Gwendalynn: The Girl With Cancer

Gwendalynn | 12

Everyone turned to me. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Gwen was encouraging me to say what I'd obviously left unspoken.

"Nevermind." I shook my head.

"Alright, well, let's give Gwen her space. Looks like you need some rest, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Dr. Harris."

He looked through some papers on his clipboard before muttering a few things to Leigh-Ann before leaving the room.

...

I kept my head down as I continued walking through the halls. It was the first day back from Christmas break and I dreaded every minute of the day. I hadn't talked to Gwen for a while. I didn't visit her yesterday or the day before. Surely, she'd be okay with it since I normally don't visit her every day.

Suddenly, I ran into somebody, causing their books to fall on the ground. I looked down to see one of the girls from my English class.

"God, I'm sorry!" I said frustratedly, kneeling down next to her and retrieving the items I'd unintentionally knocked out of her arms.

"I-it's okay." she stuttered.

"Hey, um, you're in my class with Mr. Turner. Alice, right?"

She finally locked gazes with me. I'd realized they were a nice shade of blue.

"Y-yeah."

I slowly lifted a few more books.

"I'm sorry again for knocking your books out of your hands. I wasn't paying attention."

"It's okay. I don't wanna be back at school either," she laughed half-heartedly. It was hard to know if it was forced or not.

We both stood up and I gave her her books back. She reached out for them and I realized she seemed a bit jittery. Her hands were slightly shaking and she looked really nervous.

"Are you okay?"

"Me? Oh, yeah, course, why wouldn't I be?" she shook her head.

"You seem a little nervous."

She shut her eyes. "No, I-, I'm just..."

I stared at her strangely, wondering why she was struggling so hard to find the answer she was looking for. I let a small smile appear on my lips. Her shy personality and innocent look made an unusual feeling seep inside of me. I could tell she found it a little nervous to be around me and because of that, I tried to make her feel at least a little more comfortable. She was about to say something but the bell rang, telling us all that we need to be in class pronto.

"Um, yeah, th-thanks for, uh, helping me." She quickly strolled off but seemed to trip on my foot.

I caught her by the waist before she could tumble to the floor again.

"Woah, you okay?"

She regained her balance and looked up at me. "Y-yeah, sorry."

Then she turned and hugged her books to her chest before scampering down the hall way. She looked back with a smile plastered on her face. Once she'd noticed I was still looking at her as well, she jerked her head back around, almost running into another person.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry, sorry!" she rambled.

I let out a small chuckle before turning and heading towards my class.

...

"Mr. Hastings, would you like to answer the question?" my Maths teacher, Mrs. Jensen suggested.