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twenty-three

This soon caused an argument between Michael, my mom and I- Michael actually being on my side- which was new.

"If you don't take her bone marrow there is a chance you have to wait months before you receive any other and the cancer could spread majorly before that time." Michael spoke to my mom.

"Harper, you're deathly afraid of needles, for this you'll get an IV, multiple shots, a fucking epidural and not to mention the face that they're cutting into your back." My mom spoke.

I didn't know about the epidural, but I still had to act cool.

"Luke and I already talked about that, he's going to stay with me and hold my hands, it's all just temporary pain." I spoke, seeing Michael nodding slowly with me.

"Michael- she's going to freak out the second you go to put an IV in her arm." My mom spoke firmly.

"She won't." Michael spoke as Calum entered the room, examining the argument silently.

"Okay- lets do this. You said you needed to draw her blood before all of this, right?" Mom asked.

"Yes, to make sure she's a match." Michael spoke.

"Do a blood draw right now and if she can get through it without panicking, I'll let her do as she wishes- but if she ends up panicking, she's not doing it." My mom spoke to him.

"Okay" michael spoke, looking to me- and I had no confidence what's so ever.

"I- o-okay."

Michael went to go get the blood kit as Calum sat beside me.

"Can I go get Luke? I whispered to him.

"Luke is asleep but I'm sure he won't care, we can go together-" "no" I felt guilty.

I was the reason he was awake so long, I couldn't wake him up over a shot.

I could do it.

Just a needle.

Soon Michael returned.

"Calum, you wanna do it?" Michael asked.

"Sure." He spoke, trading spots with Michael.

As Calum set everything up and got gloves on, Michael whispered to me.

"You're not gonna look, you're just gonna focus to me, it's going to take two minutes at most and you and I are just going to talk through it" he told me.

"I just- I have anxiety, which is the main reason I panic, because I get worked up and it's just- a lot" I mumbled, seeing him smile.

"I'm not going to let anything happen and Calum is the best at drawing blood, you just trust me, okay?"

I agreed.

I was soon taking my hoodie off and giving Calum my arm.

He tied a turnakit.

"Calum, she has thick veins, doctors always blow her veins, so be careful." My mom spoke.

"I got this" Calum smiled to me, wiping my arm gently.

"Calum- she bleeds a lot, the doctors used to always-" "relax" Calum smiled to my mom.

"I have patients with thick veins all the time, there's a little more bleeding, but that's okay, nothing to stress over." He assured my mom slowly, dropping the wipe as Michael carefully made my head turn away from my arm and to him.

"Let's count, okay?" Michael spoke slowly.

As michael made me could slowly with him, I felt the sudden pierce of a needle, making me tense, squeezing my hand into a fist,

"Relax that hand" Calum spoke, making Michael quickly grab my hand, taking it out of a ball mad intertwining it with his own.

"Calum- blood!" I heard my mom say, making Michael look, which made me look, and I saw blood dripping down my arm.

"I want it ou-" michael stooped my speaking by pulling my head into his chest, as I felt himself and Calum wiping the blood.

"You're okay, Harper, you just bleed a little more, it's nothing to worry about" Calum spoke calmly as I tried to control my breathing in Michael's chest.

"And- all done" he spoke after several minutes, making the stinging disappear.

I stayed with my head on Michael's chest as Calum finished wiping my arm, carefully putting a band aid over it.

"Perfect! You did great!" Calum spoke almost proudly, giving me a solid high five.

This made us all look to my mom, who kept eye contact with me.

"You don't have to do this, Harper"

"Mom, I want to." I spoke sternly.

"Okay, thank you."