The teenage pregnancy pact

Jocelyn II

Jocelyn sent a message to Seth with a whole wall of text as soon as she and Lizzie arrived to school, expressing her desire to see him soon, apologizing for not being there after the events of a few days ago, and trying to add a little humor at the end to keep his spirit up.

Undelivered. Just like her last six text messages.

She couldn't blame him, she wouldn't want anything to do with the world either after the prognosis his doctor gave him.

Only five months left.

Somehow, Jocelyn already expected it. She didn't cry even once after hearing it.

In the hallway, they encountered Santiago, who expressed relief upon seeing them both.

Jocelyn smiled her thanks to him, but when he acknowledged Lizzie with a nod, she stiffened and quickly left the classroom. Puzzled, Jocelyn followed her out.

Maybe not that day, but Jocelyn would ask what really happened during his visit, especially since Lizzie wasn't even upset with her for giving away her address.

They searched everywhere for Paul until they found him, hiding in the bathroom for teachers to smoke a cigarette, the nerve!

Paul rolled his eyes and looked up, likely about to say something snarky, but Lizzie's piercing gaze shut him down, making it clear she was not messing around.

"We need to talk." she said.

"I don't want to talk with you right now Lizette, please." he said avoiding her gaze.

"It can't wait. It's urgent."

"Call 911 then" He said putting out his cigarette on a trash can.

Lizzie smirked lightly at that joke despite herself, but it had a hint of exasperation in it.

"I have no time for this," said Paul, making his way towards the door. "I already know what's this about, and my answer is still no."

"You have no choice now, Paul. I just found out I'm pregnant."

Paul stopped dead on his tracks, then turned around, eyes wide.

"You're lying." he accused.

Lizzie withdrew the hand from her coat pocket and took out the pregnancy test.

"This doesn't lie. And if you're still not convinced, wait a few months when it'll be undeniable."

"But we used protection!" he said getting close to her.

Lizzie scoffed.

"See, this is the problem of spending too much time playing your stupid sports with your friends. If you paid any attention to our biology classes, you would know that even those have a margin of error that goes from seven to nine percent."

Paul laughed cynically, although there was a quiver in his tone.

"Yeah, and what you're leaving out is that it only happens if used incorrectly. I'm not a moron, Lizette."

"Oh, hell no! You're not going to put the blame on me! I'm tired of being the villain in this relationship. What happened between us was also your decision, remember?"

Paul sighed, passing his hands through his face.

"Okay, okay..." he said, resigned, pinching the bridge of his nose, pacing around the room, "I won't argue over this, okay? You are right on everything. Just tell me how much do you need to abort?"

Oh... here it came. Despite her nerves, for once Jocelyn swallowed them, getting ready to stand for her sister if Paul expressed anything other than acceptance over her decision.