Page 159 of Rule Breakers Fall Hardest

“A little pressure,” the doctor warns, lifting the sheet covering Bertie up to her knees.

Bertie scrunches her nose, squeezing her eyes shut, as the doctor lowers the wand.

A moment later, a black and white image appears on the screen. Bertie slaps her hand over her mouth, stifling a sob. “That’s a baby. There’s a baby inside me. I didn’t think it would look like one yet.”

It’s small, but she’s right. It’s distinctively baby-shaped already.

The doctor pushes a button, and a moment later, the sound of a heartbeat fills the room.

Tears stream down Bertie’s face. “That’s my baby,” she says to me, clutching my hand. “Do you hear it? It sounds strong.”

After the doctor takes measurements, pointing body parts out as she goes, she gives Bertie a string of photos. Once Bertie is sitting up again, the doctor goes over a list of things with her, like foods that are off limits and prenatal vitamins she’ll need to take.

By the end of it, Bertie’s shoulders are slumped with exhaustion, but her eyes are brighter than before. She keeps looking down at the ultrasounds and smiling.

When we finally get back to the car, I ask her, “Are you hungry at all?”

“Not really.” She bites her lip. “But I actually think a milkshake would be good.”

“Hey, whatever you want, you get.”

“Man, I would have gotten pregnant a long time ago if I had known I could get princess treatment.”

I laugh at her joke, navigating out onto the winding road that leads from the hospital parking lot to the main intersection.

“How are you feeling now?”

She cracks the window a bit, letting in fresh air. “Shockingly, I feel better, but I’m still scared. Being a mom? That’s a huge deal. I’m going to have a child to take care of—to try to raise into a good, decent human being. What if I suck at it?”

My chest gets tight at the concern in her voice. “You’re not going to suck at it.”

“How do you know?” she counters, folding up the ultrasound photos to put in her purse. She hesitates with her hand on the zipper, then chooses to keep holding them instead.

“Because I knowyou. You’re one of the best people I’ve ever met. This kid is going to be lucky to have you as a mom.”

She’s quiet for a solid twenty seconds before she utters a quiet “thank you.”

I pull up outside the shake place, half-expecting her to have changed her mind, but as soon as I parallel park,she’s hopping out of the car with much more zest than she had before.

The rain stopped while we were in the doctors’ office, but the sidewalk is still covered with puddles that we dodge on our way to the entrance.

The Shake Palace has been a favorite of ours since freshman year. With everything that’s happened since the school year began, we haven’t been even once. My stomach sinks at the realization. Who knows where we’ll end up from here and whether we’ll have any more opportunities to do all the things we’ve always loved before graduation. Daire and I haven’t talked about it, but now with Danielle gone, there’s no reason we can’t leave Tennessee. And Bertie? She has a lot to work out now. Eventually, she’ll have to break the news to Luke, and he’s already been drafted by the NHL.

Bertie steps up to the counter and orders her usual butterscotch milkshake.

I used to make fun of her for the old lady flavor, but that stopped when she forced me to try it.

It was phenomenal—enough so that after that day, I stopped ordering cookies ’n’ cream and copied her instead.

“Butterscotch for me too,” I tell the girl behind the counter.

I tap my card to pay, practically shoving Bertie out of the way to beat her to it.

“Bitch.”

I bump her hip lightly with mine. “I wanted it to be my treat.”

“Yeah, but you missed class to drive me.”

---