Bad Decisions (Part 1)

Chapter 11: Consequences

"I'm sure it's just the stress about school," Niki said, twiddling her thumbs. I knew she was saying this to make me feel better, but I was freaking out. I sit in the bathroom stall covering my face with my hands. I was feeling stressed out about school, but I doubt that was it. I stood up and walked out of the stall and looked in the mirror next to Niki. She was just as nervous as I was, but I didn't want to drag her down with me. I took 2 deep breaths and pulled myself together. I confidently walked out of the bathroom and went back into the engagement room. Today was movie night and I decided to not stress and enjoy my night.

"This movie is too sad!" Hunter and Clay hug each other while they're very invested in the movie. I slumped down in the seat next to Lisa and she took her popcorn bin and put it right in front of me, offering some popcorn. I was never a huge fan of popcorn but as soon as I smelt it, I made a disgusted face, waved my hand in dismissal, and ran to the bathroom. Niki immediately ran after me and I ran into the accessible stall to throw up. I slam the stall door shut keeping Niki out. Through the stall door, she said in almost a whisper,

"Friend. I think you should take a test." My blood ran cold as she said those words. I did not want to admit that there was a possible chance, but she was right. And that's what terrified me.

I opened the stall door and let her in. I started to panic and cried putting my hand over my mouth so it wasn't loud. Niki rubs my back and says,

"Let's go. We can buy one down the street." I nodded and tried not to look at her. I was ashamed that this was happening to me and it was only getting worse, but this was as worse as it can get. I tried to stand up and we walked out of the stall when we heard a toilet flush. We both stared at each other in shock and hoped it wasn't someone we knew. Since the world was against me, Julia came out of the stall. She looked at me and half-smiled. I walked past her without smiling and went for the door.

"I won't tell anyone. Who's is it?" I pause before opening the door. I turn to look at her. Julia wasn't really my friend and I knew Alex had told her something so she was definitely going to him first. I narrowed my eyes and swung the door open giving her a death stare. She sneered and Niki said something but I couldn't make it out since I was already out of the bathroom.

If Julia knew, I didn't trust that it would stay between us. She was closer to Alex so she would probably tell him something. I left movie night and texted Clay Hey I had to go, family stuff. C u tomorrow and sprinted out of campus.

Niki and I went to a pharmacy to pick up a test. Once we paid for it, it was time for me to get home. We walked towards the bus stop and she stopped to get on.

"Let me know how it goes." She hugged me and got on. I kept walking since my house was only a few blocks and I needed air. On the way home, I thought about talking to Alex before he heard it from someone else. If anyone from the friend group told him, things could get messy. I wanted to tell him but I wanted to know if I was pregnant for sure before I told him.

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I was running out of time to figure out if I was pregnant or not. It has been weeks and I was still nervous to take it. I knew that if it came out positive, I would end up having to make a decision. I decided to take it once I got home. I was sitting in my last class for the day tapping my pen on the desk lightly. Right after this class, I was going to talk to Alex about the pregnancy test I'm taking and see how he will react to it. The thought of him reacting poorly was making my stomach sick. But as Niki told me, it was the right thing to do. I texted Niki to see if she was on campus today for support but she was still out of town so she wasn't able to be here for this but I was to call her immediately with the results. I looked at the clock and realized I only had 5 minutes of class left before I had to make my way to the engagement room. I pressed down on my pen as my teacher started to dismiss the class.

As soon as she finished class, I sped walked to the engagement room. I felt like this was a rip-off-the-bandaid scenario and I had to get it over with. I was hoping there would be nothing to worry about anyway because chances are, I wasn't even pregnant. I stood outside the engagement room and took a deep breath before I walked in. I signed in and saw through the windows and clear door Alex, Lisa, Julia, and Hunter standing outside. I was confused as to what was going on out there because I heard yelling and intense arguments. The people in the engagement room were staring at them. Something was wrong. I put my stuff down on a table inside and walked outside. I saw Julia screaming at Alex who was sitting with his hands over his face and Lisa was in between them two. Hunter was standing the furthest away with his backpack on. He was frozen like a statue staring at the ground. As soon as I swung the door open, Julia looked at me with angry eyes and Lisa turned to face me and her face fell. I stare at all of them before saying,

"What's going on?" Julia laughed humorlessly. Lisa looked at me and sighed.

"He knows." My blood ran cold and my eyes immediately turned to look at Hunter. His hands formed fists and I felt my heart ripped out of my chest. My eyes began to build up tears and my hands started to shake.

"H-Hunter." I trembled, being too afraid to approach him because he looked like he was going to throw punches. He looked at me with the darkest look on his face almost like a death stare. My heart was thumping rapidly and my legs felt weak. I felt like I was going to pass out. He stormed back into the engagement room without saying a word to anyone. I watched him leave and as soon as he was nowhere to be seen, I turned to Lisa. Lisa was looking down and her arms were crossed and without looking at me, she shook her head again and walked in the room. Julia looked at me and stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"You're a big slut." She said and smiled sarcastically. She skipped to the door and walked in with everyone else. My mouth hung open and my attention turned to the last person standing outside.

"What happened?" I asked sternly. He sighed loudly, sounding annoyed.

"Julia and Lisa are fighting. Julia tried to sabotage my friendship with Lisa by telling Hunter what you and I did." I blinked. I did not expect Julia to stoop so low. I wasn't friends with her, but I also wasn't sworn enemies, so why was she dragging me into her drama with Lisa? I clenched my jaw while Alex slowly walked closer to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but he looked at me with a dark look in his eye saying,

"This is all your fault." I opened my mouth to defend myself but no words came out. My mouth trembled as I struggled to fight back my tears. He walked past me to go back inside.

I felt my heart sink and my chest felt so heavy that I felt I was going to fall on the ground. I had lost my friends all because of one mistake. Not only that but I was blamed for it all. I couldn't believe what was happening in my first year. My mind wandered back to Hunter. I felt horrible for keeping this from him and betraying him like that. I clenched my fists to keep myself from crying but it was no use. I stood up angrily and stormed into the engagement room to grab my stuff and ran into the bathroom without signing in or acknowledging the students that were staring. I ran into the private bathrooms and I threw my bag across the bathroom and sunk against the door and sobbed. I put my knees up to my chest and rested my head on the top of my knees and sobbed until I ran out of tears.