It Can Only Get Better

*7:30am*
I lay in the bed, thinking about random things and life in general. I had dad at my right side, holding onto my hand for dear life, and Joey was sleeping with his head on the bed on my left side.

The door opened and a young man with black hair, blue eyes, and a kind face walked in. He was wearing a white coat and a pair of green scrubs underneath. He smiled at me,
"Hi, I'm Jeff. I'll be picking your brains later today and I just need to talk to you and your parents about the whole thing." I smiled, and leaned over to wake Mike. "Dad, wake up." Nothing.
"DAD" I yelled,
"What? What? I'm up." He jumped up a little, and then straightened up seeing 'Jeff'. I shook Joey a little and he woke no problem.
"Good morning. My name is Jeffery Longhart. I am chief of the brain surgery thing in this hospital, and I will be performing on Sophie later on today." He looked at Mike and Joey, I liked his first introduction better.
"Now, I need to talk to parents only so... " he said looking around. Mike looked at him, disbelieving that he was actually a surgeon.
"Ah, both her parents are dead, but I adopted her so I guess you could say I'm her dad." I looked at him, with a look that said 'of course you're my dad' and he smiled.
"Holy shit, you're Mike Dirnt." Jeff said quite shocked.
"No shit Sherlock. Are you really a surgeon or did you just steal the outfit." I replied, "Did you not see my chart, it clearly says 'Sophie Dirnt' on it, and how many Dirnt's do you know?" I smiled at him as he turned a little red.
"Sorry. Yes I am actually a surgeon, finished top of my class." He said smugly, "it's just I think Green Day are so bloody awesome and I love you dudes. Anyway, sorry kid parents only." He said turning to Joey.
"No." I said as Joey stood up, "Joey is staying. I don't care what you have to say. I love him and he has a right to hear it too." Jeff looked shocked, he looked at Mike, and Mike's expression just said, 'what? ' Jeff looked at me again,
"Okie dokie then, the kid can stay." And he walked over, lifted my chart, sat down on the edge of the bed and flipped it open. He crumpled up his face, stood up and walked out of the room.
I turned to Mike and smiled, "strange chap he is. Can you believe he is going to be picking my brain?" I said and giggled, Mike and Joey looked at me with serious faces. I looked down at my feet, "well, if you don't laugh you'll cry." I said.

A few minutes later Jeff came through the door again. "Okay, so I looked at your MRI scan again and I have good news and bad news." He looked at me, "the good news is that it's not a tumor." He paused Mike looked up, and I smiled, "the bad news is that it's a blood clot, and that's almost as bad." I frowned a little.
"Does it change my odds?" I said as Joey gripped my hand a little tighter. Jeff looked at me,
"Yes. It does. It's a simpler procedure but it's still complicated cause it's your brain, but it has an excellent recovery rate." He looked at me and smiled. "We think that this all started with an allergy or something, but it's a good thing cause."
"How in fuck's name is what has happened to Soph in the past three weeks been a good thing?" Mike interrupted,
"Well, it's a good thing because if she hadn't been admitted and had all this stuff happen to her then, we wouldn't have caught the blood clot in her brain, and," he looked back at me, "if we don't operate soon, there is a possibility that she may have a stroke. If the arteries are blocked, blood can't get to your brain, and it dies. It may also explain the fact that your heart stopped. You've been given a small dose of blood thinners to get rid of that clot and it seems that it has just dislodged it and moved it to your brain. So if I can get you two to sign this," he said handing over a clipboard to Mike, who read it, signed it and passed it to me. "Great, well, I'll see you in an hour on the table." He winked and left the room.

Shortly after he left, a nurse walked in to prep me for surgery, she smiled as she pushed a little syringe into one of the IV drips.
"It's going to be such a pity." She said looking at me,
"What is?" I replied,
"Well, having a bald patch. They're gonna have to shave a little of your hair off." I looked at her,
"Like hell they are. I ain't having no freakin' bald patch" I yelled and turned to Mike,
"Dad, can I borrow your scissors, shaving foam and razor please," he looked at me confused but went to the bathroom and brought back what I had asked while the nurse did a few checks and then left.
I looked at Joey, "how do you fancy having a bald girlfriend?" I smiled. His eyes filled with tears,
"You are going to be okay aren't you?" he asked.
"I bet your skinny little ass that I'll be okay." I smiled giving him a kiss. He was about to object to having a skinny ass but thought better of it, since I always have a better comeback for him.

I took the scissors in my hand and cut off my pony-tail. Then I cut random bits so my hair so it was really short. I took the shaving foam and lathered it up in my hands and smeared it all over my head. I looked at Mike,
"Hey, could you?" I said handing him the razor, "I'll just end up cutting myself." I smiled as he took the razor and shaved my head. When he was done I got up and walked over to the mirror. I looked in and... It wasn't that bad. I walked back and kissed Joey. He rubbed his hand over my scalp.
"You know what. I think it's kind of sexy." He smiled and I kissed him again.

Being bald is really different. It is so strange. I can't stop rubbing my hand over my scalp. It is so different to having long hair half way down your back. The nurse walked in with a wheelchair, took one look at me and started to giggle. "What?" I asked her.
"I didn't think you were actually serious about shaving your head darlin' it's just really different." She smiled. "You ready to go then?" she asked me. I leaned over and kissed Joey passionately, after all this could be the last time I see him. I hugged Mike tightly and he kissed my forehead, and then I sat into the wheelchair. She wheeled me down the corridor, into the lift, up two floors, down another corridor, and into the O. R. Where Jeff and his team were ready and waiting for me.
"Well, you've saved me one job," Jeff said looking at me and smiling.
"You like?" I asked sheepishly rubbing my hand over my head.
"Yeah, very fetching." He laughed as I was helped onto the operating table.
"Fuck this thing is cold." I said lying back.
"Yeah, sorry about that." He said, still smiling. The anaesthetist guy put a mask over my mouth and told me to count back from 100. So I did,
"100, 99, 98, 97, ninety... " bang, out cold.

I looked around the room. Nobody was talking or anything, everyone just sat around with worried, sad faces. I looked up at the clock, two hours and seventeen minutes she'd been in so far. I hope its going okay. I don't know what I'd do if I lose Sophie. I love her too much to lose her.
"Dad," I said quietly, "how much longer?" he looked at me, then Mike,
"I don't know son, about an hour or two. Are you hungry?" I looked up at him, "yeah, a little." I said. He stood up and walked over to me,
"Come on then, let's go get some lunch. Mike, Tré, you guy's want anything back?" both shook their heads. I didn't want to leave, but dad said she had ages left in surgery, so I'd have plenty of time. Me and dad left the hospital and went to the café across the road, we ordered and sat down at a table. I took my mobile out just in case Mike got some news, good or bad. Me and dad sat in silence and ate our food, our only interruption was when a few girls came over cause they recognized him. Damn teenies. Just as we were paying, I felt ill and ran into the toilets, and threw up. Dad came running in after me and rubbed my back.
"Get it all up mate. Its better out than in." he said soothingly. I wiped my mouth with some tissues and stood up, feeling a little dizzy. Dad pulled me into a hug, I insisted that I was okay so, we left and went back to the hospital, but there was still no news about Sophie.

Dr. Longhart walked into the room, I looked at him and stood up. Poor Joey was as white as a sheet, so worried for Sophie.
"Well?" I asked, and Jeff's face turned to a smile,
"Surgery went well and Sophie is in ICU. Don't worry, everyone goes to ICU for observation after a major operation. You can go see her, but one at a time, please. She's still under, but she should be awake soon. Sophie is very strong, and I'm sure that she will pull through this and be as strong as ever." I walked over to Jeff and shook his hand, he looked shocked but, what else could I do. Then he led me down to ICU to see Sophie. I walked in and she was lying on the bed linked up to a million beeping machines, just like the first day she was brought in. I sat down beside her and took her hand,
"You can get through this Soph. I know you can." I whispered and Jeff put his hand on my shoulder.
"Well, I suppose I can let Joey come in too. They seem to be really close." He said looking at me for approval,
"Yeah, they're going out a year yesterday." I smiled. "To think, if she pulls through, someday me and Billie could actually be related." I laughed. Jeff smiled and left the room to go get Joey.
"You're jumping to conclusions aren't you?" Sophie whispered. I smiled and hugged her, "well, maybe someday in the future." She added and I laughed. Joey ran into the room, crying but smiling at the same time, and hugged Sophie. "Well, since your awake I'm gonna go talk to the guys, see you in a while kid." I said and kissed Sophie's forehead.

"How long have I been in hospital now, from the start?" I said looking at Lisa. She looked up for my chart,
"Five weeks darlin' but I reckon that you'll be out soon. You're off all the steroids and almost all the drugs. Another day or two should sort it." I smiled, I couldn't wait to get out of here, but I would miss Lisa, she's awesome, and friendly, and kind, and pretty, and Mike's hot for her and gets all shy when she's in the room. I looked at her again,
"Lisa, are you single?" I asked, Mike looked up from his bass and gave me the 'don't you dare' look. I smiled at him.
"Yes I am. Why do you ask?" she smiled at me, but I saw her steal a quick glance at Mike.
"'cause Mike's hot for you and I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with him?" I smiled but she frowned a little, "after I get out of here of course, and you're not my doctor." She smiled,
"Sure, I'd love to." Mike smiled at her, and she left the room to finish afternoon rounds.
"You little bitch." Mike smiled, "but I love you for it." He added.
"Well, I can't really leave it to you, can I?" I smiled and he went back to making up some new chords for their latest song.

"Babe, can you stay in hospital longer," Joey smiled,
"What the fuck do you want me to stay in hospital for?" I asked him.
"Well, since you've been in here, the school has seen it as wrong to give me detention. They know how sick you are," he grinned.
"What did you do?" I asked, "oh, nothing. Just nearly set the science lab on fire. Made a really cool flame thrower thing though." He giggled. I looked at him and laughed.
"Well, I'm sorry to spoil your fun, but Lisa said I can leave day after tomorrow." He smiled and hugged me.
"Well, I suppose I'll just have to get used detention again," he sighed.

"So, how do you feel about leaving?" Lisa was in to do a last minute check before signing me out.
"Fine, great, happy." I smiled. I was going home.
"Well, everything is fine, and you're good to go as soon as Mike gets here." She smiled taking the thermometer thing out of my ear. I gave her a hug and said thank you, and she handed me a piece of paper,
"Well, Mike didn't ask, so... " I looked at the piece of paper, it had her number on it. I smiled at her and she winked and left the room.

At two thirty Mike showed up and took me home. I walked in, and felt like I did the first day, nervous and wanted to explore. I walked up to my bedroom and looked around. It was almost exactly as I had left it, messy as ever. I put away my stuff and went downstairs, handed Mike Lisa's number and left again.