“Sophomore year!” Gracie cheered, pumping her fists in the air.

Today, she had her light brown wavy hair held down with a gray headband holding it out of her face showing her hazel eyes. She wore a white long sleeve shirt with a gray sweater over it and black leggings.

“Anyone else excited?” Gracie said with a huge smile.

“Meh. I’ll be excited when it’s senior year. Then I won’t have anymore high school to go through,” Riley said.

Today, she had her dark brown straight hair up in a messy bun with a few loose strands dangling around her ears, showing off her chocolate brown eyes. She wore a maroon oversized hoodie and blue jeans.

“I’m kinda excited,” I said.

“You should be!” Gracie said with a huge smile.

Just then my brother, Ethan, walked over. He had his dark brown curly long hair at the top of his head, held up in a small bun. He wore a white v-neck shirt with a red varsity letterman jacket complementing his dark green eyes. He also wore blue jeans and black sneakers.

He walked over and put an arm around Gracie’s waist and turned to her and smiled.

“Hello, beautiful,” Ethan said.

“Hey~,” Gracie said in a flirty way. She then giggled as Ethan kissed her cheek.

“Ew. You guys are gross,” Riley said, looking disgusted.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have a boyfriend,” Gracie said.

“I assure you, I’m not,” Riley said.

“Whatever you say,” Gracie said, rolling her eyes.

“Ethan, are you coming,” Adrien said, running up to us.

Adrien was Jolene’s boyfriend and my crush before he became my sister’s boyfriend.

Today, he had his blonde kinky-shaggy hair hanging around his head. He wore a black v-neck shirt with a varsity letterman jacket like Ethan’s. His jacket seemed to compliment his light green eyes perfectly.

“Yeah. I was just catching up with my girl,” Ethan said, giving Gracie another kiss on the cheek as he slipped his arm away from her waist.

“Hi guys,” Adrien said, waving.

“Hey,” I said, feeling my cheeks turn red.

“Hi,” Gracie said with a smile.

“Sup,” Riley said, uninterested.

“Bye guys. See ya later,” Ethan said, walking down the hall with Adrien at his side.

“Bye,” Gracie said with a smile, waving.

Gracie then turned to Riley and gave her a dirty look.

“Riley, we’ve talked about this! You can’t say stuff like that when Ethan is around! Matter of fact, don’t say it all! You might jinx us!” Gracie said, getting mad.

“You and the jinxs!” Riley said, sounding annoyed.

“They’re real!” Gracie shouted.

“Guys,” I said, grabbing their attention. “Please, get along. Riley please don’t say stuff like that with Gracie. Gracie, please don’t yell at Riley.” I turned my head from Riley to Gracie.

They both then nodded in agreement.

“Thank you,” I said with a sigh. “Now, let’s get to class. We don’t want to be late on our first day back to school.”

“You’re right! Talk to you guys later! Bye!” Gracie said, running off to her first class.

“See ya later,” Riley said, walking off to her first class.

“Bye,” I said, waving ‘goodbye’ to both of them.

“Is Gracie coming?” Riley asked, looking around the outside courtyard.

“I don’t know,” I said.

Usually, Gracie meets us outside in the courtyard at our favorite lunch spot. The wooden picnic table underneath the big oak wood tree.

“I texted her. She hasn’t responded,” Riley said, sounding kinda annoyed.

“She’s probably with Ethan,” I said.

“She can bring Ethan here,” Riley said.

“She knows that, but Ethan likes sitting with his friends. Plus, he doesn’t really like sitting anywhere with me anyway,” I said, glancing down at the dirt under the picnic table.

Riley and Gracie knew my situation and we all made a plan to move out after high school and move into our own apartment.

Riley grabbed my hand and placed it in hers. I looked up and saw Riley giving me a sympathetic look.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Riley asked.

“Not really,” I said.

“Ok. Well, feel free to talk to me whenever,” Riley said. “Even if it’s about Adrien.”

Riley knew I liked Adrien before my sister started dating him, but she didn’t know I still did.

“I already told you, I’m waaaay over him,” I lied.

“Sure you are. That was very believable,” Riley said. “It’s ok if you’re not. You’ve liked him since seventh grade. That’s three years.”

“Yeah. You’re right. I still like him, but I’m trying my best to get over him. It’s just…just…soooo hard,” I confessed.

“I know,” Riley said, comforting me. “I know that feeling.”

“I’m sorry you and Jack didn’t workout,” I said.

Riley dated Jack our freshmen year and he ended up cheating on her with her older sister. Jack and Riley’s sister are still dating. Riley cried about it for a few weeks and then decided to give up on relationships all together.

“It’s fine. Jack was just another jerk in the sea of many,” Riley said.

“Yes, but you shouldn’t give up on every relationship. It was just one guy,” I said.

Riley just stared off into space as if I hadn’t asked anything.

“Ok, I guess you don’t want to talk about it. I understand,” I said.

Riley then sighed.

“Aren’t you friends with Rowan?” I asked.

Rowan and Riley had been friends for a while. Rowan was friends with Riley before she met Jack. He liked her then too. I know for a fact Rowan still likes Riley, but she’s just oblivious to it.

“Yeah,” Riley said. “He’s probably eating lunch with Ethan and Adrien.”

“Well, then let’s go inside and see if Gracie is there and maybe say ‘Hi’ to Rowan,” I said.

“Ok,” Riley said, grabbing her lunch and packing it in her lunchbox. I did the same.

We then got up from our table and walked inside to the cafeteria. We quickly found Ethan, Adrien, and Rowan sitting at a table with a bunch of their football friends.

“Hey,” I said, walking over to their table with Riley next to me. “Have you seen Gracie?”

“She’s in the bathroom,” Ethan said. “She said she wasn’t feeling too well.”

“Oh no. I’ll go check on her. Thanks,” I said, setting down my lunchbox next to Riley’s on the table. We both then scurried to the bathroom quickly.

“Gracie?” I called.

“I’m in the second stall, you can come in,” Gracie said, sounding like she was in pain.

“Are you feeling nauseous?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Gracie said. “I didn’t even eat much.”

“The doctor said that could happen,” Riley said. “He also said that when that happens you need to take your medicine. Have you?”

“No,” Gracie said, in pain.

“I think I have some on me,” I said, searching in my jeans pockets.

Gracie has had Stomach Cancer since she was very little. Her type of Stomach Cancer is incurable. She mostly gets full easily, nausea, and heartburn. To help her with certain pains, she takes medicine.

“I found some,” I said, taking out a small sealed plastic bag out of my pocket. Inside the bag were two pills. I quickly opened the bag and grabbed a pill. I then handed the pill to her.

“Thanks,” Gracie said, looking thankful. “Now, I just need some water.”

“I got you,” Riley said, handing her the water bottle she was holding. “I figured you might need some.”

“Thanks,” Gracie said, taking the water bottle from Riley. She then opened the water bottle and took the pill with water. Gracie closed the water bottle and handed it back to Riley.

“Do you feel better?” Riley and I asked in unison.

“I can already feel it kicking in. Thanks so much you guys,” Gracie said, pulling us into a group hug.

“You know, you should tell Ethan,” I said.

Gracie then released us from the hug and stepped back.

“I don’t know. What will he say? What if he decides to break up with me because of it?” Gracie said.

“He won’t,” I said, reassuringly.

“You don’t know that. I mean, think about the way he treats you when I’m not around,” Gracie said, tearing up.

“I’m sure, you’ll be different,” I said. “He really likes you. Maybe even loves you.”

“I don’t think so,” Gracie said.

“Well, I think you should tell him too. If he doesn’t accept you for who you are then, it’s his loss,” Riley said.

Gracie then gave us a small smile.

“I’ll think about it,” Gracie said.