Deadline

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Have you ever kept a secret from your family and your friends? Ben keeps a secret from the people he cares about for over half the school year. But then he realizes when everyone finds out, they will be hurt he didn't tell them. He didn't tell them he would be dead in less than a year.

Ben's doctor tells him he has a terminal blood disease after getting the results of his physical. Ben decides to keep that news to himself and make his senior year the best ever. He goes out for football instead of track. Ben confronts the history teacher when he disagrees.

Ben finally realizes keeping his illness a secret is going to hurt everyone even more. The first person he tells is the town drunk.