Page 537 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Dad said we should chat in person, so he wants me to fly up tomorrow.”
“Go. What’s stopping you?”
“We have tickets to the concert in Palm Springs this weekend,” he reminds me.
“Oh,” I mouth, slightly disappointed. “You know what, you need to do this. I can always ask my sister to come.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod with a proud smile. “I’m sure.”
Cole kisses my cheek and then tells me he needs to meet with his team before lunch is over. He quickly rushes off, leaving me inside the cafeteria, which has almost cleared out.
My appetite is down to almost nothing, but I grab an apple and bag of chips to munch on. Taking a seat by myself, I pull out my phone and scroll through the photos on my socials. Ava is so dramatic with all her glamor shots considering she is supposedly busy with a baby.
A group of girls from my English class sit behind me. Considering there are plenty of free tables, I find it bizarre. They’re not mean girls or anything, just very clique-like and obsessed with their looks.
“Okay, so here is what I heard in chemistry,” Amanda, one of the girls, says in an urgent tone. “Lucy went home sick after cheerleading practice, and her mom found her passed out in the bathroom. They literally freaked and thought she had taken her own life, so they called 9-1-1. Turns out, she fainted because she’s knocked up.”
“Oh my god!” the rest of the girls gasp in unison.
“Yep, and guess who the father is?”
“Who?”
“Roman,” Amanda blurts out.
“Her stepbrother?”
“Uh huh …”
My eyes widen in shock.Her stepbrother?Holy shit, that’s intense. I tune out of the gossip, shocked Lucy is pregnant. For starters, she’s only seventeen. From memory, her stepbrother came into the family a year ago when her mother remarried a rich guy who owned a company that imported luxury cars from Europe.
Lucy’s always been a quiet achiever. She’s a straight-A student and one of our school's best cheerleaders. I can’t believe she wasn’t smart enough to at least protect herself. Imagine how ballistic her parents would have been finding out their daughter was pregnant, and to her stepbrother of all guys.
This makes my life seem so ordinary.
I no longer linger, grabbing my things before I’m late for class. As I walk down the hallway, Lucy is standing at her locker, quietly staring at the pile of books. I don’t know what compels me to do it, but I walk up to her and offer a sympathetic smile.
“Um, listen. I know we’re not really friends, but if you need anyone to talk to, I’m here.”
Lucy raises her eyes to meet mine, and behind the blue orbs, there’s a sadness mixed with fear. “I know people are gossiping about me.”
“So, let them say whatever. You have more important things to worry about. Just take care of yourself. That’s what matters.”
She bows her head, unable to look at me any longer. “If I keep the baby, my life will change forever. If I don’t keep it, everyone will know I’m that girl.”
“What girl?”
“The girl who aborted her baby,” she answers in a somber voice. “I don’t know if I can be that girl.”
I don’t understand. Why should anyone have a say in her life and what she does with the baby? Who cares what people say or think. Suddenly, a fit of anger mixed with frustration consumes me.
“You do what is right for you. End of story.”
“It’s not that easy,” she almost chokes. “I can’t explain it.”
Maybe she couldn’t explain it, or maybe I just don’t understand how others should have an opinion on her and her baby’s life. Either way, I can’t help but feel sorry for her.
