Page 69 of Finding Fate

18

Flutter

As their senior year slipped into October, Jet and Annie were still under a constant, frustrating watch. Why bother to use birth control if she and Jet weren’t going to be allowed together alone for a second, Annie wondered. What had happened to all of their parents’ trust? They weren’t the ones that had messed up.

On the positive side, they at least had a few Fridays together thanks to football games starting up, unless they had to leave early for an away game. It had been nice since Izzy hadn’t been calling during her ‘Jet time’ anymore, so she had to hand it to Tucker. He’d been doing a much better job of handling her sister’s moods.

But he still had much of the same issues at home until the previous week when his mother decided she wanted to be the one to take them to Izzy’s appointment. While Bridgette had continued to give Izzy a hard time about deciding to keep the baby after the first appointment, Jenna was beginning to warm up to the idea.

Izzy had cleverly asked to let his mother hear the heartbeat, and when the thrumming filled the room again, Jenna couldn’t help but react much the same as Izzy and Bridgette had the first time.

Again, Izzy had smiled lovingly up at him, tears glistening in her eyes, and much to Tucker’s increased dismay, he had to fake a smile again. Something that was even harder to pull off with his mother in the room, but somehow he’d managed. Maybe there was something to say for women getting wrapped up in the moment.

Isabel was now in her nineteenth week of pregnancy, and miraculously the baby was still a secret. The bump that had finally started to show a couple of weeks ago was very slight and still easy for her to hide under the right clothes.

Most of her earlier symptoms of pregnancy had passed at this point, and she wasn’t quite as worn down as she was in the beginning, but she was hungry often, and wondered how she hadn’t gained more weight with everything she’d been eating. Granted, she’d been smart about her snack choices, but still.

Isabel knew she still got pretty moody at times, too, but she really was trying to control it, and when she couldn’t, she knew her friends were trying to be patient with her. Except when it came to the aversion of her long hated nickname. Annie and Jet just didn’t seem to think she was serious about it. Tucker, however, really was making an effort, at least in private.

“You’re in a really good mood this morning,” Jet commented while he and Izzy were on their way to school.

She just hadn’t been her old morning person self lately, and Jet knew it was probably because of the baby, but today she was in an even better mood than she used to be on a good day. Izzy flashed him a brilliant smile and continued singing to one of her favorite songs on the radio.

Jet smiled back and started tapping his hand on the steering wheel along with the beat. It was hard not to be in a good mood when Izzy’s spirits were so high.

When the song ended, she replied. “Yeah, I just woke up feeling like today’s going to be a really good day. Like something really good or exciting is going to happen.”

“I hope so. Mondays usually suck.”

She shrugged with an agreeing grin and looked out the window, excited over the news she’d gotten in her email this morning. She just wasn’t sure if she wanted to share it yet. She kept debating on who to tell first, Tucker or Leo. She still couldn’t believe how understanding he’d been.

“So Tucker seems like an okay guy,” Leo said as they found a place to park and eat. Isabel was already halfway through her chicken wrap, having dug in as soon as they’d gotten in the car.

Swallowing, she nodded. “He’s really great. I promise. You just caught him after some drama.”

“I wasn’t being sarcastic,” he said, grabbing his toasted club to join her. “It’s obvious he likes you. He’s pretty damn big, though. Do I need to worry?”

“Not unless you decide to have a thing for me,” Isabel teased.

Leo shook his head. “It’s nothing like that with us, and you know it.”

“Then, you have nothing to worry about,” she grinned. “Hey, I’ve been wanting to tell you! I got an audition letter for Baste Academy!”

“Really? Does that mean you’re going?”

She shrugged, realizing it would have been better if she hadn’t gotten Leo excited. “Honestly, I probably would have, before…”

“Before what?” he questioned, now sounding concerned at her tone.

Isabel grimaced. “You want to finish your sandwich first?”

“That bad, huh?”

“It’s not great.”

Leo took two large bites, polishing off the first half of his food, and put the rest back in his bag. “Spill.”

She sighed, so not looking forward to this, but he needed to know. She tugged at her hair, pulling it over one shoulder as she found the words to explain.

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