Girl In Red (R.HALE)

10

She looked across the parking lot, catching site of Eric, Mike, Jess and Angela. 

"Hey, I've, uh, got to go," she said, turning back to Alice and smiling. "It was nice to meet you." 

"You too!" Alice called as Leigh walked away. 

"Leigh!" Emmett shouted. "That's your name!" 

She twirled round as she walked, giving him a round of applause. "Proud of you." 

"Thank you!" 

She rolled her eyes, heading toward the group gathered by Jess' car. 

"Monte Carlo?" Jess said, sounding unimpressed as Eric handed her a flyer. "That's our prom theme?" 

"Gambling, tuxedos," Eric said, flashing Leigh a friendly smile and stuffing a flyer into her hand as she fell in beside Angela. "And Bond. James Bond." 

Leigh looked down at the flyer, eyebrow quirked. It could be a fun theme. 

"Oh my God." 

Everyone looked up, hearing the genuine shock in Angela's voice and following her eye line. 

The familiar silver Volvo pulled into the parking lot. Leigh frowned at first, unsure as to why Angela was so surprised, but she saw the chocolate brown hair and pale cheeks of the passenger. 

"No fucking way," Leigh mumbled. 

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen got out of the car, walking around it and falling into step beside one another, Edward slinging his arm around Bella's shoulders. Edward wore a pair of sunglasses and an uncharacteristic smirk on his face, whilst Bella looked just as embarrassed as ever. 

"What?" Jess whispered. "When did that happen?" 

Leigh shook her head, blinking. 

She had no idea. 

~~~

Leigh pressed the butts of her palms against her closed eyes, waiting for the coloured sparks to dissipate into total blackness. 

She was having a bad day. 

The joint pain had come back with a vengeance. Walking out of class and to the bathrooms had felt like a million little needles were being shoved into her knees with each step, to the point where her head started to spin. 

A part of her had thought that Dr Cullen had made a mistake with her blood tests, before. She had thought her leukaemia couldn't possibly be back, as she didn't have any symptoms. But, then there was the nosebleed on the night her parents told her. And the night sweats two days after that. Now, the joint pain. 

She felt the sudden urge to cry. 

She wanted to speak to Bella. She was the only one who knew. But, she couldn't just pull her out of class. Mostly, because she didn't know if she could walk to the building she would be in that period. Getting to one of the toilet cubicles had been hard enough, let alone trekking across campus. Plus, it seemed Bella was preoccupied with Edward. 

Her eyes started to sting. She pulled her hands away, staring up at the ceiling as if tilting her head would stop her from crying. 

She couldn't do it again. 

She couldn't go to the hospital everyday. She could barely force herself to go to the hospital once a month for the checkups, before that blood test. 

Bella and Edward had sat together at lunch. Alone. 

Leigh wasn't sure why it irritated her so much to see them together.