Stolen Innocence (Evergreen) [Student/Teacher Love Story]

thirty five

Not knowing what else to do, I text Fiona immediately, not giving her any details but asking if she can drive me to Planned Parenthood. I remember her saying that she's had friends before go there for "pregnancy shit." Even thinking of that word makes me wanna hurl.

    She doesn't respond even after I call her three times so I chuck my phone on the bed, trying not to panic. The urge to call Michael is overwhelming and my only relief is running to the toilet and puking up whatever the hell my last meal was.

    "Fuck," I groan, staring down at the toilet bowl, my head swimming as all I see are the two lines. Those two fucking lines. Flushing, I rush back to my phone, extremely tempted to text Hayden and Bianca, telling them what I just learned.

    But something stops me before I can. Something in the last conversation we had has left me unsettled and with a pit in my stomach. I don't think I'd quite realized how much my parents were talking about me with my friends and their parents until now. And how fucking dare they? They don't know shit about what's going on.

    As if the universe is listening to me and only me, just then the front door opens and my parents are waltzing inside. I rush downstairs, surprising both of them.

    "How did your...your talk go?" She questions and I scrunch my eyebrows up at the odd question.

    "My 'talk'?" I snap, and her and my dad share an odd glance.

    "Yes, your...seeing your friends. Was it...good?" Her tone sounds hopeful and I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs and crying at the same time.

    "Why do you ask? Why do you ask me, that is? I mean, you have them to get all your information from so why even ask me? Cut out the middle man, right?" I take a few steps down the stairs, my mom's eyes growing wider with every step I take closer.

    "Iris, what are you-"

    "Don't act fucking stupid. You're literally talking about this with anyone who will listen," Her eyes are still wide as I creep closer, my dad seemingly shrinking into the background.

    "And why wouldn't you, right? Talk about what a fucking mess Iris is? What a fuck up? How the hell did we get so unlucky?"

    "We're asking your friends about you because you won't talk to us. That's it," My dad cuts in and my mom and I are both so shocked that we're both rendered silent.

    "That's...that's right," My mom adds after a few seconds, "Sweetie. We need the story. The full story. Whenever you're...you're ready to share it, that is," Her voice grows quieter with each syllable. I open my mouth to say something, say anything, but the urge to puke comes on just a little bit stronger.

    Rushing to the bathroom, I make it to the toilet just in time. In my haste to get there, I forgot to close the door, and when I'm flushing and shutting the toilet bowl cover, I'm surprised to see my mom standing in the doorway staring concernedly down at me.

    "What?" I snap, washing my mouth out and brushing by her.

    "I'm just...I'm sorry," She apologizes quickly and I turn around, shocked by her words. She's eyeing the ground nervously. "I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this all on your own and...and you felt like you couldn't come to me about it," I fidget slightly where I'm standing, unsure what to say to that. How the hell does she expect me to just come and tell her everything I've done in the past few months? Everything he did to me...everything we did together.

    "I just don't wanna talk about it. Not with you, not with anyone," She meets my gaze, "Can't him going to jail be enough?" My voice cracks, and even as I say the words, I know that would never be enough. Eventually, whether I like it or not, I'm going to have to tell somebody about this. The thought alone makes me want to run back to the bathroom and stay there.