There's Always A Plot Twist | Wattys 2023 ✓

3| The Egg

Riley inwardly gasps but tries to level her voice to mask her surprise. "You're pregnant?"

"Is it Kaizen's baby?" Amber asks without thinking. Kenna, Amara and Riley simultaneously turn on her with the same dumbfounded expression. "What, I have to ask."

Kenna sulks all the way to the mirrors on the wall, running the water and splashing her face. "Yes, it's his."

The girls join Kenna, circling around her in solidarity but feeling powerless to help. "Could it be a false positive?"

Kenna digs her hand down into the deep pockets of her oversized sports jacket, producing a bulging, opaque, plastic bag. 

On further inspection, the girls realize that the bag is full of pregnancy tests. "They can't all be false positives."

"Have you been carrying those around with you?" Amara asks.

"Amara!" Riley disapprovingly glares at her friend, usually enjoying her bluntness. However, in this situation, a softer approach is needed.

"I can't be the only one who think it's weird." Amara turns to Kenna, regretting saying it out loud. "Sorry."

Kenna keeps her head low, shuffling through her tiny bag until she finds the wipes that she always carries with her. She furiously scrubs all the make-up off her face, partially ignoring her friends bickering and partially getting lost in her own head.

"Okay, you're on timeout." Riley tells Amara, swapping spaces with her to stand next to Kenna.

Amber, Amara and Riley wait patiently for Kenna to refresh herself, watching her stare at her reflection in the mirror, burying holes into her eyes with a bare face. "Someone say something." she whispers dryly, needing something to shout louder than her own thoughts.

"Are you going to keep it or...?" Amber trails off, leaving the question to hang above their heads.

"I'm Catholic. My whole family is...if I get rid of this baby then I'll have both my abuelas praying over me when I sleep." Kenna scoffs, dreading the thought.

When she shuffles through her bag once more, Riley mouths the word timeout to Amber before zipping her own mouth shut and throwing away the key. 

Amber shrugs her shoulders, once again not realizing when she is saying the wrong things at the wrong times.

"And I've thought about adoption too." Kenna adds, oblivious to the ban put in place as she applies foundation and concealer. 

"I had my mom drive me to an adoption agency, but I couldn't get out the car. The thought of some other person caring for my baby...I just couldn't go through with it."

"Here let me do your lashes." Amber offers, taking the mascara from Kenna once she finds it for her. "Look up for me."

"I had this dream about my half Cuban, half Japanese, baby being raised by some white couple in their early forties and imagine her growing up feeling like she doesn't belong. I mean, what are they going to teach her about being Cuban?"

Riley suppresses her glee, but the excitement is evident in her voice. "You're having a girl?"

"I'm manifesting."

"Alright I'm done. You look beautiful." Amber declares, letting Amara move in to do her eyeshadow next. "What about Kaizen? What does he want, a boy or a girl?" 

Although her eyes are closed, Amara notices the shift in Kenna, like the weight of balancing scales suddenly dropping on one side. "He does know, right?" she asks, removing the brush from her eyes for a moment.

"Yep...he knows." she whispers, her jaw tightening.

"And?" Riley inquires, making eye contact with Amber in the mirror.

"He doesn't want the baby, does he?" Amara whispers, in a soothing tone, waiting patiently for Kenna to confirm it.

Kenna sighs, finally opening her eyes to face her friends, with tears threatening to spill all over again. She squeezes her lips tightly together, afraid that if she says the words she will buckle, rolling her eyes and blinking away the tears before shaking her head.

"Is that why you broke up?"

"You guys can't tell the others."

Before they get the chance to promise, the bathroom door burst open, making the four of them jump as it hits against the wall.

Farah rubs her arms, feeling a little chilly whilst wearing her black lace spaghetti strap top, as she walks through the door. "Don't mind me." 

Admittedly, Farah believes that the girls may have been gossiping about her since they stopped talking when she entered but after using the stall and washing her hands, Amber takes it upon herself to clarify the situation.

"Kenna's pregnant!" she blurts out, throwing her hands up when Amara and Riley turn on her.

"Not even two seconds." Riley scoffs.

Amara simply rolls her eyes. "Is she being for real?"

"I have to be honest; I was going to tell her as soon as we got out of here, so might as well do it here instead of behind your back, right?" she argues.

Amara shakes her head, finding her response to be lackluster. "An honest snake is still a snake."

Farah dries her hands with a fistful of paper-towels before disposing them in the bin. "If it's any constellation, I won't tell the boys." 

"Not even Lance?" Kenna asks.

Farah nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders. "Having some secrets in a relationship can be healthy."

"Thank you." Kenna mutters, accepting a brief hug from Farah, who leaves just as quickly as she entered.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that." Riley whispers, not loud enough for the others to hear over the loud pipes in the walls.

"Well hopefully she is better at it than Mrs. Anzani over here." Amara half jokes, finishing up on the eyeshadow look.

"So did Kaizen tell you to have an abortion?" Amber inquires, deflecting Amara's jab.

"Not in so many words but we argued for hours, we said some things that neither of us can take back." Kenna puts on the last piece of her war paint, taking her time to apply her favourite lip-gloss. "I was the one who broke it off."

"But would you get back with him?"

Kenna scans over her small frame in the mirror, checking for any small sign of her breakdown that may betray her. "Its probably too late, knowing him."

"He still loves you." Riley remarks, feeling obligated to do so.

Kenna's eyes eagerly flicker towards Riley but after glancing back at herself in the mirror, her hands cupping her stomach, pulling that side of her back and ignoring it completely.

"How do you know? Did you talk to him?" Amara asks Riley, folding her arms across her chest.

"No, I, Arlo told me...on the way here." Riley replies, avoiding eye contact with Amber.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I can't be with the boy who thinks I'm keeping his baby just to get access to his family's money." Kenna stops frowning and practises a quick smile in the mirror. She looks beautiful but it doesn't quite reach her deep brown eyes. "Okay, I'm ready."

"You sure?" Amber asks, simply double-checking.

"I'm sure." Kenna responds sounding far away, expelling the weight off her shoulders temporarily to enjoy the night.

A moment later Amara and Kenna leave the bathroom together but before Riley can join them, Amber calls her back with her sweet and savoury voice. "Hey, Riley, can I talk to you for a sec."

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Riley asks, shifting uncomfortably on her feet when Amber stares at her with an unreadable expression on her face. "Everything okay?"

"We're friends, I'd like to think close friends, so I feel comfortable in saying...stop sleeping with my boyfriend."