A/N: Later on there will be death and characters you will (hopefully) hate…the first few chapters are just introductory and getting to know people…the really plot starts in chapter four…Each chapter will be from a different POV (point of view). The POV will be stated in brackets…

Chapter One (Steven)

“Morning Sir.” I called loudly to my world history teacher, who promptly looked up to greet me.

“Steven its fifth period,” He corrected me shaking his head. I had been his student for…about three years or so. Not because I was incompetent and failed but rather because he’s lucky I suppose. He was my grade nine science teacher, taught me civics in grade ten and now he is my grade eleven world history teacher.

I simply shrugged in response and headed over to my desk. Gah I feel all icky again. I shook my head as if it would shake the thought from my mind. Part of me feels like I should tell my mom, but then the other part of me knows she will over react. She always does. Honestly I get the teeniest paper cut and she wants to take me to the emergency room. For a good reason but that’s not the point.

The rest of the class filed in on the lovely Friday afternoon. Meaning that it’s a silent work period; other wise known as watching Doctor Who. Every Friday we watch an episode, and no one seems to mind. It’s almost as if our teacher is giving us the option to work, or just to watch and relax. Today I chose the second option. As I placed my head down on the cold hard desk in front of me I knew that I would not get much sleep. Sighing to myself softly I opened up my backpack and pulled out a sweater. Okay the sweater was my sister’s but its only purpose was to provide a soft pillow.

This time when I laid my head down it was different, and my eyes closed as soon as my hair brushed against the soft fabric. It was if my eyes had somehow become glued shut but I didn’t mind. This was my time to think. The class went by faster then I had wanted, and pretty soon I heard the television being turned off. Class was almost officially over. Slowly I raised my head and managed to blink a few times. Not much faster then my pace for waking up, I placed the sweater back into my backpack, and went to line up with a few of my friends.

As soon as the bell rang I headed out with the mob of people and we flowed into the sea of people in the hallway. I made my way down the hall and into the second floor atrium. Not the easiest place to navigate unless it’s ten minutes after school of forty-five minutes before school starts. Eventually I found myself in a hallway directly opposite to the one I had just come from.

Grinning evil I walked up behind a poor, helpless, lost looking grade nine at her locker. My grinned widened as I reached out a hand and messed up her hair, the same hair she was working on this morning. I couldn’t keep back my laughter as she screamed. In fact 

it made me just grin wider and laugh harder. She turned around and looked like she was going to yell at me. I knew that she wouldn’t, I was mommie’s little angel and her protector.

I picked up her backpack for her as she closed her locker, still scowling. “Not nice Steven.” She tried to sound as venomous as she could.

I smiled at her, as the two of us headed towards my locker. “But you love me anyways Shaan.”

Again my dearly loved sister tried her best to look mad at me, but a smile was creeping out behind her frown. I set her backpack down beside me with a loud plop as we reached my locker. I quickly opened it and began to take out the books I needed. Once I was done my lookers lamed shut and I picked up Shaan’s backpack.

“Nice try Steven, I’m not carrying that…thing.” Her voice was full of disgust and I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to carry the thing that was my backpack. I rolled my eyes and exchanged backpacks. Upon satisfying her, the two of us took off in the direction I came from. We entered room 223 where our mom was just finishing getting ready to leave with us. Yes, I know my mom works at the same school my baby sister and I attend. I am very proud of that fact, it means that I do attend school.

The ride home was boring. Well uneventful was more like it. It was mid September and my sister had adjusted fine to the transition. Better then I had at any rate. I still remember my first day at school…more accurately the first forty-five minutes of high school. I had gotten lost and entered the same room six times. The teacher I annoyed before the start of school ended up being my science teacher.

I was lost in my thoughts, or let them occupy my time so much that I didn’t realize we were home until it was completely silent.

Dinner was uneventful and as I ploughed my way through my homework I could no longer concentrate. I had to take a break. I searched the kitchen until I found what I was looking for…the phone. Quickly I dialled the number from memory, almost as if it was my own. Often enough I did mistake it for mine.

“Hello” Someone picked up on the second ring, but the soft female voice was not the one I wanted to hear.

“Sobian,” I replied and I swear I could hear her roll her eyes. “Hi, but-”

“You want to talk to Brian.” Her voice was all knowning, she didn’t even wait for my response, as she yelled for her brother to come answer the phone.

“Yeah.” The voice was loud and bubbly. The voice of my very best friend.

“No hello?”

“Steven! How are you feeling?” He asked, a normal enough question but the answer menat the world for both of us.

“I’m fine, just a little tiered for all of my course work…and you? Are you fine Brian?” I knew I was just as nervous as he had been when he asked.

“Oh I’m fine. I know what you mean, my teachers think I’m a merical worker or something.”

“They don’t think that…they just expect you to be less lazy then you are.” I teased him, knowing that he was grinning too. It was what we did, our normal banter almost rotiune for us. It was one of the bad things about being apart…we couldn’t talk without end. Often times one of the other members of our families would need the phone long before we were even close to being finished. Today it was his stepmother.

“Steven.”

“Yeah Brian?”

I could hear him breathing in rhythm over the phone. “I have to go…she needs the phone. Bye.” He spat the word out as if it was dirty. Of course I would do the exact same thing if I was him. His stepmother wanted the “perfect family”, she had final say in everything.

“Oh. Okay. Bye Brian, hopefully see you soon.” He hung up leaving me listening to the anyoning buzz of the phone. Apparently she was standing near him. Normally he tells me he loves me, we were practically brothers or something. It’s closer to the or something accutally. I shook my head and hung up the phone. I dragged my protesting body back to the kitchen table and resumed woring on my homework.

Morning came oh too quickly for me. The anyonying ringing of my alarm woke me up. I hated this part of the morning. My alarmclock resided on my desk, which was located across the room form my bed. It was an old fashioned alarm clock with bells and no snooze button. Once it was off it was off for the morning.

I crawled out of bed and made my way across the room and turned off the alarm. Then I proceded to tunr on my light and get dressed. Not all that hard as my school has a uniform. Then I made my way down to the table where Shaan was talking to mom about some kid in her science class that picks on her.

“Maybe he likes you then Shaan-y” I mumbled as I sat down at my normal spot at the table.

“Moring Steven.” My sister grumbled, clearly I wasn’t meant to hear that.

Breakfast was a routine that I slipped into every year. Perhaps it was September that was routine for me.

As my mom drove the three of us to school I could feel sleep come back and try and take over my mind once again. I let it. after all what else was I going to do on the way over to school as my sister complained about that boy…Keefer I think she said his name was.

Once we arrived at the school my mom woke me up. I could tell, just by the sound of her voice that she was worried. As I looked around the car I could guess that my mom had sent Shaan into the school before she woke me up. Mom was right, no need to worry Shaan.

“I’m fine really mom. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’ll go to bed early I promise.” I wasn’t sure if she bought my feeble attempt at a lie or not. I went on a head and all thoughts that were forming in my mind vanished as I stepped foot inside the school. For now at least.

My morning was boring. Biology, followed by English, then sociology, lunch and lastly world history. Not an ideal schedule but it will do I suppose seeing as how I am not allowed to change it to the way I want. if I had my way I would make sure I had Mr. Bailey, Mr. Kraligning, Mrs. MacDonald, Mrs. Stockie and Mr. Kukwa. Yes I do realize that five teachers a day is impossible.

I was so tiered that I fell asleep within moments of the history lecture fifth period. I know that I was tiered and not board because history lectures are the one thing worth paying attention too in class. The sleepiness was a feeling I knew so well. Beckoning me to follow it; promising that it would keep me company.

I slept through the rest of class and only awoke to some unknown language. As I forced myself to focus, the unknown language transformed its self into English and the voice that was speaking was my mother’s. She sounded worried.

“Don’t.” Was all I managed to get out before she embraced me in a tight hug threatening in my ear to take me to see Alice. “Sir, I’m sorry I fell asleep in your class. It won’t happen again.” My history teacher just nodded his head and walked over to his desk giving my mom and me some privacy.

As my mom and I left I grabbed the handle of the door and slamed it shut before Mr. Kukwa could even attempt to stop me. Once we got home I started on my homework, sitting across from my sister while my mom phoned Alice. A little while into their conversation my mom handed me the phone.

“Hello?” I asked knowing the response from the other end.

“Hello Steven. Prehaps you should come see me soon.” It was a statement not a question.

“I’m fine really, I AM a teenager Alice. We do sleep and be lazy.” I knew my excuse sounded pathietic but I had to try anyways. I practically could hear her roll her eyes.

“You need to come see me soon anyways, so we’ll just move the date earlier okay?” Even though this time it was a question I didn’t have any say in the matter.

“Yeah that sounds good.” I mumbled and handed the phone back over to my mom. Just great that was the last thing I wanted.

My life soon got back to normal, and I forgot all about the phone call. Okay by the morning I had forgot about it. That was until a week later when I got to miss the entire day of school. That would have been one day I wanted to go to school. The double sliding doors of the hospital closed behind me and my mom as we walked in and I felt trapped. It was an entire day of me getting poked and prodded. No matter how many times I have to go through that it is something I will never get use too.

The best way I find at least to deal with everything is too blantently ignore it. Not that hard, I just occupy my time with other things. It works most of the time, right up until I have to see Alice. It’s not that she’s mean or anything, but rather she is the one that talks to me and I much rather not have any of our sonversations.

I can still remember when I was eight, the first time I met her. She was only doing her residence or something at the time, but I didn’t really understand what the doctor was saying. Alice saw that I would rather be else where and so she took me into the large playroom and played with me until the doctor and my mom came. I will always have that memory of that day etched into my brain and nothing will ever erase it.

She walked into the room same as every, while slightly more fat looking but whatever. She sat down across from me and we had a talk about how I was feeling, when everything started, as well as how I was doing in school. At the end of it she had promised me that as soon as she knew the results I would know. Which was comforting but at the same time nerve racking. There was always a possibility that it would come back. Unfortuntly I have never been really good at keeping it away.

No matter what I tried the looming thought of it was on my mind for the next few days. I went to school and pretended everything was fine. I don’t really like to talk about my…illness to anyone and hardly any of my friends know. None of the teachers, with the exception of my mom, know either.

It was around dinner time on Tuesday when the phone rang. My mom reached for it like she had been doing the past few days. I, along with my sister, watched her face carefully. Nothing showed. Finally she said good-bye and hung up.

“When you’re done eating Steven Alice has your results in…” Her voice trailed off and she didn’t need to speak the rest. I simply nodded my head and, when I was finished eating, went upstaries and grabbed my ‘special bag’ just incase.

It was just my mom and I who rode together in the car on the long drive back to the hospital. I vagly listened to what Alice was saying and I know that most people would want to listen and pay full attention to what she was saying. Me, I would rather not hear what I knew she would say, so if I didn’t listen and didn’t hear them then they weren’t true.

However, I did hear them…while it. even if I didn’t I would have known from the way my mom was hugging me. It was back.

I don’t even remember getting my bag from the car or walking back to my room. Yes my room. I’ve been here so often I always get the same room everytime.

As at sat on my bed and looked around the room it looked like home. They had replaced on my door for me, like always. It was a big hospital with a lot of children but they tried to give each of us what we wanted. As crule as the thought was, I could not wait to recive my new roommate. Hopefully he would be completely awesome like Brian. Brian. The word echoed in my mind. He would want to know. I almost felt myself choke.

I picked up my cell phone and left the building. Once I was outside I dialled his number. This time it was Brian who picked up.

“Brian, its back.” I whispered into the phone and as I did I felt my entire world shatter around me.