thought while Maya crosses her arms, "You can't seriously be thinking about this. It's wrong."
Bianca glares at her.
Eli glares at her.
Adam looks mad, but he's not glaring at her…yet.
"I have a brain tumor." I quickly breathe out. I have no idea what has taken over me; maybe it was all the secrecy lately, the heart to heart with Spinner, my mom, or the fact that I was hungry but I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. Even if I wanted to. "And these pills are an experimental drug that Mr. Simpson was not sure about, but they are going to help and if he knows that I have them, I can get in trouble since he doesn't want me taking them on school grounds but I have to take them every four hours…with food. And that reminds me, I'm famished and I need to eat. So I can take the pills and maybe the pills will work and they will shrink the tumor, even smaller than it already is, to reduce the odds of leaving me with memory loss or in a vegetative state for the rest of my life." I am gasping for breath by the time I finish my speech.
They are all staring at me. All of them are looking at me speechless. And I can't blame them. For months I had been hiding the fact that I had cancer, and now I'm blabbing it to everyone.
"O-okay, I can put the pills in my locker," Cam said in a quiet voice.
Bianca passed him bottle and looked at me with a proud look in her eyes, "You ready?"
"I am ready to eat." I state just as Cam closes his locker and Maya looks down at the floor obviously uncomfortable. I knew that she thought that I was having him hide drugs for me, and last year, that was me. But in the last year or so-since I have met Eli and Adam-I've started to open my more see that there is more than just black and white. I glance at Tristan and see that he is looking at me with pity and I hate it.
I can't take it anymore.
I turn my back to them and grab Eli's hand and lead him to lunch. "You get to buy me lunch." I state good naturally.
Bianca snorts and Adam and Eli chuckle as they hear my stomach growl.
…
…..
….
"Hey, where is Drew?" Adam asks as he sees Dallas but no Drew.
Dallas shrugs. "He was hear a little bit ago and then people's lockers started to get checked and he freaked out and ran."
Bianca and Adam look at each other, "Does he have something?"
"I don't know," Adam says with a shake of his head.
"I hope not, cause here comes Mr. Simpson and Officer Turner." I point out to them in a hushed voice.
I notice that many people are gathered in the hallways watching as they begin to mark the lockers that they are going to open. "So, why are they doing this now? They just did a check two weeks ago."
Bianca shrugged at Dallas, "I heard from a friend that someone said that they saw someone put pills in their locker and made it clear that it was an upperclassman but never stated out right who it was. That is why they are checking everyone's lockers."
We nod at her answer and I lean over as I hear a bag open. It sounds like a bag of chips being opened and even though I just ate, I was still hungry.
Dallas sees me peeking at his chips and rolls his eyes at me, "Here, Edwards."
I snatch the bag away from him, "If you insist." I shrug at him and begin to eat the chips. MMM, I love Ruffles.
They began to look in every ones lockers and I noticed they were looking in Eli's locker quite thoroughly. I roll my eyes. He's not a delinquent…even if he doesn't have the best past, he has never been a drug addict.
"Who are they checking next?"
"It's my locker." Adam states.
Pretty soon they had gone through most everyone's locker. Fiona and Imogen were standing with their arms crossed looking at Mr. Simpson crossly. Dallas didn't so much as stiffen when they searched his locker. That's admirable. They were at my locker next and I let out a sigh of relief when they closed it again without finding anything.
Bianca smirked at me and I snickered right back.
"Alli's locker is next," Dallas observed. Poor guy, had a thing for my best friend. And a thing for Katie but she had a thing for Jake. And my best friend had a-kind of boyfriend. Too bad, so sad.
They found nothing in her locker, just as I had suspected.
Jenna's locker was next. Please be something there. Please be something there. Please be something there.
Nothing. Drat.
Becky was standing by her locker. "Why are we doing a check right now, Mr. Simpson?"
"Like you don't already know," Muttered Adam.
I look at him in confusion, "Why do you say that?"
He rolls his eyes, "How would say that they had found someone 'with pills' in their locker that was an 'upperclassman'?"
Everyone seems to agree with Adam that Becky might be the culprit, but I honestly don't think she is. She looks just as shocked as everyone else whose locker is being looked at.
And the search continues.
We watched them in silence. I was munching on my new chips while Dallas fake pouted, and everyone was either trying to track down Drew or they were watching the show.
Across from us, Officer Turner reached Drew's locker. We looked around but there was still no sign of him. Principal Simpson opened the door and they began to go through his possessions.
"What's that," Eli asked as they pulled something out of his locker. "They found something."
"Oh, no," Bianca and Adam said together.
Mr. Simpson looked up and stared down the hall where Drew stood looking terrified.
"Mr. Torres, my office please." Mr. Simpson said sternly.
"Oh, no," We all mumble as they marched down the hallway together. As they rounded the corner, Drew turned and looked back at us and he gulped knowing that he was in trouble.
Tada! Look a chapter! I know, it didn't take a year this time! GO ME!
Now, about Degrassi. I did not like that they made Clare pregnant. Nope, not at all . But, I guess not even Degrassi is perfect…no matter how much I want it to be….
Hope you liked the chapter and if you feel like it, please leave me a review.
