Your Never Fading Smile

Chapter 4

"Liam~!" I turned to look towards the one who yelled my name from afar. The sound of his voice washing away my uneasiness. "Morning Noah. What's up?" "Sorry about yesterday. Let's meet up later at our usual bench. I have some explanation to do." He said ruffling my hair and then left inside the school building. He seriously needs to stop doing this. I'm not a kid.

~~~

"Noah~ Will you come with us?~" "Noah, come and sit with us~"

There it is again... Those people truly are all over Noah's head aren't they? I thought to myself as many people surrounded Noah just in front of the main building entrance. "Hey, orange head." Huh? Me? I turned to my left to see Jason slowly approaching me. "What are you doing standing here in the middle of the hall?" "Well... Those people are kinda blocking the way." I pointed at them and Jason just laughed.

"Let me show you the other exit kid." "Hey, I know I am one year younger than you but you guys should stop calling me a kid." I whined with a sigh and Jason only laughed more. "Sorry but I don't care haha!" I rolled my eyes and followed Jason outside of the building from the back door.

"Say Liam, why didn't you had any friends before? You seem like a good guy so I don't really get it." He asked and my right hand started twitch a little. My anxiety will be the death of me... "It's just that-" "Jasooon~~ There you are baby~" Just when I was about to explain, a guy with purple hair in a ponytail and sightly violet eyes walked towards us with a big smile while waving. He must be referring to Jason. Wait... He called him babe?!

"Eek! Sorry Liam, gotta run away from this guy. See ya later!" Apologized Jason as he began to run away with a very terrified look on his face. "Why are you running Jason? I was searching for you since school started and this is how you treat me? How mean~~" Smirked the guy and started to chase Jason. Before I knew it, they were already gone.

"Poor guy, he's always getting in trouble without me." "Ah!" "Oops... Sorry. I scared you again, didn't I?" Noah had just walked from behind me, surprising me once again. Jump scares are no good for my health. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I smiled as I got ahold of myself. "That's good then." He gave me a smile as we started to walk towards the bench.

"Sorry about yesterday. You see-" "Don't worry, Jason explained it to me." I interrupted Noah's explanation as we sat on the usual bench. "He did?" "Of course he didn't said everything. He didn't tell me the reason you want to avoid those people or why they even look up to you so much. But you really don't have to explain. I do believe you are a good guy, so there's no worries."

With that, he smiled as his facial expression seemed to relax by a lot. He looked down to the ground and brought a hand over my shoulder. "I'm glad..." He breathed out a sigh of relief and I showed him a small smile. He is truly a good guy. "Noah! Are you coming? Don't tell me you forgot our basketball game?" Shouted the same guy from yesterday to get Noah's attention. Noah showed a scowl but it soon drifted into a polite smile. "See ya soon Liam." "Right."

Not long after Noah left, I walked back into the dorms since the lessons had finished. "Man, I'm tired..." I mumbled taking my medication. "Say Liam, what kind of medication is that you are taking everyday? Do you have a condition or something?" Questioned Spencer who was still studying. I swallowed the medicine and looked to the ground. I was unsure of telling him but at the same time I wanted to trust him. Noah was so far understanding and I want to believe even Jason would be fine hearing this.

"You see, I have epilepsy. I need the medications in order to stabilize my seizures." "For how long have you had this condition?" Surprisingly, he didn't stopped there but his questions kept on coming. "About twelve years." "Is the medicine actually helping?" "Yeah, it helps a lot. Now I rarely get any seizures and they come from specific triggers, a very strong light from example. Tho there are still times when it comes at random but I got somewhat used to it." I explained seeing he was actually curious about the whole thing.

"I see..." He replied as I was preparing myself for the same old pity. "You know...my little sister has epilepsy." That took me by surprise. "It's been half a year since she started having her seizures. So... Now that I learned you have epilepsy, I wanted to know if the medications are actually worth it." I stared at him with widened eyes and wide open mouth. That was the first time I heard of someone else having epilepsy.

"How old is she?" I asked and he opened the window in our room to light a cigarette. I didn't knew he was smoking... "She's turning nine the next month." He replied with a tired and depressed tone. "How did she started having epilepsy?" I asked once again. My face full of sympathy. I knew all too well how difficult this can be. "She hit her head when she fell from a tree. Our other sister is fourteen. She was playing with her around the backyard. Sadly no one supervised them... I... I wasn't there for them... I wasn't there for her..."

"I'm sure your little sister will be able to live a happy and normal life someday. It may seem scary and hopeless now but if you and everyone else around her encourage her, I am sure she will be able to live a happy life. I know that having epilepsy isn't easy. I know that from a first hand. The medicines are definitely helpful but it's you who has to decide to face your condition. She is still young, but someday she'll get used to that. But in order for her to achieve that, she'll need people by her side for encouragement. Sometimes, someone's smile is enough to keep you on living."

I looked outside the window. Memories of my childhood running through my head. Suddenly Spencer raised a fist in front of me and whispered with a soft pained voice. "Thank you..." "You should not thank me. I merely spoke by experience. Just make sure to make your sister smile no matter what." "No need to tell me do the obvious." He chuckled giving me a slight punch of the shoulder. "Seriously man... Thank you." "You're welcome."