Read Online She Died Too Young by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page B

sure I want to go through with it.”

E
leven

    “N OT GO THROUGH with it? You can’t be serious!”
    The shocked expression on Jillian’s face made Chelsea wish she’d kept her thoughts to herself. “Well, maybe just a part of me is scared of going through with it.”
    “You’d want to spend the rest of your life gasping for air and passing out when your heart goes haywire? Not me. I can’t wait for the transplant.”
    “But what if … what if I die during the operation?” There. Chelsea had voiced her darkest fear.
    “But we’ll die without the operation,” Jillian replied matter-of-factly. “When they did surgery on me before, I thought they were going to fix me once and for all. When I found out that not much had changed, I cried for days. So far as I’m concerned,I’d rather be dead than an invalid the rest of my life.”
    “I wish I wasn’t so scared. I wish I was brave like you and Katie.”
    Jillian wrinkled her nose self-consciously. “I’m not brave. I just don’t want to compromise. Besides, if I die, I hope to go to heaven, where I’ll be given a perfect body, as well as straight hair and no freckles.” She grinned. “So I figure, either way, I win.”
    Chelsea felt ashamed that she didn’t have faith or hope like Jillian ‘ s.
    “If I don’t get well, DJ will kill me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because he’s my older brother, and he says he’s supposed to go first.”
    “But you’re twins.”
    “He was born three minutes ahead of me, so that makes me the baby.”
    Now it was Chelsea who smiled. “Some baby.”
    “You’re the only one I’d say this to,” Jillian said soberly, “but I worry about DJ.”
    “Whatever for? He’s healthy … isn’t he?”
    “He’s healthy. But he’s not real strong inside the way I am.”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “I’m not sure I can explain it.” Jillian toyed with a sofa cushion as she talked. “When we were little, when I’d get sick, he’d stand next to my bed and cry. I can remember how he would hold on to my hand and beg me to get well. Like I had a choice. But sometimes, when I’m really having a hardtime, I can still hear his voice begging me. Sometimes, it’s all I have to keep me going. He feels guilty, and I know it’s not his fault. It’s nobody’s fault really.”
    “You’re lucky to have him,” Chelsea said. “I’ve wished for a bigger family. Good thing Katie and Lacey became like sisters to me.”
    “Can I be your sister too?”
    “You already are.”
    Jillian’s expression grew mischievous. “But you don’t want DJ for a brother. I mean, with you having a crush on him, it wouldn’t be proper.”
    “Don’t tease me about DJ. Nothing will ever come of it anyway.”
    “We’ll see.”
    Chelsea gave her a sideways glance. “You better not do anything to embarrass me with him.”
    “Me?” Jillian flapped her eyelashes innocently. “I wouldn’t dream of such a thing.”
    Chelsea didn’t believe her, but didn’t want to push the issue.
    “I guess she did good things with her money, didn’t she?” Jillian pointed up at the portrait of Jenny.
    “She did. But not all of us have money. We don’t have anything to give away that’s important.”
    “Not true,” Jillian replied with a toss of her wild mass of red hair. “Take you, for instance. You have yourself. I figure that’s the nicest present of all, Chelsea James being herself—being my best friend.”
    With Jillian’s comment, goose bumps spread over Chelsea. The rich girl with the Texas-size heart really liked her. Her friendship with Katie, Lacey, and Amanda had been born of mutual suffering and proximity during the summer. But with Jillian, although they had similar medical problems, Chelsea felt that they would have been friends sick or well. Near or far. Perhaps that’s what Jenny Crawford had meant when she’d signed Katie’s Wish Letter
Your Forever Friend
.
    A friend was someone who liked you—fears and all.
    It was