The Royal Issue

Chapter 24: Scandal!

I looked at the picture staring dead at me on my best friend's cell phone. It was a picture of me in a sweater with my stomach showing.

"W-who took this picture?" I stuttered. I started shaking.

"I don't know. All I know is that today Jas, Nicole and I woke up to find this on a public snapchat story." She looked worried.

"I- I don't k-know what to do..."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me to sit on a bench.

"Breathe in and out, it's not good for the baby." She calmly stated.

I nodded my head.

"So what do we do? How do we get rid of it?" Tears brimmed in my eyes.

"Well we reported it and snapchat said they would do something about it but I don't know it was posted 20 hours ago and we just saw it. Hopefully it hasn't spread further than this campus." She informed me.

I got up and hugged her.

"Thank you for letting me know, can you send me the picture? I have to leave for the airport right now."

She nodded her head and gave me another hug.

"Just let us know if there's anything we can do, alright?"

I nodded and walked back to my apartment.

Once I got there and closed the door behind me I had a full panic attack.

How did they even get that picture of me? When did they get that picture of me? Oh NO my parents! Shit I'm gonna have to deal with them if they find out. How am I gonna tell Max? I moved to get away from the door and grabbed my suitcases and called for an uber to get to the airport. I would figure out everything once I landed back home.

Almost two hours later I reached Chicago and called an uber to get home. I opened my front door and sat on my couch blankly looking into space, thinking about how my life just got more complicated. It wasn't until a knock on the door startled me, that I realized I had been sitting on the couch for a while. I got up and saw Lilith and Theo. What are they doing here? I stepped back to let them come in.

"Hey guys? What are you doing here? Winter break isn't for another month?"

"We saw the picture of you on snapchat and we were worried so we came here as fast as possible. Max says he's on his way." Lilith spoke hurriedly while coming to hug me.

"Have you told your parents yet?" Theo spoke out.

"No...do you think they found out?"

"If we're in Canada and found out even though it started in New Jersey, I would sincerely hope your sisters haven't told your parents." He answered.

I groaned and went to sit back down on the couch.

"What do I do guys? My parents are gonna flip the freak out! I'm basically dead!" I put my head in my hands. They came and sat down next to me and put their arms around me to console me when the doorbell rang repeatedly. Lilly got up and swung open the door to reveal Max, all disheveled up.

"We're so freaking screwed!"

Me, Lilly and Theo nodded our heads.

After three hours of trying to figure out what to do, I was exhausted.

"Why don't I just avoid their calls?"

"That won't work! You have to tell your parents or else they'll be even more mad at you!" Lilly stated.

"What if they don't know yet? I mean come on if my parents knew don't you think by now they would be calling me or having someone on the plane right now to come talk to me?"

They all looked at me and nodded their heads realizing I was right.

"Ok so maybe they don't know yet but we should keep a close watch on social media. We never know what could happen. But please tell your parents, make this less harsh on yourselves." Theo exclaimed.

"Yes of course I will definitely make sure to do that."

Max nodded his head and sipped on his water. I think he was trying to come up with a great idea. He put his glass down and cleared his throat.

"So the plan is to take a wait and see position?" He questioned.

Theo nodded and Max continued.

"Ok but how about we just try to tell her parents before they know about the picture that way they won't be that shocked." He proposed.

"She could but then that would affect her baby shower. By the way we are throwing you a baby shower tomorrow, since we're here now." Lilly informed.

Max and I both looked at each other.

"We need to tell them soon." Max looked at me.

"Yeah we do. How about after the baby shower?" I asked.

Max nodded his head.

I stood up.

"So we're telling my parents tomorrow after the baby shower." I declared and sat back down once everyone nodded.

Lilly and Theo went back home and Max stayed over so we could finally start on the baby's room. We went to the paint store and chose a light lavender color for the nursery. We came back and started to paint the room. Of course we had a crib and a changing table and a dresser set up already in the room. We just had to move it while we were painting. They were gifts from my grandparents. We looked at our work and I hugged Max thinking of how in about two months we're going to have a little baby in here. It's so surreal to think about.

The next day me and Max both got ready for our baby shower. I dressed in a nice baby pink dress with some tights underneath since it was cold outside. I decided to leave my hair down for today since it would look cute. I had been avoiding looking at my phone since I didn't want to think about what was going to happen after my shower. I just want to have a good time at the shower and then worry.

Max came to pick me up and drove us to the location of the baby shower. We got out and walked into the building where we were surprised by family and friends. We took pictures and opened gifts and laughed and had a good time all around at our baby shower.

When it was time to go home we had help putting the gifts in the car and gave hugs and kisses and went on our way to my house. Me and Max were laughing and just talking about our shower once we got home.

My phone rang and I didn't look at the caller ID since Lilly said she would call later to find out if we got home safe. I picked up.

"Hey! We got home safe, thank you for the amazing baby shower!"

I didn't hear anyone respond. I took my phone off my ear and looked at the caller ID and saw the one name I was avoiding throughout my pregnancy.