Josh's POV
Annie's break up news excited me. Apparently, she had been thinking about it for a few days. I am truly happy for her but should I be this ecstatic? To celebrate, we headed to the carnival in town. I rode the roller coaster with Connor and split a sundae with Annie. Connor kept making faces at us for being so "disgustingly" close. Annie stuck her tongue out at him and I just laughed it off. She's my best friend. Duh we're this close.
When it was time to go back, I took the extra mile and walked her home. The minute she steps inside and the second we turned the corner to our house, Connor shot me a dirty look. "You didn't tell her, did you?" he says. I avoided his glare and kept quiet. "I knew it." He says. "It's her birthday, Connor. Another time." I say but deep down, I know it was not good enough an excuse.
He shook his head, unlocking the door to our house. "Mom, we're back." He says. Our parents were seated in the dining room, both quietly picking at their food. "Just in time for dinner." I force a smile, trying to ease the awkward tension. I walked over and sat down. They hadn't bothered to look up once. Connor was already busy with scooping soup from the pot. "Hey, mom. Hey, dad." I say. My mom smiles but it immediately disappears when my dad looked up to nod.
"This is good stuff, mom. Really good." Connor appears, sitting down beside my mom, drinking from the bowl. "Thank you. Josh aren't you going to get something to eat?" My mom says. "Yeah." This is so awkward.
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"Joshua?"
Uh oh. My dad only ever calls me by my full name when he has something important to say. I put a bookmark in between the pages and looked up from my book. After the silent dinner, I shot upstairs and hid in the safety of my room.
"Yeah, dad?" I say. In his hand is a brown envelope. He sits himself on the corner of my bed and sighs. "I got the results and.." He doesn't finish. "And what?" I say. Curious, I inched a little closer. He pulls out some paper from the envelope and hands me a piece to read. "It's not getting any better. Your mom and I got a call this afternoon while you were out. The doctor said that it's not going to be easy to take in but..." He says, a tear forming in the corner of his eyes.
I read the result slip and my heart stopped. Just as I expected. No change. The thing is only getting worse. I let the paper slip from my fingers and I let out a long exasperated sigh. "Whatever. You and I know this is never going to work. No matter how many doctors we go to, the results are still going to be the same." I looked my dad in the eye and I see tears rolling down his worn wrinkly face.
My family has been struggling for some time now. Ever since I felt the lump until now, they haven't stopped worrying. The doctors had confirmed what I knew I had from the moment I felt the lump. Cancer. And there is nothing I can do about it. It's not that I couldn't afford treatment, I just thought that if this is my fate, who am I to try to change it? I hugged my dad and we both cried silently for awhile. This is what I can't tell Annie. She deserves to be happy, not worrying for me.
(This chapter is kinda short- sorry- but I'll make up for it in the next. :) I hope you guys enjoyed it.)