I walked back slowly, enjoying the view, before I got back to the bar, well, I almost did. I saw a charging whirlwind of long, chestnut hair and a blue dress flying at me. Melanie skidded to a stop and slapped me hard across the face. “You SLEPT WITH JOEL?! YOU SLEPT WITH MY BOYFRIEND?! YOU STUPID S**T! HOW DARE YOU?”
I was suddenly overcome with my anger towards her for embarrassing me publicly, her stupid boyfriend for causing this mess, and I just flipped. I puncher her as hard as I could in her jaw. “You want to judge me?” I said calmly, “look at your own fingers, and the dirt that lies underneath before you judge me. Your boyfriend and you were broken up, I was drunk, I’m young and I didn’t know what lies were until he lied to me. Yeah, I slept with Joel, and honestly, I regret it every day, but I don’t regret this life I have inside of me, and I don’t regret all of the things it has led me to. You are one hell of a horrible person if you say anything to me, because you have always known what type of person he is.” I finally noticed the crowd around us and finished my speech, “I am, and always will be a nobody, I don’t try to say otherwise, but for one night, I was somebody, or so I thought. But honestly, I feel sorry for you, if THAT’S what you have to deal with, Melanie.”
And then I left to go towards my car. I heard people muttering curses, trying to help Melanie who was rubbing her jaw, some people cheering me, and then Bentley running towards me, “what the hell was that about?”
“I guess everyone knows now,” I said, smiling half-heartedly.
He shook his head, “how?”
“Beats me,” I said.
He kissed my cheek, “you better go, before she calls the cops. I’ll call you, okay?”
I stared at him for a moment, “you’re not mad are you?”
He shook his head “of course not.” He kissed my hand again before leaving. I got in my car, and was a few minutes down the road, when I had to pull over because the sobs that were now leaving my body prevented me from seeing clearly.
My phone began to ring, and I saw it was Chelsea, “hello?” I said, trying to breathe steadily.
“Hey, Serenity, why didn’t you tell me?” she asked softly.
I sighed, “because you are Melanie’s best friend. You have no idea how badly I wanted to, but I couldn’t. And I’m sorry about punching her too.”
“She deserved it. You were right, she’s known about how Joel is, she had no right to do that. She just didn’t want everyone else knowing about it, and when that Dean kid came up to her blabbing his mouth, she confronted it head-on.”
“W-wait, Dean?” I asked, confused. The kid that had just asked me out, not an hour before? That Dean? Say it ain’t so.
“That captain of the chess club. He ran up saying he heard you, Joel, and Ryan, talking about how you were… pregnant,” she whispered.
I sighed, “yeah. If someone had told me three years ago that I would sleep with Joel and be pregnant when I was a freshman I would have hit them and told them to go die. Now I wish someone had warned me…” I sighed again.
She seemed to, also, “I can’t believe it. I would think I would have before you, Serenity.”
I smiled, “I would say I wish that were the case, but I don’t.”
She laughed, “I suppose I agree with you.” She hesitated, then continued, “what are you going to do, Serenity?”
I sighed, “I’m going to… see what I can do. I haven’t told my parents yet, but I’m going to tomorrow when Lillian comes down.. And we’ll see from there I suppose.”
She seemed understanding, “call if you need anything. I even know a great doctor who specializes in that.”
“Why?” I asked, surprised.
“No reason,” she said quickly, too quickly.
“Okay,” I said, trying to hide my suspicion.
She said goodbye after that and I drove home then, I crept in, but they were already asleep, probably assuming I had stayed the night at a friend’s house. I laid down on my bed, definitely in the need of sleep. I almost didn’t even change into my pajamas until the last minute.
I fell asleep quickly, and woke up at ten when Lillian was calling me, “I’m here, where are you?”
“Oh,” I said groggily, “Oh!” I said then, and stumbled out of bed, “I’ll be there in ten!”
I hung up, got dressed, pulled my hair into a pony tail, brushed my teeth, grabbed the keys, and took off to Starbucks.
I saw Lillian drinking a coffee, and I ran over to her and hugged her tight. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”
She smiled and hugged me back, “I missed you too.”
We let go, and walked slowly back to my car, “are you ready for this?” she asked.
“Definitely not, let’s go.”
She laughed, “hey, what did you do yesterday? You sounded busy when I called.”
“Well, I was at Chelsea’s, she’s actually really cool. And I went to Melanie’s party… Bentley wanted me to. And well, she found out… long story, but she slapped me, and I well… I punched her, hard. I think I almost broke her jaw.”
Lillian gasped, “ohmygoodness! That’s insane! Why did she though?”
“Because of the obvious… I slept with her on and off again boyfriend. She didn’t want everyone finding out about it, and them thinking she was okay with it, so she hit me, I just hit her harder, because I was so fed up with it.”
She laughed and patted me on the shoulder, “that’s my Serenity.”
I laughed, “yeah, that’s me alright, punching girls for the girls who have been knocked up at fifteen by that girl’s boyfriend everywhere.”
“That made little to no sense, but I don’t mind. Man, I’ve missed hearing you ramble, Serenity!”
I laughed, “I’ve missed your no nonsense way, Lillian.”
She smiled, and when I finally got home, I took a deep breath, “we can do this,” she said to me.
I nodded, plastered a smile on my face, and walked inside, “hey, guys, look whose here!” I called to my parents.
They both came in the kitchen and saw Lillian, Mom ran over and hugged her, “oh, we’ve missed you, Lillian!” she cried, and Dad said a quiet hello.
“I missed you too, Mama number two,” she said, the name she always called my mom.
“Why are you down?” Mama asked.
I sighed and she said, “well, let’s call it a family meeting, shall we?” she gestured towards the living room.
They sat down on the sofa, I stood up, pacing a little, and I suddenly felt like Juno. I took a deep breath, and then blurted out, “I’m pregnant, I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to, it was a complete accident, and I know that’s the excuse all teenagers make but I am so sorry! I know I’m a horrible person, and I know how disappointed you must be in me, but I just… I’m sorry!”
I may have been expecting a lot of things, but I was not expecting my father’s reaction, and what would follow.