Trouble

Us Against the World

Gemma’s Diary

I’m not a “diary” kind of person, but one of the nurses at the clinic said writing stuff down might help. Worth a shot, I guess.

Sarah Martin is my best friend. Like, since finger-painting and nap time in preschool. She's a certified genius—seriously, she skipped a grade last year and still finishes tests in half the time anyone else does. But even with all that going on, she still shows up for me. Every. Single. Time.

She comes to my hockey games, even though she gets cold five minutes in and complains about the smell of the rink. She even made me a poster once that said “Gemma the Glacier.” (Okay, I laughed for a week.)

And I’m always at her competitions—Quiz Bowl, math tournaments, spelling bees. I might not understand half the stuff going on, but I cheer like she just scored the winning goal every time she gets an answer right.

We don’t care that we’re in different grades now. We’ve always said it’s us against the world.

Lately, though... I’ve been feeling weird. Heavy. Like my legs are filled with sand during practice. I chalked it up to double workouts and not enough sleep, but deep down, I knew it was something else.