3. New friends
"Hey, guys!" Kevin said, approaching the gang who was standing next to the lockers at the main high school hall. "Sup, Kev," Matt said and fist-bumped Kevin. "I have some friends who would love to meet you," Kevin explained.
"Nice, I'd love to," Kirstie said.
"Sweet. When?" Scott asked.
"At lunch, we will meet them at our table," Kevin explained.
"How many friends?" Mitch asked as he was a little worried about meeting new people.
"5, just like us. They are like a gang as well," Kevin said, chuckling, and the five of them started walking to their classes.
At lunchtime, the gang sat down at their usual table, waiting for Kevin and his friends. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my gang, my best friends," Kevin said to his friends.
"Let me introduce you to everyone. We have Matt, the youngest; Mitch, the funniest; Kirstie, the girl; and Scott, our leader," he said, pointing to each member of the gang.
"It's a pleasure to meet you guys, Kevin has told us a lot about you," A girl with pale skin and green eyes said.
Kevin introduced his friends to the gang: Leigh seemed to be the leader, she had pale skin and green eyes; then was Sarah, who had darker skin with brown hair and eyes; then was Ben, who also had pale skin, but was a brunette like Mitch; then was Beau, who had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and lastly was Mark, a Filipino guy with black hair and brown eyes.
"So, Kevin told us you guys met at the hospital?" Sarah asked, kind of surprised.
"We did, we became very close friends there," Matt explained.
"If you don't mind me asking, why were you in the hospital? We already know why Kevin was there, he needed a heart transplant," Ben asked, curiously.
"I needed a kidney transplant due to acute kidney failure," Kirstie explained.
"I had a tibial osteosarcoma and had to get my leg amputated," Matt said and then showed his prosthetic leg to the others who didn't know what to say.
"Scotty and I had leukemia," Mitch said, and Scott nodded.
"But, y'all are better now, right?" Beau asked. Everyone in the gang hesitated, they didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, we are," Scott lied, and the others looked at him relieved.
"What did you guys do for fun there?" Mark asked.
"We would meet at the hospital lounge and hang there, sometimes in our rooms, or the hospital park. We were together most of the time," Mitch answered, kissing Scott's hand. He saw that Beau's question made him uncomfortable, even though he didn't mean to.
"Are you guys dating?" Leigh asked with a smile.
"We are, Kirstie and Matt are too," Scott answered. "I'm the third wheel here," Kevin said, and everyone chuckled.
"That's nice. Luckily here, being gay is not a big deal," Beau said and Mitch and Scott raised their eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" they asked in unison.
"Yeah, everyone is cool with it. Though you gotta be careful with PDA, teachers don't like that," Mark warned and everyone nodded.
"I have one more question for you guys," Leigh said. "How did you form the group?"
"It all started with Scott, he was the first one in the hospital, then he met Mitch in the chemo room, then Kirstie, Avi, and I in the hallways, and Matt was his roommate," Kevin answered, looking at Leigh with sparkling eyes.
"Who's Avi?" Ben asked, surprising the gang. They all looked at each other and nodded, confusing the other group.
"Avi was our friend...he had a liver problem and once he got very sick. That unfortunately caused him to pass away," Scott explained slowly and the other group was shocked. "I'm sorry, I asked. I didn't mean to upset you," Ben apologized quickly, feeling bad.
"It's ok. You didn't know. He is in a better place now though...it did hurt when he passed, but we are all doing better now," Kirstie explained.
The gang was outside of the school building, waiting for their parents to pick them up. "Thanks, Kev for introducing us to your friends," Matt said and put his arm around Kevin. Scott then noticed how tall Matt has gotten, he was shorter than Mitch when he arrived, and now he is almost as tall as Mitch.
"I'm glad you liked them. We could all be friends," Kevin suggested.
"Yeah, it would be nice," Kirstie said.