My Oh-So Cliche Story

I laughed as Kevin McAllaster sped across the screen. Jack just smiled and wrapped an arm around me. Putting his lips to my ear he whispered that he had sent Bay the address and she had replied. I thanked him and went back to the movie.Yawning, I stretched my arms, popped my neck and curled up even farther, into Jack`s side. My eyes were half-way closed when three short beeps called from my pocket.

"What was that?" Jack looked down at me.

"My insulin pump. I`ve either got a low reservoir or a low battery. Possibly both," I sighed, and reluctantly climbed off of the couch and out of his arms.

Groggily I entered the kitchen and pulled my box out of the kitchen and my Apidra out of the fridge. Jack watched wide-eyed as I changed my set with a precision gained over eight and a half years.

Letting the set prime, I looked up and smiled. "Jack," I started. He turned his head up. "Do you wanna do it? Put the new site on, I mean."

"Uh," he stuttered. "I guess I can try." His hands
were shaky as I handed him the blue inserter, holding the ready site.

"Now, all you do is put it on the spot and push the buttons on the side," I showed him the white spots on either side. "Okay, after you push those and it goes in, you push the big part on the back, and pull the inserter off. Simple as that."

He nodded and I lead his hand to where the site needed to go. I lead him through the process a smile on my face the entire time.

Telling it to prime, I looked up. "Just like that," I grinned at Jack.

"Did it hurt?" he bit his lip and looked me in the eyes.

Taking his hand, "Just a teeny bit. I`m used to it. I took shots every day from second to sixth grade, and I`ve been using the pump since then." I shrugged, it was normal for people to ask about it or watch in shock. Heck, my elementary counselor still remembers walking into the office when I was in second grade and watching me check my sugar without flinching.

"Wow. It`s kind of amazing. I mean, that you do
this everyday. It seems scary." Jack mumbled out.

"It was at first," I kept my eyes on my hands as I spoke. "But I got used to it pretty quickly and it set into my routine. I can`t remember not being diabetic, anymore."

"Wow," he looked at his own hands. "What`s it like being diabetic?"

I took his hand and lead him back to the couch, this could take a while, "It`s OK. I mean I wouldn`t wish it upon anybody, but I live with it everyday so it`s okay. Everyone seems to look at me different though, teachers get on edge and kids seem to stand a little further away than they did before. Some people act like it`s contagious, and some act like I`ll die if I have any sugar at all. People tend to ask me what my pump is, it`s been called a phone, mp3 player and pager. It`s different, but it`s normal." Smiling, I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. "When mine or Paige`s blood sugar is low, and don`t say I didn`t warn you, we act like we`re high. And when it`s High we get kind of mellow and sleepy." I laughed remembering the time Paige had stayed at my house for a week and her bs was 43. "Well, Paige is worse than me when she`s low. One time she spent a week, down with me in Texas. And one night we`re sitting in my loft bed and she takes my lamp and turns it to every poster on my wall and, with a terrible British accent, asks 'Did you kill Harry Potter?' Apparently Rian did. But than the next night she`s low again and starts shooting around my room with finger guns and can`t stop giggling." I rolled my eyes.

"Wow, you guys sound like you`re fun when you`re low," He chuckled.

"We sure are Captain," I smiled up at him.

"Well," he winked. "How about we do this? We finish watching the movie and if you fall asleep I`ll take you to bed. What do you think?"

I rubbed my eyes, behind my glasses, "That sounds fantastic."