Cancer

Infection-Chapter Three

-Athena-

"I'm Athena." I say to the black haired girl next to me. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but something draws me to her. For a few moments, she stares at me blankly, almost in a confused manner. What, hasn't anyone ever introduced themselves to her?

Finally, realization washes over her. "Cameron." She says simply, and I nod. As she moves her left hand to continue writing whatever useless information the teacher is teaching today that I just so happen to already know, I notices scratches and scars across her wrist. Oh, that's why she's like this. Or more specifically, like me.

"I have those too." I say simply, pulling up my own sleeve to show off the scars and scratches that littler my wrist. My voice comes out cheerful, which is definitely not what I was going for. She just stares at me with a shocked expression on her face, Great, now she thinks I'm crazy. "Oh, I'm supposed to be sad...sorry. Emotions aren't necessarily my strong suite." I say, giving her a sad look.

What the heck is wrong with me? For the past couple of weeks my emotions have been all over the place, and I'm not exaggerating. That's why I had to move to a new school. I freaked out on a girl and let's just say it did not end in any kind of well. For the rest of the class period I stay quiet, embarrassed by how I acted. I only take short looks at her, noticing the way she makes sure no one touches her when they pass. Odd.

I'm walking out of class when I'm suddenly pinned against the wall. "Where do you think you're going, spaz?" A male voice taunts. I slowly look up to see a boy in a football jersey, smiling down evilly at me. "You probably don't you recognize me? That girl you freaked out on? She's my girlfriend." Oh. Oh no. Great, just freaking great. She just had to be dating the freaking quarterback. Tears spring to my eyes as he pushes me harder into the wall. "Oh, you're going to cry now? Go ahead...no one cares."

Suddenly, he's thrown off of me. I look up and see Cameron, and forgetting the situation at hand for the moment, I notice how painstakingly skinny she is. Like she never eats, and her dark clothes don't really try to hid her paper thin frame. The guy stands and starts coming closer to me, but she puts her hand up. It doesn't make contact, but it's close. "Back. Up." She commands, and the guy swats her hand away. Anger flares in her eyes as he starts forward again, and she pushes him back, barely making contact with him. I can see the slight panic in her stance at touching him. "Reese, drop it." He walks into her hand in a threatening way. "What are you going to d-" Instantly, his demeanor changes, and he backs up like told. But not before his eyes gloss over black for a second. Sadness flares into him, and I see the fear in Cameron's eyes. He turns and runs away, tears in his eyes. "No....no...no..." Cameron murmurs quietly to herself.

Gently, I place my hand on her shoulder and she flinches away. "Hey it's okay. I don't think we can infect each other." I say quietly, smiling at her as I wipe my tears away. "What do mean 'we'?" She asks. "Well, I figure we have the same general problem, just different types." I say, while shrugging. Seeing that she doesn't fully understand, I decide to expand on my explanation.

"Well, when you touch people, you infect them with your problem. Which, judging by the way jerkwad suddenly lost all happiness I figure that something happened to you to cause this problem. And for me...I'm sure you've noticed that I can't control my emotions very well, and they constantly change. One minutes, I can be super happy, the next I'm sobbing, and the next I'm ready yo beat people to a pulp. I found out that I can infect people too, though I don't need to touch them. If something happens that causes me immense emotional struggle or pain, my emotions run out of control to the point to where the other person will experience the same amount. That's what happened to jerkwad's girlfriend." I finish taking a deep breath.

Cameron stares at me for a second before saying, "Oh...okay wow." I just laugh a little bit. "I also experience the worst emotions at the worst of times. Like when I was asking about your wrist, I was happy." She gives me a look. "I think that's called being bipolar...or...multi-polar..." Before She can reply, I just speak up again.

Well...who wants to come to my mansion?" I chirp out happily.