Chapter One

                             It’s been 381 days. 318 days since I have been out of the hospital. Except for check-ups of course, but still. 381 days that I have been free from pain meds and IV’s. The last 381 days, I have actually enjoyed my life. It still hasn’t made up for the past four years, but it’s getting there.

                                   “Jessie! Don’t forget to take your meds!” I heard my mom’s voice yell from the bottom of the stairs. I rolled my eyes while chuckling to myself.

                                 The thing with my mom, was she was always overprotective. Even before I got sick it was bad. I can’t really blame her though. With three kids, she has a lot to worry about. Especially with my dad on the road all the time. It was hard on her, on all of us, but she’s been strong for us.

                                “Yeah, yeah! Have a good day, I love you!” I called back, voice cracking at the end. I heard her laughing and it caused me to laugh as well.

                                 “You too hun!”

                                I stepped back into my bedroom and collapsed on my bed. The light shining through my window caused me to squint my eyes and turn over onto my side. Everything was so colorful and bright in my room. The walls were a baby blue color, and the rug was a bright green. The dresser was a shade of a light peach and so was the night stand beside my queen sized bed.

                                    It made sense to have color in my room. After months upon months of living at the hospital, my eyes were so accustomed to white. Before I got sick, my room was white with only a few colors. It really irked me. So I decided to redecorate and paint my room. Well I didn’t, my brother and my dad did. I felt bad asking them to do that, but it feels so much better to be in my room now.

                             I heard a soft knock on my door. A few moments later, a little four year old came walking in, carrying his little green dragon, tucked in his small elbow. His dark chocolate brown hair stuck up in certain places, which made it a really bad case of bed head. His soft green eyes had dark circles under them. On any other little boy it wouldn’t be cute, but this one was rocking it.

                          I sat up and pulled him into my lap. “Morning, bud.” I whispered, kissing his head. One thing I have learned from being sick, was that to never take anything for granted. Be grateful for who and what you have.

                      “Morning ,Jessalyn.” Carson yawned, rubbing his eyes. He crawled off my lap and leaned on my pillows. His eyes landed on mine. “Sissy, I’m tired.” He said yawning once again.

                          I chuckled and laid down next to him. “I can see that.” Carson smiled. “What time did you go to bed?” I asked, curious. If it was only eight in the morning, he couldn’t have gone to bed that late. Well, knowing Carson, I could very well be mistaken.

                          “I don’t remember. I was with Jake. We had a sleepover!” His cute little voice got excited at the end, followed by a huge grin.

                              I smiled back, knowing that he went to bed real late. Especially,if he was with Jake.

                         “Thanks for telling, Carson!” I heard a deep but playful voice behind me, causing me to jump. Which they, of course, thought was hilarious. Jake fell on the bed in between me and the little munchkin.

                        “It’s only Jessie. She’s not going to tell!” Carson said with a worried face. “You’re not going to tell right?” His eyes got big with worry, which made me and Jake laugh.

                         “No,bud. I’m not going to tell.” I chuckled, enjoying the company of my brothers.

                         I look at Jake and smiled. His blond hair was all messy and his green eyes were all bloodshot.

                       That’s what you get for having a sleep over with Carson, I thought. Especially, without me.

                            Jake was the oldest of us three. But only by a few minutes. Jake and I were twins, but we looked nothing alike. His blonde hair and green eyes were completely different from my brown hair and blue eyes. The only thing we had in common from our looks, was our noses and mouths. That’s about it. Not even to mention our personalities. He was the jock, the guy who had all the girls swooning over him, and I was the girl who was filled with sarcasm and awkwardness. We were both nice to everybody though, just when someone pisses us off, then you know to back off. That’s just the way the Ryder’s do it. That’s how we’ve always done it.

                         “Jake, why aren’t you at school?” I asked, realizing that it was Wednesday, a school day. “Our senior year just started, and you’re already missing a day.”  I looked at him with concerning eyes.

                            He just shrugged. “I could ask you the same question.” He winked. “Hah, no. I actually stayed home today, to help you get ready for tomorrow.”

                            My eyes went wide. I had completely forgotten about tomorrow. It was the first time in five years that I’m going to attend school. I groaned in frustration and slammed my head back into my pillow.

                         “Great.” I mumbled, excited at the very least. I stared at my ceiling, wondering what the hell I was going to do.

                       I heard Jake whisper to Carson, but I chose to ignore it. Little feet scampered off my bed, and out  of the room, leaving Jake and I. I felt him take Carson’s place and for a few moments it was silent.

                         “You’re going to have to go sometime.” He said softly.

                        “Yeah, but sometime doesn’t have to be tomorrow.” I whispered closing my eyes. I didn’t know what to feel. For five years, I was homeschooled. And now, I actually have to go to a school. With people. The last few years, I haven’t around people much. Hospital nurses, doctors, and family. Only a few of my friends actually visited me. Which I didn’t care if they did or not, I just didn’t want them to see me sick.

                          He sighed. “If it helps, they don’t know that you were sick.” Jake’s voice held concern, which made me feel bad.

                              “How do they not know? I was gone for five years.” I asked. “Even a few girls came to see me.”

                 “Well thanks to your kick a*s brother, I told everyone that you were homeschooled. I wasn’t exactly lying either. And also, I told the girls to keep it on the down low.”

                                  I smiled to myself, extremely happy to have a brother like him.

                                “You know, there is someone else who is really excited to see you.” Jake added, humor in his voice. I glanced over at him and cocked an eyebrow. “Hunter.” He finished.

                           I sat up quickly remembering my best friend. I haven’t seen him in a while and he was the only one I let see me on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. Recently, I told him not to worry about me because he has to worry about school and stuff, but still. I missed him like crazy.

                           “Okay, that makes it a little better.” I admitted, smiling.

                            “I thought so.” Jake winked. “No one will find out that you had cancer.”

Author's Note

Rate, review, and junk! Thanks! :)

Reviews

[YA_Kaylie]

I like this, I like the concept of it and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. I do agree with the other reviewer though, maybe you're revealing a bit too soon? People are going to feel sorry for your character before they get to know her, it might cloud things a little. Just a thought though.

[kiki]

I found this an interesting start - just hope you didn't give too much away too soon. Check you verb tense/use lay/laid. You have a very natural way and easy way of writing. keep moving.