Chapter 63
“Hey.” I set my tray of food down on the table and sit next to Morella. Her nose is stuck in her phone. “Whatcha doin?” I ask her, peeking over to see.
She shows me her screen. There’s a beautiful emerald green dress on the screen.
“Oh wow!” I exclaim. “That’s beautiful. Winter formal?” I ask.
“I’m thinking so, yeah.” She immediately goes back to scrolling.
Rafe, Silas and Archer join us a moment later. I look up at each one smiling. The fact that these are all my guys makes butterflies erupt in my stomach. I scan each of their faces one by one. Silas, Archer, Rafe…oh god.
“Whoa.” I say, frowning at him. “You look a bit tore up. Are you ok?” He has soft dark circles under his eyes. His hair is wild today. Not the normal slicked back, perfection he strives for. His shirt is a bit wrinkled and one of the buttons isn’t lined up.
His elbows are resting on the table, his hands in his hair. He looks at me slowly and just blinks.
“I’m tired.” His voice is hoarse.
“Rafe..” I sigh. “You’re top of the school. The studying is a little extreme, don't you think?” He has me really concerned. I know it’s senior year and everyone, well almost everyone, wants the best grades possible but there’s got to be a line.
“It’s not the study..” He trails off. He has lifted his head out of his hands and he looks mortified.
“Dude…What’s the matter?” Archer asks, looking at him like he might explode. Archer actually looks like he’s ready to duck and cover.
Silas peeks around Archer to take a look at Rafe who is scrambling out of his seat. He turns his back to us and starts to walk off but eventually he’s jogging, then running.
“Should we be concerned?” I ask, watching as Rafe heads across campus.
“Honestly,” Morella starts, as she sets her phone down and finally digs into her food. “He get’s like this every year. I’m sure he’s fine.”
I look from Morella back to where I saw Rafe last but he’s gone.
Across the table Archer and Silas are whispering about something, shooting glances my way.
“What?” I ask, my brows knitting together.
“Do you have a date for winter formal?” Silas asks. Morella about chokes on her food. She turns away coughing, reaching for her water bottle.
I’m a little thrown off by the question and by my best friend choking to answer right away.
“Does she have a date?” Morella balks, with an incredulous stare.
My eyes bounce between them as I watch the conversation unfold. I'm with her on this. What do they mean? Do I have a date? Shouldn’t I have three?
Archer is doing the same thing I’m doing, eyes bouncing from Morella, to me, to Silas and back.
“Come on now. You know everyone wants our girl.” Silas says conceitedly on my behalf.
I shake my head, because no, they don’t.
“Oh.” Morella crosses her arms. “So, you're telling me she could go with someone other than you guys?”
“Fuck no.” Archer says through gritted teeth.
I bite my lip, trying not to smile at the possessiveness behind it. I like it.
“Ok, so what makes you think she would say yes to someone else?” Morella throws her hands in the air.
“I just wanted to be romantic and ask her, ok?” Silas says, a grin spreading across his lips. He turns his gaze on me, the smile turning sultry. “Princess?”
There goes those damn butterflies again. I smile back at him. “Yes?”
“Would you be our date to winter formal?” He points between himself and Archer and then throws his thumb behind him, signaling Rafe, but I decide to play a little game. Trent is technically sitting behind Silas in the direction he points.
“Hmmm.” I say pretending to think. “You.” I point at him. “Archer.” I point to him. Then I look around Silas at Trent. “And Trent?” I raise my eyebrow. “I mean. I guess but I think Rafe would feel left out.”
Silas’ mouth drops, brows pulling together as he deciphers my words. He turns around to look behind him. Archer is glaring at me, jaw flexing. I cover my mouth to stifle a laugh.
When Silas turns back around his eyes are dark.
“Now Princess, you know that’s not what I meant.” His breathing is a little erratic and his hands are flexing into fists on the table in front of him.
I look at Morella who is barely holding it together. As soon as we lock eyes we both burst out laughing, holding onto each other for support.
“Oh my gosh,” she wheezes, holding her stomach.
I'm leaning into her shoulder laughing relentlessly. “You should see your faces.” I say, through pants.
Neither one of the guys laugh. They stare back at us, jaws tense, hands fisted.
“I’m joking.” I say after Morella and I calm down. “Of course I’ll go with you three.” I see the anger flash in their eyes again. “Rafe.” I quickly confirm.
Morella and I take our seats in Home ec right after lunch. I drop my bag onto the table to my left and pull out my notebook and a pencil. Taking my seat I look up to the board. In big, fancy letters it says, “Welcome Home Baby!”
I frown at the board and then look around the room. Oh! It’s Friday I realize as I see everyone with their babies. My heart sinks. Morella didn’t have the baby at lunch. I look over to her and see that she’s relaxed back into her seat, texting on her phone. No baby in sight.
“Hey…” I'm starting to panic. “Morella?” She looks up from her phone at me and instantly recognizes the panic on my face. She drops her phone in her lap and grabs my arm.
“Are you ok? What’s wrong?” She asks frantically.
I search her face for a moment, looking for an answer I won’t find. “Where’s the baby?”
Her eyes snap back and forth between mine. The space between her browns crinkle and then her brows shoot up, eyes going wide, mouth falling open.
“Oh fuck.” She breathes. She turns forward, racking her brain.
“I don’t know…” Her fingers touch her cheek.
Alarm bells are going off. She doesn’t know? We are going to fail. If we don’t turn the baby in, we’re going to fail. “You don’t know?” I ask. “What do you mean you don’t know?” My words are flying from my lips.
She scans the desk and chews on her lower lip. “It was on my bed yesterday.” She nods like she’s sure. “ I got home, had dinner, took a shower and went to bed.”
“Did you see the baby?” I ask, desperate for more information.
She thinks for a long beat and then shakes her head.
The tardy bell rings. Class is starting. My stomach drops and a wave of heat falls over me. I’ve never failed before. I’ve never not turned in a project, homework, classwork, anything. I’ve never even had a grade lower than a B. Even after Rissa, I maintained my grades.
“I didn’t see it this morning either.” Morella whispers.
The teacher is in front of the class now. This is it. We are going to fail and there’s nothing I can do. Losing your baby is prime failure material. Who loses their baby?
“Ok class.” The teacher says, clapping her hands together in front of her chest. “It’s time to turn in your babies and talk about how things went and what you learned.
She steps away from the middle of the room, closer to her desk.
“We will go in order of seating.” She taps the desk in front of her, signaling for the first couple, that it will start with them.
Each couple takes about 10 to 15 minutes to give their presentation. As the clock ticks by, it gets closer and closer to Morella and I failing. She looks as nervous as I feel. The whole time I can tell she’s been scouring her memories for what happened. No conclusion yet.
The last couple before us is taking the front of the class when the door to the room is flung open. Rafe struts in and pauses for a moment, scanning the class room. His gaze lands on me and he looks… Angry? My mouth dries and my heart races. What did I do? No, no. I can’t go back to him hating me.
He moves. Trudging towards us. He stops in front of our table, staring directly into my soul. I swear I could cry right now.
Thud.
Rafe’s eyes never leave mine but I could see his arm lift and fall.
Slowly, my eyes lower to the table and I see…
The baby! My eyes snap back up to Rafe and he tilts his head slightly.
There’s a moment of silence, not even the teacher or my classmates say anything.
Rafe turns without a word and walks back out of the classroom.
Finally I’m able to pull my eyes from the classroom door and look down at the baby. It has a scuff mark on its head. There is a twig lodged in its diaper. One leg bent back flush with its back. And one eye doesn’t want to open.
The baby attempts to make a noise but it just gurgles and slows, making the noise sound extra deep.
“I think the batteries died.” Morella says, staring at the baby with me.
We look at each other then back at the classroom door. Then back at each other. “We have to ask him about it later.” She whispers to me and we giggle.
Ehem.
We both snap our attention to the front of the class. Our teacher is looking at us quizzically. Eyeing the baby in poor shape on our desk.
“At least we won’t completely fail.” Morella says shrugging, holding in another laugh.