Finding Jaime

Chapter 89

"You know," Ethan said.  "Cancer and chemo suck, but you've already survived all your worst days.  Hey, how come you don't look like your mom?"

"Where's your mom?" I asked.

"Getting coffee. She doesn't like watching me get chemo. I don't know why. It's the puking that's grosser."

I rolled my eyes.

"But how come you don't look anything like your mom?"

"I look exactly like my mom," I said.

"No, you don't. Your mom has blonde hair and you have brown hair."

"My mom is dead. That's my new mom," I said. Why was I even entertaining this brat?

"You got a new mom? How?"

"Kid, it's a really long story and I really don't want to get into it if you don't mind."

He shut up finally.

For about ten seconds.

"My sister isn't my real sister either. Well, she is but she's adopted. Are you adopted?"

"No," I said. "Well, yeah. It's complicated and I'm not telling some kid about it because it's none of your business."

"I'm in fifth grade. What about you?"

"I'm in sixth," I said.

"No you aren't!" Ethan laughed. "You're in high school, right?"

"Yes. I'm in high school. I'm in eleventh grade. Sort of."

"Why sort of?"

"I'm taking this semester off to fight cancer."

"Ohhh. You know what I picture my cancer like? Like a dragon and I'm a knight with Excalibur. The chemo is Excalibur and we're fighting the cancer dragon.  What do you picture yours as?"

I stared ahead of me. I didn't picture my cancer as anything. I tried to pretend it didn't exist until I had chemo and then puked for a day.

"I never thought to picture it as anything," I said.

"Oh. I do. I picture the chemo and me are a knight fighting the dragon."

I looked at Ethan. He was small. Bald, like me. And missing a tooth. I could see the new one coming through in the gap in his smile.

"That's actually pretty cool, Ethan," I said.

"What are you gonna picture your cancer as?"

I thought about it.

"Have you ever heard of the game Space Invaders? It's pretty old."

"I have an old Atari at home that my dad hooked up! It was his as a kid!" Ethan said, excitedly. "I play Space Invaders all the time!"

"So that's what I'm picturing. Cancer as the invaders and chemo as the spaceship."

"That is so cool!" Ethan said. I had to smile a little.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have two brothers and a sister," I said.

"Are you the oldest?" he asked.

"Yeah. My brothers are 8 and 13. My sister is three.

"My sister is 13, too. She was adopted and then I was born!"

"Thats pretty cool, E," I said. 

"Did you just give me a nickname?" he smiled.

"I think I did," I smiled back. He was pretty cute. Sucked that he was dealing with cancer, too.

"I like it. Hey. You never told me your name," Ethan said.

"It's Jaime," I said.

"It's very nice to meet you, Jaime," he grinned. I couldn't help but smile back. I glanced at Mom and she was smiling, too.

"Do you have Instagram or anything?" he asked.

"Yeah, I have Instagram. And Snapchat."

"Can I add you on Snapchat? We can plan our chemo together," he said.

"Well, I'm going away with my dad after today, but we can keep in touch, sure," I said, opening Snapchat and handing him my phone to scan my Sbapchat ID. He pulled out his phone and added me, then added a text message that bleeped as he handed my phone back.

"Whst does your dad do?" he asked.

"He's a musician. His band is on tour and since I'm not in school, I get to go with him," I said.

"Cool. What kind of music?"

"Have you heard of Fall Out Boy?" I asked.

"Yeah. My sister loves them. They're good. She's going to the concert tonight."

"Really? Cool.  My dad is in Fall Out Boy," I said.

"No way!" Ethan said. "Who's your dad?"

"Pete Wentz," I said.

Ethan thought about that for a second.

"Thats so cool," he said.

"What's your sister's name?" I asked.

"Ashley. Ashley Torrance,"  Ethan said.

"Can you find out where her seats are?" I asked him.

He sent off a text typing faster than I thought possible.

About two minutes later his phone dinged.

"She says her and her friend Caryn are in Section 301, row 20, seats 1&2," he said. I put that in my phone and then sent Dad a text.

"Okay. Cool.  Maybe I'll see her."

Ethan scrolled through his phone and then turned it to me. He showed me pictures of a girl about 13, with blonde hair and green eyes.

"Thats what she looks like."

"Okay," I said. Dad texted me back that he was on it.

"Alright, Jaime," the nurse said, unhooking me from the chemo.  "You are all done.  Have fun with your dad," she smiled.

"Alright, E," I said, getting up and offering him my fist for a first bump, which he returned.   "Good luck. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Jaime," he grinned.

"See ya, E."

Mom put her arm around me as we left the clinic. She didn't say anything.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Mom said. "Just thinking.""

"I thought I smelled something burning," I joked.

"Brat," she laughed. "You were very sweet with that kid."

I shrugged.

"He clearly wasn't going to leave me alone."

Mom smiled but didn't say anything more. We got to the car and started out to meet Dad at the venue.