When I wake up, I hear a strange beeping noise. I stretch and try to take a deep breath and fail. I look at my oxygen tank. Its empty. I groan. Why now? I'm going to be late for school! I think in my head. I start pulling the blanket off of me when my Mom enters the room.

"Oh, Sarah, honey, stay there and I'll get your other tank, OK?" She says, starting to walking to the other room.

"O-OK..." My throat always gets dry because of my cancer every morning. I cough and grab the glass of water off of my nightstand next to my bed. This should help, I think to myself. I sip the water and feel the coolness go down my throat. My Mom enters the room again with the tank. She hooks it up for me, even though I can do it. She looks at me and smiles.

"There. OK, do you need me for anything else?" My Mom asks. I shake my head. "OK, if you say so. I'll be at work. If you need me, call me. OK?"

"OK Mom. See you later." She then walks downstairs to her job. She's a secretary in this hospital.

I get dressed in my Fault In Our Stars t- shirt, and my fading jeans. I put on my favorite necklace and walk over to the kitchen. I pour myself a bowl of cereal and eat. Once I'm done, I brush my teeth and go to the front door. I slip on my new black converse shoes and walk out of the hospital.

After about 10 minutes of walking to school, I see my friend Lily walking with one if the girls who bully me, Rebecca. I still walking over to them, hoping that Lily has possibly make her like me.

"Hey Lily, nice shirt. Hey Rebecca." I look at Rebecca's outfit. She's wearing short- shorts, and a shirt that has an open back. Its galaxy designed. "Nice shirt. Where did you get it?" Rebecca rolls her eyes.

"Omg, do you actually think I would tell you? Your such a loser. And if you come any closer, I will punch that regulator out of your nose so fast you'll never breathe again. Also, back up about 10 steps. I don't want to catch your disease. Gross." She turns her nose up at me.

"Actually, you can't catch it. Its not contagious. And it's cancer, not a disease. And-" I get stopped mid sentence when Rebecca rips the regulator off of my head and takes my backpack with her, leaving me 10 minutes away from the hospital, and without my oxygen. I run after them, even though my doctor tells me to never ever run.

When I do catch up to them a little bit, I watch them stop, dead in their tracks.

I take in little gulps of air as my backpack is dropped onto the ground with my regulator still intact. I quickly dash- or in this case, speed walk- over to grab them. I put the regulator around my ears and back into my nose. I take a deep breath. Finally, I think to myself. I look at what made the girls stop so suddenly.

Its principal Dan.

Now, you might think he will stand up for me and make them be suspended or something.

Nope.

He likes mean kids. He stands up for the mean kids. Now, because the school board doesn't tolerate bullying, and principal Dan likes watching people like me get bullied, he has to stop them, otherwise he will get fired.

"Girls. What were you doing?" He asks sternly.

"We were just walking to school when this twerp decided to actually talk to us. Can you believe it?" Rebecca says. I try to butt in.

"I was just-"

"Shut up, Sarah. Girls, now because of the law, I can't just let you walk away without a punishment. You have detention after school. And Sarah... Please, just leave them alone. They don't need to see you. OK?" Principal Dan asks. I sigh, then nod my head. "Good. See you girls later. Glad I could help." He them walks away.

"Loser." Rebecca says. She pushes me back, then sashays away, leaving me behind. I walk into the building, looking to my left, towards the elevator. I can't go up the stairs. My tank is too heavy to walk up that amount of stairs. There are over 3 flights of stairs before I have to get to my class. I'm out of breath by the time I get up there, and then I might pass out or my regulator might not help anymore. So, elevator it is.

"Oh, hello Sarah. Are you waiting for your EA?" My teacher, Ms. Saunders asks me, smiling kindly. I nod.

"Yeah. She's always late, I tell you." I laugh a little, and she does too.

"Well, if you want, I can take you up. If you want. If not, you can wait here. It's your choice."

"Would you? Thanks so much." I say. She nods and gets her gold key for the elevator. Only certain people get to use the elevator. I'm one of them.

"Floor 1. Where is destination?" The elevator says in its strange robotic voice. I shudder. I never liked her voice. Ms. Saunders presses floor 3.

"Destination- floor 3. Going up." We wait patiently.

"So how was your walk to school? Good? Bad? So-so?" She asks, making conversation.

"It could have been better, but could have been worse, too." She nods, understanding.

"Floor 3 reached." the elevator says. We exit, and make our way to the classroom. When we get there are already a couple of people there. One of them is my friend, Hailey. I wave at her. She waves back.

"Hey, Hailey. What's up?" I ask, bringing a chair over next to her. 

"Nothing much. How did your trip to the hospital go? Good news?" I shrug. How an I supposed to explain that I could die at any given moment? I think in my head. I then proceed to tell her the details about the appointment.

"Dang. That must be rough. But at least you have an option, right? Your going to take it, right?" I just realize that Rosie, my other friend, is at the table as well. She butts in.

"Yeah, your gonna take it right? Omg, Hailey, we are so thinking together, like twins." Rosie says. She's like Hailey's little puppy, who does whatever she does.

"Well, I don't know... Did you not say that your cancer is getting worse?" Hailey says, kind of ignoring Rosie a little bit.

"Yeah, didn't you say it was getting worse? If it is, then shouldn't you go with the choice that's going to help you more?" Rosie says, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. 

"Well, yeah, but I still have a chance to live! Right? I mean, someone could be dying right now and need this wish way more than i need it! Plus, did you not just hear me talk about the corrupt effect?" I say, a little out of breath from saying that. Hailey shrugs.

"Well, I just think you should get it, that's all." She checks her phone, and her blue eyes light up with happiness. "Sweet, Brad texted me. I love him." Brad is Hailey's boyfriend. Whenever he's around, she kind of forgets we exist. Not that I mind, though. She's in love! Rosie, however, minds very much. He distracts Hailey from her. Rosie looks at me with a really annoyed face. then she looks back at Hailey, wanting attention.

"Hey, thats what I was going to say, Hailey! She should take it! And, um, yeah... You should stop talking to Brad now." She says, a little snobby like. Oh boy... Now they're gonna get in a argument. 

"Why? Because you want attention? Is that why?" Hailey asks, shutting off her phone and slamming it onto the table. 

"No! Because you spend all your time talking to him and you always ignore me and Sarah! Sarah especially!" Rosie says.

"Who wouldn't ignore her? She's a freak." Rebecca enters the room and joins in on the conversation. I roll my eyes, and Rosie does too. Hailey keeps looking at her phone, very contently.

"Go away, Rebecca. Principal Dan already gave you a detention. Did you wanna make it two?" I say, feeling brave.

"Yeah. Its... " Rosie looks at Hailey. Hailey keeps looking at her phone. "Its 2 against 1. You'll lose." Rebecca laughs like someone told a joke. She puts on some red lipstick, then looks back at us.

"Does it look like I care about some lousy detention? Principal Dan let's me skip them sometimes, anyways. Anywho, its actually 2 against 2. Lily, get your butt over here!" Rebecca says. Lily scurries over.

"See, now its even. 2 against 2, loser. I hope that wish of yours makes you die. You deserve to, anyway." Rebecca says. I blink back tears. This is what she wants. She wants me to cave in. Well, I won't give her the satisfaction of making me do so.

"Actually, Rebecca your wrong. As always. Its 3 against one. And now I've got proof to show Vice Principal Carol!" Hailey says, turning her phone so we can all see what she's talking about.

Oh my goodness.

She recorded Rebecca being a bully. Rebecca turns whiter than the white painted walls.

"Y-you wouldn't actually s-show that to her... Would you? I-I was just k-kidding around..." Rebecca stutters. Hailey smirks. And raises her hand.

"Yes, Hailey? What's wrong?" Hailey plays the video to Ms. Saunders. At the end of the video, Ms. Saunders turns to Rebecca.

"Office. Now. And not Principal Dan. Vice Principal Carol. And, Hailey, go with her."

"With pleasure." And they leave the room.

"We've got your back, Sarah. You don't need to worry." I lightly smile. Yes I do, I think sadly to myself, I'm still going to die soon...