Ring Ring Ring! I hear the classroom phone ring, it’s for me. I’m being told I have to leave but don’t know why. I walk out of the school and have the feeling everyone is watching me with looks of concern. The whole school feels like it’s shrinking in on me. I walked through the office to say goodbye to the front desk ladies. The hesitation in my voice can show I don’t know what’s ahead of me. Then, I got into the car with my dad, he seemed to be acting very unusually. 

“Where are we going and what’s going on?” I question 

“We are going to the doctors,”  he said

“ But why,” I ask again 

“Just because,” he says, knowing the answer won't satisfy me. The answer and his actions are very unlike him and it’s making me queasy. We sat in the car in silence. I started to see red. The fact that I didn't know what was happening and me knowing that I was fine was just digging at me. I can sense that my dad knows that I’m upset. He turns his head to talk to me but I quickly reach to turn up the volume of the music. I really wanted answers but I wasn’t in any state to listen to them, so I waited till I calmed down. A couple of minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of my doctor's office. As I walked through the doors to the office the immediate scent of hand sanitizer and latex hit me in the face as if I got punched. I look around to see the familiar water tank with multicolored fish swimming all about. My eyes shift to the other side of the room to focus on the sick people slouching in their chairs and the adults trying to control their kids. All of a sudden, I get snapped out of my daze by the screams of a helpless child. 

“Sit down,” my dad tells me as he walks up to the front desk to check me in. I slowly walk to the stiff, unwelcoming chairs while trying to listen to what my dad is saying. I wait for him to come back so that I can finally get an exclamation now that I am ready. 

Before he even gets a chance to sit down I say “ So why are we here?”

“Well, your mom and I have been noticing some unusual behavior throughout the past month and have decided to get it checked out.” He answers. The emotions of anger and denial I thought I got overcame back in a second. All I can think at the moment is how this could be the worst possible time for something to happen to me. I’ve finally gotten into the flow of my new school, my new house, and have finally made some friends. On top of that, I have gotten to the peak of my sports career and am ready to get serious with things. The last thing I need is a roadblock, it just would completely ruin everything and my future. I start non-stop ranting. 

“Like what signs? Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? This is stupid I’m completely fine. You don’t know what you're talking about. I’m tired of you guys being so concerned” I fire back. 

It took him a second to take all that in, but before he could respond we heard a nurse yell “Bentley!” We both get up in sync and walk toward the nurse. Once we get into the room my dad sits in a chair, I sit on the doctor’s bed, and the nurse sits on her spinning chair. 

She looks at me and then to my dad and questions “ So what brings you here today?” The nurse looks at me again expecting an answer but I of course have nothing.  

My dad takes over and he responds “Well we have been noticing some unlikely behavior and such. We first recognized that she’s been drinking an abnormal amount of fluid and using the restroom a lot. Then all of a sudden during her basketball games she just didn’t look the same. She was tired, sluggish, slow, and worn out. But we didn’t really think much of all this until we asked her to get on the scale and she had dropped 15 pounds without changing her diet or amount of activity.” 

All of a sudden, I could just feel my heart pounding through my chest. This new information flushed over me at once that I thought I was going to pass out. This really couldn’t mean anything, could it? This was just a big misunderstanding. I sit there biting my lip trying to analyze the doctor's expressions. 

Once she is done processing she announces“ Okay. We are just going to run a few tests but I promise you everything is going to be alright.” I don’t know if I should feel reassurance or doubt. The nurse opens her cabinet and pulls out a device that I’ve never seen before. 

She rolls over to me and explains “ So what’s going to happen now is that I’m going to hold this on your finger and count to three, and on three there will just be a little poke.” 

“Okay,” I let out in a sigh, half in fear and half in confusion

“One, two, three” I felt a small prick to my finger and looked down to see the blood rushing out. She pulls something else out of her pocket and puts it up to the blood on my finger. 

Before I could see what the device read the nurse quickly snatched it back, got up, and said “ I’ll be right back. Let me just briefly talk to the doctor.” She leaves the room with questions flying. We sat in such silence that you could hear a needle drop. 

My dad turns to me and confesses “ I understand you're upset, but this kind of stuff isn’t something to be taken lightly. We all just need to calm down.” 

“ How am I supposed to be calm when I was told I had to come here with absolutely no warning or reason why? You act like I’m about to die but you're really so full of it and I’m sick of it. I have finally gotten into the swing of things in my new town and you and mom just want to completely ruin everything.” I argue. I couldn’t even look at him. The thought that they would destroy my reputation for some silly make-believe sickness just killed me inside. Just because they weren’t happy in the state they were in now didn’t mean they had to mess up everything for me. 

While trying to pass the time I examine the room, observing the Where’s Waldo picture that’s different in every room. After what seemed like an eternity I heard a faint knock on the door and then a tall, frail, ginger-haired lady stuck her head in. 

“Hello, I am the doctor and am here to share the results of your tests. What it seems to look like is that you, unfortunately, do have type one diabetes. So I can’t tell you much at this moment but, we are sending you to Children’s hospital where you will stay for a couple of days to get everything figured out. All I can really say is that you should be thankful that you came to get checked out because if you waited at most 2 more weeks it could have been fatal.” She explains, trying to help the situation, but all signs of cheerfulness are already out the window

I sit there limp and in disbelief. I felt completely blindsided. I was lied to and told everything was going to be ok. That’s not something you can just say and then take back. My whole life has been changed and now my future seems to be basically planned out for me all in the span of an hour. I felt these warm arms wrap around my body like a blanket and I turned my head to see my dad giving me a big hug. 

All I can think is “ How can he be giving me a hug right now when just a bit ago I was so cruel to him?”

Eventually, the doctor interrupts by clarifying “ Well we will send you on your way, and if you want you can make a quick stop at your house before you go to the hospital. For now, we all wish you the best of luck.” 

The doctor leaves and my dad and I both get up and go back through the room with screaming children, sick people, and fish swimming throughout the tank. We walk out the familiar doors to finally get a breath of fresh air. I walk up to the silver truck hesitating before I open the door. I just couldn’t grasp or process that my life from now on is going to be completely different and nothing will be the same. I hop into my seat, close the door and just start sobbing hysterically. I feel as if my life has been ruined. 

Even through all of this all I could say to my dad was “ I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything I said. Thank you for everything!”

To this day, I look back and feel shame for how ungrateful I acted. But I have now realized how lucky I am to have such great and loving parents that care about me. Up to this present time, I consider my parent's real-life superheroes. Without them, I'm not sure if I would have survived. I have now learned that my parent's intentions are always for the best even if I disagree. Also, I have gained an understanding that my pride is not everything and at certain times I just need to put my attitude away and do something I don't want to do. I am at the point now where I understand the mistakes I made and realize that my life would be nothing if it weren’t for my parents. Lastly, I’m glad to say that I have all the support I could ever need and am happily living my life after being diagnosed with type one diabetes.