Nova

The ride to Orlando was scary and in a way, very hostile. It felt like everything was going in slow motion, and was simply just a fucking fever dream. Like, is this all even real? Or am I asleep? Is Matt really dead? Are we really getting ready to see a distraught Maddie? Did baby Aubrey really just lose her dad?

"Uh Nova?" Jason asked, looking into the rear view mirror. I had been sitting in the back middle seat of his car. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" I asked, "what do you mean?"

"You're pinching yourself."

"She's shocked, Jason," May, who sat beside me, said. "We all are, but I'm sure she's just trying to feel some realness in all this. It's been a rough few weeks." May's words were especially true, things have been absolutely insane around here since second semester had started.

"Zach's gonna join us at Maddie's," Hailey informed us, and I gave her a light smile. I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the group that knew he was sick.

Zach

"Uh, baby before you go out, there's something I'd like to tell you," my mom said, standing at my room doorway. She held a paper in her hand, and her hands fell to her sides. She looked somewhere between guilty of something and unsure of how to feel. I nodded, "what's up?" I asked.

"Well, good news I guess, you don't have cancer." I cocked an eyebrow, and my mom handed me a lab result. The result however, was dated a month and some change back. "Why am I just now getting this?"

My mom sighed, entered my room, and began closing the door. "No!" I exclaimed, "I don't have time for this mom. Tell me straight up, no sedimental shit. Why am I just now getting this paper?" What's going on?"

"You know, you being sick brought in extra revenue. Apparently I get reimbursement from the first two jobs I've ever worked in my life, since they know that my kids on his dying bed. Or, was." I folded my arms. "I never had cancer," I mumbled as I read my mom's facial expression. "You knew that."

"Money was tight, Zach," my mom admitted, "I'm sorry. And when I found a doctor who was willing to give you a fake diagnosis and medication that would mimic cancer like symptoms, I took that chance. For us! I did this for us." Shocked wasn't even the word.

"Aside from the fact that I have not seen one cent of this so called 'reimbursement money,' chemo did terrible numbers on my body mom! I lost a ton of weight, my stomach acid is probably at an all time high, and I can't even enjoy the foods I once did!" I yelled. "And you think just randomly giving me a paper some time later saying I'm 'cancer free' of a cancer that I never had, is gonna fix this?"

"I know there's a long way to go between you and I," my mom said, "but I feel like this was a start in the right direction. I never meant to hurt you Zachary, and when you're grown with vile opportunities, you'll see what I'm talking about. It is very hard to make the right decision sometimes."

"It's not that hard to work an actual job," I hissed. "Instead of trying to cheat the system, how about a 9 to 5? Because trust me ma, this wasn't worth it. It'll take a miracle and a half to fix this with me." I didn't waste another moment in the house with my mother. I grabbed keys, her keys, and took off. I guess I don't feel as bad for driving off in her car to go to Maddie's house now.

Nova

"Someone's at the door," Lewis told us, and Hailey stood up. "It must be Zach, I got it."

I looked back over at Maddie, who looked like she was just in pure shock. She wasn't crying, she wasn't throwing a fit or rambling. She was just holding her baby, rocking back and forth. "What do I do now?"

As Maddie spoke, another knock on the door was heard. I watched as Aubrey made a quick headcount, "who the hell could that be?" she asked.

"Maybe my mom," Zach suggested, to which we all looked at him. "Long story," he shrugged, "later."

Turns out, it was some army Sargent guy, wanting to speak to Maddie. In his hand was a paper packet, I guess full of details from Matt's death. It was faxed to him not too long before majority of us arrived to Maddie's home.

"I just have one question," Maddie mumbled, looking through the packet, "because I see it's not really mentioned in this for some reason."

"It's my job to answer," the Sargent replied.

"How exactly did he die?" Maddie asked, which sent chills down my spine. I knew coming here meant we'd most likely discuss it, but now being here in real time, I don't think that's what I wanted to do.

"His teammates claimed they were trying to decode a desert mine," Sargent said, "and the faster they got through that project, the quicker Matt would be able to go home. Matt really wanted to come home, so he tried to cheat his way through the mine. He trailed off without the group, touched some things that he shouldn't have, and lost his life."

I watched from the corner of the room, as Maddie's face dropped. "I was pressuring him to come home fast," she admitted, "wow. This is all my fault."

"Hey," Hailey said, "it's not. Seriously, with or without you wanting him to come home, he would've wanted to himself anyways. Don't beat yourself up about it Maddie." A single tear rolled down Maddie's face, and I swear it felt like my heart was breaking in two. I had always hoped that I was the first to go out of all my friends, because I couldn't ever imagine grieving like this.

"In the end," Zach began, sitting down and sighing before he continued, "cheaters never really win."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, to which Hailey nodded. "Nova," Aubrey warned, "don't."

"I just wanna know what he means," I replied to my wife, "that's all."

"Wasn't exactly geared towards you Nova," Zach said, "or you Hailey. It just seems that right now, in my life, cheating is everywhere. My mom cheated her way to money, you girls cheated on your partners, Matt cheated a desert mine."

"Dude," Nick said, "not the time."

Zach shook his head, "sorry, sorry" he groaned, "Maddie I love you kid, I'll always be here if you ever need a male hand with anything around the house." I looked back over at Maddie and realized that the Sargent had left during all of this.

Maddie smiled, "thank you," she barely let out.

"What happened with your mom?" Hailey asked Zach at random, causing a lot of questionable looks on our faces. "You guys need to learn a thing called time and place," Nick advised.

"You wanna talk about time and place?" Hailey asked, snapping her head at Nick, "of all people?"

"Hey, Aubrey," Hailey continued, "now would be like, the perfect time for us to hook up, even though you've been married for like a year and you're really sad. Maybe me throwing myself at you will cheer you up though, right?" I didn't expect Aubrey to join in on whatever shit Hailey was pulling, but she did.

"Yeah," Aubrey replied in sarcasm, "now's the perfect time to have an affair!"

Jason nearly laughed, but Nick looked at him, causing him to shut up instantly. "Y'all aren't funny," Nick continued, "seriously, what was the point?"

"Next time, don't speak on what still haunts you," Hailey replied, to which Nick made a squinty eyed look at her. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Y'all," Lewis said, "please. Okay I get it we all have some fucked up shit going on right now. Nova and Aubrey, me and May, Zach and his mom, Nick and Aubrey, I get it. But I think our issues can wait, we aren't the ones who just lost our partner for good."

"No it's okay," Maddie said, standing around and patting her baby's back. "I don't really want all eyes on me right now actually. I know I'll feel this later, but in the moment I'd rather listen to what you guys got going on. It'll make me feel better actually."

"Lewis you forgot to mention Hailey and Zach," Nick said, "she cheated on him." Half the room gasped, but not me because I knew that.

"Oh please," Hailey said, "as if you didn't encourage it." Nick cocked an eyebrow, "I didn't. I just told you that asking him if he still liked you while he was being distant, was a bad idea." Hailey scoffed.

"Well you're the home wrecker here, and quite frankly, I'd rather be me, than you," she stated.

"Hailey and I are past that, anyways," Zach said, "or trying to be. Being cheated on really hurts, but it's a day by day process. I still love her very much."

Nick folded his arms, "how much is she paying you to say this right now?" he asked.

"How much did Nova pay you last year to continue to look like a dumb ass?" Hailey shot back.

"Get the popcorn! Get the popcorn!" Lewis demanded of May, who ran into the kitchen and began opening and closing cabinets at alarming rates. Nick looked one strained vein away from an aneurysm at this point.

"Difference is, I didn't have proof that Nova was cheating on me. I saw some questionable shit, sure, but I didn't actually see her fucking someone," Nick insisted. Aubrey made a weird noise.

"I'd like to bring Aubrey Milan Bryant to the stand!" Hailey joked, and Aubrey chuckled.

"Yeah, Nick" Aubrey began, "you know she cheated."

"I wanna say something so bad," Nick insisted, "but I know I'm already in hot water with you Aubrey. So I'll leave this alone. I guess I'm sorry."

"Anyways," Hailey said, turning her attention back to Zach, "what happened with your mom?" We all nosily looked over at Zach.

"Turns out I'm not sick!" he said with fake sarcastic joy. "I never was. My mom found a doctor who was willing to give me a fake diagnosis and meds that had cancer symptoms as side effects."

"Why would she do that?" I asked, while majority of the group just looked really confused.

"You have cancer?" Jason asked.

"I only told Nova, so you guys are probably super lost," Hailey admitted. "But yeah, Zach and I were falling off, spending less and less time with each other. Come to find out, Zach had 'cancer' and that's why he wasn't around as much."

"Yeah. Though I now know that my 'cancer' was something my mom set up so that her former jobs could reimburse her" Zach informed us.

"Oh," Aubrey said in a dramatic manner, "that is one crazy lawsuit. Literally Zach, sue her."

"Yeah," I added, "why not? Get that reimbursement money, you deserve it."

"Or we can just jump her," Hailey mumbled as she looked around and scratched her back, playing it off.

"See," May said, pointing at Hailey, "this is why I like you! I don't know about y'all but I second that idea."

"As great as an idea that is May," Aubrey said, "we're grown. Doing that will do nothing but have us on the news again. I think our group has been through enough scrutiny."