the bad boy's scared of bugs

Chapter 26- results are in

26|results are in
R I L E Y

"Oh my god I'm too scared to look. You do it for me." Natalie's hand poked out from behind the bathroom door as she handed me a couple used pregnancy tests. I braced myself and took a deep breath before looking down.
"Uhhh...."
"Riley? What does it say?" Natalie called as she washed her hands.
"Wait so let me get this straight, two lines means it's positive right?" I asked again, rummaging for the packaging box.
"Freaking hell, yes it does! Just tell me already."
"Alright alright. Ahem, so guess who's not pregnant!" I smiled. Natalie rushed out of the bathroom to give me a hug.
"HELLS YEAH!"

And thus, we decided to celebrate by eating ice cream and rejoicing over the fact that we weren't going to pay for child support any time soon. That is until...I realised I had important news too.

"Natalie? Yeah...I have something important to tell you. You know why I was so distracted today?" I shuffled in my seat on the couch awkwardly.
"Yeah?"
"Uhh so.... ᴹᵃᵈᵉˡᵉⁱⁿᵉʰᵃˢᶜᵃⁿᶜᵉʳ." I muttered.
"What?" Natalie put down her tub of icecream and faced me, the chocolate forming a brown circle around her mouth.
"Madeleinehasleukaemia." I repeated.
"Riley, I can't hear you unless you speak properly."
"Maddie has leukaemia and I think don't think she's doing so well."

"What? Maddie has what? Please tell me you said lemons and I just misheard you." The look of shock on Natalie's face said everything.
"Leu-kae-mi-a." I said bluntly.
"Oh my god...really? Wow, I was not expecting that."
"Me neither. I bet she wasn't either." I quipped, earning a hit on my arm.
"Should we go visit her?" My best friend asked.
"I don't know...I visited her today and I think I might've overreacted. Shouldn't we wait till she cools down before we go talk it out?" I asked uncertainly.
"Come on, Riley. There's no time like the present." Natalie grabbed my arm as she dragged me off the couch.

Which explains why Natalie and I soon found ourselves outside Maddie's hospital door again.

"Wow, I'm not going to lie, she looks really...different." Natalie commented as she peered through the window.
"We should probably go in to avoid looking like stalkers." I remarked as I pushed open the door.

Maddie, who was reading something, turned her head and looked at us in surprise as we walked towards her.
"Hey." I said, shoving my hands into my front jean pockets.
"Hey." She replied, giving a three fingered wiggle of a greeting.
"Your mum's not here?" I inquired, looking around, realising that Mrs Grey was nowhere in sight."
"She went home to sleep." Maddie explained before looking at the person standing next to me, "Oh, Natalie. You're here too."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad at you for dancing with Jacob." Natalie narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to hide a smile.
"Yeah...sorry..." Maddie replied meekly. We were all surprised how easily the apology came out of her mouth, it was the complete opposite from her old demeanour.
"You're reading a textbook?" I asked incredulously as I looked down at the hefty book that was in her hands.
"Yup, I am. I need to keep up with the curriculum the best I can if I ever get to return to school." Madeleine smiled somewhat bitterly.
"When you return to school." Natalie corrected.
"Excuse me?" Maddie asked.

"As much as I might not like you, I really can't bear to see you like this. Which is why that you will get better and you will return to school." Natalie said firmly.
"Yeah, so you can terrorise us again." I joked lamely, instantly regretting it when I saw the grimace on Maddie's face.
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it." She smiled.
"We'll take turns visiting you right?" I said, shooting a look at Natalie who was nodding in agreement.
"Everyday." She promised.
"I like the sound of that." Maddie grinned.

We chatted and talked and laughed until our stomachs hurt from giggling. Before we knew it, a nurse came in to inform us that visiting hours were over.
"I just wanna say thank you. I was so mean to you two but look how it turned out, you're the only ones from school who are visiting me." Maddie beamed.
"It's no problem." Natalie replied generously as she stood up to leave.
"Get well soon. We'll visit you as soon as we can." I encouraged as I followed her out the door.

M A D D I E

My smiled faded slowly as I watched Riley and Natalie walk out the door. They were already talking about something else and smiling at each other. The same way Riley and I used to be with our friendship.

But I blew it. It was too late, I pushed out my best friend and it's too late to get her back. I wrote myself a script and I had to stick with it.

My mind flitted back to the doctor's words earlier that day:

"Doctor? What are the results? Is Maddie going to be alright?" My mum asked frantically as soon as the doctor stepped into the room holding a clipboard. God damn, why do they always have the identical looking light blue clipboards? Do they teach this at medical school?

"I'm sorry Mrs Grey. Despite our efforts with chemotherapy, the amount of white blood cells in Maddie's body has decreased. Usually it's pretty easy for healthy teens like her to fight off leukaemia but she was diagnosed too late. I'm very sorry..." the doctor nudged his glasses up awkwardly.

"It's fine, thanks anyways." The energy seemed to have drained out of mum as she leaned back in defeat, her face pale. It was as if my results came as a physical hit to her being. The doctor left and it was just the two of us in the room.

"Hey mum...it's going to be ok." I put my hand on hers, the physical contact shook her out of her daze.
"Of course it will be, I gave birth to a winner, you're gonna be ok." She said in a clipped tone.
"I'm gonna be ok." I repeated numbly.
"Sorry darling but I feel a migraine coming on. I'm going home to sleep. You'll be fine yeah?" She said, packing her handbag. Why did it feel like my fault for being sick?
"I'll be fine. I'll call the nurse if I need help."
"Bye. I'll talk to the doctor in the way out to discuss further treatment plans." Mum smiled as she walked towards the door. I saw her rub her eyes with the bottom of her palm as she closed the door behind her. She was crying.

I took out my diary from my bedside cabinet and began to write, ignoring the tears that splattered on the paper.

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Hey guys!

First of all, I can't believe there 4.32k reads on this book! I know i don't really reply but I read all your comments and notifications of y'all adding this book to your reading lists as well as voting. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I know this book has hardly any reads compared to some other ones but 4K means a lot to me!

Ok enough ranting bye!
Hope xx