[a l i ]

"Jessie!" Stacy slapped Jessie's arm. "No!"

"He was pissing me off." Jessie shrugged.

"If there were little kids around and heard you swearing, I swear." Stacy rolled her eyes.

"Swearing is bad, Stacy." Jessie smirked.

"Would you all just shut up?!" Lainey yelled.

"Lainey.." I started.

"No!" She yelled. "He doesn't remember me, it just shows how important I am...I've gotta go." Lainey said, standing up to run away.

Jessie stood up to go chase after her, again. Dul just grabbed her wrist and shook her head. "Give her her space." And Jessie sat back down.

Everyone went quiet. "Alright, how's getting back to work sound? It'll take our minds off of everything." I suggested and all the girls sitting around agreed. Jessie, Stacy, Dul, and I walked back over towards the stage area. Bee and Mitchell were working there.

I heard a "pssst." And I turned around. I saw Tybzi and he smiled at me, waving for me to walk over to him. "Yeah?" I said once I got closer.

"Come with me, please." He smiled and I followed as he began to walk.

"Where are we goin-" I was cut off.

"Shush." Tybzi smiled. And I continued to follow him. Soon enough, we arrived at a table, where Jordan and Ryan were sat. And I noticed that there were no other people around. And so we took a seat.

"So, what is this about?" I laughed.

Jordan smirked. "How was the kiss with Parker?"

"Wha-What how do you know about that!" I started to panic. (At the disco)

Ryan laughed. "We might've been in a store across from where you were with the girls and Julio. And Parker."

"Oh my god." I said and set my face on the table, hiding between my arms.

"The ship is finally sailing!" Tybzi laughed.

"Would you all stop!" I said, punching Ryan's arm, as he was the closest to me.

"It's because we're friends, Ali, were suppose to make fun of you." Jordan smiled.

And before I could reply, I got a text. It was from my mom.

Come to the hospital. Your dad wants to see you.

"I have to go...now!" I said, standing up to run away quickly.

"Ali! Wait! What's wrong!" I heard Jordan yelling.

"Are you okay?" Ryan added. I heard footsteps running behind me, but that didn't make me stop.

-----

"Is he okay?" I asked mom as soon as I walked into the hospital.

She looked up at me and smiled. "He's good, for now." She then sighed.

"Can I see him-" I was cut off.

"Ali!" I turned around to see Jordan.

"What?" I asked, very impatient.

"Why are you at the hospital?" Jordan asked.

"I'm here to see my dad. I have to go..." I got quieter as I began to walk across the waiting room to go see if they'd let me in the room.

Someone touched my back. "Are you okay?" It was Jordan.

I shook my head at him. "Yeah, I'm here to see Ted James."

"It's family visits only, dear." The lady behind the counter said.

"I'm his daughter." I said and looked at Jordan. "This is my boyfriend, counts as family, right?"

Jordan gave me crazy eyes, and I laughed a bit. "I guess so." The lady smiled. She handed me a slip of paper with dads room number on it.

"Thank you." I said and walked away.

Jordan laughed. "Boyfriend?"

I shrugged. "I figured if you really wanted to come with me to my dads room, this way you could." I said.

"I mean, it worked." He laughed.

After walking for a few minutes we reached my dads room. Right as we went to open the door, the doctor came out. "You going in there?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, he's my dad." I sighed. "Any news?"

The doctor also sighed. "It's really hard to tell what he has, but we know it's not good. And we probably won't be able to cure it. We aren't sure how much longer he has...I'm so sorry."

I felt tears begin to fill my eyes. "I'm going to go in now. Thank you." I said and went around the doctor. Jordan followed.

"Ah, Ali!" My dad said, as energetic as he could, which seems really weak. It was scaring me.

"Hey dad, how are you feeling?" I asked, quietly.

"Same as always, like crap." He sighed. "How are you?"

"I'm okay." I said, forcing a smile on my face.

"Who's this?" He tried to point to Jordan, but his arm didn't move much.

"This is Jordan, he's my friend." I introduced.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Jordan smiled.

"Same to you." Dad said. "What about the boy who came in the other night...Parker? Was it? He looked like he had the hots for you." Dad winked. Jordan let out a quick "HA" before covering his mouth and I could feel my cheeks instantly go red.

"He's my friend, also, dad." I rolled my eyes. "We're all working on a project at the mall together. We're making is festive for Christmas and we're having a winter talent show in a few days. We're calling it "project save the mall." " I laughed a bit.

"Sounds like a good project. And great for this time of year too! You all are giving!" Dad had a weak smile.

"Jordan isn't even from here, and he came down to help his friends." I smiled.

"Where are you from, boy?" Dad asked Jordan.

"Oh, I'm from Vancouver." Jordan said quickly.

"Hey, Ali, it snows there. You should visit sometime." Dad said.

"Oh my gosh I forgot to tell you!" I said, jumbling my words together. "Parker book a trip for me and him to go to New York. To see snow!!" I said, jumping up and down.

Dad grabbed my hand. "He seems like a good guy, don't lose him."

"Don't think she can, Mr. James, they're forced to work together." Jordan interrupted.

Dad laughed. "This ones cool too, he's a good friend. Keep him." He smiled.

"Planning on keeping all my new friends, they're all so great." I said.

Dad looked like he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. "That sounds...nice." And he drifted off to sleep.

Authors note
HELLO
HI
I HAVE A COOKIE
IM HYPER

But anyway thank you for reading and if you enjoyed please leave a vote!

Keep smiling because it looks great on you!

-Lilly