Chapter 7: Unexpected Pregnancy

“Kaelyn! Will you please tell me why you’re so mad?” Carter begged. “You’ve been ignoring me all day!” He sat down next to me at the lunch table. I turned my back to him and continued to talk with Grace and Sierra.

“Did either of you two get the answers to the math homework last night? I couldn’t figure it out.” I lied. Sierra nodded and pulled out a sheet of paper from her backpack. I didn’t really need the answers. I had already finished the paper and I’m almost positive I got all the answers correct. I just needed something to talk about. “Thanks Sierra,” I smiled.

I could tell that Carter was getting annoyed. He started tapping his foot rapidly and his hands started shaking; that only happens when he was getting very angry. Well, he should’ve answered his phone this morning. Even though riding in the car with Shane wasn’t too bad, I would’ve been a lot more comfortable if it was Carter.

A few more minutes passed, and Carter was getting angrier by the second. After another full ten minutes of a constant conversation about the sale at Brandy Melville; Carter exploded.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU’RE SO MAD AT ME!” Carter yelled at me. He stood up, drawing quite a lot of attention to himself. I looked across the cafeteria and saw that even Shane was looking at us. I grabbed Carter’s arm and pulled him back down to his seat. I think Carter might need to go to anger management classes.

“Carter, please chill out.” I didn’t think he would react this way. He’s never reacted like that before. “Well, you’re the one who didn’t answer their phone, so why don’t you explain that first.” I huffed. Carter crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the front pocket of his jeans.

“You never called me,” He said innocently.

“Ooh, you want to bet?” I reached for his front pocket but, he smacked my hand away.

“I would know if you called me or not, and you didn’t call me.” He stated. I eyed him suspiciously. He was somewhat smiling. He was definitely hiding something. Being as nosy as I am, within the next two weeks I’ll know what it is.

“Okay… well if you had answered the call that your phone received, you would know that I was in desperate need of a car ride to school this morning. You always come to my rescue. But, you're lucky that I did get a ride to school this morning or else I would’ve missed my science exam and-“ Carter cut me off.

“Wait. Grace, did you drive her?” Grace shook her head, indicating a no. “Sierra?” She copied Grace. “If neither of them took you and I didn’t take you… then who did? I sure as hell know that Michael wouldn’t drive you and your grandma would probably crash into the school if she drove you… So how did you get to school?” He questioned me.

“Shane showed up at my house and offered me a ride, so of course I said yes,” I explained.

“So he just magically showed up at your house,” Carter steamed. His eyes were bulging out of his head.

“Um… not exactly. I got a text from him telling me to come outside, so I grabbed my backpack and went outside to my front porch. When I got outside I saw him standing there ready to take me to school.” I said sheepishly.

Carter stood up, yanking his backpack out from under the table, then without another word spoken he left our table. He was pissed. I didn’t understand. Why would he get so mad? It’s not like we’re dating or anything. Carter and I are only friends, nothing more. I watched Carter go sit at a table with his soccer friends, every so often he would glance at our table.

“Kaelyn… do you really think you can trust Shane?” Sierra asked, leaning forward slightly. I don’t know… can I? I mean, the things he’s done, what he’s said to girls, what he’s done to girls…

“I-I think,” I stuttered.

Trust Shane Collins? Please Kaelyn, you trust a lot of people but, you shouldn’t let him be one. My inner conscience told me.

“Are you sure? Because you don’t sound like it,” Grace said. I slowly nodded and she sighed.

“Kaelyn, I’m happy that you’ve found a guy that obviously has an interest in you but, why does it have to be Shane? I know what him and his little ‘gang of friends’ have done to girls… they toy with you and then never talk to you again. I doubt any one of those four have a heart,” Sierra stopped talking for a moment and pointed to Shane's table. I refused to believe anything that had just come out of her mouth.

First of all, Shane doesn’t have an ‘interest’ in me… we’re not even friends for crying out loud. Second of all, I know for a fact that Shane has a heart. If he didn’t he wouldn’t have given me his jacket and he wouldn’t have offered me a ride to school. I don’t know about Gage, Vincent or Kyle but, Shane does care about others, even if he doesn’t realize it.

“How would you know that all they do is toy with girls?” I said, quickly coming to Shane’s defense. He’s not as bad as everyone portraits him to be.

“Because I was one of the stupid girls who fell for one of them,” Sierra started twiddling her thumbs on top of the cafeteria table. “Do you want to know what happened to me?” I nodded, not sure of what I was doing. This is what I wanted. I wanted to know about the night Gage took advantage of her and she's going to open up about it.

“It was about two months ago, around the time you and Ryder had broken up. I thought Gage was just asking me out to the movies… but he had other plans. I’m so, so, so stupid for letting him take me like that!” A tear slipped from Sierra’s eyes. “Instead of going to the movies, he drove to Shane’s house. There was a crazy party going on. Gage kept pushing more and more beer into my face, and eventually I got extremely drunk.” I’ve never seen Sierra get drunk… she doesn’t even like drinking. I’m starting to think that we’re not as close as I thought we were. “After we danced around for awhile, he took me up to some random room and we ‘did it’” She was now crying hysterically. “Kaelyn… I’m pregnant,” Sierra looked me in the eyes, I was shocked. My mouth was hanging wide open and I was at a loss for words.

“Y-you’re pregnant?” I stuttered. Sierra nodded and started crying into Grace’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry Sierra,” I grabbed her hand and held it. “But, you’ll make a great mother. I’m sure of it.” I said. I had so many more questions to ask Sierra... like, 'when did you find out you were pregnant?' and 'have you told your parents?' but, I decided to keep those questions to myself. This wasn't a very good place- or time- to ask them anyways.

The bell finally rang, signaling the end of our dramatic lunch period. I grabbed my backpack and walked with Grace and Sierra to our lockers. I saw Carter glance at me a few times before walking in the opposite direction so that he could go downstairs to the P.E. room.

I grabbed my history textbook from my locker and quickly walked into the classroom. I had this class with Grace, but not Sierra. When I sat down, I started thinking.

I can’t believe that Gage did that. I know that he’s done things like that before but, I don’t think he’s ever gotten a girl pregnant. Sierra doesn’t need any of this stress. I know for a fact that she doesn’t want to be pregnant. I wonder if she’s even said anything to Gage since that night… I wonder if he knows.

If I get too close to Shane… will this happen to me? No. I refuse to let it happen. But, Gage tricked Sierra into getting wasted beyond belief… Gage tricked Sierra into going to that party by lying. What if Shane tricks me the same way Gage tricked Sierra? What if Shane does this to me? What if he does it to sweet, innocent, little Kaelyn?

All of these thoughts were swirling around my head. But, now I knew one thing for sure, I can’t trust Shane. He’s no different from his friends. He’s a user, a player, a bully… he’s a lot of things. But, he is a human being, a boy who was nice and kind to me. A boy who helped me when I needed it most.

What the hell is wrong with me? Don’t you see Kaelyn? He’s using you. When he gets what he wants, he’ll never even speak to you again.