James and Jamie

Chapter Two | James

J A M E S

"James! James! Wake up, or else you'll be late for school again!"

James Miller suppressed an irritated groan as his sister Jenna's high-pitched voice awakened him from his peaceful slumber. With dreary eyes, he glanced at the ancient alarm clock perched beside his bed. The faded red numbers read 7:00 am. He was supposed to have woken up thirty minutes ago.

Ah, crap, the damn thing must've broken again, he thought, as he groggily climbed out of bed. He made a mental note to buy a new one. Grabbing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans that were strewn around on the floor, James put them on hurriedly, as Jenna continued to bang on his bedroom door.

"James, you better be dead in there, because otherwise you have zero excuse to wake up this late!"

James rolled his eyes before opening his door. Jenna Miller, his thirteen-year-old younger sister, stood before him, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "Explain yourself, young man."

James let out an amused chuckle. "I swear to god, you have the mind of a seventy year old. Would you get off my case already, Jen? Not everyone can be as efficient as you."

Jenna let out an indignant huff, stomping after him as James made his way down the stairs. "It's a simple measure of time management, James, ever heard of it? And by the way, you don't have time to breakfast because the school bus is coming in exactly," she glanced at her watch, "two minutes."

"Whatever, I'll be fine. I still think I have that banana Mom gave me in my bag somewhere." James grabbed his schoolbag from off the couch where he had left it last night, before grabbing Jenna's hand as he slammed the front door shut. "C'mon, we're going to have to sprint to make it."

"Yeah, no thanks to you."

Ignoring Jenna's icy tone, James broke into a run, feeling the chilly morning air whip his face. The two of them made it to the bus stop just as the yellow school bus was closing its door. "You kids better not be late again," grumbled Mr. Oliver, their bus driver, as he let them on. "Third time this week."

"It's his fault, not mine," Jenna muttered underneath her breath, shooting a glare at James as she sat down near the front with her friends.

James, once again, ignored her, as he made his way towards the back and took his seat next to the window. Unlike Jenna, who was already gossiping with her posse, James had no one to talk to. It wasn't as if he was lonely, or anything. He just liked the peaceful quiet that came with being alone. He took his headphones from his bag and connected them to his phone, turning up his music as he stared out the window.

It didn't take long until he was thinking of Mom again.

It always happened, even though he tried his best to stop his thoughts from wandering. This morning, she was at her scheduled chemotherapy session with Dad. She seemed to become more and more fragile lately. His Dad told him it was the toll of the drugs and the chemical that made his once vibrant and energetic mother a former shell of herself.

He barely saw her or spoke to her these days. It hurt too much to see her empty eyes, her bald head, and her pale skin without its typical rosiness.

That's selfish of you, said a little voice inside him, like it always did whenever he chose to lock himself in his room instead of talking to her. How can you do that to her? The least you can do is say hello.

Still, it felt wrong. It didn't feel real. In some ways, James still didn't believe it. He knew it happened, but he didn't realise that it could happen to him. His mother, Maria Miller, being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer? Impossible. She never even smoked.

But it had been three months since the diagnosis already, and it seemed like every day, a little bit of his mother died, and him along with her.

"Good morning everyone!" It was second period, and Ms. Johnson, his Biology teacher, was holding a stack of papers. James immediately recognised them as their exam papers, which he was sure he failed."I have your tests here, graded and ready for you. Overall, most people did very well! There were a few of you, though, whose progress I'm worried about. If you scored lower than a C, please see me after class."

Great, James rubbed his temples as Ms. Johnson began to hand out their exams. I'm going to be late for lunch.

Sure enough, when Ms. Johnson passed him his exam paper, a bright red F stared him in the face.

"Oh my god, James, you got an F?"

James turned around. Beside him, Ava Daniels was staring over his shoulder, mouth agape. Ava was generally nice, but had a reputation for being a busy-body. James guessed that by the end of the day, half the school would know his Biology grade.

James let out a mild groan, "Yeah, just announce it to the entire class, Ava."

"Sorry," Ava said, looking mildly guilty. Her eyes never left James' paper, though. "I thought you were good at Biology, though?"

"Yeah," he looked down at the paper. "Usually."

"Oh," Ava drew back, slumping down in her own seat. "Sorry for asking."

"No, it's okay," James sighed, and stuffed the test into his backpack. "It's fine."

"I'm sure we all have bad days," said Ava in an attempt to lessen the mood. James smiled to himself. If only she knew I've been getting D's and F's for months...

Still, he listened politely to Ava, trying to make it seem like he cared. "You know, I've gotten an F once too. And Jamie here," she nudged at her seat mate, a brown-haired girl whose test was marked with an A+, "well, uh...Jamie, have you ever gotten an F?"

"An F? No." Jamie looked up at him, pushing a strand of hair from her face. Everything about her seemed refined and elegant. The way she was dressed, the way her hair framed her pale skin, the way she flipped the pages of her test. Even the sympathetic look she gave him seemed delicate. "I'm sure you'll do great in the next test."

"I don't know. I hope so." But I'm not going to do well at all.

Perhaps picking up on his reluctant tone, Jamie leaned closer towards him. "You can do it," she said softly. 

James let out a half-laugh, half-snort. "I don't think so."

"Well," said Jamie, just as Ms. Johnson began to write the lesson plan on the whiteboard, "I think you can."

Their eyes connected briefly, and for a second, James saw something inside of Jamie's blue eyes. Something he couldn't quite figure out. Something deep and dark, hidden beneath layers of secrets. 

And he wanted to know more.