Mr. Iero

Chapter 8

*Ashley's POV*

Frank had a surprisingly good poker face.  Every day during class he treated me no differently than he had on the first day of school.  He was so good that sometimes even I forgot the awful situation we were in.

It had been almost three months since the first time that I visited Frank at his house, so we were just rolling into the end December.  For the most part, things were going well for me.  Nobody had found out about me being pregnant, Frank and I had been spending time together once in a while and started getting along pretty well, almost as if we were becoming friends, and the holidays had already started.  But of course, I was already almost four months pregnant, meaning that my baby-bump was becoming more and more noticeable.  Thankfully, it being early winter, I was easily able to hide it with baggy sweatshirts and jackets.  But eventually it was going to be beyond-obvious that I was pregnant.  And another thing that I wasn't looking forward to was that fact that it was Christmas, meaning that I'd be with my privacy-less family while trying to hide my bump.

Class was almost over, and Frank was telling us about when we'd be starting midterms in January.  "When you guys come back from your Christmas vacations, I'll give you all your study guides for midterms.  We won't be doing much studying in class, so plan to be doing a lot of studying on your own."  The class groaned.  "Maybe we'll play a few studying games," he said with a laugh.  "But you have to all promise to behave for the time being."

Today was the last day of school before we were given a vacation until January second.  My family was planning on going to see my extended-family that lived a while away.  I was fine with that, but I would've rather been at home than with my hectic extended-family.  And of course that meant that I wouldn't get to see Frank for a while.  But that shouldn't matter, right? Right.

"There will be two essays on the midterm, but the two of them together should only take about an hour to complete."  With that, the bell rang, sending kids flying out the door.  "Happy holidays, guys!" Frank shouted to the kids already in the hall.  "Have a nice vacation."

Being that I didn't have a bus to catch and was fine with talking to Frank, I stayed behind, sitting at my desk until everyone else was gone.  Frank was still up at the front of the classroom, erasing the board, so I got up out of my desk and sat at his desk chair.

When he turned around and saw me, he made his way over to the desk and leaned on it, looking at me with an eyebrow raised.  "Is there a reason you're in my seat?" he asked.

I shrugged.  "I'm pregnant; I own the comfy chair."

Frank nodded.  "That's a good enough reason."  He sat down in one of the students' desks, resting his feet up on another desk.  "Speaking of which, how are you coming along?"

I stood up, lifting my sweatshirt up so that he could see my whole belly.  "It's getting hard to hide."

Frank's eyebrows raised when he saw my bump, and he took his feet down from the desk and leaned forward to see it.  "Oh my god," he said after a moment of just staring.  He stood up and walked over to me, kneeling down and gently placing his hand on my stomach.  I couldn't help but crack a smile.  "Oh my god," he repeated.

"I know," I said, placing my hand on top of his.  He looked up at me, looking like he was trying not to smile insanely wide.  He looked down to my bump and kissed the side of my stomach, then getting up from his crouch.  I tried not to blush, knowing that he was just doing that in appreciation for the little life forming inside of my body.

"I should probably not do that in school," he said with a breath of a laugh.  I nodded and pulled my sweatshirt back down.  "How far along are you?" he asked.

I thought about it, counting the dates in my head.  "Almost four months," I said while sitting back down in his desk chair.

Frank whistled.  "That's gonna get hard to hide soon."  I nodded.  "When are you going to tell your parents?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted.  "I'll have to do it soon, though.  It's getting a lot more noticeable."

Luckily for me, I wasn't a 'skin and bones' looking person.  I wasn't overweight or anything, but with the extra bit of meat I had on my bones, it was harder to tell that I was pregnant at first.  But of course, no matter what your weight, there's eventually a point that it's obvious that you're pregnant.

"Well it's all going to work out fine," he said with a reassuring smile.  Then he put his hand on the side of my stomach and lightly shook it.  "And you've got this little guy to help you out along the way."

"Or girl," I added.

Frank's eyes shot up from my stomach to me.  "Girl? It's a girl?"

My eyes widened, realizing how what I had said sounded like.  "No.  Well, I mean, maybe.  I'm not sure.  It's too early to tell.  And I haven't even seen a doctor yet."

"Oh," he said while letting out a breath that he must've been holding.  I wasn't sure if it was an 'oh' of relief or disappointment.  "You should tell your parents soon, then.  You can't just skip out on a doctor."

"I know," I said, looking down at my feet.  I checked the clock in the corner of the room and saw that I had stayed longer than I should have.  My mom was going to start wondering why I had stayed later.  "I should get going."

"Oh, right," Frank said.  He offered me his hand and helped me stand up from the chair.  "Well, have a Merry Christmas," he cleared his throat, "Miss Moore."

I nodded, understanding that he had shifted back into teacher-mode.  "You, too, Mr. Iero."

A/N: Another filler sorry.

So do you guys think it's going to be a girl or a boy?? Comment and let me know what you think! Not that it's gonna change everything that I had planned because I've had this all planned out for a while so.... entertain me with your guesses.

-Basketcase_