Gwendalynn: The Girl With Cancer

Gwendalynn | 14

When it was your birthday...

FEBRUARY - 2011

I stood in the book store, scanning along the shelves, wondering what she'd like. I knew she had a thing for those vampire books. One week when I visited her, there wasn't a second of when she was awake where she wasn't reading New Moon. I swear, girls and vampires. She'd told me that she was a Team Edward fan. I remember her telling me that the movies ruined Jacob's true personality.

"You're probably the first girl I've ever known that isn't Team Jacob." I admitted.

She scoffed. "Jacob's a jerk. If you watch the movies first, yeah you're gonna want to choose Jacob because he has the pretty face and abs, but in the books, he's not nearly as good enough for Bella."

"Did you watch the movies first?"

"Yeah, and that was when I was a diehard Team Jacob fan. Then I started reading the books and I totally changed my mind."

"Really?"

"Books are always better than the movies, Kyle."

I smiled at the memory. Maybe I should take her out to go see Breaking Dawn Part 1. I know she'd like it. I really didn't know what to get her. I took out a few books and read the backs. None of them looked interesting.

Then I accidentally ran into someone next to me.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized, realizing I'd run into a girl with dark brown hair. She looked like she was maybe thirteen or fourteen.

"It's fine." she said, and then returned to reading the second page of a book.

"Hey, is that a fantasy type book?" I asked before thinking.

She finally looked up at me. Her dark brown eyes were kind of captivating.

"Yeah." she smiled.

"What's it about?"

"Werewolves. It's kind of a romance story." she blushed.

"What's it called?"

Surely, Gwen would like it.

"Shiver."

"Do you think a girl who likes the Twilight books would like it?"

"I'm sure she'd like it. I read the Twilight books last year. These are my new obsession."

"It's a series?"

She nodded, and turned, looking at a specific spot on a shelf below. She pointed to three books, all of the names being Shiver, Linger, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

The girl left me alone and I took the three books from the shelf. I hoped she was right. These books looked kind of childish in a way, but I wasn't going to go with my instincts and find a random book. I wanted Gwen to like my gift. A book would really pass off time when I was at school and wasn't with her.

Sometimes I wished she had other friends too, so that she wouldn't always count on me to be with her. Like, of course I want to be with her, but I don't want her constantly waiting for me. I want her to experience other people. Girls, not boys.

I headed toward the cashier. She rang me up and I paid for the books. She put them in a small bag and handed them to me, telling me a quick "Have a nice day." I left the book store and headed for the bus, but I was stopped by a hand touching my shoulder. Feeling the need to have self-defense, I whipped around to see Noah.