Chapter 8

“When are you going to stop that alarm clock?!” A voice said, sounding faraway.

Lilly tossed on her bed.
“Lillian Cooper! Get up!”

Lilly waved her hand. “Five more minutes . . .” she said into her pillow.
Someone grabbed a hold of Lilly’s flailing arm, and pulled her off the bed.

Lilly’s eyes shot open. “Ah - ow! I’m in pain!” she shouted, rolling into a ball on the floor, her quilt and sheets falling in heaps around her.

“Real funny. Get up.”
“I’m being serious!” Lilly said sitting up, facing her aunt. “If you had lived my life for this past week, you’d be in SO much pain, aunt Nora, you’d be crying.”
“Ha. Ha.” Nora said dully.
Lilly smiled, and stood to her feet.

“Lilly, is that blood on your sheets?” Nora asked, taking a closer look at Lilly’s bed.
“Yeah . . . I got a cut - sometime this week, and uh . . . yeah. I forgot to clean my sheets.”
“Obviously. Where’s your cut?”
Lilly lifted her sleeve exposing her cut.
“That’s pretty bad. How did you get it?” Nora asked, still looking at Lilly’s cut.
“I’m . . . not sure. I was sleep walking that night, and woke up to bloody sheets!”
“Still sleep walking, I see.” Nora said as she walked out of the room.

Lilly rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock.
“Shoot!” she said, running to her closet and picking out an outfit and throwing it on without shutting her door. “Aunt Nora!”
“Yes?” Nora said, running into Lilly’s room.
“Why,” Lilly said, as she struggled putting her shoes on. “Didn’t you wake me as soon as the clock rang?!”
“It only rang five minutes ago.” Nora said, looking somewhat offended.
“Five minutes ago?! But, I set the alarm at 5:50, and it’s 6:41! The bus comes in 19 minutes! I still need to get ready! Who changed my clock - somebody had to. Where’s my mom?”
“She went to work . . .” Nora replied, trying not to smile, but failed and a smile broke across her face. “But Lilly, what else do you need to do? You’re dressed.”
“Makeup. My hair.”
‘Jason.’ Lilly thought. “And, I wanted to invite Jason to walk home with us, and to do our homework at the park.”
“Oh?” Nora asked, her smiling growing.
“Aunt Nora, don’t you . . . Hannah.” Lilly said suddenly. “Hannah!” She ran to the bath room and started pounding on the door.

“What do you mean by ‘don’t you’?” Nora asked, coming out of Lilly’s room.
“Not now Aunt Nora!” Lilly said to her aunt. “Hannah! You changed my alarm — didn’t you?!”

There was laughing on the other side of the closed door.

“Lilly? Can I make a suggestion?” Nora asked.
“WHAT Aunt Nora!” Lilly snapped, whirling around.
“Ok . . . maybe I want make the suggestion.” Nora said, backing up slightly.

“No, I’m sorry, aunt Nora. Tell me your suggestion.” Lilly said, hiding her anger behind a smile.
“Ok. Well first of all, wipe that smile off your face-it looks SO fake.”
Lilly couldn’t help but laugh.
“Now. Second of all, maybe brush your hair, put on a hair band and run over to your friend Jason’s house to invite him to do homework with you and Hannah. Then, once you’re done, Hannah probably will be finished in the bathroom!”
“Hey! That’s a good idea! Only - no hair band; I look stupid with them on.” She ran to her bedroom, grabbed a brush and swiped her hair with it a few times.
“How do I look?” Lilly asked coming out of her room to stand before her aunt. “Plain? Yeah, I know. I’ll be back in a few minutes!” she said, not letting her aunt reply, and she ran through the kitchen and out the front door.

She ran across the street and up Jason’s lawn to his porch. She rang the doorbell.
A couple minutes later, a woman with sandy blonde hair opened the door.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked.
“Hi, my name is Lilly, is J–”
“Lilly! Lillian Cooper? Jason’s friend?” the woman asked.
Lilly nodded.
“Come in! I’ll get Jason. Do you want a cup of cocoa? I just made it.”
“Uh . . . n-no, thank you.” Lilly said, surprised at the woman’s kindness.
Jason appeared in the kitchen, his face lit up when he saw Lilly. “Hey!” he said, smiling.
“Hey!” Lilly mocked.
“Jason, tell your friend, that she needs to have a cup of cocoa!”
Jason’s smile disappeared, but his eyes were shining. “Lilly. My mom told me to tell you, that you need to have a cup of cocoa.” He nodded his head.

Lilly smiled. “Ok. But a small amount. Thank you.” she said politely.

Mrs. Jones smiled.
“Oh, yeah - Jason, I wanted to know if you wanted to walk home with Hannah and I today, and maybe go to the park in the housing-track to do our homework?” Lilly asked, as Jason led her to a chair that sat by a table.
“Sure! I’d have to take the bus with you though.” Jason said, as Mrs. Jones brought the two mugs of cocoa to the table.
“Here you go, dear.” she said to Lilly.
“Thank you.” Lilly said, as she looked down into her cup of cocoa.
She laughed, the covered her mouth with her hand, her face started to turn red.
The mug was filled to the brim with the chocolate drink.

Lilly cleared her throat and moved her hand away from her mouth and took a sip of her drink.
Jason smiled.
Mrs. Jones walked out of the kitchen.

“My mom likes giving large amounts of everything. Even if you do only ask for a little bit.”
Lilly and Jason laughed.

When Lilly finished her cup of cocoa, Jason took the two mugs to the sink.
“When does the bus come?” Jason asked as he walked back to the table.
“In . . . three minutes.” Lilly said slowly, as she peered at a clock on the kitchen wall. “I have to go!” she said, jumping off of the chair. “I still need to get ready!”
“You do?” Jason asked, as his eyes crossed over her.
“Um –– yeah. Make-up.” She said, her hand resting on the doorhandle
“I think you look nice without make-up, Lilly.”
Lilly was startled by what he’d said, all she could do was blink at him.
“I’ll be right back, I’ll come with you now. I just need to get my backpack.”
Lilly nodded her head as he walked out of the kitchen.

“Ok. We can go.” Jason said, after he returned within a matter of seconds.

Lilly opened the door, and they walked out of the house, crossed the street and into Lilly’s house.
“So much for a few minutes.” Lilly’s aunt whispered in her ear, when she and Jason walked through the door.
Lilly rolled her eyes.

“Jason, this is my aunt Nora. She’s staying with us for awhile.” Lilly said.
“Hi.” Jason said, smiling at Lilly’s aunt.
“So you’re Jason!” Nora said smiling and getting off the chair.
“Yup. I’m Jason.” He said, nodding his head.
“Lilly talks about you all the time!” Nora exaggerated, clasping her hands together.
Lilly’s face became red. “I’ll be right back. I need to get my school bag.” she said, running out of the room.

When she was walking towards her room, Lilly saw Hannah walling out of the bath room examining her nails carefully. She looked up, when she saw Lilly, she stopped walking abruptly.

“Oh, hi!” she said, smiling her sweet and innocent smile.

“Oh . . . hi yourself!” Lilly said, as she walking into her room and grabbed her waiting bag off her messy floor.

“The bus is here, Lilly!” Nora said loudly from the kitchen.
Lilly walked out of her room and into the kitchen where Hannah and Jason stood waiting for her. “ok, lets go.” she said.

“Have a nice day at school!” Nora called after them as they go onto the bus.

“Hey! Where were you?” A girl with flashy blonde hair said loudly as Lilly, Jason and Hannah made their way down the aisle.
“Oh! I was out sick.” Hannah replied.
“Oh . . . with what?” The girl asked, slightly scooting closer to the girl she was sitting by.
“Oh.” The girls said disgustedly. “Are you still contagious?”
Hannah’s face started to turn red. “I think I’ll just sit with my sister.” she said, as she followed Jason and Lilly who were already seated in the back seat.
“So, those are your friends Maggie and Laura, right?” Lilly asked, as Hannah sat down.
“Yeah.” she said and the bus set off for the school. “So, is this your first time on the bus, Jason?”
“No. I’ve been on here a few times.” he replied.

Hannah nodded her head. “Have you ever been o this - park . . . that Lilly is taking us to, to do our homework?”
Jason shrugged. "Once or twice.”
“It’s a nice park, don’t you think?” Lilly asked.
“Pretty nice. I like how quiet it is!” Jason replied, leaning his head back slightly.
“It’s nice when its quiet.” Hannah said simply.
“Isn’t it?” Lilly said, glancing at her sister sideways.
Hannah nodded her head.

The bus pulled up to the school, and everyone began to pour out of it.

“So, why aren’t you going to go hang out with your friends?” Lilly whispered into her sister’s ear.
“Because I thought that I could live one more day without seeing them.” Hannah whispered back.

“Hey! I’ll see you in class, Lilly!” Jason said. “And Hannah, why don’t you sit with us at lunch?”
Hannah’s face brightened, her lips curving into a smile. “Sure!” she said eagerly.
“Ok, then I guess I’ll see you both at lunch then!” he said, smiling as he backed away.
“Yeah! See you!” Hannah and Lilly said together.
“Well, gotta run!” Hannah said, nudging her sister quickly before she started jogging down the hallway.

Lilly started walking towards Miss Conroy’s class.
“Hi Lilly.” Miss Conroy greeted Lilly as she walked through the doorway. “I saw that your sister is back.”
“Yup.” Lilly said, standing next to her teacher as a few students walked into the room.
“How is she?” Miss Conroy asked.
“Well . . . obviously she’s doing pretty well.” Lilly said, as the school bell rang.
Miss Conroy smiled.
Lilly started walking towards her seat and she sat down.

Jason soon walked through the door and he took his seat next to Lilly.
After Miss Conroy took attendance, she started the day off right away.
“Ok, well class, I’ve finally decided on a project!” she said excitedly clasping her hands together.

“What is it?” someone in the class asked anxiously from the back of the room.
“We’ll be making a time-line.” she said.
Moans swept through the classroom.
“No, no.” she said, a frown creasing across her face, then disappeared. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing too bad. It’s a time-line of your life-your history. I want you to gather photos from — throughout all the years, and gather stories, poems or pictures that you’ve drawn. It’s nothing to big, just something that I’m giving you to work on, until - lets say . . . May . . . fifteenth? So that’s giving you a little over two weeks . So, have fun with it! And do well, you’ll still be graded on how well you put everything together!”

More moans swept through the class.
Miss Conroy shrugged then smiled. “Anyway, I want you to take out your history book, and turn to page 345.”

---

-Lunch-

Lilly, Jacob and Hannah sat together at a bench eating their lunches.

“So what do you say we meet at the front school gate after school?” Hannah suggested, taking a bite of the salad that was on her plate.
“Yeah. That’ll be good.” Lilly said, as she popped a chip into her mouth. “What do you think, Jason?” she asked looking at him.
He nodded his head. “Anything is good.” He put some mustard into his sandwich, then took a bite.
“So, Lilly, who is this mysterious person you want me to meet?” Hannah asked as she tossed pieces of lettuce around on her plastic plate.
“You’ll see.”
“Am I the only one here who doesn’t know about this mysterious person?” Jason asked as he moved the tray of food away from him.
Hannah shrugged then took the last bite of her salad.
“I think maybe . . . yes.” Lilly said, blushing slightly as she realized she hadn’t told Jason about Cooper.
“Well then, I don’t know what to say!” Jason said, standing to his feet as he walked over to the nearby trash can to throw away his sandwich he’d only taken a few bites of.
Lilly looked at Hannah who was looking at Jason, a confused look on her face. Then, Hannah looked at her sister and shrugged as she stood up to throw her empty plate away.

“Where did Jason go?” Hannah asked her sister, when Lilly threw away her plate.
“I’m not sure. But we should get to class.” Lilly said after the bell rang.
Hannah nodded. “See you after school!” she said with a wave of her hand as she sprinted out of the cafeteria.

When Lilly was at her locker, she saw Jason in the hall walking towards his next class. She shut her locker quickly then ran after him.

“Hey! Hey Jason!” she said, when she caught up to him.
Jason turned around and smiled.
“So we’ll meet at the front school gate?” Lilly asked.
“Yeah.” Jason said. “What class do you have next?”
“English.” Lilly replied simply as she and Jason walked down the hall. “what about you? What’s your next class?”
“Math.” Jason said.
“Oh. I’m lucky, that was my second class. So I’m already finished.” she announced happily.
Jason laughed. “Lucky you!” he said.
“Yes, yes I know.” she said smiling. “So I’ll see you after school.” Lilly said when they cane to Jason’s next class.
“Yeah! See you!” he said, slipping quickly into the open door.

Lilly started walking faster down the hall, when she said Glen.
Her muscles began to tense as her eyes met Glens harsh beady eyes.
Suddenly, his face brightened as a smile spread across his face. Lilly frowned, looked forward and ran into an open door.
Glen’s laugher echoed loudly down the halls.
Lilly’s face reddened as she went into her class, her hand on her forehead.

She took her seat and took out her homework. Mr. Johnson walked into the room quickly then sat at his desk. He dd a few things, then stood to his feet to collect the homework.
When he came to Lilly’s desk, she handed him the work sheets.
“I heard your sister is back.” Mr. Johnson said. “How is she?”
Lilly’s face burned as all eyes turned towards her. “She’s ok.” she said simply.
“Good, good.” he said, then continued down the aisle collecting the homework.

Lilly sighed loudly.
The student to her right leaned towards Lilly. “What was wrong with your sister?” she asked quietly.
“She was sick.” Lilly replied, her eyes glued to her desk.
Mr. Johnson made his way to the front of the room again.
The girl sat in her seat normal again, when she got a disapproving look from Mr. Johnson.

---

-After school-

“Hey, sorry guys, but I forgot some of my homework. I’ll be right back.” Hannah said to Lilly and Jason. “Wait for me?”
“Of course we will Hannah!” Lilly said. “Why would we leave you?” Lilly smiled.
“That’s not funny! You’d better not go!” Hannah said as she started jogging down a hallway.

“Should we ditch her?” Lilly asked Jason jokingly.
“I don’t think your sister would appreciate that.” Jason replied with a small smile.
Lilly folded her arms. “Well you’re no fun.”
“Gee thanks.” Jason said as they waited for Hannah to return.

-

“If she doesn’t return within ten seconds,” Lilly said ten minutes later. “I’m going to start walking.”
“Ok.” Jason said.
“Ten . . . nine . . . eight.” she looked up from her watch - the halls were still empty. “Five . . . four . . . three . . . where is she?! One!” Lilly shouted angrily.
“I’m sure she’s coming.” Jason said, trying to calm Lilly down. “If she doesn’t come within five minutes, we’ll go look for her, ok?”
She shook her head disapprovingly, then rolled her eyes. “Fine.” she said, sounding annoyed.

“Ok. Lets go.” Jason said five minutes later, as he started walking down the hall.
Lilly followed him.
“What classes does she have?” Jason asked.
Lilly’s face reddened as she realized that she didn’t know. “I’m . . . uh, not sure.” she said.
“You don’t know what classes she’s taking?”
She shook her head.
Jason sighed in frustration.
“Do you want to split up? You could go down one hallway, and I could go down another.” Lilly said, trying to figure out what to do.
“Sure.” Jason said, nodding his head as he started walking down the a hallway, and he disappeared around a corner.
Lilly turned her head back towards the hallway that she was suppose to go down and cringed at how quiet it was.
She took a few steps, then Jason’s voice echoing to her, made her stop.
“I found her!” he said.
Lilly sighed, then started running towards her sister and Jason. “Where were you?” she asked Hannah.
Hannah lifted a few papers. “To get my homework, remember?”
“It takes you fifteen minutes to get your homework?” Lilly asked, not believing her sister.
“Well, I ran into Maggie and Laura. They wanted to know the truth as to why I was not at school.” Hannah said, as she started walking away from Jason and Lilly.
Lilly’s eyes widened in disbelief. “And you actually told them, didn’t you?”

Hannah stopped walking, her head drooped.
Lilly walked up behind her sister and set her hand on her sister’s sagging shoulder. Hannah turned around slowly and rested her forehead on Lilly’s shoulder.
Lilly was suddenly taken aback, then, within a few moments, she wrapped her arms around Hannah.
“What did they say?” Lilly asked as she leaned her head against Hannah’s head.
“They didn’t say anything. They just backed away slowly.” Hannah said, her voice quivering. “It scares everyone away, Lilly. It scares everyone away . . .”
“That’s not true.” Jason said suddenly.
Hannah pulled away from her sister’s embrace. “What?” she asked, looking at him.
Jason shook his head. “‘It’ - as you call your cancer, hasn’t scared me away, has it?”
“N-no . . . I guess not. But that’s just you!” Hannah said, her eyes looking at the cement floor. “That’s just you.” she repeated sadly.
“What about your teachers? You haven’t scared them away.” Lilly said.

Hannah tilted her head to the side. “Lilly. They’re teachers. Their job is to students, not run away from them.” Hannah said, a small frown breaking through her frown.
“Hey, Hannah, who did you say your friends were again?” Jason asked.
“Maggie and Laura.” she said, wiping away a tear that had fallen from her eye.
Jason frowned. “Ah. Those two girls are kind of demanding — and germ freaks; they can’t touch a door handle without having to clean their hands right away.”
Hannah’s smile widened. “I know.” her smile faded again. “But I still wish we could’ve been friends, I like having friends you know.”
“Well, we’re friends, aren’t we?” Jason asked.
Hannah’s face brightened. “Yeah . . .”
“We can be the three musketeers.” Lilly said dully, feeling left out of the conversation.
Hannah suddenly burst out laughing. “Yeah. The three musketeers. When our backs are turned, we dump buckets of water onto each others heads!”
Lilly narrowed her eyes, and glared at Jason and Hannah. “Suddenly, I don’t trust either of you, For some odd reason, I have this feeling as if you both will ambush me with yellow buckets filled to the brim of water in your hands.” she shrugged, pursed her lips and shook her head. “I have no idea why though.”

Jason and Hannah exchanged sly glances.
“Oh!” Lilly said. “I gave you an idea, didn’t I?!”
Hannah and Jason looked at Lilly and nodded.
“Well, gee! I think it’ll have to be the two musketeers instead, I don’t want to have to watch my back constantly!”
Jason shrugged and Hannah gave Lilly the ‘I Don’t Know What to Tell You’ - look.
Lilly cringed as she started backing away slowly.

Hannah suddenly flew at Lilly, throwing her thin arms around her sister’s shoulders.
“You’re going to kill me!” Lilly yelped, surprised at how tightly her sister hugged her.
Hannah pulled away, her face red.
Lilly backed away and straightened her shirt. “What was that for?” she asked after she regained composure.

“You’re my best friend, Lilly.” Hannah said, smiling.

---

A/N: Finally got it up! Sorry it took so long! Hope you liked it!

Anyway, please tell me what you think!:D