When We Met // Zach Dempsey

Girl

"Zach wait up." I ran towards him. "Are you ok?" I asked. "Yeah, just tired of defending Bryce." He half smiled. "You've been helping Clay out this whole time." I smiled. "I have." He smiled back. He hugged me and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I leaned back so I could see his face. "Your stomach hit me before your boobs did." He laughed. I punched him in his arm and laughed. "I'm not that big." I smiled. "I know. It's cute." He said as he rubbed my stomach. "Hey, meet me after school to watch our game, bring a friend to keep you company." He said then kissed me. "Babe the appointment." I said upset. "Shit." He said. "Babe it's ok, there will be plenty more appointments." I smiled then walked out the gate with him following behind.

"Damn Dempsey, took your own girl to the clubhouse." Bryce yelled out as Zach went back into the field. I rolled my eyes and smiled. I looked over and Scott was sitting down getting ready to go out and practice. He noticed me looking then looks down real quick and tied his cleats. I looked away quickly then started walking again.

...

"Hey." Marcus came up to me. "Hi?" I was confused on why he was talking to me. "I'm doing something tonight and I need you there. It's for my speech before the big baseball game." He explained. "I have something to do after school." I said then went to walk off but he jumped in front of me. "Please, you'll be thankful. It'll only take a minute." He begged. "Fine, but I have to be gone by five." I said then walked off.

...

After school I walked out to the field to find Marcus and there he was.

"Oh thank goodness, you made it." He smiled. We walked over to the mic and waited for everyone to settle down. "There's a lot of people here." I was shocked. "Yeah, this is big." I looked around and saw Zach sitting in the front row with the rest of the baseball players.

Zach finally noticed me and mouthed, "what are you doing?" I just shrugged my shoulders then started smiling as everyone got quiet for Marcus to talk.

"Good afternoon. I'm Marcus Cole, student body president." Everyone began clapping so I did and just put a big smile on my face. "I'm happy to be here, happy to be here today. Since 1913, Liberty High has been committed to helping students achieve academic excellence in a safe, supportive environment. But in recent years our values have... gone to shit. I'm part of the problem. I lead a group called enguidment which is suppose to be for enlighten guys... but today I'm officially resigning from that group, because I'm a hypocrite. How can I say that I care about protecting girls when I've been protecting.... a rapist like Bryce Walker." Everyone Just was in shock. "This is Carmen Renolds, one of his victims and here's a picture to prove it." He announced in front of everyone as he held up a picture of Bryce fingering me in the clubhouse.

Photographers that were there started taking pictures of me and yelling questions at me left and right. I just stood in shock. I looked at Bryce acting like he didn't know what they were talking about and then Scott.. He just looked at me in shock. Suddenly Zach stood in front of me to cover me. "Come on." Bryce demanded then started pushing me away from everyone.

...

The car ride was silent for awhile as Zach and I drove to my doctor appointment.

"Why would you let him do that?" Zach asked with a angry tone. "I didn't." I said back quickly. "Then why the hell were you up there." He said as he put the car in park since we were at the hospital. "He asked me to. He never told me he was going to do that." I snapped back getting irritated. "You don't even know him, I should've just stayed for my game." Zach said as he got out the car. I didn't say anything, just got out the car and walked inside.

...

I checked in then sat down in the waiting room with Zach waiting to be called. I just sat scrolling through my notifications till I saw that people posted the video everywhere of Marcus saying I was one of Bryce's victims. I showed Zach and he just took a deep breath then started looking at his phone.

"Carmen Renolds." My doctor called out for me. I stood up and walked back with Zach.

"How are you doing Miss.Renolds?" My doctor asked. "I'm alright, how about you?" I asked as he showed us into our room. "I'm good." He said then closed the door. "Ok we're here for the first ultrasound, exciting." He smiled. "Yeah." I smiled back.

  "You must be the dad." My doctor smiled. "Yeah, Zach Dempsey." He shook his hand and smiled. "That's all a good sign that you're still together." He laughed. "Yeah." Zach let off a chuckle. "Ok, I'll tell the nurse that you're ready so she can show you what's going on." He explained. "Thank you." I said as he walked out the door.

"I want you too really get to meet my mom." Zach said filling the silence. I looked over at him and smiled. "This Saturday dinner at my place, bring your mom too." He continued. "Really?" I laughed. "Yes, really." He smiled. "Ok." He took a deep breath and the looked at me seriously. "We need to tell them." He said. I didn't know what to say but I knew he was right I shook my head yes then looked at the ground.

"Hey guys." The nurse walked in. "Hi, I'm Carmen and this is my boyfriend Zach." I said as I shook her hand. "Hi." Zach said then shook her hand. "Ultrasound today huh?" She asked. "Yeah." I smiled. "Ok can I have you lay down?" She asked. I laid down and lifted up my shirt. She rubbed this cold, clear gel on me then turned this machine screen towards me. She put the monitor on my stomach and started searching around. I was so scared the baby wasn't going to be alright.

Zach held my hand and watched the screen closely. "Oh, look there it is." She said as she stopped the monitor. There was a little, little baby right there. "Is it ok?" Zach asked. The nurse moved the monitor around a little bit more and smiled. "She seems fine." I looked at Zach in shock then looked back at the nurse. "She?" I smiled. "Yep." She nodded her head. "You can tell this early?" Zach asked. "Yes, usually around sixteen to twenty weeks is when you first start to see what it is." She explained. "You're currently about seventeen weeks."

Zach leaned in and kissed me. He was smiling so big. "congratulations." She smiled then took the monitor off. "Let me get this gel off you then I'll go get these ultrasounds for you to take home." She said as she grabbed towels.

....