Growing Together

Chapter 9

"Just be patient, Pete, you owe him," Sun had said to him.

He had left then after calming down a little more. Sun wasn't that bad of a guy, after all, he still couldn't fully find him agreeable but he was grateful for the gift. He hadn't been able to put it down, nor hide the grin on his face every time he looked at it.

He was just running his finger over the half smudged words that read 'Boy, 33 weeks' still very clearly.

"What is this?" He heard all too late before the picture was being snatched from his hands.

"Ey, San!" Pete had let out angrily as he stood up from his desk. "Give it back!" He said holding his hand out towards her.

"Who's ultrasound is this, Pete?" Sandee said as her brows furrowed holding the image even further away from Pete. How can she overlook this?! Pete had been acting strange these past few months. Now she knew why.

"What do you have here, San?" June said with that goofy giggle as he snatched the picture from her back as he and Thada came to join them. But the confusion that had met them had her smacking her lips in annoyance. For one, she was not in the mood for jokes.

"You went to the doctor without me?" Thada said with a frown as he took the picture from June.

"Don't be stupid," She said snatching it back into her hands, "I'm not even that far along, learn to read Thada." She said before motioning towards Pete who was looking even more nervous than angry now. "It's Pete's."

"Pete's pregnant?" June said turning his head to the side, obviously not putting two and two together.

"Ha?" Thada said not being any better than their dear friend.

Pete couldn't help but curse at June's words, as he snatched the picture from Sandee. "It's my business, it's got nothing to do with you all."

"Alright, Alright, no need to be so rude to San," Thada said frowning as he pulled her closer to him when he realized just how actually pissed off Pete was by this. Still, he didn't have to snatch it from their friend's hand like that.

"Is it Mint's? Is this why she's been hanging around lately?" Sandee asked crossing her arms around her chest. She didn't care how much he said it was his business, they were friends. Shouldn't they support each other through everything?

"No way!" June said covering his mouth, almost believing it was possible.

"No way in hell, Mint's won't leave me alone no matter how much I reject her," Pete said putting the picture back into his wallet and back into his pocket where it had been.

"Then it's Pete?" June said jokingly, but the silence that followed and that mortified look on Pete had June laugh falling short. "You're kidding..."

"Pete, you knocked up Kao?" Thada asking more clearly for all of their sake, but before Pete could answer it, Sandee had pulled away from him.

"This is why you two have been acting weird, isn't it? Why Kao dropped out?" Sandee said pointing an accusing finger at him. Suddenly, everything Kao had said to her was making sense. All these hypothetical questions he was asking lately, weren't so hypothetical after all. "What the hell did you tell him Pete?!" Sandee said putting her hands on her hips in such a threatening manner.

"Keep your voice down, San," Pete said looking around to make sure the other students around weren't looking their way.

"Pete," Sandee said more sternly as her brows furrowed even more.

"It had nothing to do with the baby.. well it did but we were fighting for a different reason," Pete said stumbling over his own words. "I'm trying to fix things between us, but I can't just do it so easily. Kao won't answer my calls or messages. He isn't at home, either, I know because I went looking for him the other day. The only people who know where he is, is Rain, Mork, and Sun. Which they won't even tell me." He said starting feel agitated with his situation all over again.

Sandee wanted to be angry with him, but after hearing him say all that so pitifully she couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Maybe you just need a different approach," Thada provided patting his friend's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"I know that, but I don't even know where to start from," He said sounding defeated already.

"We'll help you find a way Pete," June said patting their friend's back comfortably, "Right, San?" 

"Er," She said giving him a sympathetic smile.