High School Hockey Boys

12

Tuesday morning rolled around quicker than I would've liked. I woke up feeling nauseous, and took my time getting out of bed. I decided on a simple pair of jeans and a sweatshirt before continuing with my morning routine. Breakfast was a no go zone today, so I grabbed a small snack to pick on later. Delaney met me at the end of the driveway and we started our frigid walk to school. We made useless conversation to pass the time and walked arm in arm to try and keep ourselves warm. It's nearly the middle of November and the winter chill was setting in. Harper joined us as we got to the school and we walked in all linked together, which was slightly difficult. Del waved to Harper and I as she walked down the opposite side of the hall to get to her locker. 

"You never told me if you got anyone to go with you tonight." Harper whispered. It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about.

"Hermione said she'd come." I whispered back. Harper raised a brow. "We bonded, sort of, while I was at her house this weekend."

Harper nodded and pulled her arm from mine as we got to our lockers. I spun the dial and put in my combination, hanging up my jacket and dumping the books I wouldn't need until later. As I closed my locker, a frazzled looking Ava walked toward us. She dropped her bag and thumped her head off her locker. Harper and I shared a look. Ava continued fumbling with her lock until she got the numbers right and threw all her stuff in. She grabbed what she needed until lunch then slammed the metal door shut. She turned to us with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Are you alright, Ava?" Harper asked.

"I've had, the worst night ever." She said.

"What happened?" I asked. 

She explained her latest date to the two of us as we walked to our first class. Apparently the guy had seemed super cool online, but in person he had as much of a personality as a history textbook. They'd spent three hours in a fancy restaurant downtown and he'd spent the whole time talking about the perfect wool for knitting scarves. Ava's night had gotten ten times better when her family's babysitter quit and left partway through the evening. All she'd left was a letter saying she couldn't handle Ava's younger twin brothers and not to bother paying her for the night. To make a long story short, the house was trashed when Ava got home.

She huffed when her story was finished. We all took our seats and waited for the teacher to begin the lesson. We were given a free period to work on whatever since the teacher was busy marking tests. The three of us talked the whole time, Ava drilling me about my relationship with Eli.

"Why am I always the last one to know these things?" She whined.

"Because you like to think way too far ahead. Had I told you when we first got together you would've started making wedding plans." I joked. Ava pouted.

"So tell me, how did it happen?" Her mood lit up instantly with her question.

"Um, the Kennedy and Graham thing happened, and we left the party to hang out after. Things just kind of snowballed from there."

"What's it been like, with Eli being gone?" She asked.

"Fine. We still talk, just maybe not as much as I'd like to but . . ."

The bell rang cutting off anything else Ava would have had to say. We walked out of the room together and they walked off to their next classes. I sighed and made my way slowly to mine. Second period math was my least favorite, not only because it's math, but because Kennedy is in this class. I've gotten over the party incident. Sure, she knew Graham and I were a thing and it was wrong, but he played her too. They haven't talked at all since the party, and Kennedy isn't a big fan of one night stands. Things are just awkward between us now. She broke my trust and did something no one should do to anyone, let alone one of your oldest friends.

She was sitting in her normal seat when I got to the classroom. She sent me a small smile before staring down at her desk. I walked to the middle of the room and sat down, pulling out my textbook and binder. We got a study period for our test on Friday. This teacher was mean and made the unit tests out of 45 marks, but made the questions super hard. He leaves room mark wise to do well, but the content of the tests themselves makes no sense.

I plugged my headphones into my phone and played my homework playlist. My mind wandered from quadratic formulas to my appointment after school. I might be finding out when I'm due. Hopefully Eli will be back by then. I don't like the idea of explaining a baby to him when he get's back. My phone buzzed on the desk.

Hermione: I'll be in the visitor parking lot when school let's out.

I sent her an 'ok' text and tried to focus on studying. The class passed by rather quickly and I packed up my stuff. I was out the door before most people and stopped at my locker before walking to the cafeteria to meet up with everyone. There was a chorus of hey's as I sat down. I pulled out the small snack I'd grabbed earlier this morning and started eating. Harper shot me a disapproving look and slid half her salad to me. I ate as much as my nausea would let me. Delaney looked at me sympathetically and I only smiled. I couldn't wait for this stage to be over. Although that brings on a whole new situation. The farther along I get, the harder it'll be to hide. And I still don't know what I'm going to do about that.

                                                                                                        ~*~

The rest of the day went by smoothly and soon enough the final bell rang. I walked to my locker and said my goodbyes to Harper and Ava. Visitor's parking was passed the bus loading zone and the staff parking. I pushed through smelly teenagers and crossed between two buses to get to the other half of the school's parking area. Hermione was waiting with the heater on and some music playing softly. I tossed my bag into the backseat and buckled myself in, relishing the heated seats her car had. Before she pulled out of the lot she passed me a cardboard coffee cup.

"Your dad told me you like white hot chocolate." She said.

I smiled and took the cup from her hands, and we left. I flipped through the radio stations as we drove to the hospital. I was surprised to find a few of them already playing Christmas music. It didn't take long to get there, and Hermione hooked her arm through mine as we walked across the hospital parking lot. She seemed to be more excited than I was. She led the way to the maternity wing like she visited everyday. 

"Go sit down, I'll sign you in." She nudged me toward the waiting room.

I took a seat and watched her talk to the lady at the desk. There was the regular low murmur of waiting room chatter as I waited for my name to be called. The appointment didn't start for another twenty minutes, but Hermione liked to be early.  I started to nod off when a nurse called my name. Hermione and I stood together and followed the nurse down the hall. She let us into a room and asked a few mandatory check in questions.

"The doctor will by here shortly." She said lightly. Hermione thanked her and grabbed my hand.

"Are you nervous?" She asked and gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

"Sort of. But I think I'm allowed to be."

"That is true. The first one's always the scariest." She smiled warmly.

The doctor walked in a moment later and the appointment began. We went through the ultrasound process, and I was relieved to hear that everything was progressing normally. She wiped the gel from my stomach and sat back in her chair.

"So, it's too early to determine the gender, but I can give you a rough estimate of when the little one should be arriving. The baby was conceived in October, so he or she should be due around early to mid July. Anywhere between the fifth to the eighteenth I'd say." She smiled at the both of us. She gave me the normal self-care recommendations and shook my hand. She stood from her office chair and straightened out her scrubs.

Hermione and I did the same and we each shook her hand again. I thanked her and we stopped at the front desk to schedule my next appointment before leaving. Hermione and I didn't say much as we walked down to the car. It was a calm drive home, and I thanked her for going when she stopped at my house.

"It was my pleasure, hon." She waited until I was safely in the house before driving off. 

Mom was still at work, so I turned on the TV for background noise and dumped my school stuff on the kitchen table. I started on my homework and tried my best not to let myself get distracted.