Chapter Two:

Byron

The first day of school arrives way too soon. Bee is already up when I drag myself into the kitchen, and she points to a cup of coffee on the table. Caffeine's a big no-no for Bee now, so I know she must've made it for me. Or Mom did. One of the two.

Mom enters the room, and stops in front of Bianca. She pulls out a large bag of prescriptions, and sticks it into my sister's backpack with a reminder to give them to the school nurse. Bianca rolls her eyes as she pops her handful of morning pills.

"I'll be fine, Mom." Mom, apparently ignores her.

"Take a face mask. You don't want to get..."

"Mom!" Bianca cuts across her with a tired sigh. "I'll be fine!"

My sister has rigged up an umbrella stand on her chair. I slide the umbrella into place, opening it to cover her, then wheel her out to the car. I open the door for her, and she grabs the doorframe before slowly standing up.

I fold the wheelchair and toss it into the back once Bee is settled in her seat. I look over at her once I get into the driver's seat. Bianca's wearing an overlarge sweatshirt, the requested face mask dangling from her wrist. Her lips and hands are slightly blue today.

"You nervous?" I ask her as I pull out of the driveway.

"Yeah." She gives me a small smile. "Let's do this."

Everyone stares as I help Bianca into her wheelchair and wheel her into the office to get our schedules. I guess new kids are a rarity in this town, and new kids in wheelchairs are even rarer.

The school nurse, Grace, accepts Bee's bag of prescriptions and reminds her to swing by the clinic to take her afternoon meds before sending us on our way. We end up having mostly the same classes, with the exception of AP English and math. Bee's more into English, and I'm more into math. I'm just glad they have AP classes here.

AP math is my first class, so I drop my sister off at her English class before booking it across the building to the math hall. I arrive about five minutes late, and everyone turns to stare as I walk in. The teacher, a balding dude by the name of Mr. Lockwood, gives me a disapproving look.

"Mr. de Marco. Nice of you to join us. Please introduce yourself to the class."

Ugh. I hate this part. I quickly run through my brain for anything interesting to say. Finally I settle on, "I'm Byron, and I'm from Olympia." Lackluster, but still.

I notice a girl in the third row staring at me. She has shoulder-length black hair and she looks like she can't decide whether she wants to punch me or ask me on a date.

"Thank you. You may have a seat next to Ms. Clearwater." The girl who's been staring at me for the last three minutes raises a hand. I walk over and drop my bag on the floor next to the empty desk.

The beginning of the class goes fine. I mean, Ms. Creepy Clearwater keeps staring at me, but I can ignore that. But then, Mr. Lockwood writes a bunch of equations on the board, and tells us to solve them with our partners. And wouldn't you know, my partner is Ms. Creepy Clearwater.

"I'm Leah." She holds out a hand. I reach to shake it, even with all Mom's warnings about germs and getting Bianca sick playing in my head. Her hand is incredibly warm, and I wonder if she has a fever. I quickly put on a layer of hand sanitizer under my desk, hoping she doesn't see.

"I'm Byron." Duh. She probably already knew that.

I actually have a nice conversation with Leah, so I feel kind of bad when the bell rings and I jump up and run from the room. If I don't, though, Bee will have to wheel herself all the way to history, and I'm trying to make her reserve her energy.

History, chemistry and art go well, and before I know it, it's lunch. I almost call today a win until I run into Leah Clearwater while wheeling Bianca to the health room. Leah glares at my sister before turning her glare on me. I notice her hands shaking, and before I know it, she's storming out the nearby exit door.

"What was that about?" Bianca asks as I stare after Leah.

"No idea. Let's get your meds and grab some food."

Bianca slowly picks at her lunch. "You have to eat more than that, sis." I gently poke her boney shoulder. "You don't wanna pass out again, do you?"

After lunch, we have finance and lastly Spanish. That's the one class Bee and I have together that we have to separate for. I'm partnered up with Leah, and Bee's partnered up with a guy named Brady.

"Feeling better?" I ask Leah once I'm sure Bianca is alright. Strangely, Leah looks a little better after seeing the way Brady is staring at my sister. Personally, I don't like it, but I won't do anything unless he tries something.

"Yes. Thanks. That's your sister?"

"Yeah. That's Bianca, my twin."

Brady is still eying Bianca in the same kind of way that Leah was eying me when she first met me. This doesn't seem completely normal, but I decide not to push it. Bianca could use a friend that's not me or Gianna.

"How was school?" Mom is waiting to ambush us as soon as Bianca's wheels cross the threshold.

"Fine." Bianca yawns behind her hand and gives a half shrug. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me for dinner, yeah?"

Once she's gone, Mom turns to me. "How'd it go? Did anyone say anything, you know, nasty?"

"No, Mom. Bee's just tired. Relax."

I head for my room, book bag in hand. Might as well get my homework done so I can help Bee with hers. The constant fatigue from her illness has taken its toll on her grades, and I don't mind giving my work after to look over while she does her own.

I knock lightly at my sister's door, hearing her tired "come in." She's sprawled on her side, her lips a slightly less alarming shade of blue than earlier this morning. I grab her desk chair and flip it around.

"You want me to read the history chapter to you?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Bianca's asleep before I even finish the chapter. I pull the blankets up for her before sliding out of my sister's room, carefully pulling the door shut behind me.

When Bee first got sick, she would sleep all the time. She could barely make it through a school day. She spent most days after school in bed instead of practicing gymnastics or playing with Gianna. For my usually energetic sister, that was the first sign.

Seeing how her illness has progressed has been torture. She went from being able to walk around to needing a wheelchair. She went from athletic to weak and frail. Seeing her like this freaking kills me.

I meet Mom downstairs to tell her more about our day. She's been waiting, not so patiently, for me to give her the full report. She's crazy, but we love her.

A/n: Hey, guys. So this fic be update on alternating Wednesdays, as it received one review. "Stronger Together" will be updated every Monday, and "Written in the Stars" will be updated the first Friday of every month. Later!

Lauren.

Replies to Reviews:

TheTragedyMachine: I'm so glad I did Bee justice. I don't have a heart condition, but heart conditions have always been interesting to me. I'm so glad you like what you've read so far. I really hope you like this chapter, as well. Please review and let me know.