Precedent

Chapter Twelve

I suddenly feel sick, very sick.

On the bright side-the only bright side to finding out I kissed the twelve year old A-M-is that I now have confirmation that Drew isn't the Originator. Being grossed out is a small price to pay for not being heartbroken and betrayed.

"I'll explain everything, but we need to get out of here," I say quietly.

"Explain everything here," Drew suggests in a tone that reminds me of his future self.

"I can't," I tell him. "Venus, An-A-M, are you coming?" Venus nods numbly. She looks really shaken. I don't blame her. She'll be ten times as shell-shocked when I tell her about the time warping.

The other three follow me to the gazebo near Mrs. Hopkins. I notice Drew and Venus ogling at my outfit. I wish they wouldn't. It makes me feel more self-conscious.

Once all but I have taken a seat on the gazebo, Drew says, "Well Olivia? You promised you'd explain everything."

"What do you want to know?" I reply, spreading my hands in an inviting manor.

"Where have you been the past two weeks? You show up for a few days, then vanish without a word or trace. The professors told me you're not on the list of students. How'd you get on campus without a student pass?"

I take a deep breath. "My name is Olivia Ardal and I come from the future." I can tell by the looks on Venus' and Drew's faces that they don't believe me. "Look," I tell them, "this guy, A-M, he's you, Drew, also from the future." Drew turns to stare at A-M, who smirks at me.

"When did you figure it out?" he asks.

"About when you were beating up Venus," I state. "I mean, I already knew that whatever she was going to do to you had to be really awful for you to hate me for fifteen years." Drew looks hurt.

"Olivia, I would never hurt you, sure you..."

"When I arrived, I changed everything," I explain. I give him an apologetic smile for interrupting him. "I'm not here in everyone's current memories. In order to preserve these memories in addition to the old ones, we have to save this file on the time warping machine."

"You really believe this?" Venus asks incredulously. "What happened to you when you left, Livi?"

"It's true, Venus," I tell her. I search through my brain desperately for something that will make her understand. Then it comes to me.

My birthday is January 3rd. That means Venus is pregnant with me right now. She's got to know it. She's got to have been pregnant a week or so.

I glance at Drew and A-M. A-M knows Venus is going to get pregnant at seventeen, but Drew won't know yet. Venus probably doesn't want him to know.

Well, that's what she gets for hiding my father's identity from me.

"You're pregnant," I state, looking at her now. She blinks. Does she know? Surely she knows.

"How would you know?" she asks, placing her hands on her hips.

"Because you're pregnant with me," I snap, my pent-up irritation at Venus leaking out. "You're going to have me on January 3rd, which means you're pregnant with me now. For fifteen years, you won't tell me that you're my mother. You also won't tell me who my father is, probably because you don't know how banged you up to begin--"

"I'll tell you right now," Venus snaps. "The whole story, but only if we've got some privacy." She throws dirty looks at A-M and Drew.

A-M throws his hands in the air exasperatedly. Drew glances at me, then tosses me something. It's a lighter. Inscribed on the side it reads: You're my light in the dark. He must have been going to give it to me when I saw him next. Then I didn't show up. I feel awful now.