Always: Broken Series Book Four by Annie Jocoby Read Free Book Online Page B

Spanish was a language that I would consider learning, if only because that was a language that was often spoken around me. But I hardly ever heard anyone speaking French, except, of course, when I went to France and other French-speaking countries.
    I sat down on the bed, shoving aside several books and various papers. “Okay. Well, I guess you know that mom and dad went to the doctor with me today.”
    She nodded. “You’re sick, aren’t you?”
    “I am. I have cancer. In my knee.” I pointed to my knee.
    Her eyes got wide. She looked like a little owl to me, as she wore glasses and her eyes were large anyhow. Her right hand shook a little bit. “Are you going to die?” she asked me softly.
    “No. I mean, I don’t want to tell you that, only to find out that I’m in fact going to die. But I don’t think so. The doctor seemed to say that he can cure this. But they need to do a biopsy and everything to see what kind it is, so that they know what to do with it. I might lose my leg, though.”
    She started to cry. “Alison’s sister died of cancer. Alison always thought that her sister was going to beat it, too.”
    I put my arm around the crying Chloe. “Chlo, I know that you’re scared. I am too. I won’t lie. But we can’t go there. We can’t just assume that I’m going to die.”
    Chloe nodded her head. “But you might. You might, and what then? I don’t want to think that you’re going to be okay, only to find out that you’re not.”
    I sighed. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to talk to Chloe before I had a really good handle on what was happening. “Chloe, I know that Alison’s sister died of cancer.” Alison was Chloe’s best friend, or one of her best friends. Everyone knew Alison’s sister, whose name was Margaret, because Margaret was one of hit most popular girls in school. Margaret was my age, and when she died, going to school was like going to a wake. “But let’s just find out what the doctor says about my cancer before we jump to any conclusions. Besides, Margaret had brain cancer. She had one of those glio things. I was doing research on the Internet before I even went in to see that doctor, and bone cancer is kinda curable. More curable than a glio brain tumor, anyhow.”
    I knew something about brain cancer, as I read up on it when Margaret got sick. I found out that her particular type was the very worst. Everybody kinda knew what was about to happen when it was known that she had that particular disease.
    Chloe’s haunted owl-eyes just stared at me. That was a problem with little Chloe – she was pretty sensitive, anyhow. She studied a lot, got amazing grades, and had few friends. The friends that she had, though, were very close to her. She was the kind of girl who rarely spoke in class, and was so shy that if a boy was walking on the same side of the street as her, she would cross the street to avoid that boy. Even if it was a boy that she liked.
    Because she was so sensitive and shy, I knew that she was going to have a problem with my being sick. Olivia was going to handle it much better, I thought. So much better. I usually didn’t get along with Olivia, but always got along with Chloe. But, right at that moment, with Chloe looking like she was about to have a nervous breakdown, I really wanted Olivia. She was more like dad – strong-willed, doesn’t take shit, and will always tell it like it is.
    “Well, Chlo,” I said, getting up off the bed. “I should probably leave you to study. I’ll see you at the dinner, huh?”
    She nodded her head, but said nothing. I did see tears coming to those owl-eyes of hers, and I felt awful. She hung her head and pretended to study, but I knew better. I wanted to go back to sit on the bed with her, but I didn’t think that it would do any good. So, I just left her alone and crossed my fingers that she was going to be okay.
    I started to go downstairs, but I heard mom and dad talking, and I really wanted to know what they were