Page 7 - My FlipBook

must be for Mari. That had to be what caused the nausea now,
not a possible head injury.
“Thanks,” Ellie said to the teacher, taking the slip of paper
as they moved toward the elevator. “You coming, Leo?”
“Mari?”
Leo was a great big brother, because he didn’t try to impose
any sort of big brother antics on Mari. Nick, her oldest brother
did that. Mari never worried about Leo threatening another
guy if he wanted to date her. (Not that that had happened
anyway.) Leo was Mari’s closest ally, helping her navigate
this world that wasn’t built for her. He had taken her cancer
diagnosis when she was only ten the hardest, but now didn’t
worry the way the rest of their family did. It was probably
because they were a mere fifty-one weeks apart, more like
twins in many ways than regular siblings.
“Go to class,” Mari said. “I’ll see you out front later.”
“Okay.”
He might have been a little hesitant to leave her, but Mari
thought that was probably more about his lingering crush on
Ellie than Mari’s well-being.
“I fall all the time,” she reminded her sweet and probably
concerned brother. “I’m made of steel—I don’t break.” She didn’t
bring up the fact that she had indeed broken her leg before the
cancer was found. Mari did fall occasionally. Not all the time,
like she had said to Leo, but enough that she knew how to get
up and keep moving. Heck, last year she’d nearly broken her
arm in a wrestling match with a vacuum. But getting caught
in a hallway fight was unusual, even for her.
Mari’s headache only got worse through AP Chemistry,
but she was pretty certain it was from the formulas and not

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