We ended up staying, though. Kallie was the first to see Kit come in, and she ran over to her as soon as she’d made it up to the level we were on. Kit hugged her, but she looked more than a little exhausted, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she hadn’t found a new boyfriend to zap all her energy or something. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her quite so tired, and from the snickering my friends were engaged in it was obvious I wasn’t the only one having those thoughts.

When she got close enough to us, though, the snickering stopped. Kit looked horrible. I don’t think I’d ever seen her as sick before as she looked that day, and I wasn’t the only one worried. She was getting questions from everyone there, although she waved those away and sat down next to Alice, with Kallie on her other side. She cheered just as loudly for Charlie as she ever had, although there was enough tension in the air for us to know that something was really wrong.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to her until after Charlie’s meet was over and we’d promised to take him out for a meal. That had started to be a tradition for us too, every time he finished a meet or Kallie had finished a game of some sort, those of us who were present took them out to eat. Kit agreed to go with us, but I hung back a little to wait for her as everyone else made their way to the parking lot.  

“I’m just gonna tell him I’m sorry for being late,” she explained to me as she took a seat in the lobby. “I got really sick right as I was gonna drive over.”

“I’m sure he’s not upset. We were just worried about you.” I sat down in the chair next to her and sighed. “You sure you’re okay?”

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looked at me in silence. Then she lowered her head and sighed. “No. I have an appointment with the oncology department at the hospital in a few days. I was wondering if you’d come with me, if it isn’t too much trouble.” I was out of my chair immediately after she said it to hug her. “I know you don’t wanna be there but I don’t wanna tell anybody else yet and have them worrying all the time…”