Small Steps

Chapter 2 - Telling The Parents

The next day at college was long. I had only told Kate, I desperately hoped no one else would find out about it, The last thing I needed was to be the subject of nasty rumours.

"Hey Lily, how was your day at school?" My mother asked. I pulled a smile on my lips. "It was rough. I've missed quite a bit of work because I was off last week." My mum looked at me sympathetically. "I know exactly how you feel. Things are just starting to get stressful for you. with your a-levels and all. You're an intelligent girl, Lily, don't worry about it. You know you can always ask me and your dad for help right?" My stomach turned inwardly. "Thanks mum. I'm going for a lie down and do some work so just call me when dinners ready." I said, walking into the hall and sliding my feet into my soft fuzzy pink slipper boots and heading up into my room.

My phone buzzed loudly, disturbing me from the nice nap I was taking. I checked who is was and sighed. "Hey Louise." I responded, rolling my eyes at the cow who was calling me. "Lily! Hi! How are you doing?" She asked, sympathy dripping from her voice. I sighed. "I'm fine Louise. I guess you've heard the news." Louise smiled down the phone. "Of course! I can't believe it! Word spreads so quickly! Who's the daddy? Do you know?" She asked. I hid the temptation to hang up the phone. "Nope. I'm gonna start trying to talk to some guys tomorrow." I intoned.
"Lily. If you need anyone to talk to I'm here for you, okay?" I frowned at the thought of talking to Louise about my problems. "Of course Louise. I'll see you soon okay?" I said, anxious to hang up. "See you later. Bye!" She hung up and I sighed with relief.

"Hey Joe. Can you come over?" I asked. "Um. Yeah, sure. What for? Do you need weed or harder stuff or cigs?" He asked, sounding nervous. I wondered if he knew. "No, I'm not into that. I just want to catch up. Come round in, like, half an hour?" I heard silence down the phone. "Okay. See you then." He hung up. I sighed. This was going to be a long week.

I heard the doorbell ring and I quickly dashed down the stairs to answer it. I opened the door to a tall and scruffy Joe. "Hey Joe. Come in." I said, ushering him upstairs. He followed me into my room where I sat on the end of the bed, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"What's up?" He asked. I gave him a brittle smile. "You know when we were at Emily's party. We got pretty smashed. How long ago was that?" I asked coyly. He frowned. "About like a month ago? I don't know. Why? You want some more?" He asked, his eyebrows waggling. I rolled my eyes. "No thanks. I just wasn't sure. Are you sure it was a month ago?" I asked again. He nodded, and pulled out his phone, scanning his calendar. "Yep, a month nearly to the day." he said. I glanced at the calendar. "Was there a party about 2 months ago?" I asked. He frowned. "let me see. Oh yeah there were two. Louise's party and Jess's. Why do you want to know?" He asked. I smiled. "Don't worry about it." I stood up and gave Joe a hug. "I'll see you around." He said, quickly shuffling out of my room.

My father was a lawyer in London. He worked a lot, but he is amazing. My mother works part time at a nursery in our town, just outside of London. Both my parents were sat in the front room talking quietly to one another when I went down to check out the situation. I took a deep breath. It was now or never.

I walked into the room and my mother looked up. "Hey sweetie. What's up?" She asked. I looked at them both steadily. "Mum, Dad, I have something to tell you. I'm really scared and right now I need your support. I'm pregnant." I said. My parents looked at me, shocked. "Are you sure?" My dad asked. I nodded, tears streaming down my face. My mother stood up. I looked at her, shocked. She strode over to me and pulled me into her warm embrace. I gave her a huge hug. "I love you mum." My dad came over and pulled us both into his arms. "I love my girls. We will get through this together, okay? We don't judge, we just want what's best for you darling okay?" I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes. I had the best parents ever.