//chapter//\\nine\\
The next morning I woke up at eight, feeling completely alert. It felt good to have enough energy to bounce down the stairs like I did when I was little. Kirstyn was already there and had breakfast ready for Uncle Roger and I. It was Wednesday, so he didn't go to Senior Citizen's. Instead, he went to my Grandma's house, about an hours drive away.
"Will you be going to your Grandmother's today, Gwendolyn?" Kirstyn asked as she poured me some orange juice to have with my medication. I shook my head while I dumped a capsule in my mouth. There was no way I was going to Grandma Mary's house. She always pinched my cheeks and told me to gain weight. Every time I sat stood up she would scold me and tell me to rest my legs. I hated being treated like I was dying, whether I was or not.
"Has anyone called for me?" I asked, noticing that it was already 11:26 AM. I had slept in a lot later than usual.
"Someone called about an hour ago." Kirstyn said thoughtfully. "JB. Yes.. he said his name was JB and he would be stopping by at noon."
"JB?" I asked, making sure I'd heard correctly.
"Yes.. I'm sure that's what it was."
"NOON?!" I exclaimed. "It's almost eleven thirty already! And I have no idea who JB is but if he's going to be here then I want to be out of my pajamas!"
I raced up the stairs and quickly changed into flowered board shorts and a white tanktop to match that went with them. After putting on my make up, I decided to put my hair in braids. That took a while, but I managed to finish just as there was a knocking on the door.
"Gwendolyn! Your friend is here!" Kirstyn yelled up the staircase.
"I'm coming!!!" I hollered back, slipping on my Sketchers.
"Hey." Scott said, smiling at me as I entered the living room.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, giving him a quizzical look.
"I left a message with your nurse that I'd be here at noon to pick you up." He said, trying to hold back giggles.
"JB?" I wondered outloud. "OH! Jail Bird!!!"
I laughed. "So what are we going to do?"
We went back to the Moffatt house and hung out in their basement for a while. I hadn't met their mom yet, but I had heard her voice. She didn't seem to care that they just dragged in strangers.
"What's your mom's name?" I asked no one in particular as I ate a chocolate chip cookie.
"Sheila." Clint replied, not taking his eyes off the television that he was using to play a video game on. Dave was reading a huge novel while Bob was writing something in a notebook. I wasn't sure where Scott had gone to though.
"Boys!" I heard a man call from upstairs.
"It's dad!" Clint whispered, sounding panicked, "quick Gwen, hide!"
I dashed over to the closet.
"I thought you said your parents wouldn't care that I was here?!," I yelled in a whisper.
"I did." Clint laughed. "I just wanted to see if you'd freak out."
"Oh you're gonna get it!" I threatened, lunging at him. He slipped away but I ran after him like a mad-woman, full speed ahead. Unfortunately, at the top of the stairs, the mad-woman had an accident.
"OW!" Scott yelled as we hit the floor with a thud.
"OW? YOU are saying ow? You aren't the one that got mowed over!" I gasped. "Now get off me you big loser." I added, shoving him to the side. I stood up into the face of a man.
"Who are you?" He asked, staring down at me.
"Uh.. Gwen?" I squeaked intimidated.
"Nice to meet you Gwen!" He said, hugging me.
"I've heard all about you from Scott over.. er, down there. It's nice to finally meet you!"
"I think I beat Jail Bird up a little." I laughed. "I guess I was wrong to assume that he was toughened up while doing his time in Juvenile Hall."
"Juvenile hall?" He father echoed.
"It was great meeting you.. uh..-"
"Frank." His dad helped me out.
"Frank." I repeated. "It was great meeting you Frank!" I smiled, turning to get away before Scott could kill me.
"Scott, what's this about Juvenile Hall?" I heard him say as I ran up the stairs. I walked around in the halls until I found a door that looked like it could belong to Bob and Scott. I knocked.
"COME IN!" I heard a voice scream. It sounded like Bob, so I opened the door.
"Uh oh. You aren't going to assassinate me are you?" Clint asked when he saw me in the door way.
"No, sorry, I was looking for Bob." I frowned, shutting the door. I tried the one next to it.
"It's open." I heard Bob mumble.
"Hey." I smiled, going in and sitting on his floor.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Okay. I need to explain about the restaurant." I started. "And this is going to be really hard so don't interrupt me. I need to get through his with out any questions."
He nodded so I started:
"When I was twelve I started getting really sick all the time. My head was spinning and I fainted and puke constantly. A lot of the time I threw up blood. So my parents took me to the doctor and I got put on this medicine. I take three pills four times a day. Anyways, so I was having to give myself these stupid shots like once a month for a while. They're kind of like steroids, you know, to make me stronger. And when I came here I thought I was coming to take care of Uncle Roger because supposedly he's dying and he wanted me to come stay with him. But yesterday this nurse came to my house and said that she was there to take care of me and Uncle Roger. I think she's only there for me though. She's going to give me shots every other day. I know I'm dying. I've talked to the doctor about it. He said I'll kick the bucket when I'm about.. oh, 25, 26. Something like that. So I'm thinking that since my doses are going up, maybe I'm getting worse, but no one will tell me. Some how Scott found out about this all and that's what we were fighting about last night." I let out a huge sigh, happy to be finished. "Any questions?"