Teach Me How to Love Again (Sequel to Dirty Little Secret)

Chapter 50: What a Shame, We All Became Such Fragile, Broken Things

*~(The title of this chapter is from Let the Flames Begin by Paramore.)~*

I turned around and I met eyes with Pete. He was the one who saved me. He came up behind me and wrapped an arm around me to make this lie seem more believable.

"Aw! I just love young romance! Congratulations you two," Ms. Leary, cheered. Mrs. Watson stayed silent, but she actually smiled slightly, which I had never seen before. This bitch is actually capable of smiling?

"Thank you. We couldn't be happier to be becoming parents soon," Pete said, then he kissed my cheek to make that believable too.

"Well, I guess you two should get to class. Here, I'll write you some passes in case you're late. Whose class do you have next?" Ms. Leary asked

"We have Mr. Way's class," Pete answered for me, as I was still too shocked to speak.

She wrote us both passes for Mr. Way. On the part of the pass that teachers usually use to explain why the student is late, Ms. Leary wrote "Ms. Leary talks too much."

When we were far enough away that Ms. Leary and Mrs. Watson couldn't see us, I threw my arms around Pete.

"You saved my ass. Thank you so much," I whispered. I was almost crying, I was so relieved.

"Hey, it's the least I could do, Sky," he said, then he hugged me back.

We hesitantly walked to Mr. Way's class, then we just set our passes on his desk so we wouldn't have to talk to him. He read the passes and he chuckled. I guess he approved of Ms. Leary's excuse.

Mr. Way looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, and it looked like he hadn't slept in ages. His hair was greasy and disheveled. It was almost sad seeing him like this, but I hated him too much to really care.

He quickly gulped down his coffee before he started to speak to the class. I noticed something different in his voice. It was deep, and every word he said had a grumpy edge to it. He squinted and shaded his bloodshot eyes each time he accidentally looked at one of the fluorescent lights of the classroom, and he was constantly rubbing his forehead as if he had a horrible migraine.

He was hungover, and maybe even still just a little bit drunk.

He was fired from his last teaching job because he always came into work hungover. What if he starts that shit again?

Class with a hungover teacher was definitely as bad as you'd expect. He had no patience for anything. He already separated Pete and I for talking, and he gave like five students lunch detentions that had to be done the next day. The detention lady is going to have a full classroom tomorrow if Gerard keeps this shit up.

He gave me a detention too, but I knew I'd be serving mine after school instead of at lunch so he could dismiss me. At least I hope he dismisses me. I really don't want to talk to him right now.

After class, I said a goodbye to Pete, but he agreed he'd wait for me with Jamia and Frank. We all knew I'd be out of "detention" soon enough.

"So," Mr. Way spoke up, breaking the silence.

"What?" I snapped.

"I don't know if you know this, but Ms. Leary really likes to gossip. She likes to keep all the teachers updated on the crazy shit she hears from students. Do you know what she told me today while we were both making copies?"

"What?" I asked.

He sighed and looked into my eyes with his sad, dark, bloodshot ones. "She told me you're pregnant with Pete's baby."

I gulped. I felt like my throat had gone completely dry. I couldn't speak, and I felt like I could hardly breathe.

"I-I...-" I started.

He shook his head. "No, you don't need to explain. Especially not here. It's my fault anyway. I should have expected this. I really just wanted to say congratulations. I... I'm glad you're finally finding some happiness. Tell Pete I wish you both the absolute best," he said, and he put on the least-believable fake smile I had ever seen. He looked like he was going to start crying any second.

I wanted to explain to him that it's not Pete's baby, but I knew he wouldn't want me to mention that at school, and I was still fucking mad at him. It's gonna take more than some false congratulations to make me stop hating him.

I just shook my head and left his classroom. Sure enough, Jamia, Frank and Pete were waiting for me.

"Hey, Sky. While you were in there, we already planned today's hangout. Pete's gonna join us at our apartment so we can discuss how fucking crazy shit has gotten this week," Frank said. I just nodded and the four of us walked home in silence. We were silent now, because we could just do all of our discussing at the apartment.
None of us were in a very fun mood. I'm pregnant with a child who has an asshole father, and I don't know one thing about motherhood. Pete now has to pretend to be with me, so he has this whole stress of parenting too. I'm sure it's quite stressful having to be a fake father. As for Jamia and Frank, they were probably just stressed because they have to be a part of all of our stress. This was definitely a low point for each and every one of the four of us.

We all entered the apartment. Frank and Jamia sat on the couch, but Pete and I just sort of collapsed and laid on the floor. I don't think either of us had the energy to even sit up after the events of today. We both sprawled our limbs out as we laid on our backs and stared up at the ceiling.

"You know, we're graduating in two weeks," Jamia spoke up finally, as she picked at her fingernails awkwardly.

"Thank God," Pete said.

I shook my head. "I'm dreading the fuck out of it. Graduation's when all this somewhat minor shit turns into a full-blown shit storm," I said.

"What do you mean?" Pete asked, slightly turning his head to the left to look at me before he returned to staring at the ceiling. I'm not even sure either of us had the energy to turn our heads to look at each other.

"Because, when Gerard dumped me, he said we'd try again after graduation, but that was before I got pregnant with a baby he thinks you're the father of. So I don't know what's gonna happen after graduation, but I know him and I will probably start talking again, which is scary."

"Why is that scary?" Jamia asked, still awkwardly picking at her nails.

"It's scary, because talking things out with him is never good. It's scary because, if the talking doesn't go well, I'm a fucking single mother. This after-graduation talk basically has my whole future resting on it."

"Shit, that is scary," Frank said. Jamia nodded in agreement.

Then we were silent again for a few moments.

"You're going through so much shit, it breaks my heart. I just want my best friend to be happy. I miss when we were in elementary school, without a care in the world. I miss that shit so much. I don't want to see you in pain anymore. It tears me apart," Frank admitted.

I was too lost in thought to explain. I was thinking about Gerard, and my baby, and every other horrible thing I had going on. I immediately felt myself tearing up. How did everything get so fucked?

It's all my fault. I never should have invited him to my house that first time nine months ago. Even after that, I never should have said yes to being his girlfriend. I never should have taken him back after the drama about his past. I definitely shouldn't have taken him back after he cheated.

It's a mess, and it's all my fault.