Ginger underwent immediate surgery to remove the tumor the doctors found in the back of her head about a week after her CT scan. From there she would have a series of complicated radiation treatments twice a week until the doctors felt her cancer was gone and they would place her in remission, hoping it didn't come back.
She was in shambles for a long time. The surgery left her in pain and unable even to go to school, so she stayed at home, having her work delivered to her by one of her classmates. She did it when she felt strong enough to lift a pen. When she didn't, it sat there. Zac called nearly every day to check up on her. Sometimes she would talk to him, sometimes she couldn't. Sometimes she just listened to him speak with Kris on the extension to let him know she still there listening.
Ginger's sixth treatment took place the day after school was let out for the holidays. Ginger exempted most of her exams and would be taking some of them later on in the year when she felt better. At that point, school was the last thing from her mind. She hadn't been school more than a few times since she was diagnosed, and that was only for partial days when she felt well enough to go through the monotony of her school.
"Hey sis," Kris said, walking into the room she shared with her sister. Ginger was lying on the bottom bunk. They'd recently switched because Ginger had a hard time climbing up to the top bunk since her treatments started. Ginger was currently watching television, as she'd been doing for quite a few weeks now. "How are you doing today? Good day or bad day?" Ginger thought about it, her paler-than-usual face in deep concentration as if it was hard to think.
"Good day."
"That's great. Are you up to having lunch with the rest of us?" Ginger nodded. "Perfect. Come on, let's go." Kris helped her sister out of bed, avoiding her head, and brought her across the house to the kitchen. Ginger sat down in her comfy chair that was put at the table just for her to be comfortable, and looked at the food her mother had put out on the table for them. There was Cuban sandwiches and honey mustard sauce, with crackers and cheese.
"Geez, is it just me or do we have a lot for lunch?" Ginger lazily said, leaning back in her chair and pulling her feet up.
"It's you. It's because you haven't eaten this much in a long time. I made you some soup," her mother said, putting down a bowl of steamy soup in front of Ginger. Her eyes widened in happiness and looked at it. "Broccoli cheese."
"Yay," Ginger said weakly. She pulled her chair closer to the table and, knees to her chin, began to eat her soup. "Orlandito," she said to her little brother (if he could be considered little, he was taller than her and quite a bit stronger), "how was your game today?" He played in club football, coached by his father, and Ginger had missed the most of the season due to her sickness. Despite Kristina's disinterest in it, Ginger was actually quite curious about his games.
"Oh," the boy said. "We won."
"Yay! So you're number one now, aren't you?" Orlandito nodded. "Yay." She didn't show much enthusiasm, but just asking about it showed that she cared. She usually didn't talk much, not since her treatments started. One of the effects of her treatment was her difficulty to speak, and everyone noticed it. Sometimes she had a hard time remembering what the words were and how a sentence was constructed, while sometimes she just had difficulty forming the words. Kris had gotten used to it and by now could expertly distinguish between what Ginger said and what she meant to say. Every once in a while Ginger would say something that made her sound like Yoda�Kris would laugh and she would get embarrassed and not say anything for a while.
The phone rang halfway through lunch and Kris picked it up. "Hello? Oh, hey Zac." Ginger looked up, a smile on her face. "Yeah, we're having lunch now. She's having a good day today, she's out here with us. Here, talk to her." Kris handed the phone over to Ginger.
"Hello?" Ginger said carefully.
"Hey baby. So you're having a good day today? That's always nice. When did school end, yesterday?"
"Yes."
"When was your last treatment?"
"Today."
"Really? And today is a good day? That's surprising. You're usually really bad on your treatment days. But it's still good you feel well today. Anyway, the reason I called was to let you know I'm off until next year and I'm coming down to spend Christmas with you." Her eyes grew.
"No�"
"No, you can't protest. I'm doing it. You were going to come up here but you're too sick so I'm coming to you. You can't say anything to change my mind. And I'm bringing Taylor; I know you haven't seen him in a while."
"Taylor?" she squeaked. "Zac, I�"
"Don't. I just wanted you to know. We'll be coming this week. Let me speak to your sister again." Ginger didn't say anything as she handed the phone back to her sister. Kris began to speak to Zac again, getting up and leaving the table. Ginger made a face and turned back to her soup.
Ten minutes after Ginger finished her soup she was in the bathroom throwing up. It'd been like this for weeks. She couldn't keep anything down any longer. The doctor had told her that after a few weeks she'd be able to keep things down, once her body got used to the radiation treatments, but it hadn't happened yet. She was losing a lot of weight, from the radiation and from her cancer, and everyone was beginning to notice.
Kris hung up with Zac as soon as she saw her sister run into the bathroom and was in there with her, holding her hair back. Ginger laid against the wall, tears in her eyes and a look of fury on her face. "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. It'll get better with time. We just have to deal with this for a little bit."
"I don't want�don't want�hell�" Ginger managed to say, but stopped halfway through her sentence because she couldn't form the rest of the words.
"I know."
"Is Zac coming?" she whispered, holding her heavy head in her hands.
"Yeah. He and Taylor will be here tomorrow evening. Mom said she doesn't know where she's going to put them, though."
"Hotel?"
"If we have to. Mom wants them here, though, not in a hotel." Ginger nodded softly. "Are you feeling better?" Ginger shook her head. "Okay. We'll stay here a bit longer." Ginger leaned her head against her sister's shoulder. "I love you, honey."
"You too."
Ginger stayed at home while Kris went to pick up Zac and Taylor at the airport. She stayed on her bed in her room, watching television until she saw the headlights in the driveway and made a feeble attempt to make herself look better. The front door opened and Kris walked in with Zac and Taylor right behind her. Both brothers had an expensive looking suitcase, but Ginger figured since they spent most of their life on the road, they should have expensive looking suitcases.
"Hey baby," Zac said, throwing the expensive suitcase on the floor without a second thought and went over to Ginger, giving her a kiss. She smiled at him.
"Hey."
"How are you doing today?"
"Okay."
"Good day or bad day?" She shook her head. "So-so?" She nodded. "Well that's better than a bad day. I'll be right back, I have to say hi to your parents." Zac got up and left and Taylor remained at the doorway. Ginger pulled herself slowly into a sitting position.
"You won't catch it, Taylor," she said. "Say hi."
"You look terrible," he told her.
"Thanks."
"No, I mean�I'm sorry. Hi." He walked over and kissed her cheek. "How you've been holding up with this?"
"All right, I guess. As much as I can." He nodded.
"Yeah. This really sucks, doesn't it?" She nodded.
"Hey Taylor!!! Stop macking on my girlfriend and come in here!" Zac yelled from the living room.
"Yeah, Taylor, stop it," Ginger said, nudging him. "Go meet my parents." Taylor, glancing to the hallway, kissed Ginger before getting up and leaving. She creased her eyes in anger and wiped her mouth behind his back as he left. On the way to the living room, Taylor passed Kris and gave her a killer smile, like he had the first time he met Ginger. She smiled back at him, and after he passed, she gave a knowing look to Ginger and came in the room.
"Isn't he a dream?" she asked, sitting on the edge of Ginger's bed. "He's even hotter in person."
"Yeah, that's Taylor." Ginger gave her sister a sarcastic smile.
"What's wrong, honey?" Kris asked, fixing Ginger's hair.
"Nothing."
"Do you not like Taylor or something?" Kris asked.
"No," Ginger said, shaking her head. "I don't." She paused, confused. "I do. I do like him. Fuck." Kris smiled.
"It's okay. I understand what you mean, honey." Kris looked towards the living room. "Do you know�do you know if he's seeing anybody?" Ginger smiled, her eyes shimmering.
"Kris!!"
"What?"
"You like him!" Kris shook her head, blushing. "Yes you do!"
"All right, all right I do. I didn't really think much about it until I saw him and Zac at the airport. He is really hot, but that wasn't it. I've always known he's hot. He was really charming as well."
"He can do that," Ginger said, dropping her eyes. Kris didn't notice.
"I mean we were flirting all the way home. Do you think he might�?" Ginger nodded. "Really? Will you say something to him?" Ginger nodded.
"I'll try."
"Oh, I love you honey!" Kris kissed her sister's cheek. "You're so awesome!"
"Who's awesome?" Zac asked, walking in the room. "Besides me, of course." Kris gave Zac a look. "What?"
"You're so not awesome, Zac. Where's your brother?" Zac looked behind him.
"He's still in the living room with your parents. They're yapping his head off about something or another. I think he mentioned he watched the Bucs game last Sunday."
"Oh no," Kris said, getting up. "I better save him." She ran out of the room. Zac gave Ginger a confused look.
"They're big on football," Ginger explained. "Sit." She moved over and he sat on the bed next to her. He put his arm around her and kissed her forehead.
"How are you doing, baby?" he asked.
"I'm terrible."
"I know." She shook her head, looking away. "I know it's hard, Ging, but you and I are going to get through this."
"That's what everyone keeps saying," she told him, looking at him with tears in her eyes, "but it doesn't feel like it. I feel worse than before they diagnosed me. I can't eat anything without throwing it up, sometimes I have a hard time talking, and all of the time I feel so drained that I can't stand up for any length of time before I get wobbly and pass out. This isn't exactly my idea of a treatment, baby."
"But it's still a treatment. What did the doctor say when you saw him yesterday?"
"He said it's almost gone. Hopefully by February I'll be off the treatments and I'll be in remission, if something doesn't happen. Fingers crossed." She crossed her fingers. "I just don't want to go through this anymore."
"That's wonderful news! Gone by February�"
"Hopefully."
"Still, that's pretty good news, babe."
"Yeah�I guess. Where does Mom have you guys sleeping?"
"Well I'm sleeping in here on the floor and Taylor's going to be out there on the couch because for whatever reason that boy always seems to wake up bright and early with the sun."
"Okay." She looked up at him. "Why is he here?"
"Taylor? He wanted to come and he wouldn't let me out of his sight until I agreed to have him tag along. He's really warming up to Kris, though. I think he likes her or something, he normally doesn't flirt as much as he did with her. I'm used to him hitting on chicks wherever we go, but even I noticed it on the way here." Ginger nodded, smiling. "What's that about?"
"She has a crush on him."
"She does? Well then that works out perfectly, doesn't it? Maybe now he'll stay away from you."
"Zac�"
"I didn't want to bring him along because I knew he'd be all over you, but the boy is so damn persistent�"
"We're not having this fight again. I've told you a million times there is nothing between the two of us yet you still continue to bring it up. This fight is just about as old as we are."
"I'm not saying there's anything between the two of you! I'm just saying that he's got something for you and he hasn't done a single thing to hide it from me. I don't mind you being friends with him, but it's uncomfortable to have my brother flirting with my girlfriend."
"What did I just say? We're not fighting about this!"
"We're not fighting!"
"Yes we are!"
"No we're not!"
"Zac!" Kris said from the doorway. "Don't you dare yell at her! She is in no state to be fighting with you. If there's any problem it can wait until she's got the energy."
"Kris, did you hear what we were fighting about?" Ginger asked, her worried look matching Zac's. If Kris did indeed have a crush on Taylor, it wouldn't exactly be a good thing to have her know about the problems they were having over him.
"No I didn't but I don't care. No fighting." Kris turned around and began to walk away, then remembered something and came back, leaning into the room. "And no sex either," she said, lowering her voice, "you don't have the energy."
"Kris, you don't have to whisper, our parents know we have sex," Ginger said. Zac's face turned to shock.
"They do!?" he asked. She giggled. "Why didn't you tell me? No wonder your father hates me!"
"He doesn't hate you, Zac."
"Yes he does! He doesn't look at me, he doesn't talk to me�he just kind of sits there while your mother talks to me. She likes me."
"Hmm�Dad likes Taylor," Kris butted in.
"Shut up, Kris," Zac snapped. She gave him a look and went back to the living room. "I can't believe they know. How long have they known?"
"Since the first time you met them."
"That long??" Ginger smiled and kissed him.