Chapter 8
I check my phone again, anxious to hear how Ryder’s visit with his oncologist is going.
I know I’ll more than likely hear from him this afternoon, but that doesn’t stop me from looking every five seconds.
Between the changeover from first to second periods at school, I called and made an appointment with an obstetrician.
I have no clue who this doctor is, but she’s in-network for our insurance and had good reviews, so… yeah.
I texted the date and time to Fallon, Jayson, and Julien since the three of them are insistent on coming, but I’m experiencing major, tremendous, extreme guilt because Ryder should also be coming with me to that appointment.
Am I doing the right thing by holding off on telling him until we know more about his treatment and prognosis?
They write books about everything under the sun, so why can’t there be an instruction manual on how to throw a surprise pregnancy at your boyfriend when he just found out that he has cancer and is fighting for his life?
Third period just ended, and it’s lunchtime.
I drop my books off at my locker and head to the girls’ restroom to wash up.
Luckily, this morning’s vomit-spectacular has been the only occurrence of morning sickness so far today.
Lost in thought, I don’t hear my name being called until Meredith rushes up to me and jumps on my back.
She’s so tiny, only five feet compared to my five feet, seven inches, that I’m able to piggyback her with ease.
“Hey, clueless girl,” Meredith says. It’s like I’m her own personal parade float as she waves to the people we pass by in the hallway.
Meredith and I have been thrust into this weird sort of popularity at school since the fight with Maria, Jacinda, and Samantha.
Suddenly, everyone wants to be our friend and Meredith is eating up all the attention.
I couldn’t care less. My plate is full and as much as I would love to go out and party and hang with everyone, I have more important matters to worry about, namely Ryder and the tiny peanut growing inside me.
Besides, we’ll be graduating soon and leaving for college, and if my calculations are correct, I’ll be popping out this baby sometime in August next year.
I haven’t told the guys about my early acceptance to Carolina University; I received the letter yesterday.
I may defer a year, or I may not even go.
I need to start adulting now, which means making decisions that are best for the baby.
Meredith flicks my ear with her finger. “Oh my God. Will you please stop zoning out and pay attention?”
I push open the door to the bathroom and she hops off, running into a stall. I take the one next to hers.
“Well, crap on a stick.”
I laugh. “Please don’t.”
“My toilet paper roll is empty. Can you pass me some?”
I take a hefty amount from my roll and pass it to her underneath the side stall wall.
“Thanks, babe. What I’ve been trying to ask you for the past five minutes is about this weekend.”
We flush at the same time and meet at the sinks to wash up.
“What about this weekend?”
“I know we’re all doing the tailgate thing again before the football game on Friday.”
I completely forgot about that.
“But I’m calling a girl’s night on Saturday,” she continues. “My house. You, me, Celeste, and Beth. Do you think Hailey would like to come?”
She takes out her cherry red lip gloss and smooths some over her lips with a finger and passes the tube to me. I do the same.
“That’s really sweet of you to include her. I’ll ask her tonight.” I think it’ll be good for Hailey, and I hope she comes. She’s been hanging out with Brea but has still been shying away from anything more than that.
The swish of the bathroom door opening has us both turning our heads just as Maria and Samantha walk in and freeze, whatever conversation they were having abruptly stopping when they see us.
I straighten up, eyes narrowing on my ex-bestie as she glares daggers at me.
It still makes me sad to think she was only my friend so she could get access to Ryder.
As soon as Jayson and I got together, she quickly made her move, and she and Ryder dated for a while before he broke it off with her.
That was when things went south between us.
I was no longer useful to her as a friend.
“S’up, bitches,” Meredith greets them with a broad smile, getting behind me and pushing me out of the room. They give us a wide berth to pass.
As soon as the cooler air of the hallway greets us and we are feet away from the bathroom door, Meredith dissolves into a fit of giggles. “God, I hate those two.”
“They just need to stay away from Hailey and leave her alone.”
Meredith whips out her phone and sends a quick text to Darrel, her boyfriend, letting him know she’s on her way to the quad. That’s where our group meets up for lunch every day if it’s not raining.
Pocketing her phone, she replies, “I still don’t trust them.”
“Don’t trust who?” Trevor asks, looping an arm around my shoulder.
Trevor is Meredith’s twin brother, but unlike Jayson and Julien, they are paternal twins and look nothing alike. Trevor is about a foot taller than his sister and the only boy I know in school who has tattoos.
Meredith rolls her eyes at him. “You know who. We just ran into them. School was so much more enjoyable when Maria was suspended for a week and not here.”
“Ace can handle her,” he says. Trevor used to call me Amnesia Chick and it got shortened to A.C. which turned into Ace.
Once we get to the quad, we immediately find our group of friends. Jayson and Julien are sitting with Beth, Davis, Celeste, Keith, and Darrel at one of the picnic tables. Hailey’s lunch period is right after ours, so I never get to see much of her during the school day.
“Ryder still sick?” Trevor asks. I’ve been telling everyone he has the flu.
“Yep.”
Jayson scoots over to make room for me to squeeze in between him and Julien. Even with Celeste sitting on Davis’s lap and Beth on Keith’s, it’s a very tight fit with all ten of us at the same table.
“I swear I’m not nagging,” Jayson whispers in my ear, sliding a ham sandwich my way and a carton of orange juice. He must have grabbed the juice in the cafeteria before he came out.
I graciously accept the food. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” His hand reaches under the table and rests on my thigh, giving it a small squeeze.
“I am so looking forward to hanging up my pompoms,” Celeste comments.
Keith announces, “Last home game of senior year. Mike is throwing a huge party at his place after the game.” He looks at all of us expectantly.
“Sorry, man. Liz, Jay, Ry, and I already have plans. We’ll be at the tailgate before,” Julien tells him and I’m thankful that he stepped in like that.
I don’t see myself going to any parties for the rest of the school year, and the thought of going to prom or homecoming with a baby belly is also not appealing.
“I have a hypothetical question,” I say to the table, taking a nibble of the corner of my sandwich and waiting to see if my stomach protests before eating more. “If you could do one thing or go to one place before you died, what would it be?”
Okay, that came out more morbid than I intended.
“Kiss Beyoncé,” Davis answers quickly which earns him a smack upside the head from Celeste. “Woman, not the hair,” he complains, patting his tight curls down.
“Oh, please. You’re such a diva,” she tells him. “For my one thing and place, I would like to go on a safari in Africa.”
Soon, the table erupts in a back and forth of what everyone’s choices are. I take mental notes of the ones I like, thinking of adding them to my YOLO list. The only person who doesn’t chime in with an opinion is Jayson.
When conversation moves back to Friday’s football game and what everyone is going to do during Christmas break, I nudge Jayson with my shoulder.
“What would your ‘do something’ be?”
His face gets serious, and those metallic eyes grow heavy with emotion. “Since it’s all hypothetical, I can choose whatever I want, right?”
“Correct.”
“Can it be something I’ve done before?”
“Yes, if that’s the one, last thing you want to do before you die.”
He hesitates for a second. “Then my answer would be to kiss you one last time under our oak tree.”
Oh.