Cancer

"Okay class, today we will be continuing our work on astronomical terms. Who can name the two astronomical terms we're looking at?" I watched as Virgo raised her hand. I was too scared to answer myself-what if I was wrong? It would be so embarrassing... "Yes, Virgo?" Virgo cleared her throat. "Light years and Astronomical Units." The teacher nodded. "Correct. Can anyone explain what a light year is?" I noticed my classmates furrow their brows, looking through their notes. I was the only one who wasn't moving. I knew the answer-I just didn't want to draw any attention to myself...

"Cancer! You must know the answer, seeing as you're just sitting there." I gawked at the teacher foolishly. "Y-yeah, I know the a-answer..." I trailed off nervously, fidgeting with the zipper on my jacket. "Well, enlighten us all, Cancer." I blinked rapidly. "U-um, okay... Well, a l-light year is... it's, um, it's... a u-unit of, um, measurement that can be used to... it can be used to..." The teacher began to laugh, my classmates joining in. "God, boy, stop stammering!" He began to laugh again.

Pisces stood up, frowning. "Sit down Pisces, it's not worth it-" Pisces shook my hand off. "Hey, it's not funny, okay? Cancer was the only one who knew the answer-that says something about you, Sir." The teacher furrowed his brows, glaring at Pisces. Oh, no. "Detention, right now." Pisces walked out of the room, still glaring at the teacher. "Okay, I'm going over light years again." Scorpio leaned across the desk, looking at me with concern. "Hey, man, you good?" I nodded, cracking a weak smile. "I'm okay." Scorpio shuffled over. "You sure? You don't look so good-"

"Well, well, well. Look at that, talking in my class! Detention, both of you!" Scorpio frowned. "With all due respect sir-I was only asking him if he was okay-"

"I don't want to hear it! OUT, both of you!"

This wasn't fair. All Scorpio was doing was checking on me. "A-actually, sir, I-I think th-this is really, um unfair..."

"Out of the room, now!"

We trailed out of the room, Scorpio mumbling under his breath.

.....

"Honestly, we're ALWAYS getting detention in this class!" Pisces exclaimed. Scorpio hushed Pisces. "Shush, you're going to wake Ms. Robins." Pisces snorted. "She's been asleep since the 80's, Scorpio. Besides, the library's always empty-she has nothing to stay awake for." Scorpio barked a laugh. "Hey, Cancer, you look really upset." Pisces shuffled over to me. "I'm just so sick of being so... well... me!" Pisces smiled at me kindly. "You're an amazing person, Cancer. If others don't see that, they're idiots."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks." Scorpio's eyes lit up. "I know what will cheer you up. Just.. you can't tell Libra, okay?" I raised an eyebrow. "Okay... what is it?"

.....

"What do you mean, skip?" Scorpio laughed. "Nobody's going to find out-I'm going to mark you all as absent using Ms. Robins' computer, which is linked to the mainframe. You can escape with Aries and everyone else, go have some fun, you know?" Pisces grinned. "It's a good idea, Cancer." I felt my lower lip trembling. "But I've never skipped..." Pisces put an arm around me. "Hey, it's okay. We've all skipped-it doesn't make you a bad person." I nodded. "Okay then, let's go!" Pisces leapt off the couch, walking over to Scorpio, who had just finished marking everyone as absent.

"Okay, we'll go get the others, and then you can go, okay?" I nodded, following Scorpio to all the rooms.

Scorpio really was a smart one-he managed to fool four different teachers, just like that. He was going to do so well now that he was at school. "Okay, you're all good to go! What should we do, Pisces?" He walked off with Pisces, staying true to his word by not skipping with us all. "Okay, let's go!" Leo whooped, unlocking his car. "Everybody, hop aboard the Leo mobile!" Gemini rolled her eyes. "Never say that again." Leo shrugged. "Your loss."

We rode off, Leo entertaining us all with his singing.

"So, Cancer, first time skipping, huh?" Aquarius asked, turning to face me. "Yeah," I admitted, looking down at my feet. "It's nothing to be embarrassed of, Cancer. You're a good student, and that's a really good thing, okay?" I smiled, feeling at ease. Aquarius was so kind, so sweet. She had a way of making things easier, and I liked that. She was helping me feel comfortable, and I appreciated it.

"Aries, we're here! Your favourite ice cream shop!" Despite her supposed heartbreak, Aries quite literally jumped out of the car at the name of ice cream. "Outta my way!" She shoved Leo toward the car, running into the ice cream shop. "Boom, goes the firecracker." We all laughed at Gemini's statement. "Come on, the ice cream is actually really good here." Aquarius nudged me. I smiled at the blonde, following her into the shop.

"You skipping school again, niña?" A middle-aged woman asked Aries from behind the counter. "She kinda got rejected, Señora Maria-we're coming from a good place!"Leo told her. Señora Maria rolled her eyes, smiling. "Well, I have the perfect sundae for heartbreak, niña." She turned, whistling to herself as she crafted an ice cream sundae. She placed a scrumptious sundae on the counter, featuring all things chocolate-chocolate ice cream, chocolate flakes, chocolate cookies, and so on.

"It's on the house, niña. I'll give you some advice-boys ain't worth crap. If he's not smart enough to notice how special you are, no vale tu tiempo!" Aries smiled. "You're right, he's not worth my time. Thanks, Señora." Señora Maria smiled at Aries before turning to us. "And what would you like today?"

.....

Soon enough, we were all sitting in a booth with our ice creams talking about... well, anything. Leo was doing all the talking, actually-we were just sitting back and watching the 'Leo Show'. I found myself really enjoying the company of this group. It was no wonder Scorpio sat with then so often. I wanted to hang out with these guys more often. They seemed like so much fun, and I really needed more fun in my life. More chances to step out of my comfort zone, to live life to the fullest. As I was just sitting there, laughing at Leo's antics, I realised that for the first time in a long time, I felt like everything would be okay.

Well, I was wrong. Because the next thing I knew, the door swung open, revealing the last person Aries would have wanted to see-Sagittarius.