My last day being as a fifth-grader went great, I couldn’t wait to give Ms. Flowers the present me and Amber had made her. Ms. Flowers got a little emotional as she gave us some last tips on how to take on middle school. The bell rang and everyone rushed out except for me and Amber, we waited for everyone to walk out and finally pulled out the present from Amber’s backpack. Ms. Flowers loved it. She looked deeply into each photo and complimented her for the work she had done.
“You’re really good Amber, I mean it,” she said. Ms. Flowers pulled out the tape and taped her present next to her whiteboard. She smiled at it and turned around to talk to Amber.
“I have a friend that teaches music at James T. Middle School, I’m going to ask her if there’s any art class that you can attend,” she told Amber, which was getting all the credit. I didn’t mind, I had been the one with the idea for Ms. Flowers’ surprise, but if it weren’t for Amber’s outstanding talent, it wouldn’t have been possible. Ms. Flowers called her friend over at James. T Middle School and asked her all about an art program for Amber.
Mrs. Sanders drove us back and Amber told her all about the art program, and Mrs. Sanders was slowly being convinced that was the school Amber needed to attend. The summer went great for me, three or four times a week I would see Amber and the other days I would be locked in my room reading in a really cool book about space I had found in dad’s stuff. Reading deeper and deeper into the book, I got so obsessed with it. The chapter about ‘Black Holes’ had me asking hundreds of questions. It was a big book, and I was nearly half done with it by the end of the summer. I didn’t plan on becoming a nerd; I didn’t feel like one either, but something inside me wanted to keep learning things. Two weeks before the school year started, I went to the library all by myself and got myself a library card.
“That card will come really handy when you’re in middle school,” said the librarian. I borrowed three books that day, a novel and two big dictionary-looking books about outer space. I couldn’t wait for middle-school to start.
Chapter Fifteen
Amber: I’m sorry to say my best friend Noah became a nerd over summer. He had read the outer space bible, and had borrowed part two and three from the public library. The boy was obsessed with it. I related his obsession with mines of taking photos of everything I could. When we saw each other all we talked about was space and photos. Noah was more excited than me about middle-school, he got a haircut the day before the school year started and I have to admit he did look cute. His hair had completely grown back and he had the perfect haircut. I was worried about our friendship, Noah was nice and I knew he’d draw lots of attention in middle-school and possibly make lots of new friends. I in the other hand knew that I couldn’t make new friends even if a dedicated myself to it.
The first day of middle-school had arrived and Noah was outside my house waiting on me so we could walk to school. It was a much longer walk; Noah had a parachute looking new backpack on and a big smile on his face the entire way.
“You’re excited aren’t you?” I asked knowing the answer.
Noah smiled and nodded. He walked faster as we reached our new school. Lots of teenagers were outside the front door and others were spread out throughout the field. I felt tiny around some of the eight graders. A group of boys played basketball in the basketball court and they looked huge. Noah couldn’t stop looking around; he was looking at all the new faces while I tried to hide from all of them. I slowed down and let Noah continue walking without me. I stood next to a group that looked as scared as me and did everything they did. Noah was still walking into the deeps of the school. It took him sometime to notice I wasn’t by his side. He looked around for me. I wanted to scream at him but didn’t want to draw any attention. My new wig was itching and I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring. Noah was desperately looking for me still so I decided to go after him. I bumped into a tall girl, who seemed to not notice me, as I reached Noah I saw her, Skylar and her group of friends standing so close and speaking so loud so the older boys next to them could hear them. Skylar hadn’t changed much over summer. Angelina had grown a couple of inches and Lily had started using red lip-gloss. I turned around and tried to walk away but before I could the bell rang and the entire crowd walked my way into the front door. I thought about pulling my schedule out but there was too many people around to try it. I placed one hand over my head and walked out of the crowd and into the cafeteria my schedule only had the first hour marked and it said: HOMEROOM with Mr. Kowalski Room#307. I fixed my wig and asked the closest adult where I could find room 307.
“Take this long hallway down and take a left next to the library,” said the janitor. I tried to look down as I walked by the long hallway but a boy looking down on his schedule nearly bumped on me.
“Sorry,” he said stretching out his hands. The boy had blue eyes and had the nicest smile I’ve seen. I let him walk in front of me and saw some girls walk next to him and giggle as they walked right past him. I kept walking looking for the library but what the boy wore was so unique it was hard not to look at him. He looked like a rich boy, he wore black shoes, black pants and a light blue long sleeve that was tucked into his pants and a black leather jacket stuck out of his backpack. The boy turned left and so did I, for a moment I forgot where I was going. It was the teacher standing outside a classroom holding a tiny whiteboard that had written ‘Room 305’ that remind me where I was going. The boy stopped and so did I. He checked the paper and asked the tall man outside of Room 307 is he was Mr. Kowalski.
“Correct,” answered Mr. Kowalski.
“Wait here,” he said as the rest of the students arrived. Mr. Kowalski’s classroom was filled with newspapers and old looking documents hanged in the walls. He finally let us and wrote his name on the green board. It was easy to say Mr. Kowalski was old and possibly a history teacher. I took a seat in the third row and soon the entire room was full.
“This will be your homeroom,” he said out loud.
“I will hand each of you your schedules that you will follow until they are changed,” he said. The more Mr. Kowalski talked the more of an accent he got. I looked for the boy that I had followed but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Mr. Kowalski confirmed what I had predicted, he was a history teacher. I looked at my schedule for the week, Monday: Homeroom History, Math, Science S/S, English, Foreign Language, P.E, and Arts. The first four filled most of it and I had Arts on Monday’s and Thursday’s. Mr. Kowalski had us introduce ourselves after he handed everyone their schedules. I learned the name of the boy that I had followed here. Levi, Levi Goldberg. I didn’t learn any other name than his. I didn’t listen to what none of my classmates said. But I listened to every word Levi Goldberg had to say. He loved music. He played the guitar and the piano and sang a little. He’s from New York. Even Mr. Kowalski is impressed. The ball rang and I was out in the hallway again looking for Room 406 now where I would have literacy. The rest of day was just another day at a public school. I was excited for Arts class in my last period but first I had to go through P.E. The gym was big, enough to have at least fifty students having class all at once. I saw Noah on the hallway for the first time in the day.
“Hey!” I called from inside the gym.
“P.E for last period?” he asked. I nodded.
“Me too!” he screamed. It was great to at least share one class with Noah; the bad thing was we saw Skylar walk in too. Her army followed closed behind and they laughed at some kid whose backpack was bigger than him.
Mr. Stewart had all sit down on the basketball court and told what we had to bring tomorrow.
“Bring comfortable clothes, you will have ten minutes to change before the class begins,” he explained. Mr. Stewart was getting ready to explain the rules of the gym when he got interrupted by a boy that came screaming in.
“I’m sorry I’m late!” he screamed.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. Once closer I noticed the boy was Levi. The entire class looked at him.
“Wh
at is your name?” asked Mr. Stewart.
“Levi Goldberg,” he answered.
“I’m sorry to say you owe me five laps tomorrow Mr. Goldberg, GYM rules sit down and listen to the rest of them.”
Levi was the center of attention, something about him made you stare at him; well at least it did for me. The rest of P.E was boring. I said bye to Noah and headed for Arts which was in the basement. A total of thirty three students filled Room 101 in the basement hallway. Mrs. M was the arts teacher and she was great. She loved all kinds of arts and she promised she will make us love art too.
I would have had a good first day at middle-school it weren’t for that horrible ache I had in my stomach right after school. I told Noah about it and he called his mom to pick us up.
“I’ll call you later,” said Noah as he and his mom drove off. Mom asked me from a one to ten how much it hurt and at that time it was only a five.
“Do you want to wait for your dad?” she asked. I shook my head and curled myself up into the couch. I found a position where the pain went down to a three. Grace arrived moments later and saw me curled up like a roly-poly.
“What’s wrong?” she asked with an attitude. I tried to answer but trying to talk caused the pain to go up to a five again.
“Severe stomach aches,” answered mom from the kitchen. Grace rolled her eyes and sat next to me and turned the T.V on.
“Anything you want to watch?” she asked. I didn’t mean to be rude but it really hurt me to talk. I shook my head in response but she didn’t see me. Something in my stomach felt different I hadn’t felt like this never in my life.
“You don’t think it’s… that do you?” asked Grace towards mom.
“I don’t think so, she’s too young,” mom answered. I had no idea what they talked about. The only thing in my mind was the pain. With the position I was in the pain was no longer a three or a four it felt more like a five or a six, the pain grew. I tried to curl some more but it only made it worse. Mom noticed and tried to help me up. The pain was now at an eight and each time it felt more and more.
“Ahhhhhhh!” I screamed. Grace jumped up from the couch and mom began freaking out. I was in pain, lots of pain. I felt as if knives were going inside my back. My back hurt more than my stomach now and it wouldn’t go away.
“Let’s take you to the hospital,” said mom. She must have said it really slow or I was losing the ability to hear. She and Grace tried carrying me up from the couch but they couldn’t hold me up. I saw mom dialing in her phone as fast as she could. She screamed into it but I couldn’t hear anything she said. A loud buzzing sound was in my ears and soon everything started becoming dark. I wanted to tell mom, the pain was still there but it didn’t bother me so much. My eyes slowly closed and soon everything went black.
I woke up to a fresh smell and a room filled with white walls. Am I dead? I asked myself. I wasn’t. The room was empty. I tried getting up but I was too weak to do so. Mom rushed in as she saw me awake.
“Amber,” she said surprised. Her eyes were red and she wore the same clothes from my blackout.
“What happened?” I asked. Mom shook her head and the tears slipped down her face. I triggered something inside her; whatever had happened to me mom already knew. Dad came in next and he had the same look mom did, the sorry look. Dad didn’t say anything they held each other and looked down on me. I raised my hand and touched my face. It was warm. I had no wig on and my stomach felt empty. I saw Grace through the window and she sprinted in the room and hugged me.
“Amber, you’re okay,” she said enthusiastic. Whatever had happened to me Grace didn’t know. I fell asleep that night not saying a word to mom and dad. I woke up around three to a doctor poking my left arm with a needle.
“Stay still,” he said.
“What happened to me?” I asked looking at mom who lay asleep in the couch next to me. The doctor looked at mom and then at me and shook his head.
“Your doctor will be here in the morning,” he said.
“He can explain. Until then get some rest,” he suggested. I wanted to know what had happened to me and I wanted to know now.
“Mom, mom,” I said trying to wake her.
“Mom, Mom!” I screamed loud enough to wake her. She spun of the couch and focused on me,
“What happened to me?” I asked. Mom shook her head again and touched my face.
“Dr. Nahal will be here in the morning, he will tell me,” I said. Mom began crying and she cleared her throat to talk.
“I’d rather you tell me mom,” I said. Mom tried to hold together but the tears ran down her face like the day when they had first diagnosed me.
“It’s okay mom you can tell me,” I said. Mom tried to stay still but it was impossible. I could go hours with chemotherapy, seeing mom like this is what really hurt me the most.
“It’s your stomach,” she finally said.
“The cancer has spread,” she said crying. I didn’t know that to say. I didn’t feel any different. I felt the same as weeks before.
“It will all be okay,” I said. I hugged mom and made room for her in my bed. The crying slowly stopped and we both fell asleep. We were woken by Dr. Nahal and a few others in the room. Mom sat next to me while Dr. Nahal moved closer. He always had a big smile and so did those around him.
“Morning sleepy head,” he said. I wasn’t in the mood to go along with Dr. Nahal’s silly comments and he noticed it fast. He explained what mom had told me a few hours earlier and he’d probably expect me to be sad but I wasn’t, I was over it. The way Dr. Nahal called it was ‘Adenocarcinoma’ he explained it was the cancer that starts in the glands that line the inside of our organs. In my case it was my stomach. Dad walked in a few minutes later and Dr. Nahal explained them both about the chemo I would need. Dad asked something I had never heard him ask before.
“Will she need surgery?” he asked.
“Not for now,” said Dr. Nahal. I thought about school, and the way this new cancer would affect me. I didn’t want it to, I wanted to attend on a regular basis and get good grades. For the first time in the day I thought about Noah, I wanted to see him. I wanted him to tell me about his first day at school, I wanted him to make me feel better; I wanted him to make me laugh.
Grace came to visit me after school, I told her all about my first day in Middle School and she told me all about a new boy in her class. I wanted to be in school, I wanted to meet the rest of my teachers and experience everything in my art class.
“I told Noah you were here,” said Grace.
“You did what?” I asked but before Grace could answer Noah was in my door waiting on me to welcome him in.
“Hey,” he said holding another get well soon balloon.
“Hey,” I said.
“I’ll be outside with mom and dad,” said Grace. Noah didn’t know what had happened to me and I wasn’t planning on telling him either. I didn’t want to ruin his first week of Middle School.
“How was your second day?” I asked Noah hoping to get a long answer.
“It was great!” he said excited.
“I think we have a second class together!” he shouted.
“Which one?” I asked.
“Health Class and Mrs. Hall is awesome!” he screamed. Already Noah was making me feel better and I still hadn’t seen what he had for me in his pocket.
“I’ve been saving up for this for a long time,” he said pulling out a small box from his pocket.
“Don’t get me wrong I just wanted to you something that me and you can share. That way no matter where I am you’ll be reminded I’m there with you,” he said. I opened the small box and inside found two heart necklaces broken in half. One half had an ‘N’ and the other had an ‘A’.
“I love it,” I said. Noah grabbed the one with the ‘N’ and asked me to put it on him. I was glad, for a second I thought I would wear the ‘N’ and Noah would wear the ‘A’. I placed the necklace on Noah and he placed it on me.
�
�Never take it off,” he said. I nodded and smiled at him.
“As long as we have these on we will always be together,” he added.
The pain in my stomach had gone away; Noah had helped me feel better. He always had the right thing to say and treated me a way only he could. He only asked once how I was feeling and didn’t harass me with lots of questions like others did. He knew I was in pain and he knew it sucked to me in the hospital, but he also knew asking me about it would make me feel worse. I tried to make Noah stay but knew that was impossible. His parents called him around eight and it was time for him to go. After all it was a school night for him.
I begged Mr. Nahal to let me leave, I told him all about my new school. I also asked him for the chemo to be on the weekends.
“I can help you with the dates on the chemo, but I can’t let you go just yet,” he explained.
“I’ll check on you early tomorrow and see how your body is reacting and hopefully you can be out of here by tomorrow,” he added winking at me.
I tried falling asleep fast, dad and Grace came to say goodnight and left home to get some rest. Mom stayed in the couch next to me and we watched a TV show until falling asleep.
Chapter Sixteen
Noah: The day I had been waiting for almost all summer was finally here. I got up early and showered; I had pancakes for breakfast and was ready to go. Dad wished me good luck and so did Nick and mom. Before I left mom said she had a surprise for me and Nick apparently knew what it was.
“Since you’ll be walking home from school and it’s quite far I want to know where you are at all times,” mom said.
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