Love's Bind

Ch. 15

**Mrs. Raymond**
Alexis's POV
When I woke up, I was in my bed. I got up and looked around for Caleb and saw he wasn't here. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I brushed my hair into a ponytail and walked to my closet. I grabbed a hoodie and some jeans. Today was one of the few days that I'm going to school since I do most of my work at home. Got dressed and grabbed my purse and bookbag and walked downstairs. I grabbed some snacks and put them in my purse and walked out. I got in my car and drove to school. Once I got there, I saw Emmarie.
"Hey girl," I said walking up to her.
"Hey," she said. "You're actually at school today?"
"Yeah," I said laughing. "I need to turn all my work in and take a few tests. Plus I wanna see the progress in school practices with the team since competition is in a week," I said getting a juice out of my purse.
"Oh ok. Me and Mariah have been working with them hella hard on perfecting their technique since you made that long ass list of stuff you needed done," she said rolling her eyes.
"Well if we want to win 1st place, we have to work for it. I hope those dances are perfected," I said.
"Well, we've been trying to teach it, but they keep complaining about the choreography being to difficult," Emmarie said looking down.
"Bullshit. I'll see you in practice," I said walking off. I walked upstairs to my first period class and when I walked in everybody's attention went to me.
"Well hello Alexis. I wasn't expecting you today," my teacher Ms. Hilson said.
"I have some work to turn in and tests to take," I said putting my folder of work on her desk.
"Well okay. The material we're doing is all stuff that you've completed. So, if you will, can you take these things to the assigned teachers?" she asked handing me a big container of papers.
"Sure," I said taking the container and walking out. I didn't realize how far ahead I was with my work, I thought to myself. I walked to my locker to put my stuff up and started delivering papers. After I finished I started roaming around the halls. I got my phone out my back pocket and saw that Caleb texted me. While I was reading the message, I bumped into somebody and dropped my phone.
"My bad," I said bending down to pick up my phone.
"It's cool," the boy said. I looked up when I recognized the voice. I started to walk away and then he grabbed my hand.
"Alexis, wait," Bryce said.
I looked and saw Danielle standing behind him and I felt my heart drop. "What?" I said sounding irritated.
"Listen, I'm sor-"
"I don't want to hear your apology Bryson. Leave me alone," I said snatching my hand out of his and walking off. I felt myself about to cry so I went to the faculty bathroom. Seeing him just brought back a bunch of memories that I didn't want to think of. I felt this pain in my chest and I broke down. I heard somebody come out of the stall and I tried to stop, but I couldn't.
"Alexis?"
"Yes?" I said trying to catch my breath.
"Are you okay?" asked my favorite teacher, Mrs. Raymond.
"No," I said trying to get myself together.
"What's going on sweetie?" she asked drying her hands off.
"A lot," I said still crying.
"Come on sweetie. Take deep breaths and tell me what's going on," she said pulling me into a hug.
"I saw Bryson for the first time since we broke up and Danielle was behind him holding her stomach," I said crying harder.
"Wait..you and Bryson broke up?"
"Yes," I said wiping my face.
"Okay. What does Danielle have to do with it?"
"Bryson was cheating on me with her and got her pregnant," I said breaking down again.
"Alexis, calm down. I know you're hurting. Trust me, I do. But you have to pull yourself together. You can't let them see you like this," she said wiping my face. The bell started ringing and she hugged me.
"I have to get to my class, but text me your address and I'll come by to see you later."
"Okay," I said taking a deep breath.
"If you need anything, you know where my classroom is," she said walking off.
After she left, I washed my face and fixed my hair. I got my phone out and responded to Caleb's message. I walked up to my locker and got my bag so I could finish dropping off my work to all of my classes. I started walking and felt the urge to throw up. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I got myself together again and walked out. This day has been hard as fuck already, I thought to myself. I dropped off two of my lessons. When I dropped off my third lesson, I stayed in the class to talk to my teacher for a little while. I heard some laughing and I turned my attention to it and saw Danielle. I started back talking to my teacher and she started talking to one of her friends. I kept noticing them looking at me and I started to get even more irritated. Then they both started laughing and looking at me.
"What's funny? I wanna laugh too," I said walking over to them. They stop talking and laughing.
"Exactly. If you're going to talk shit, talk where I can hear you. Scary bitch," I said laughing and walking off. I walked out of the classroom and finished dropping my work off. I took all my tests and by the time I finished all of that, it was time for 7th period. I walked down the stairs to the locker room. When everyone noticed me walking in, it got quiet. I already knew why it was quiet so I didn't say anything. I guess they saw the expression on my face, so they walked out to the gym to start individual stretching. Once I finished getting dressed, I walked out to where they were. I started warmups and stretches and told them to get in position so I could watch them do the dance. I started the music and watched them do the routine. Once they finished, I was pissed. I stood in silence for a minute then started talking.
"I don't know what that was or what y'all thought it was, but I need y'all to fix it," I said getting some chips out my bag.
"Who are you to come in here out of the blue and just start giving orders?" one of the girls said.
"First of all, I'm the captain. If I want to pop up, I can. Y'all look a mess and y'all need to fix it," I said putting chips in my mouth.
"How about you get out here and do the damn dance," the girl said.
"I don't need to do the dance because I made the shit up. Y'all have had long enough to perfect this. I shouldn't even have to be saying this at this point. Competition is in a week and y'all look like y'all don't know what the hell y'all are doing," I said putting my chips down.
"You haven't been here to help with anything," the girl said. Other girls started agreeing with her. I shook my head.
"Y'all are full of shit," I said laughing. "What the fuck is this!? Emmarie and Mariah have been teaching the dance. Y'all are just too lazy to pick up on the choreography. The dance is not hard, you're just used to being a mediocre team," I said standing up and getting my bag. "I'm sick of this shit. I'm done," I said walking out. I got in my car aggravated as hell. I drove to sonic and got some food and went back home. I walked in the apartment and sat at the island and to eat. Caleb walked in and went to the refrigerator.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," I said with a mouth full of food.
"I thought you had practice," he said.
"I did. I quit," I said nonchalantly.
"Why?"
"I'm tired of them. Plus, I wasn't feeling it."
"Oh ok. When is your appointment for the baby?"
"Tomorrow," I said getting up to throw my food away. Caleb came towards me and kissed me. He put his hand on my stomach and smiled.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too." Just as I said that, somebody knocked on the door. Caleb went to open it and I heard Emmarie's voice. I went over to where they were and looked at them. They both looked kind of suspicious.
"Uh..hey?" I said still looking.
"I'm going up to the room," Caleb said looking mad. I watched him and then I looked at Emmarie.
"So y'all together now?"
"Yea. Why?" I said walking over to the couch.
"Just asking. Y'all live here together?"
"You and all these damn questions. Yes," I said rolling my eyes.
"What happened with you in practice?" she said changing the subject.
"I just got tired. I'm stressed enough and I don't need that adding onto it."
"You didn't seem yourself."
"How?"
"All you did was eat and yell. You never do either of those. Is it that time of the month?" she said laughing.
"I'm pregnant." She got real quiet.
"Oh. Congratulations."
"Thank you. We're excited," I said smiling.
"That's good. Well I have to go," she said getting up.
"Bye," I said. She walked out and I got up and went to my room. Caleb was laying across the bed on his stomach. I got on the bed and sat on his back.
"What happened with you and Emmarie in there?"
"Nothing. I just don't like her," he said.
"Why not?"
"I just don't."
"Did y'all have something going on at one point?"
He turned over on his back and put his hands behind his head.
"Yeah. For a little while," he said looking at me.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked trying to crawl off of him. He grabbed my waist and pulled me back down.
"Because I didn't want you to worry about her. Everything I had for her is gone," he said grabbing my hands and pulling me down to lay on him. "I only love you," he said kissing my forehead.
"That's good to know," I said rolling of him and sitting up.
"Don't be like that," he said sitting up.
"Caleb, I've heard that too many times and the same thing always ends up happening."
"Alexis, you gotta realize that I'm not Bryson or anybody else you ever had. You need to move on from that."
"Okay," I said getting up. He got up and picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him and hugged him.
"Let's go to the park," he said.
"Alright," I said jumping off of him. He grabbed his keys and we walked out.
We got to the park and sat on the swings.
"I saw Bryce and Danielle today," I said.
"At school?"
"Yeah."
"How did you handle it?"
"Honestly, I couldn't handle it. It just gave me another reason to keep doing my work at home."
"What happened?"
"I bumped into him in the hall and Danielle was behind him and just seeing them together upset me," I said honestly.
"Do you still have feelings for him?" Caleb asked.
"Yes," I said honestly.
"Oh," he said. My phone started ringing and I saw it was Mrs. Raymond.
"Caleb, we gotta go," I said getting up. The car ride was silent. When we got back home, Mrs. Raymond was sitting in her car. I walked over to her while Caleb went and unlocked the door.
"Hey," I said hugging her.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" she asked following me to the door.
"I could be better," I said walking in.
"What's going on?" she asked sitting in the chair across from the sofa.
"A lot of stuff."
"Elaborate."
"Well aside from Bryson. I moved out of my mama's house, I have another boyfriend, and I'm pregnant."
"Wait..what? You're pregnant?"
"Yes."
"And you're keeping the baby?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. I was pregnant before with Bryce's baby and I had an abortion. I don't want to go through that again."
"I'm not knocking your decision, but I want you to just think about it. You have sooo much going for you right now. And a baby is not what you need right now. Take it from someone that's experienced. I was 17 when I had my son. I had everything planned out and a full scholarship. But as I got into college, it became harder and harder to keep my grades up and take care of a baby. So I ended up losing my scholarship and dropping out. Just think about it," she said. I sat back and was quiet for a while.
"I want to keep it. Dre said that he'll babysit while I'm at school."
"Okay. But you still need to be mindful of the consequences. You won't be able to go out with your friends, you won't be able to do things that normal college students do. Remember that Dre has a life too."
"Okay."
"Now tell me what happened with you, Bryson, and Danielle," she said getting comfortable.
"Well, on the day that I got the abortion, I hadn't been talking to Bryce. I called Caleb over to my house because I wanted someone to talk about it to."
"Wait. Who is Caleb?" she asked.
"My boyfriend."
"Oh okay. Continue."
"So me and Caleb were on my bed falling asleep when Bryce walked in. He started yelling and Caleb felt uncomfortable so he left. When he left, Bryce hit me. Then I started explaining everything to him and Danielle walked in. And then she said that Bryce got her pregnant and he was leaving me for her. Bryson didn't deny it and all he said was "I'm sorry" and the rest is history."
"Wow. What happened with you and your mom?"
"I told everyone in my house including my dad that I'm pregnant and she was mad and started talking about she didn't raise a ho as a daughter and telling me about how I'm not ready for a baby so I snapped and got my stuff and left."
"You really have been going through a lot," she said.
"Yeah," I said propping my feet up.
"You're a miniature version of me."
"How?"
"We've been through almost the exact same thing. When I got pregnant, I told my son's father and he broke up with me. I told my mama and she put me out. Basically I had nobody. I started staying with a church member and I started going to church a lot more. Not only did I get a stronger relationship with God, I met my husband. As we got to know each other, I told him my story and he was completely accepting. He stepped up and helped me take care of my son and that was that. Now, you may think that everything is going to go smoothly, but there's going to be a plot twist somewhere and when it happens, you're not going to understand it and it's going to test your faith."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm not trying to scare you, but just be prepared for anything," she said standing up. "I have to go. Call me if you need anything," she said hugging me and then walking out.