the grudge , e. call

nine; white lies

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Fate determined that Maliah and Embry would go back to school the same week. As it stood, no one except for Quil knew Maliah was pregnant. She was early enough in her pregnancy, she assumed, that it wasn't yet noticeable. The small bump at the bottom of her abdomen could have very well just been bloating and was easily covered by an oversized sweatshirt. Embry's sweatshirt.

Maliah walked to her locker that morning feeling really small. The last time everyone saw her, she was getting left by her date at the prom. Now she was pregnant, walking the halls of her high school and despite the rationalization that it could've looked like bloating, Maliah convinced herself that everyone could tell she was pregnant. As she sorted through her books in her locker, Kim sidled up beside her.

"Everything okay, sweetie?" She asked. Maliah startled and instinctively cradled her belly, a motion that went unnoticed by Kim.

Maliah nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay, I guess."

"Quil told us what happened." Maliah's face blanched, and her breathing picked up anxiously. "Just that Embry broke up with you. Pretty shitty thing to do and I'm so, so sorry it happened."

Sighing in relief, Maliah released her tension. "Yeah, it was. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Oh, I get it honey," Kim rubbed her arm comfortingly. "It's still fresh."

They said goodbye and Maliah sighed. Rationally, Maliah could acknowledge that Kim was not responsible for her breakup—emotions were high, and Embry was a hormonal teenage boy. It wasn't Kim's fault, but still Maliah harbored a sliver of resentment for her in her stomach.

It was somewhere next to the fetus she was apparently growing.

Maliah's first class was fine, but there was a light veil over her. Like everyone was afraid to speak about her or to her. Granted, it was difficult to gossip about someone sitting beside you. Second period, though, was where things would all go downhill.

In all the excitement of the news of her sudden pregnancy, Maliah forgot that her and Embry sat directly next to her in English Lit. So, as Maliah walked into her math class, her stomach dropped when her eyes landed on Embry's back as he was talking to the boy that sat behind him. She ran through her options in her mind: Maliah could ask to change her seat or she could ditch class or she could ignore him entirely. She settled on ignoring him entirely because there were no seats to move to and she has enough absences on her record until graduation.

Maliah marched over to her seat and sat down. She pulled out her notebook and her pencil, and her eyes settled on the chalkboard at the front of the room. She was never too interested in her academics, but the confusing works of William Shakespeare proved to be a hell of a distraction from her ex boyfriend who sat two feet away from her. That was until, morning sickness washed over her and nausea settled in her stomach.

She raised her hand and swallowed back a gag, eyes remaining trained on Mr. Smith's face. He nodded in her direction. "Would it be alright if I went to the restroom?"

"Take the pass."

Maliah hurried from her seat, grabbed the pass from the hook by the door and bolted towards the nearest bathroom.

Embry had thought it was strange, the haste with which she had gone off to the restroom. He also noticed that she looked pale and gaunt, sick. Embry raised his hand. "Can I go to the nurse? I have a really bad headache."

Mr. Smith huffed, annoyed that his lesson had been interrupted a second time and handed Embry a hall pass to the nurse's office.

He left the classroom and sauntered towards the bathroom where he heard retching. One of the perks of his newfound abilities was that his hearing was significantly better, he'd heard her after just barely being out of the classroom.

Not caring that it was the girls bathroom, Embry barged in. He found Maliah in the first stall. She didn't have time to close the door behind her in her mad dash to make it to the toilet in time.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Embry demanded anxiously. His concern made him sound mean but he was shaking with fear because Maliah never got sick, so something was wrong.

"Go away, Embry," Maliah said. The nausea had subsided and she had a moment to catch her breath before the inevitable return of her morning sickness.

He sighed helplessly. "Look, I know I hurt you and I know I fucked up..." Embry trailed off. "But you're still my best friend, Mal, and I want to know you're okay."

For a second, Maliah softened. It was like she had never been dumped over the phone, like she hadn't spent two weeks crying herself to the point of vomiting and passing out, and like she hadn't found out she was pregnant. But then the rose colored glasses came off for the first time and the gravity of the situation sank in. She was pregnant, throwing up on the floor of her high school's bathroom, and her ex-boyfriend and baby's father was standing behind her trying to make sure she was okay.

As pissed off as she was, as hurt as she was, Maliah could feel that he still cared. But the bathroom was no place to tell him that she was pregnant so instead she said, "I think I just have a stomach bug."

Not wrong. One might consider pregnancy to be parasitical, and parasites could be bugs.

"My mom already made me a doctor's appointment," Maliah continued, wiping the corners of her mouth. "For this afternoon."

Also true. Only instead of seeing her pediatrician, Maliah and her mother would be making a thirty minute drive to Forks to see an obstetrician.

Embry nodded, though Maliah couldn't see with her back still turned to Embry. "You're wearing my sweatshirt," he pointed out.

"Yeah, well I still love you even though you don't love me," she said sadly. Hormones and heartbreak seemed to rip her apart. "Plus I'm sick and it's comfy."

"It looks good on you. Always has."

Tears slid down Maliah's face and nausea settled back in. "Can you go please? I don't want you to see me sick."

Resigned, Embry left and Maliah threw up from a mix of her morning sickness and guilt. It was in these little white lies that she was putting her faith in until she mustered up the courage to tell Embry he was going to be a dad. 

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ivy speaks!

this fanfiction is feeding my intense baby fever like i want a baby so bad you guys, anyways. i'm on break from uni now so im gonna try to update a bit and stock chapters