As I layed in bed that night, all I could think about were those big, brown, beautiful eyes that stared back at me. Instead of looking through me though, they looked inside of me. I liked the name, Miah, I kept repeating it to myself over and over in my head. Another thought kept slipping into my mind too though and it was the fact that, I wasn't going to live to have kids, and who knows if I'd end up living long enough to graduate. As I thought of all these things, I fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of all the things I would do if I were never diagnosed with leukemia.
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There was a loud beeping noise that woke me up. I kept my eyes closed and tried slamming on my alarm clock to turn it off but instead I missed the clock and hit the table.
"Holy-" I was about to scream the rest of a very well known phrase but caught myself. I was awake now and slowly slid out of bed and into the shower. I then curled my and straightened my bangs. I put on a dark purple t-shirt, a white, zip-up sweatshirt, a pair of skinny Jeans and some purple converse. I grabbed my school bag and walked out of the door.
One block down the road, I was followed by who other than the A-hole bike riders.
"So Sweetcheeks. We never saw you in lunch yesterday! What happened?" It was the first boy from yesterday and I noticed that there were only 3 guys now.
"What happened with your bicycle crew?" I asked him.
" Justice and Christian moved. There dad left them and their mama so now, their moms off to find a new job somewhere else," he said with sadness in his voice.
"Oh. You know I have a name. It's Benna," I told him because I was getting tired of being called sweetcheeks.
"Well I be Brinson, sweetcheeks," he said with a wink and a smirk. This kid just wouldn't give up," And this is Miah and Gus." It was Miah. Him with his gorgeous eyes and beautiful skin. He had been the one that was biking slowly behind everyone yesterday, too nice to smack my butt. I liked him.
"Hey," I said to them, acting as if I'd never met Miah before. Gus had been the one cracking the joke about me riding his bike.
"Did you wanna ride?" Miah asked me pointing to his bike.
"No thanks. I'd rather walk," I answered smiling.
"Ight. You better be sittin' wid us at lunch today. Undastand?" Brinson called back to me as him, Miah and Gus picked up the speed to leave me behind.
"Maybe," I called toward them but they were all ready way ahead.
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There was a chorus of happy screams as I walked into school.
"Happy birthday," Annie told after giving me a big hug. Briel was still standing a little behind Annie tapping her foot. She was trying to pretend to still be mad at me about not telling her who Jake's going to ask out.
"Girl get over here! You ain't all that and a bag of chips," I called to her laughing.
"You're right... she gotta soda on da side!" Skya said laughing. Coming toward me from behind. She gave me a big hug and whispered, "Happy birthday."
Briel laughed and came over to hug me saying,"Happy birthday little miss secret keeper!" She had a smirk on her face.
"Where's Hannah," I asked suddenly, confused that she wasn't here.
"She's by your locker waiting to give you your gift," Annie told me sweetly. I walked over to my locker and sure enough, there Hannah was with an envelope. She ran up to me yelling,"Happy 17th birthday Benna Penington. Now open it!" She shoved the envelope in my face. I opened to find 40$ to Hollister. They had all chip in 10 bucks.
"Thank you guys so much! You're all going shopping with me this weekend," I told them. It doesn't take much to get them to go shopping with you.
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It was lunch now and i was getting sick of hearing happy birthday.
"Hey guys why don't we go sit over there with those 3," I said pointing to Miah, Gus and Brinson.
"Why are you dating him now?" Hannah asked me.
"Of course not. I just told them I'd sit with them today," I answered her, trying not to show my eagerness to sit with Miah.
"Sounds good to me. That boy is fine!" Briel said looking toward Gus.
"Hey babe is it all right if we sit with those guys over there?" Skya asked her boyfriend Drew after he came behind her hugging her waist.
"Anything for my darling," Drew sadi back to her kissing her lips.
"Please! Get a room!" Briel yelled at the two, everybody laughing. Suddenly Jake came up to Annie. He looked over toward me and winked so I gave him the thumbs up.
"Hey Annie," He said like he was about to ask her something really important.
"Yeah Jake?"
I was wondering if you'd...um..." he looked back at me and I waved my hand as in to say go on. Annie was looking at him nervously now with her big blue eyes. "Would you go out with me?"
"Yes," she yelled hugging him.
"Yes?" he quustioned surprised, making sure he heard her right.
"Yes," Annie repeated. We were all sharing glances sayin aww. The two started talking to each other and we all grabbed our lunch and went to sit with the 3 bikers.
"Damn sweetcheeks. I didn't know you had all these sexy friends a yurs. Come here baby," Brinson said to Hannah rubbing the seat next to him. They started talking right away when Briel went over to sit with Gus.
"Hey!" Miah called to me.
"Hey," I answered as I walked over to sit across from him.
"Sorry about those guys. They're not the best behaved," he told me a little ashamed.
"Oh It's fine," I giggled. After that we just talked about random things, like our hobbies, and favorites. The bell rang, indicating that lunch was over.
I called over to everyone," Anyone that wants, Hannah and I are getting ice cream for my birthday after school!"
"It's yo birthday, Sweetcheeks?" Brinson asked," I guess we have to come then, don't we?"
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It was about 9 o'clock when Hannah drove me home from ice cream and hanging out with everyone. I had opened my gifts from my parents the night before so I could go out with all of my friends. Hannah walked up to my house with me. Right away I noticed something was wrong when I stepped inside. There was no typing on my dad's computer and no running water indicating that my mom was cleaning the dishes. I looked outside and realised that my dad;s car was gone. when I turned toward Hannah she had a piece of paper in her hand and a single tear running down her cheek.
"I'm so sorry Benna," she said, looking into my eyes. I liked how she called me my full name, Benna, all the time instead of Ben or Benny . It made her feel close to me.
"About what?" I asked, even though I all ready new what it was.
"Your brother died." Those words just rang through my head like when the clock strikes 12 and the giant bell at the church swings back and forth. I was shocked. I didn't shed one tear though. I just stood there, numb and cold. The temperature automatically dropped 30 degrees where I was standing.
"It says he sacrificed himself, to save the rest of the troops." She choked when she said to save. Thats when she grabbed both of my arms from the side of me and pulled me upstairs to my bed. She sat me on the bed and we both lied down, the sides of our heads touching. We never turned the lights on so it was pitch back except for a couple cars passing down the street. Hannah took in a long, deep, unsteady breath. I passed out after that and the only words that lingered through my head that night were," your brother died."
