"What do you want me to tell them?" I asked Bryce, as I straightened my hair in his bathroom.

"I don't want you to tell them anything," Bryce answered, irritably.

"That's not possible, and you know that."

He let out a sigh. "Tell them that I was dehydrated."

I peeked out of his bathroom door at him, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

He pulled a pillow over his face. "I hate the idea of telling everybody that I have a brain tumor."

"Then I won't tell them! But I have to tell them something."

"You give me a headache," he groaned.

"Do you really have a headache?"

"A slight one," he admitted. "And I guess just tell them the truth. It's better than trying to come up with a stupid lie."

"You want me to tell the school that you have a brain tumor?" I asked, as I turned off my straightener. I went back into his room, straddling him.

"I guess," he muttered, looking into my eyes. "You look very sexy today."

"Good to know that I didn't look sexy yesterday," I teased, going in for a quick kiss. "I have to go."

"Have fun," he called out, sarcastically.

"Rest," I ordered, flipping off his bedroom light. "I have to go home afterschool, but I'll be over for dinner."

"Yes mom."

I laughed my way out to my car, heading to school. But my carefree attitude faded as I pulled into the school parking lot. I wasn't ready to be bombarded, and I certainly wasn't ready to tell people that Bryce had a brain tumor. Saying it out loud would only make it true, and I didn't want to admit that this nightmare was a reality.

Kylie pulled up next to my car, and she patiently waited for me to get out, watching me with worry-filled eyes.

"I'm okay," I promised, stepping out of my car.

"You look like you're about to puke."

I grabbed my backpack, taking in a deep breath. "I'll be okay."

"Test it out on me," Kylie said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. "Tell me what Bryce wants you to tell everyone."

"He wants me to tell the truth," I whispered. "And I feel like telling people the truth makes everything that's happened into a reality."

She pulled me into a tight hug. "Whatever's going on you can talk to me about. We'll get through this together."

I pulled away from her, knowing that I needed to tell Kylie what was going on. Not only would she be my test subject, to see if I could really go through with telling people, but she deserved to know. I wiped a lone tear off my cheek, squaring my shoulders. "Bryce has a brain tumor."

She kept her composure, biting her bottom lip. "A brain tumor?" she squeaked.

"We don't know whether it's cancerous or not."

"Oh my God."

I know, and he wants me to tell that to everyone," I said, tears in my eyes. "And how do I do that?"

"With me," she said, looping her arm through mine. "I told you that we're in this together."

Together we walked onto school campus, and I could already hear the buzzing surrounding me.

"Sophie," Clayton said, matching Kylie and I's footsteps. "Talk to me."

"A brain tumor," I said, turning to face Clayton. "Bryce has a brain tumor."

Clayton laced his fingers across the back of his neck, letting out a shaky sigh. "Oh God."

"I know."

"Sophie, I am so sorry for what I said to you last week in the parking lot. You were right."

I gave his shoulder a tight squeeze. "It's okay."

"Who knows?" he asked, regaining his composure.

I swept my finger across Kylie, me, and him. "The three of us. And Bryce."

"Sophie!" Kyle, a kid from the baseball team, called. He came jogging over to us. "Where's Bryce?"

~*~

"How is he?" I asked Regina, as she opened the front door for me.

It was weird having to ring the doorbell and wait. Usually I'd just let myself in through the back. But I'm not sure Bryce's mom would appreciate that.

"He's asleep," she said, stepping aside and letting me in. "He's mad at me because I made him take it easy."

"Sounds like Bryce," I said, laughing as I entered the house. I placed his makeup work on the counter.

"Can I make you some tea?" Regina asked.

"Okay," I agreed, with a nod.

She set to finding the ingredients, humming to herself.

"How's Kayla?" I asked.

"She's handling the news reasonably well," Regina said, with a half-smile.

"Is she going to be in town for the surgery?"

She nodded. "She was already coming into town this weekend, so she just extended her vacation."

An entire week?

"And then Josh is coming down the day before the surgery," she continued. "And he'll stay a couple of days."

"That'll be nice," I said, leaning against the counter.

Regina set the water for the tea to boil before turning to face me. "I just wanted to thank you."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "What for?"

"For being concerned about Bryce's health," she filled in. "For possibly saving my son's life."

"Of course," I said, offering her a smile.

"I know I'm not winning Mom of the Year Award any time soon," she said, with a half-smile. "And I truly appreciate the fact that you were looking out for him."

"He knows that you love him," I said, with a nod. "And I love him too. I wanted what was best for him, just as you do."

"Thank you," Regina said, reaching across and grasping my hand.

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand in return.

"Hey," Bryce's voice said behind me.

I turned to see Bryce stepping out into the living room, Dawson right on his heels.

He was wearing his Under Armour baseball sweatpants and an old travel team t-shirt.

Bryce walked over to the side door, letting Dawson out into the backyard.

"Have you been here long?" Bryce asked me.

I shook my head. "Have a nice nap?"

"It wasn't a nap. It was more like Dawson licking my face and me trying to watching Hairspray over him."

"You and that movie, I swear," Regina said, rolling her eyes.

"That's the best musical every produced," Bryce informed her, before reaching across the counter and planting a quick kiss on my lips.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Just fantastic."

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.

"Are you making me tea?" Bryce asked his mom.

"Would you like some?"

He nodded, hopping up on the counter. "And then Sophie and I are going out."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Is that so?"

"The doctor said for me to take it easy," Bryce reminded her. "Not for me to remain chained to my bed."

Regina chuckled, taking down three mugs from the cupboard. "I don't mind if you go out."

"Really? Because you've been treating me like a prisoner."

"Be nice to your mother," I chastised.

Bryce rolled his eyes, hopping down off the counter to let Dawson in.

Regina handed me a mug of tea, and I thanked her before taking a sip.

"Is that for me?" Bryce asked, pointing to the pile of makeup work I'd placed on the counter.

I nodded.

"Gross."

"I can pick you up for school tomorrow," I offered.

Bryce shrugged, taking a sip of his tea. "I guess."

"What's the matter?" Regina asked him.

"I think it's stupid to go back to school for two weeks, only to have brain surgery."

"Why is that stupid?" Regina asked him.

"Because I'm going to leave indefinitely," he pointed out. "What's the point in going for the next two weeks?"

I rolled my eyes and Regina chuckled.

"You have to go to school," she informed him. "Brain surgery or not."

"You think I'd get some slack around here," Bryce said to me, before taking another sip of his tea.

Dawson let out a bark, wagging out his tail.

"Thank you," Bryce said, with a nod.

I reached down and scratched Dawson behind the ears as Bryce tossed him a treat.

"If you two are going out, I'm going to head into the office for a few hours," Regina said, finishing off her tea.

"Sounds like a plan," Bryce agreed.

She disappeared back towards her bedroom.

"And where are we going exactly?" I asked Bryce.

"Let's go get some frozen yogurt," he said, hopping off the counter. "My treat."

"I feel so special," I teased.

He smiled. "Well you should. I don't treat just any girl to frozen yogurt you know."

"Is that so?"

He surprised me with a kiss. "Only you Sophie Allen."

~*~

"It's their first game without me," Bryce said, as we headed to the game.

"I know babe," I said.

It's only the 86th time he's told me, at least.

"What if we lose?"

"Then they'll have to regroup."

I'd stopped trying to reassure him that they won't lose. That only ended badly. So now I'd turned to trying to console him in the likely event that they did.

"It'll be my fault."

"I don't really know how it's your fault you acquired a brain tumor."

"I don't like that word," he blurted.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What word?"

"Brain tumor."

"Oh. Well why didn't you say that before? I must've said it like 7 times now."

"Let's name it something else."

"Name it?"

He nodded.

"Okay, what would you like to name it?" I asked, turning my eyes back to the road as the light turned green.

"Not something nice, because then I might grow attached to it."

Not going to lie, I could see that happening.

"Well it's like a foreign object to your body," I pointed out.

Bryce nodded. "So it's like an alien!"

Okay, I'm not sure that's where I was going with that.

"A brain alien?"

"Yes!"

I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head. "Only you Bryce, I swear."

"I like it," he confessed.

"You can't already have grown attached to it."

"No," he disagreed, with a shake of his head. "I like the name. Not the alien."

That was a confusing sentence.

"Okay," I said, because it was easier to agree than to try to get Bryce to explain his thought process.

We pulled up to the game. We were still almost an half an hour early for the game, but Bryce was going to explode if we got here any later.

I took my seat in the stands and Bryce hopped the fence, greeting a couple of teammates and his coaches.

I felt a pang in my heart, seeing the sad smile on Bryce's face as he conversed with his teammates.

Baseball had been Bryce's life for as long as I could remember. And now it had been taken from him, and nobody could tell him when he'd get it back.

And for Bryce, that was just about the worst thing about this brain alien.

So what did you guys think about Sophie's first day back without Bryce? Did you expect Kylie's reaction? What about Clayton's? And then what about Regina, thoughts on her now? And then Bryce's decision to rename his brain tumor? And what about Bryce's interaction with his teammates, did that break anyone's heart?

So have any of you guys seen Captain America: Winter Soldier? What were your thoughts? And if you haven't, I probably wouldn't open the comments. Or continue reading this because SPOILER ALERT I did not expect the Winter Soldier to be Bucky. I mean, wow, talk about plot twist.

Teaser: The last chapter before the surgery. It's pre-surgery, and Kayla & Josh join the party.