Bits and Pieces Chapter 1

When I got off the bus, I flung my backpack onto the ground, flopping onto the sofa next to it. I turned onto my side, feeling a sudden urge to to sleep. After many minutes of not saying anything or expressing any emotion, my mom called to me.

"You doing it alright?" she asked. I rolled to my other side then answered,

"Ya, just fine."

"Okay, just checking," she said.  I had not had an episode any time near that, but Mom was always worrying. 

After taking time to rest, I grabbed my bag from off the floor. I rummaged through it, taking out crumpled papers and pens out in the process. When I finally found my homework, I set the bag aside, and began to work on my vocabulary. I grabbed my tablet to look up the words on Dictionary.com. I scribbled the definitions messily in the spaces provided. Once I finished that and the rest of my homework, I went to the living room.

The living room was lofty with fake velvet chairs, a wooden coffee chair, and tall lamps. We had a big flat screen with a Wii console next to it. There was a long cabinet below the TV holding Wii games, movies, and the TV manual (in case my step-dad forgot how to record something). I took a leap onto the sofa, landing on a burgundy throw pillow. I seized the remote, turning on Switched at Birth. 

"So, what are you in the mood for tonight?" Mom asked.

"Uh, do you mean food or something eles?" I asked.

"I mean food," she said.

"Oh, maybe like uh....." I drew a blank. "How about pie?"

"No. First of all, I don't have enough time, nor the supplies to make pie. Second, you cannot have just pie for dinner."

"What about chicken pot pie? That is still pie, just more of a savory type of pie."

"Let me see if I can make it," Mom said, walking back into the kitchen. I really just wanted Mom to make something that takes a lot of time so I could video chat with Sydney. Sydney was my friend who lived in all the way in Parker. While I lived in Denver. Sydney was from school. Though, I only saw her on Fridays. Since we were both quote un-quote sick, we needed a flexible school life. I went the whole week because I didn't have major problems a lot, unlike Sydney. Sydney had cancer, leukemia. So I would always chat with her as much as I could over the interet. But, our friendship survived.

"I have all the stuff toa make chicken pot pie. Is that what you want, Piper?" Mom asked, as she entered the living room again.

"Ya, that's good. Can we have pink lemonade?" I asked.

"Well, we don't have the materials to make it, but I will call Jerry, I mean Dad and ask if he can pick up some frozen stuff."

"Kay," I said. Then I went upstairs to see if my sister would lend her laptop to me.

"Evelyn, can I use your computer?" I asked, entering her room.

 Evelyn's room was painted lavender with a big bed with a pink bedspread and lots of pillows. She had a antique dresser, a huge walk-in closet, and big pink rug. Her laptop was on top of her bed, leaving an empty spot on her vanity between all the makeup and nail polish. I saw that Evelyn was on her phone, so I said louder,

"Can I use your computer?"

"Hey got to go," Evelyn said into the phone. "My sister needs something. TTYL IYL."

"So, for the third time, can I use your computer?" I asked, feeling slightly iritated. 

"What's your problem? And no, you can't use my laptop. Just go use the family one."

"Why can't I?" 

"Can you just get out? I am trying to update my social media."

"Whatever," I said, walking out of her bedroom. I went back down stairs and logged into my ChatTime account. I went to my contacts and called Sydney. The light on the camera blinked green. On my screen, Sydney's screen appeared black. Then, her face magically materialized. I waved, then said hi. 

"Hey Piper!" Sydney said.

"Sydney," I said. "Where are you?"

"Oh, at the hospital. Ya, I am having my blood tested. No worries. I guess we have never video called when I was at the hospital. Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."

"No, you didn't freak me out. So how are you. Any breaking news?"

"Well, my arm hurts, but I think that's just from the needles in my arm. I got a CT scan yesterday because there was supposedly some suspicious (air quotes around suspicious) activity. I'm not worried though. Ya know, normal stuff. How about you?"

"It's good that nothing bad has come up. Well, I assume. Anyway, I am doing pretty good. I went to the therapist yesterday. Uh, I got an A on my math test. Evelyn is her normal annoying self. Let's see, the therapist assigned a journal thing that I have to do. Besides that, well, nothing much has happened since last time we talked."

"Honey, you were so right. This Piper girl is so nice," chimed in a random voice in the background.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"It was me," said a young nurse in Whinnie-the-Pooh scrubbs. She waved then said "I'm just Sydney's nurse. I take care of all her blood work. It's a lot. Sydney has told me a lot about you, Piper." I looked at Sydney. She was blushing as bright as a tomato. 

"Thanks Sydney. An thanks uh,"

"It's Vanessa," the nurse sporting Pooh said.

"Well, I have to go. We're going to talk to my team. But first, dinner. I'm just gonna get some grub down stairs. Bye, Piper."

"Bye Sydney. I will talk to you tomorrow?" 

"Yep, sounds good. Remember, DFTBA."

"OSWGO" I said. (OSWGO means Our Star Won't Go Out. If you want more a an actual explantion of this only the original saying go to http://tswgo.org/) Then Sydney disappeared from the screen. After the call was over, I went to my e-mail to e-mail Sydney. 

"Hey Sydney!

So do you want to like go to the book store on Friday? I thought we could go the one by school. We could look at John Green books and stuff. Then we could do a screening at my house of like a million different movies. Just hanging and stuff. Tell me what you think. DFTBA OSWGO

Piper"

Then I sent it. Two minutes later, Sydney had wrote a response, (She always has her Ipad with her)

"Wuz up, Pipe Squeak? I talked to my mom and she said yes. Of course, I would say yes just have to check if it fits in my schedule. See you on Friday!

Sydney"

Yes, she calls me Pipe Squeak. That's just our thing. It's kind of true because I am shorter than her. After I looked at my social media, I decided to film a YouTube video. I had a YouTube channel that helped me cope with all the stuggles in my life. I had my own weird disorder, my parents had divorced, my best friend had cancer, and my sister was snobby,bossy, mean, and sassy. My life was totally disfunctional, but I dealed with it.

I turned on our camera, then sat down and filmed a video about an update on my life. 

"Hey guys, so I'm just going to do like an update on my life, I guess. So therapy is going the same. No real progress, but I am not getting worse. Let's see, my friend, Sydney. So she is just getting her blood work, ya know, normal stuff for her. She just got a CT scan yesterday, but we think it went well. Fingers crossed, right. Parents wise, nothing has happened in that category. Mom and Jerry, status, together. The wedding was last month, but I did an OOTD on the wedding day. School, my grades are all still good. No episodes lately. That really annoying Bella, the yapping Yorkshire, is still here. While Milo feels mutual towards her. That's about all. So subsribe, like, and DFTBA. Bye!" Then I stopped the recording. I loaded it onto YouTube. Though, I waited a while before posting for I was struggling with what I should call it. Then Jerry walked in. He put his hat on the rack, hung up his coat, took of his boots, then walked over to where I was.

"Whatcha doing, kiddo?" He asked, leaning over my shoulder.

"Making a video," I said.

"What's it about?" He asked.

"Stuff," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"I got the lemonade you asked for."

"Cool."

"Cool." Then an absence of voices carried out the conversation. I stopped editing, and waited till her left. When he was finally in the kitchen, I could hear some muffled talking between Mom and Jerry. I could tell that they were talking about me. Jerry still couldn't get the hints that I would like him to leave, I did not except his presence, and would be totally fine if he was not here. But, I knew that he "loved" Mom, was supporting her, and was helping with my problems. I just felt like Mom was trying to replace Dad. Dad was a perfectly fine man, and I didn't see why Mom divorced him. I tryed to ignore the talking and kept on working on my video. 

I had just uploaded "The Struggle is Real" on my channel when Sydney video called me. I answered it. 

"Hey Sydney, how's it going?" I asked.

"Good, good. So do you want to go into my team meeting with me? I think you're a pretty important part of my team. You and my family are my biggest supporters. You've been there with me for the whole journey." It was true. I actually at the hospital, in the room when Sydney was diagnosed. I was the only one who was not her family. I've been there for her all the time ever since. We both used to go to regular schools, but that was before my case got more severe, and before Sydney got diagnosed. 

"Well, I'm here for you," I said. Then Sydney started walking over to an area where a bunch of doctors, a social worker, therapist, finacial person, and her dad were siting. Sydney took a seat next to her dad, and pointed me towards the big group of people. They began to talk about how they should advance in Sydney's treatment. Her parents talked, then the group asked Sydney about her view, how she wants to go forward, and what adjustments should be made. Then the team actually asked me for my suggestions.

"I think," I said clearly. "That if there is some way to move Sydney's treatment closer to her, it might beat coming all the way up to Highlands Ranch. Also, are the results of the CT scan from yesterday in?"

'That is a great idea, ma'm. Now, there is not a way to do that because the kind of treatment Sydney is receiving is not available anywhere else in the state. Also, we do not have the results of the CT scan. Any other questions or concerns?" said a man in a grey suit that matched the grey in his hair. 

"Uh, no. I think all my questions are answered for the moment." I said. The meeting proceeded. After that, Sydney and I said bye, OSWGO, DFTBA, the usual. Then I went into the kitchen to have dinner. Mom and Jerry had waited for me before they had dinner. Jerry went upstairs to get Evelyn, then we went on to eat dinner. Mom as she had said, made chicken pot pie. Jerry's lemonade was in a jug on the table. Being the super-hero that she was, Mom even made a couple pies with tofu for Evelyn. (Evelyn is a vegetarian) Mom is a super-hero because she cares for a kid with Bi-polar disorder, a vegetarian with dyslexia and an attitude, and got through a divorce.

After about five minutes of eating in silence, we had noticed that Evelyn had not eaten. Being a normal teenager, she was absorbed in her phone. The light from the phone illuminated her face making her look unnaturally pale. 

"Are you going to eat?" Mom asked Evelyn.

"Did you put tofu in it?" she asked in response. 

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Then put down the phone. You know how I feel about electronics at the table." Mom looked at Evelyn with a stern face.

"What ever," Evelyn said, putting down the phone next to her plate. She began to pick at her food, a blank look across her face. It was apparent that Evelyn did not want to eat her food. I kept on eating. Mom had made a decedent meal. I finished my food quite fast. But what I really wated wqas to eat dinner with Sydney.

The next morning was penatrated by despicable arctic cold front. The trees were coated in frost like a sprinking of Confectioner's sugar. The window had a sheet a snowflakes covering it like a blanket. My wood floor was cold and frigid. I could smell the brewing of hot chocolate down stairs. I rushed to get donw staris. On my way to the kitchen, I knocked on Evelyn's door.

On the counter was a yogurt parfait next to a ceramic mug steaming with hot chocolate (I assume). I went over and sat at the counter. Mom was preparing out lunches. Mine was last night’s left overs to be warmed at school in the microwave. Evelyn, also something to warm up, warm plain pasta and a fruit salad. I began to devour my parfait, spooning the strawberry yogurt into my mouth. Some yogurt dripped from my chin, falling onto my pajama pants. Then Evelyn stormed down the stairs.

“Okay, who woke me up from my sleep?” Evelyn asked. There was utter silence. No one wanted to mess with the Monster. The Monster was a name Evelyn had earned from her excessive bossiness and unruly judgment. Then she said,

“WHO WOKE ME UP!?” The silence lingered like a stain on a coffee mug. No one wanted to admit to this crime. For thou who did would be prosecuted, then suffer and horrible death. The Monster squinted her eyes and looked over me and Mom. Mom continued to make lunch, and I tried to ignore her deathly stare.

“Fine, I did. I just wanted you to get up on time and not be late to school. It was for the best,” I admitted.

“Well, that’s just fine and dandy, NOT! Just let me be! Ugh!” Evelyn stomped back upstairs, then returned hearing the monstrous growl of her stomach.  She sat down next to me, eating her parfait. Then she went upstairs to get ready. I finished my parfait in silence, then galloped back upstairs.

My clothing was sitting in my dark bathroom. Mom had picked out a grey sweater dress and some tribal print leggings. I had to admit, it was pretty cute. I lazily put on my outfit, becoming a slug as I was not quick to brush my teeth, wash my face, or brush my hair. I did all of those things, then sent Sydney another message.

“Do you have the results of the CT scan? Not that I’m worried, just curious. DFTBA and remember OSWGO! See you Friday,

Piper”

Then I went to browse my YouTube Channel. I noticed the Evelyn. Her YouTube account was still logged in. I decided to do some snooping on MissEveygrl. I had noticed that she had viewed my video. I knew it wasn’t right, but I was still compelled to look. An e-mail from Sydney finally interrupted my search. I went back to my inbox to check the message.

“Hey, I think I may have gotten them back in the mail. Why don’t we open them together. I will have my mom open them, but we will open it together. And NOT over a video call. On Friday, not at school. It is personal, so don’t tell anyone unless it, actually no exceptions. See you soon, too. DFTBA OSWGO.

Sydney”

Right before I was able to reply, Mom called for me to get on the bus. I hurried to the door, almost tripping on myself. I rushed onto the bus, sitting next to some random kid with a speech disorder.

“Hey Piper,” he said in a slur.

   We sat in silence as the bumpy ride bounced us up and down. When we got to school, Isaac and I went our seperate ways. I went over to another one of my friends. Her name was Iris. She had bright blue streak through her hair, matching her crystal clear blue eyes. I looked down at her, fiddling with her locker. 

"I thought someone was stalking me," Iris said, turning around to look at me. Her clear, clean blue eyes were rotting into my soul. She flashed me a bright white smile, then tucked a blue tendril of hair behind her ear. 

"I guess I was," I said. I smiled back. Iris moved toward me, grabbing her backpack from off the ground. Her short hair swished as her body got closer to the ground. We went to 1^st period together. Our first period was Social Studies.

“Hello class” Ms. Madrid, our Social Studies teacher said. “Now, please get out your text books and go to page 97. There is a page on Roman dress. Please follow along as we read.” I pulled out my book, it weighing down my arms.  Ms. Madrid began reading. When we finally finished reading, she said to find partners. Many people surrounded Iris, wanting to use her intellectual power, she was also way cooler than me. I decided to go with someone who was in the back. Word on the streets was that this mysterious stranger had just transferred here. Their name was Alex. People had said that Alex had some sort of eye “thing” going on so he/she was partially blind. Alex had not revealed their identity, for they had kept a dark hood over their face and wore other dark clothes. Alex had skinny, thin limbs and was quite slim.

“So, I will get the paper and we will just fill out the questions,” I said. Alex nodded in agreement. We began to work on the questions. Alex silently answered, while I asked questions that Alex ignored. Though it didn’t bother me, for this school was filled with many wackos.  

“Okay everyone, if you are done with the sheet, then please turn it in.  When you are done, then you can either study for the test tomorrow,” said Ms. Madrid. I got up and set the sheet in the basket, assuming that we were done. I sat down and began to flip through my notes. Alex slowly approached, suddenly standing over me, casting a dark shadow across my desk.

“Do you want something?” I asked Alex. Alex made a grunting noise, then sat down next to me. Then Alex turned his/her head towards me and said,

“Uf,” then made a snarling sound and then more grunting. Alex took out his/her notebook for his/her sweatshirt. Alex flipped through it, then stopping on a page with anime drawings of CreepyPasta characters. Alex grunted again, then pushed the notebook towards me. Alex’s fingers came out of their sleeves, scraping his/her nails along the page. I picked up the drawings, admiring the great artistic skills Alex clearly had. While Alex was not possess good social skills, Alex sure was good.

“These look nice. Are they, Creepy Pasta Drawings?” I said. Alex made a noise like a balloon deflating, then snatched the drawing from my hands. Alex began to flip through the pages again, stopping on a picture of a girl with long hair and big eyes. Alex put the book back in my hands then sniffled. I looked at the drawing then saw the title at the bottom. It was “Piper the Pulchritudinous”.

 

“Why, thank you. This is a very…. Na, na, nice drawing,” I said. I was speechless, and very creeped out. But, I was flattered. Someone had taken the time to notice my beauty. Though, it was very strange and creepy that I had not known that someone was staring at me enough to draw this detailed picture.