Page 62 of Broken

I exchanged a look with Izzy. “We’re keeping it.”

Jet didn’t say anything, but there was something in his look that told me he definitely had something to say. It just wouldn’t be in front of the girls.

We headed down to the basketball courts at the park later that evening, and after almost an hour of horse and some light one-on-one, he finally said, “Anything you need to say?”

“Funny. I thought that about you.”

“We’ll get to me. I wanna know about you,” he pressed.

“What do you mean?” I tucked the ball under my arm and went to grab my water bottle from the benches off the pavilion, tilting my head back to squirt some into my mouth.

I couldfeelJet’s eye roll behind me. “I mean your girlfriend is pregnant. Ourbest friendis pregnant, and just like that y’all already have a decision.”

“You’d rather me have her get rid of it?” I shot him a glare, and that time I got to see him roll his eyes.

“No, but there are other options. Are y’allsureabout this?”

I shook my head, almost feeling like I was betraying her by admitting it. “She’ssure. That’s all that matters. If it was you and Annie, would you make her give it up?”

Jet’s expression shifted, and he sighed. “No, I guess not. But that’s still hard to say for sure because I’m not in this position.Youare.”

“Exactly. So, I need you to have my back.” I passed the ball in a harsh shove, and he grimaced when it hit his wrist. “Shit. Sorry.”

He waved it off. “Idohave your back, man. Both of y’all’s. That’s the only reason I’m pressing right now. This is big. Life changing big. I just want to make sure you’ve thought it through.”

The concern in his expression ate at me, and I sagged to the bench. “I’ve barely thought at all, but I’m telling you, man, Izzy was willing to leave me over this. Andthat? That scared the living shit out of me. I’m scared shitless about this pregnancy thing, but losing Izzy? That’s not an option.”

Jet nodded, and I could see the resolve in the steady blue of his eyes. “That’s all I needed to hear. Now to just figure out how y’all are going to tell the parents.”

I grunted, dropping my head.

It didn’t take long for us to decide. Figuring the sooner the better, Izzy and I gathered our parents in my family’s living room the next day after school.

It might have been a mistake.

“You’re pregnant?!” Bridgette screamed, and I winced. Nostrils flaring, she jumped up from the couch, a glare so intense it surpassed anything her daughters had ever thrown at me. Izzy pressed her body back into the sofa beside me, her nails digging into my thigh, and I peeled her hand away, holding it in mine while my mom folded herself forward to cry in her hands. My dad sat perfectly still, staring straight at me, the vein in his forehead I hadn’t seen in ages starting to pulse.

“How can you be pregnant?” Bridgette tossed her hands wildly in the air.

“Sex?” Izzy offered, sounding on the verge of tears.

My gaze stayed fixed on the vein in my dad’s forehead, watching the momentum pick up as the seconds ticked by, my mom’s tears still in the background.

Bridgette was just getting on a roll.

“I didn’t even know you two were sleeping together. Did y’all?” She spun around to look at her friends, and Mom nodded through her tears.

“And you didn’ttellme?” Hurt flashed across Bridgette’s features as she spun back around before she could hide it.“You’re on birth control. Tell me you were taking it,” she demanded, glaring. Izzy nodded, her hand clutching harder to mine. “Then how did this happen? Don’t y’all use condoms?” Bridgette glared at me this time.

“All but once,” I offered. “But Izzy was on the pill, so we didn’t–”

“So, you didn’t what? Didn’tthink?!”

“Of course he didn’t!” Dad came barreling into the conversation then. “How could you be so irresponsible?! You know to use protection every single time! I’ve told you that! I can’t believe you’d mess up your future like this! All of your scholarship offers! Those colleges…you know that might all be over, right?!”

It felt like a punch to the gut to hear it, but I nodded.

“Wait, no…” Mom cut in, finally looking up from her hands. “Their futures don’t have to be over.”

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