For the next couple weeks, Genesis continued to visit Megan's house after school to practice magic. Since finals were coming up, and Genesis still had cheerleading practice to go to, she couldn't train with Megan every day. She only went to her house on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. She'd have either Jesse or Ramona drive her to Megan's house.

All of this made for a busy schedule for Genesis. But it wasn't until one Thursday at lunch when she realized there might be something else she should be doing.

As usual, Genesis got her lunch and went to sit down at her table with Charlotte and Cassy. For some reason, Ramona wasn't there yet. "Hey girls," said Genesis.

"Hi," said Charlotte. "Guess what I did yesterday?"

Genesis shrugged. Between her training session with Megan and the studying she had to do for an upcoming test, she hadn't had time to talk to Charlotte. "What?"

"I did a job interview at Tommy's Burgers," said Charlotte. "And the manager said he wanted to hire me on."

"Really?" said Genesis. "That's great!"

"I know," said Charlotte. "I'm gonna be a cashier. My first day is next week."

"Cool," said Cassy. Turning to Genesis, she asked "What about you? Do you still not have a job?"

"No," Genesis answered.

"Really?"

"Well...I did get hired on for an internship at Pride Laboratories, remember?" Genesis asked. "Except things fell apart when Lucas showed his true colors."

"Oh yeah," Charlotte said sympathetically.

"But I'm just too busy for a job right now," said Genesis.

"You're gonna have to get one," said Charlotte. "Once you graduate high school, you're not a kid anymore. You have to start working if you want to go to college and eventually start living on your own."

Genesis sighed. "You're right," she said. "I guess I'll start looking for someone who'll hire me."

Right then, Modesty came and sat down with them. "Where's Ramona?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Genesis. "Usually she's here by now."

"You and I rode with her to school this morning," Charlotte said to Genesis. "Did she end up leaving early?"

"Maybe." Genesis finished eating her sandwich, then stood up. "I'm gonna go look for her."

Genesis got up and left the cafeteria. She went out to the area behind the gym where she knew people sometimes went to hang out during lunch-maybe Ramona had decided to go there for some reason?

However, this was not the case. When Genesis came to the blacktop behind the gym, she saw a bunch of guys playing basketball. One of them, Andy Halverson, saw Genesis and came up to talk to her. "Hey," he said. "You're Genesis Rookwood, right?"

"Right," said Genesis. "I'm looking for Ramona. Have you seen her?"

"Yes, I have," said Andy. "Just a few minutes ago, I saw her headed behind the science building."

Weird, Genesis thought. "Thanks," she said to Andy before leaving. As she headed for the science building, she wondered what Ramona could possibly be doing back there. Had she got a new boyfriend who wanted to make out with her back there, or...

Genesis rounded the corner and froze in her tracks. There was Ramona, leaning against the wall and puffing on a lit cigarette. "Ramona!" Genesis said accusingly. "What are you doing?"

Ramona blew out a puff of smoke. "None of your business," she replied.

"You...you're smoking! Again!" Genesis looked at her stepsister like she'd slathered herself with dung beetles. "You said you wouldn't smoke anymore! You said you were just trying it out that one time!"

"Yes, I did say that," said Ramona. "But then I felt the cravings kick in. So I got my hands on some more cigarettes." To prove it, she held up a freshly opened cigarette pack.

"Oh, Ramona," Genesis said, shaking her head. "You're gonna get lung cancer from smoking those cigarettes."

Ramona shrugged. "What does it matter? We're all gonna die anyway. And if that's the case, I might as well enjoy life while I still can."

"Ramona, do you have any idea what smoking really does to you? It shrivels your lungs, it makes your teeth all yellow, and it-"

"For goodness sake, Genesis!" Ramona barked. "Do you think I haven't thought of all those things?"

"Well..."

"We all make our choices," Ramona said, putting her cigarette in her mouth and inhaling the smoke from it. "I've decided that, right now, smoking is something I enjoy. So that's what I'm gonna do."

Genesis pursed her lips. "Well, here's what I have to say about that." She waved her hand and focused her magic abilities. There was a loud popping noise, and the cigarette in Ramona's mouth turned into a red and white candy cane.

Ramona's eyes widened when she felt the sudden change in taste her taste buds were perceiving. "What the...a candy cane?"

"Better that than a cigarette, right?" Genesis asked.

Ramona got out her cigarette pack again, and she scowled when she saw that the rest of the cigarettes had been turned into candy canes, too. "Genesis, you bitch," she said.

"I'm just trying to help you," Genesis said, though she sensed a very intense flare-up about to occur.

"Who do you think you are, my mom?" Ramona asked. "If I make a choice, then I make a choice! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Except maybe tell your mom," Genesis shot back.

"If you do, then you'll regret it."

Genesis slapped her forehead. "Come on, Ramona!" she said. "I thought we were past this! I thought we made peace with each other months ago!"

"Well, it looks like that peace has been disrupted again," Ramona said coldly. "Now get the fuck out of here, before I start screaming at you."

There was nothing Genesis could do but leave.

***

For several days afterward, Ramona still seemed pretty mad at Genesis. The girls' parents noticed the tension between them and tried to sit them down to talk about it, but neither of them budged. Genesis didn't like the sound of Ramona's threat, and she didn't want to risk snitching on her for smoking and further undermine their relationship. Likewise, Ramona telling her parents that she'd started smoking would've been suicide. So she kept her mouth shut as well.

Unfortunately, something very bad happened the following Sunday morning. While Genesis was putting on her dress for church, she could hear Ramona coughing and wheezing from her bedroom. At first, Genesis just internally scoffed. Yeah, that's what happens when you smoke, bitch, she thought. But after a minute, Genesis started to get worried, because Ramona really didn't sound so good.

"Ramona?" Genesis heard her stepmom ask while knocking on Ramona's bedroom door. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ramona said from inside her room.

"She doesn't sound fine," said Paulette.

Genesis said nothing.

A little bit later, Reginald, Paulette, and Genesis were all ready to go to church. "What's wrong with Ramona?" Reginald asked.

"I think she has a bad cough," said Paulette.

"No, I'm all good," Ramona said as she came out of her bedroom wearing her Sunday dress. She didn't look pale or thinned-out, but her voice was kind of scratchy.

"Are you sure?" Paulette asked. "Because that coughing sounded terrible."

"Remember what you told me when I was little?" Ramona asked. "Sometimes things look worse than they are?"

For a second, Genesis wondered if she should speak up and tell her parents that Ramona had been smoking, and that was likely the reason for her fits of coughing. But she'd worked hard to mend fences with Ramona. She didn't want to go back to where they were before Gene had turned into Genesis. As much as she didn't like it, she decided to just let Ramona feel the pain.

"Alright," Paulette said. "But if you don't feel like you can last all through church, just let us know."

***

Ramona didn't even last fifteen minutes into church.

The Rookwood/Dunby family had gotten in their regular pew, and the minister had started talking, when Ramona started coughing all over again. Reginald whispered to her to try and repress it, but either Ramona was ignoring him or she just couldn't stop the coughing. Every head turned their way as Ramona started coughing up a storm. Even the minister stopped talking to see what was going on.

"Maybe we shouldn't have brought her here," said Reginald. "Come on, Ramona. Let's go home." He helped his stepdaughter up to her feet as she continued coughing.

They'd only gone a few steps when Ramona stopped. "I...I can't...breathe," she said. She gasped for air, then passed out and collapsed.

"Oh..." Since Genesis was in a chapel, she had to restrain herself to avoid swearing.

"Call 911!" said Paulette.

Reginald was already dialing his phone. "Yes, my stepdaughter just passed out," he said. "We're at the church building on Mason Blvd. Yes, thank you."

Reginald and Genesis carried Ramona out of the chapel. Since Paulette was pregnant, she couldn't help lift her daughter. They brought Ramona outside and waited for the paramedics in the parking lot. After ten tense minutes, an ambulance came rushing in to collect Ramona. They loaded her onto a stretcher and grilled Reginald, Paulette, and Genesis for details on what had happened. Then they hurried Ramona off to the hospital.

Not long afterwards, Genesis and her parents were at the hospital too. They were told to wait in the lobby while the doctors performed tests on Ramona. After what felt like hours, a doctor whose name tag identified him as Dr. Thomas Weis came out to talk to them.

"What happened?" Paulette asked. "Is my daughter okay?"

Dr. Weis shook his head. "Sadly, no," he said. "It seems she has developed lung cancer."

"What?"

"Yes, we were pretty surprised ourselves," said Dr. Weis. "It is very unusual for a girl Ramona's age to develop lung cancer. However, we have detected a tumor building up inside of her right lung."

"Oh no," said Paulette. "Is there anything you can do?"

"We've already started preparing her for chemotherapy," said Dr. Weis. "The tumor appears to be at a stage where chemotherapy is the most effective means of getting rid of it."

"Or I could get it out," Genesis blurted out.

Dr. Weis frowned. "What?"

"Oh...I'm a witch in training," said Genesis. "I just got magic bestowed on me recently, so I'm learning how to do magic." To prove it, she snapped her fingers and changed the color of her Sunday dress-which she still hadn't changed out of-from red to black.

"Well," Dr. Weis said, marveling at the dress' transformation, "That is certainly impressive. But you say you're still training?"

"Yes."

"And have you been taught any kind of healing spells?"

"Well...no."

"Then we shouldn't have you perform any magic on your sister," said Dr. Weis. "You could very well make it worse."

"Do you have any guesses at to what might've caused this tumor?" Reginald asked.

"We do not know," said Dr. Weis answered. "Obviously, the most well-known cause of lung cancer is smoking. But, like I said, it is very uncommon for a high school senior to develop lung cancer, with or without smoking."

"Ramona never smokes," said Paulette.

"Actually...she does."

"What?"

Genesis took a deep breath. There was no point hiding it any longer. "A couple weeks ago, when we were having that sleepover at Charlotte's house, Ramona found one of Charlotte's aunt's cigarettes and decided to try smoking it. I told her not to, I told her it was bad, but she did it anyway. She said she wouldn't do it again, but she was lying. Last week at school, I caught her smoking again."

"So there is smoking involved here," said Dr. Weis. "But even then, if she's only been doing it for a couple weeks, it shouldn't have done that much damage."

Genesis shrugged. "I don't know exactly how much she's been smoking," she admitted. "I only witnessed it twice."

"Well, hopefully we'll be able to at least reverse the damage done by Ramona's smoking," said Dr. Weis. "And in the meantime, we'll keep her in here as she undergoes chemotherapy."

"Thank you, Dr. Weis," said Reginald.

After the doctor had left, Reginald turned to Genesis. "So you knew Ramona was smoking," he said. "But you didn't tell us."

"I didn't know she'd make it a habit," Genesis defended. "And I knew that if I did snitch on her, she'd be really mad at me, and then we'd be enemies all over again."

"Yet now she's strapped down in a hospital bed, about to undergo chemotherapy," said Paulette. "If you'd just told us about it, then we could've stopped this before it even became a problem."

Genesis said nothing. She knew her stepmom was right.

"We're very disappointed in you," said Reginald. "We're going to ground you for a week."

Genesis' heart sank. "Yes, Dad," she mumbled.

As they left the hospital, Genesis was in a daze. She'd ruined everything. Ramona was mad at her for trying to stop her from smoking, and her parents were mad at her for being Ramona's accomplice. By trying to stay on everyone's good sides, she'd ended up getting on everyone's bad sides. Oh, how she wished she could go back to Charlotte's sleepover and hide those cigarettes so Ramona wouldn't find them. Or, better yet, decline Mirna's gift. Because if she was gonna screw things up like this, then maybe she didn't deserve that gift.

To be continued...