• Intro
    It is so hard to say goodbye, but for me it was harder to say hello. I was seven when I met Shira. She was ten. We became friends through our parents. Once we reached high school we started dating. She was diagnosed with cancer at age seventeen. At that time I was fourteen and a freshman. I was going through a lot already; the transition to high school and now this. My mother and father were also getting a divorce at the time. Everything felt like my world was falling apart. I wasn’t trying to be selfish but this was my world and this I not how I wanted it to be like. I tried to make a change.
    ONE
    “Mom I’m going to school.” It’s my first year in high school and I just started dating my best friend Shira.
    “Okay honey. I will see you when you get home.” I hate when she calls me Honey. Why do parents always have pet names for their children? No one likes to be referred to as a bee or nectar. I remember how last year in eighth grade. My mom ended up having to drop me off, big mistake. I should have walked. Anyway, I had forgotten my lunch in the car and my mom thought it would be cool to yell.
    “Honey you forgot your lunch!” Um…Really, did she have to embarrass me in front of the whole school? For the next few weeks after that incident people (even Shira) called me honey.
    While I was walking to the bust stop I noticed Shira had called me. *86 was the number to dial voicemail.
    “One new voicemail, if you would like to listen to your messages press one.” The voice recorder for voicemail sounds like she’s dying. It takes forever to get to voicemail and then reply with a phone call. Personally I like texting. Shira doesn’t so I call her.
    Her message said, “Hey its Shira…listen I really need to talk to you. I can’t tell you over the phone…I…I.” She sounded like she was about to cry. That’s all she said was I.
    I quickly ran to the bus stop and demanded the driver to hurry.
    “Excuse me sir you need to calm down,” said the teacher that ended up on our bus. I questioned it. Why was a teacher on our bus? Thinking back, now I remember. About last week Friday there was this fight between some of the boys that sat in the front of the bus. I didn’t know them. Supposedly the fight was so bad one kid had internal bleeding. The bus driver refused to drive without an extra adult. The bus company really didn’t have the money to fire them either. It was a small town and budgets were tight.
    Ignoring the bus driver I headed to the back of the bus to where Morris was sitting.
    “Hey man, what was that all about?” I couldn’t hear what Morris had said. I was too worried about Shira.
    “Sorry, what was that?” I had questioned.
    “Why did you just freak out to the bus driver?”
    “Oh, that was nothing. I will tell you more about it later.”
    The bus pulled up to another stop and that’s when Bethanie had gotten on. Bethanie was the girlfriend of Morris. She was also seventeen like Shira. You see Beth and Shi could never get along, not since Morris had this huge crush on Shi. Beth was jealous. In seventh grade Beth actually started a cat fight with her. I ended up recording the whole thing. It was hilarious. Beth got the snot kicked out of her. Youtube here we come. The video had gotten around 1,002,321 views. Once the principle saw it he made me take it off the internet.
    “Hey baby boo.” Beth called Morris that anytime she had seen him for the first time that day.
    I got up off the bus seat so Beth could sit by Mo. Beth and Mo were just there nicknames. The bus had come to another stop and I ran out. Shi met me at her locker. She then grabbed my arm and brought me out to the court yard. I was even more worried. Why would we need to talk in private? Oh lord, I hope she’s not pregnant. My mom would kill me. I’m not sure why that was the first thing that popped into my head. We started to talk. Well I did.
    “Shira what’s wrong you got me worried.” I was itching for an answer but she was stone quite. “Hello? Shira didn’t you have to tell me something? Your message worried me.”
    “Yeah, I do. I’m just not sure of how. Okay Sam I went to the doctor because I have been sick for some time now and wanted medicine for it. Once I got to the hospital they had test done. I even had my blood drawn. You of all people know how much I hate needles. Anyway after all of that they found that I…I have cancer. Leukemia if you want to get specific.” I was shaking. I couldn’t say a word and when it did come out it was dumber than I had anticipated.
    “Oh cool.” Wow could I be any dumber?
    “Wait what? Cool? You think cancer is cool?” Shira wasn’t mad she was more confused.
    “Uh no, what I wanted to say how you couldn’t have cancer. Before when we weren’t saying a word I thought you were going to tell me you were pregnant. The oh cool was because I’m glad you weren’t. Now I’m upset that you aren’t. I would rather have you be pregnant than have cancer.” Another oops what was I trying to say? I was so scared at that point I didn’t know what to say. I guess I would be better just keeping my mouth shut from here than rambling off.
    “Sam I’m not sure I understand you?”
    “I’m sorry none of that meant to come out. I’m scared and I didn’t know what to say, so I babbled on.
    “It’s okay. Promise me you won’t leave me if things get too complicated. Promise me that you won’t tell anybody. You can tell your parents. Make sure this doesn’t spread around like wild fire. I need to stay at school. I want to be able to still play sports. Most of all I don’t want anybody treating me like I’m glass and easy to break.” She seemed more worried than I was.
    “I promise.” I said
    We walked to class together in silence. Once we reached the doors to her classroom I kissed her forehead goodbye. Instead of going to class my body worked its way to my locker. Grabbing all my stuff and walking out of school. I’m not sure why but I couldn’t be there anymore. It was sad. It was the place my girlfriend told me she had Leukemia. If just if she ever was taken away from me, I think I would die. Now her dying is all that I can think about, unfortunately.
    With all my stuff I walked to the lake. Skipping rocks is something that got my mind off things. So, that’s what I did. As seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours I started hearing sirens. They became louder and louder, then passing me. I thought about Shira and ran back to the school. There was an ambulance and a police car. There was even a fire truck. Strange but they were all there. Everyone was surrounded outside. I looked into the ambulance and there Shira was, laying there with an oxygen mask on. Trying to hop in the ambulance somebody grabbed me.
    “Sir, I’m sorry but you are not family and cannot be in here.” It was a paramedic.
    TWO
    “No,” I yelled. “I will not get out and just leave her scared and alone. You will bring Shira and myself to the hospital. She needs somebody with her.” The paramedic didn’t say a word. He just shut the doors and got into the driver seat.
    “Sam, thank you. Thank you for not leaving me.” She said taking her oxygen mask off.
    “Never,” I put her mask back on. I then kissed her forehead once again.
    Once we reached the hospital I thought I should tell her parents myself. It is easier to take in things that happened from someone that’s close to you. Grabbing my phone I dialed there number. A woman picked up. It didn’t sound like her mom. Now thinking I remember they have a maid. Must have been her. She handed the phone to Shira’s father.
    “Yes?” Shira’s dad said. I had a nickname for him to. It was baldy. Clever, I know. After all he was bald. Shira never told me his real name. It doesn’t bother me either.
    “Shira was just brought to the hospital. She wants you to come. I want you to come. She sick and you should come see your daughter.”
    “No, I can’t. I have things I need to be doing.” Wow, and I thought I was selfish.
    “No, that’s not going to fly. You will come to the hospital and help your daughter. The hospital room number is 143. You will be here in 10 minutes.” I felt demanding. It scared me a little. I had so much hate inside. I wanted to blame somebody for giving cancer to Shira. I know it’s not spreadable through the air or anything, but I needed somebody to blame.
    Wow look at that. Its ten minutes later and baldy has just entered the room. Honestly I didn’t think he would show up. Shira’s father is a lawyer. Right now I guess he has this huge murder case and has to defend the alleged killer. Suspect, whatever you want to call it.
    Shira was asleep. I left the room to go out and buy gifts for her. Buying jewelry was hard for me. But, I did it anyway. I had bought silver and gold necklaces. The necklaces both had half a heart. When you put them together they made one. Shira was allergic to real gold so I took the silver. Chocolate was her favorite pick me up. I bought some of that also.
    Walking to the hospital felt like forever. I couldn’t believe all this was happening. All of my emotions are going wild. I thought only girls felt this way. Guess not. I would have never thought in a million years Shira would get cancer.
    Getting back to the hospital I noticed Shi was awake. Those bright blue eyes of hers shimmered like the son and could make anyone blind. They were more beautiful when they reflected off of the water. Slowly I walked toward her, then handing her the necklace. After opening that I handed her the chocolates.
    “If we put our necklaces together they become one.” I told her.
    “Oh, thank you.” Shira smiled.
    The next morning arrived and Shira was to be discharged at ten a.m. Turns out she was okay. (Besides the fact she had cancer), Shira had blacked out. I made a plan with Shira the night before to go to the amusement park. On our way there my mom called.
    “Hello,” I said.
    “Sam please come home, please.”
    “Mom what’s wrong?”
    “I will tell you everything once you get here.” I then herd a dial tone. She didn’t even say bye or anything. What if something was really wrong? A burglary or maybe there is a storm and the powers out.
    Shira understood once I told her. I brought Shira home first, once we entered Gorilla Creek. I then went home. As I entered the driveway I noticed a bunch of boxes and stuff just sitting there. Then walking into the house my mom was sitting on the sofa and bawling. Her crying was unusual for me to see. She started to speak but I couldn’t hear a word she said. I decided to wait till she calmed down. I wanted so badly to know what was wrong. Seeing my family hurt emotionally hurts me to.