Chapter 66: Priorities and wishes

NATE

FRESHMAN YEAR

JUNE

Since I'd become aware of the possibility of having a shortened lifespan, I'd begun setting short-term goals. At first, they were simple: I'd wanted to live long enough to be taller than my mom. To survive until I'd learned to speak Spanish and figured out calculus. To finish high school.

And now, with one year of college behind me, I felt like I could take on anything. My health was stable; it hadn't gotten any better, but it wasn't any worse, either. My parents were thrilled that the year had passed so uneventfully, and they'd even begun doing something unprecedented in our little family: they'd taken short weekend trips by themselves. A few times my mom had even made it through the weekend without calling me to check in.

I'd adjusted to sharing a room, too. Tuck and I had ended up to be pretty compatible, and a few months before the end of our freshman year, he'd glanced up from his laptop one night while we were both studying.

"Dude, you good to roo