Melanie

Twenty One

These were my thoughts as Detective Landon broke the news to me. I informed Vivian and my mother about it, and they were both furious. Vivian was overthinking the situation and was desperate to find out who had committed the act of violence.

Winter break had ended and it was time to start the new academic year refreshed to finish my senior year. Melanie was present, although many people had sent condolences to her about her late stepfather. She was appreciated, although she didn't appear to be feeling well. I had a class to run, so she was pale.

I went to check on my status at Harvard, but there was no sign of it yet. There will be no updates till further notice. Harvard, come on! Melanie and I kept our relationship low-key, but she appeared a little odd at times. She needed to use the restroom frequently, but she said that she had a stomach virus. This had happened to her before.

Three weeks later, I was chilling with video games. Jake should have been released from the Center by now. It would be weird to see him. Someone knocked on my bedroom door. It was my girlfriend, although she appeared to have been sobbing for an extended period. I decided to take a break from the game and approached her.

"Baby, what's wrong?" I said. With her appealing doe eyes, she glanced at me. Something happened to her, it appears to be. I looked at her, astonished, but said nothing because she wasn't responding. She began to cry again. "Babe, tell me what's wrong so I can help you. Family issues or Jake's return?"

"Jake hasn't returned yet, but he will be soon because Mom is about to pick him up from the Center," she added, wiping her tears away. "I need to talk to you about something very important for us." I jerked my head and paid close attention to her. I shut and locked the door since she needed some privacy. She joined me on my bed. She gave me a sorrowful expression in the eyes. She appeared to be really disturbed.

"So, tell me," I responded, attempting to cheer her up.

"I have to be completely upfront with you," she said. "I'm a little ashamed of myself for the big difference that happened to me." She reached inside her hoodie pocket and grabbed something out. She removed her hooded cap from her head, revealing her messy brown hair. She was really intrigued by me. I examined her hand since there was a test with positive red lines. There were two lines. Double lines.

She abruptly grabbed another one, this time with the words "Pregnant for 4-6 weeks." She began to sob again, but I couldn't say anything. She nodded, as if she was absolutely serious. There was no prank, no joke. From Christmas Day through the Winter Formal, we didn't do any protection twice.

"I've been feeling extremely ill and under the weather for the past week, so I decided to take a pregnancy test, and I'm pregnant. You're the baby daddy," she said. Baby daddy? No, no, no... This should not have happened to me. I was taken aback by her. She wanted me to say something, but I couldn't think of anything. This would be disastrous for my future career and life.

"I thought you were on birth control," I remarked, raising my brows. I've got questions since I assumed she'd been taking them the entire time. She made a shaky motion with her head.

"No, I stopped it because I'm allergic to them. They cause allergic reactions in me, which is not good for my health. I sincerely apologize. You had already asked me that question when I was choked up. I have to tell you, I believed I'd never get pregnant until I took those two tests."

"Laniey, you should have told me way before this," I yelled. "You're only seventeen, and I'm barely an adult! If Jake finds out about this, we'll both be dead."

"Daxton Nathanson, I know you can be the best daddy in the world, and I am due in August, so I wanted you to be there for our unborn child," she sobbed. "It's because I love you." I kept my gaze away from her eyes until she spoke the L word for the first time. She placed her palms on my face so I was able to concentrate on her.