FRAT LINE|Year 2&3-KNJ✔️

+35+

+THIRD+

"Please tell me you have a stomach bug. The flu. Really bad cramps. A tapeworm." Malia says.

Anything but a baby.

Taija sits on the couch and looks at her then to Camryn. They both hold their breath, waiting for her to respond.

"...I don't know."

Camryn legs out the breath slowly and Malia still holds hers but her eyes slowly widen.

"Have you taken a test?"

"No... I'm scared to look."

Malia chews the inside of her lip and looks at the floor. This.... This is a big deal. A much bigger deal than it currently seems.

"You have to find out, Taija." Camryn says softly. "I know it's gonna stress you out but you have to know. Our coaches aren't gonna let you dance if-."

"You don't think I know that?" Taija cuts her off. "It's not like I did this on purpose. I wasn't being irresponsible. We were safe, we were careful. I took a plan B. I-." She sniffles before she starts full out crying.

"I don't know how to fix this. I can't be... We're not even-. No." She shakes her head. "I don't want it. I'm not keeping it."

She pulls out her phone and Camryn takes it from her.

"Whoa, wait. Breathe for a second. know you're overwhelmed and thinking that this is a lot. And trust me, it's... it's up there. But just think alright. We don't know if you are yet. I think you need to get the test first and then go from there."

"I don't want it, Cam. Just let me make my decision before I change my mind." Taija's voice cracks. "Please. You don't understand. Everything's too complicated. I can't let him find out. It has to go."

Malia's eyes soften considerably. Taija hasn't told them about anyone after Tyrell. He's the only currently complicated piece in her life.

Recently, she hasn't really been speaking to him. He's been trying to talk to her but she doesn't want to be roped back into the string along. He doesn't want to string her along but he loves her entirely too much to ever have to let her go. For him, it's much easier to leave it in a gray space. So if they ever do separate, he can try to convince himself that there was never anything there to begin with.

He's going to mentally manipulate himself, gaslight the hell out of himself. The only problem with that is, with his love comes the overwhelming desire to be possessive. He doesn't want anyone else to have Taija. He doesn't want to have anyone else.

He's stuck at a crossroads simply because he's choosing not to be vulnerable. It could break him, he knows.

"It's Ty's, isn't it?" Malia asks as she realizes.

Taija swallows thickly and stares at the ground.

"I can't tell him. I don't know how he'll react. I don't know how he'll take it. I'd rather just..." She cuts herself and licks her lips. "I'd rather not find out at all. If I don't know, then he doesn't know. Nobody will know."

Camryn and Malia look at each other then back to her.

"It's your body, Taija. Nobody can tell you what to do with it. Or what not to do with it. But this is a big thing to do." Camryn says. "And I'm not saying that you shouldn't or that you should but I just want you to think on it so that whatever decision you make is one that you won't regret, you know?"