Zoophobia - A "Safe" Haven: Book 1: JUNE - SEPTEMBER

Chapter Eight: Secrets and Dresses

CELESTE

"What do you think, Addi?" I asked, showing him the dress. It was a burgundy maternity dress with frill sleeves.

"It's nice," he said, not looking up.

"Addi, you're not even paying attention to me. How hard can geometry be?"

"Actually, you'd be surprised to find how difficult 12th grade geometry is!" He showed me his textbook. From my perspective, it was nothing but a bunch of lines crossing through a circle. "Not to mention, Professor Thatcher is teaching it."

"Well, I have trigonometry, and that sounds like a college math class."

"I don't care."

"Just look at the dress," I said, now tired of his excuses.

"I'm looking," Addison said, glancing up from the book for a few seconds.

"What do you think of it? Is it nice?"

"It's better than the last one. I don't think anyone wears flowers in the fall."

"I wear flowers in the fall."

"That's your problem then, not me."

"Fine!" I groaned, searching through the box of new dresses that Gustav bought for me. They were really expensive, and Addison's careless comments simply reminded me of how spoiled and clingy he was. I found a nice off-shoulder dress that I quickly dressed into.

"Ta-da!" I said, showing him. "This is going to go great with those snake earrings Mom bought me-"

"-that you never wear," Addison cut me off.

"Shut up!" I said, walking past him and going through my jewelry box to find the earrings. I showed him the completed look.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I think even your own kid hates it," he said. "Take off the scarf. It doesn't look good with it."

"You can't have a high opinion on what I wear when you go to school dressed in the same thing every day."

"But what I wear looks good. You look like you're just copying me."

"Once I go to school in these, we won't look so alike."

"What are you going to do when Mother sees you? She's going to want to know where you got new dresses."

"The mall with Kayla and Vanexa."

"Cel, we both know you're as broke as Polaroid."

"What's Polaroid?"

"Precisely."

"I can always tell her Kayla bought them," I said.

"They're maternity dresses."

"What are you actually going to do when it becomes apparent that you're pregnant? The school we have to know. And Mother will definitely need to know."

"Actually it has become a little apparent," I said.

"This is a dumb plan of yours."

"Thanks for your help, Kermit," I said, beginning to take out my earrings.

"What did you call me?"

"I didn't say anything, Mike Wazowski."

Addison stood up and began leaving without saying a word while I started laughing.

"You'd be surprised at how fast five months goes by. We'll see who's laughing now," he said.

"I'll take my chances, Yoshi! Goodnight!"