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Chapter 1
“Tee, I bring good news.”
Tia Robinson looked up, pushing the curls of black hair out of her eyes.
“I’ll determine that when I hear it,” she said, not unkindly.
“Look, I know things aren’t looking great now, but this is good news, I promise.”
Tia didn’t say anything, but her skeptical look said it all.
“Meg, no offense, but nothing is good news when you’re dying.”
“You’re not dying,” Megan O’Connell insisted. “Not everyone dies from cancer.”
“Fine, let’s hear it.”
“Okay.” Megan plopped down into the armchair next to Tia’s bed. “You know the Make A Wish Foundation…?-“
“Oh, no,” Tia interjected. “I am NOT doing that. It’s just a pity program for cancer inflicted pathetic people who are going to die anyway-“
“I TOLD you, not everyone dies, Tee-ah.” Megan stressed her best friend’s name, trying to get her point across. “It’s a NICE program, and it’s not because you’re going to die, anyway. It’s like, you have three wishes-“
“I know what it is,” Tia said crossly.
”Well, then you wouldn’t be so stubborn! They’re not saying you’re going to die at all, Tee. They just want to grant wishes that children have – children that have ‘life – threatening illnesses’.”
“I don’t have any wishes.” Tia sighed, staring at the wall. “And I’m not a child.”
She could see Megan shrug in the glass of the window. “Just think about it, okay?”
Tia didn’t say anything, and Megan left the room, leaving Tia to her own thoughts. What would she wish for anyway? She didn’t really want anything. What would be the point, if she was just going to die and leave it all behind…
Tia grabbed the remote and turned the small TV on, flipping through the channels without even stopping long enough to see if it was worth watching.
“Is that your final – “
“I’m sorry, Michelle, but Uncle Jesse and Joey aren’t here-“
“Then I tried Tide, and all my stains disapp-“
“And now, back to Dawson’s-“
“Oh, John, I love – “
“Down a spot at number two today, here are the Backstreet Boys – “
“If I die – “
Click.
Nothing on, she thought. She eyed the papers that Megan had left on the armchair. No, she told herself. If you give in now, Megan will just say ‘I told you so.’ And you hate that.
She turned the TV back on and turned it one channel down before the black screen disappeared, just like she always did.
What she saw on the screen made her blink in surprise. It was clearly a hospital room, and a still form lay on the bed. The camera zoomed in and her breath caught. He was a looker, she had to admit. His eyes were closed, so she couldn’t see his eye color, but what she saw of his chiseled jaw was enough to determine one thing: he was hot.
And, as the video ended, she found a new thing.
“I still can’t get over the fact that Brian, from the Backstreet Boys, underwent heart surgery,” the VJ commented, shaking his head. “Must have been tough on the group. Anyways, that was the BSB at number two. After this short commercial break, who will be number one? Will it be *Nsync…”
Tia tuned him out, hearing him say ‘heart surgery’ over and over in her head. So they had something in common. Sure, he didn’t have cancer, but heart surgery was just as bad.
Okay, so I have a use for that Foundation thing now, she thought.
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