Beautiful Tragedy (A Standalone Romance Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I guess I have to give them credit for that. It was weird though,
an awkward kind of nice. People who had never spoken to me before would give me
that piercing look and say, “How are you, Molly? Really?” Again, they were just
being nice, but it annoyed me.
    In my senior year, just as my hair had finally grown
out enough so I no longer looked like Peter Pan, they found a tumor on my left
kidney…as in the only one I had left. So most of that year was spent with more
chemo and radiation. The tumor was stubborn, and although it was small and it
seemed to grow slowly, it just wasn’t going to go away. That was the reason I
decided to go to school here. My doctor had found out that they were having a
lot of success in their experimental treatments of my kind of cancer. So here I
am…a guinea pig with one missing kidney and one bum kidney. I do my best to
live and act normally; that’s why I don’t want anyone here to know except
Megan. She’s never treated me any differently. She was just always my friend
and things never got uncomfortable.
    But if I were to have a boyfriend, I don’t think this
would be something I could keep hidden forever. I mean at some point when I was
sick from the medications or refusing to eat ice cream because the dairy
doesn’t sit well with me, he was liable to ask questions…wasn’t he?
    I pulled on my red sweater and my favorite pair of
jeans. Looking at myself in the mirror I thought, “Good enough.” Then I threw
on a knit hat my grandma made me and grabbed my red coat and I was ready to go.
I stuffed all the other clothes back into the closet so that when Megan came
home, she would never know. And speaking of the devil, she came bounding in
just as I tossed in the last pair of jeans and closed the closet door.
    “Hey, Molly. Are you ready?”
    “I’m ready. Where’s Jake?” What I really meant was;
where’s Jake’s friend? But it may have been rude to phrase it that way.
    “He’s in the car. He says that Brock was doing
something, but he was going to meet us there. I hope he doesn’t flake.”
    “Oh well, if he does it’s no big deal,” I told her. I
was trying to sound casual but Megan knew me too well.
    “Sure,” she said with a grin. “That’s why you look so
cute, because it’s no big deal.”
    “Shut up,” I told her.
    “Okay,” she said, still grinning. “Let’s go.”
    I followed her out the door, wondering what the hell I
was doing. I was also wondering what Brock was doing. Did he change outfits
three times before he left too? I laughed at the thought.
    “What’s so funny?” Megan said.
    “Oh nothing,” I told her.
    I got into the back seat of Megan’s Honda Civic and I
said hello to Jake. He immediately said, “Brock’s coming. He was finishing
something up, but he’ll be there.”
    “Yippee!” I said, sarcastically…I hoped.
    “He likes you, Molly.” Jake said.
    “How nice for him.” That time the tone was acerbic, I
was sure of it.
    He turned around in his seat as Molly pulled away from
the curb.
    “You know, Brock could have any girl he wanted.” Jake
said, suddenly incensed with the need to stick up for his friend. “It’s a
compliment that he likes you so much after you only met once.”
    “But of course, I’m thrilled,” I told him with a grin.
I knew that I should be nicer to Jake. After all, he was Megan’s knight in
shining armor. It was fun to poke at him though. I always made sure not to
pierce the armor…
    The football stadium was only a few blocks away, but
it was going to be super cold tonight, so Megan had wanted to drive. We were
all regretting it now, however, as we made our way around the lot for the third
time. Finally she decided to park on the street. We could hear kick-off taking
place as we hurried towards the entry gate. There was a sudden roar of a
motorcycle, and then Jake stopped walking and waved. I looked in that direction
and saw Brock, on a red Harley. Of course he had a Harley. It wasn’t