I stood in the kitchen, looking around at everything I’d set up. Once I was sure I had everything we would need, I gave a nod of satisfaction, then twisted my wrist to look at my watch, frowning when I realized she was late.Dammit, Jade!Last night, she’d gone to her friends and stayed over the whole night, which was better than her spending the time with Todd, which was exactly what she was doing today. It left me irritated, but there was nothing I could do. She’d ignored me all day yesterday, and I’d allowed it because I knew I’d surprised her with the kiss. But today, I deliberately went looking for her to get her number. It was ridiculous that we’d lived in the same house for so long, and I didn’t have a way to contact her if she didn’t come home.Yesterday, I could do nothing about it, but now that I could contact her, I pulled out my phone to send her a text. I’d asked her to be home by five, and it was getting pretty close. We had the perfect chance because Mom and Neil were o
This isn’t working.I’d given it a hard try, but I couldn’t get myself to focus. I was in my room, and I was trying to study, or had been for the past hour or so, but I hadn't moved past the page I’d started on. After an hour I still couldn’t say what was on the page without looking again, though I’d started reading it several times already.Tests were coming up in school soon, and I’d been too busy fooling around with Zach recently to pay attention to my studies. If Serena hadn't reminded me, I would have let Zach fill my thoughts and I’d have forgotten about the tests altogether. I didn’t plan on going to college as long as I could get the bakery profitable again, anyway. There was no reason to study so hard, but Dad would be so disappointed if my grades were too low, so I had to put in some effort.Zach just refused to leave me alone, even when it was just in my thoughts.I got embarrassed every time I thought about what happened between us when we were alone, but the trouble was t
Todd was making a scene at school. I heard about it before I even saw him. He was encouraging the rumors to spread, and I overhead some of them. Usually, I wouldn’t be bothered. I’d always had a clear view of my future, so I didn’t bother much with the rumor mills around the school.I was bothered this time, though, because Todd wasn’t just making a scene and drawing attention to himself, he was doing it by spreading it around that Jade was into him.She’s not!I’d wanted to growl the words when a group of girls passing by me happened to mention it, and I overheard. If Jade hadn't been mentioned by name, I would have left school and headed right home. Only I did hear it, along with those girls saying unpleasant things about Jade.All thanks to that idiot.I knew my jealousy was stupid, even without Jade telling me. She didn’t have any interest in him; she wouldn’t have hidden it if she did when I questioned her before. If there was one thing I loved about Jade it was that she wasn’t a
Zach didn’t come home.I wasn’t home early, either, because I went to my friend’s place after school for a while, but I got back before Dad and Stepmom arrived, and I thought we could put our heads together and put more thought into the competition. I wasn’t entertaining other, less innocent thoughts, or I at least tried not to.After half an hour of waiting, I gave him a call. He picked up on the second ring.“What’s up?”“I’m alone at home, when do you think you can get here? I was looking a little more into the competition and some possible recipes we could try. It’ll be a bit costly, but if we can, we should decide on something and practice it a bit once, would that be okay?”He sighed. “I left for home ages ago. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about too, but my aunt is sick, and Mom has her phone off because she’s at work. I had to go see her, I’m sorry.”“Oh,” I murmured, shoulders slumped in disappointment. “How long do you think you’ll take?”“I don’t know; she’s not
For once, I was focusing on studying. As soon as I got home, I holed myself up in my room and hit the books. I wanted to completely forget about this horrible day, knowing I’d have to deal with it all over again tomorrow.Damn that Todd.He’d already annoyed me before when he tried to hit on me and didn’t want to take no for an answer, but this time he’d gone way too far. The next time I saw him, I was going to hit him.I was still in the middle of studying when, hours later, I heard voices from downstairs that I assumed were my parents. I could hear a loud, boisterous laugh that made me feel a bit nostalgic. It sounded a lot like how Dad used to laugh when he was happily working in the bakery before business started going downhill while debts raised sky high. Then the bakery had to be shut down, and I hadn't heard him laugh since.Curious, I closed my books and got up. I went to my door and unlocked it, then stuck my head out.“Dad?” I called out. “Was that you?”“Jade! Come down her
When I got home, I headed straight for my room. I got changed out of the nice dress, wiped my face clean of make-up, though I hadn't used much, to begin with. I changed into comfortable clothes I could sleep in, then laid down on the bed. Not to sleep, though. I was too agitated to fall asleep. Instead, I picked up my phone and made a call.“Hello, Jade?”I sighed. “Serena.”“What happened? Did you meet Zach when you got home? Did you guys talk?”“We didn’t,” I muttered. “I couldn’t even look at him.”I was still mad. Mostly, though, I was worried about what was going to happen now. If I had to, I could deal with what happened at school, but if it spread to the teachers, then our parents could get called in, and that would just make everything that much more complicated. I hated complicated things.“Honestly, I don’t even know what to say to him, because none of it will matter. The truth is out already, and everyone is talking about it now. There’s no way to reverse that.”“Of course,
I followed Mom and Stepdad to a club to celebrate. It was eighteen and up, so I could go in. they thought it was a shame that Jade didn’t want to come along, but they were so lost in themselves and their happiness that they didn’t seem to notice the air between Jade and me was strained. They didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t in the mood for partying, either. I was happy for Mom but even more worried about Jade.What am I going to do?I’d done my best to hold back and keep my distance from her. Because I knew, even if she reciprocated, the situation was too complicated. When she came to me, I was ecstatic. All thoughts of holding back gone. The speed went too fast, though, and I got careless.Jade must have heard the rumors at school. I didn’t doubt Todd would spread it around. Like I’d guessed, she was angry. Enough to decide to break up with me? I hoped not. I didn’t know how to define our relationship. We’d both fallen to the mutual attraction, and since we’d first had sex, all we
I walked into school and immediately noticed the difference. Before, people had been trying, unsuccessfully, to hide that I was the center of their attention. Today, they stared openly, and I instinctively hunched my shoulders, as if that could help me hide.Crap. What am I supposed to do?I looked around but didn’t see either one of my friends. It was still a bit early, and classes didn’t start for another thirty minutes, at least. Where could I hide out until then?“Jade!”I froze in my steps, and my heart thumped hard. I realized a second later that I knew the voice and knew there was no reason for me to be afraid. Serena appeared at my side before I could turn around.“Jade, what’s wrong?” She asked and stood close, as if to protect me.“Can't you tell?” Veronica said, coming up to us. “Everyone is looking this way and staring at her like she’s got the plague or something. I guess everyone’s heard the rumor by now, and everyone believes it.”“Can we get out of here?” I murmured, I
Jade“Hurry up, Jade! We’re going to be late!” Zach’s voice came through the door.“Hold up,” I yelled back. “You took a lot longer in the bathroom and you know it!”He didn’t have a thing to say against that, and I smirked. It was hard for me not to take my time, though. After all, my stomach was a lot bigger now, and while not fully grown yet since I was only in the second half of my third month, the lump was big enough to be visible even under my clothes, no matter how baggy. Still, stepmom somehow managed to get me the right dress to make it a little subtle, and I had to settle it just right on my form so no one could tell, even when I walked around.Today was the open day for our bakery, both mine and Zach’s. Once we both enrolled in culinary school, he’d decided to drop his original plans for university, because of course Zach had plans. We’d graduated from high school, and we had the rest of our lives ahead of us.Finally getting my dress to settle right, I left the bathroom.
I looked around as the lady going around with the clipboard moved to the next table in line. She was near the end, and I figured the competition would really begin once she reached the end. I hadn’t read anything on how the contestants were judged, but I had already figured they might award points for the cakes appearance, if ‘points’ was how they were adding it all up. So, if she was awarding for presentation, then there would be more judges coming by to start tasting the cakes.“There are a lot of people here,” I murmured to Zach.He hummed. “Honestly, there are a lot less than I thought there would be. At least they’re less than a hundred.”I grumbled, squeezing his hand for comfort. Fifty-something people was still plenty enough, and I was starting to worry again, wondering just how big a chance we had of even winning this thing.I’m just an amateur. Sure, I’ve helped Dad at the bakery plenty, and I’ve been watching him for years, but some of these cakes look professionally done!
Jade is pregnant.The words hadn’t stopped running through my mind ever since I found out. It was the last thing I expected, but that just made me an idiot. With all the fucking we’d been doing, considering I didn’t remember using condoms or any form of contraception any of those times, this was a logical outcome.It was stupid that I was shocked, but I was.We had to go down and eat breakfast at some point, so after Jade got her composure back, and washed her face, we both headed downstairs. Monty was still in the dining room, as if he’d been waiting with the food for us. Two other places were set on the table with several platters in the middle.“If you’d like something like bacon or eggs or pancakes, just say so and I’ll have them prepare them in the kitchen.”“Nah, it’s fine,” I said quickly, before he could suggest it anyway. “It’s our fault for being late, anyway, we’ll just have what’s available.”There was plenty already, just not anything hot. I could tell the croissants were
Since it was too early in the morning, there was nothing we could do about our suspicions. When I thought about it, I felt like my period could be late, but it wasn’t like I marked my period days religiously, not anymore, anyway. As long as I made sure to have some painkillers and pads at the ready each month, I just waited, and I would feel the cramps coming just before my period started. Plus, I had been late some months, especially that first year when it happened, so I wouldn’t think too much about it.This was different, though. Not just because I was puking, but when I thought about it, neither of us had ever thought much about contraception as we got so lost in each other, and sometimes, once was all it took. I wanted to hold onto some denial, because I didn’t want it to be true, but I could feel a rising dread in my chest.In any case, since we couldn’t do a thing about it just yet, I got to work. I worked better with the icing than Zach did, so I cautiously walked closer onc
I waited for Jade to call me. She’d insisted on going home and speaking to her dad right after school, so Monty and I had gone back without her. He was in his room, playing video games with the leftover cake from yesterday’s practice.We were going to bake the final cake today, we had to. Even though the competition was in the afternoon, there might not be enough time to bake the cake and transport it to the venue in time, even if I got up before dawn and Jade arrived early. In the end, I got tired of waiting and gave her a call. If she’d been there, we could have caught some sleep after finishing with the cake, but at this rate, we wouldn’t have enough time for that. I waited until Monty came to call me out for dinner. In his house, they had dinner at seven, and I thought it was late enough.So, I called Jane. The line died before she could pick up, and I just called again. She picked up on the third call.“Hello?”Her voice didn’t sound right, a little thick, and sleepy. I felt my
The days went by fast, and before I knew it, it was Friday morning. I’d gone to classes after skipping on Monday, but with the competition tomorrow, I was wondering if I could still skip. I woke early because I was a little too excited, and it wasn’t even the day of the competition, yet.I went through my morning routine quickly, and by the time I arrived downstairs, it was to find that stepmom hadn’t even left yet, which meant I was really early.“Good morning,” I called.The nervous excitement in my stomach was almost enough to make me miss the awkward air in the room. Stepmom was standing by the cooker making breakfast with her back to the rest of the room. Dad was seated at the dining table with his paper held up. He didn’t look up at my voice, but Stepmom shot me a look over her shoulder. She smiled, even though it looked a bit strained.“Morning, Jade. Please, sit down. I’ll have breakfast done in a minute.”I was silent as I went to sit at the table, not looking at Dad even tho
There was a loud beep, and Jade looked up.“The cake is done,” she said excitedly.I grabbed a pair of oven mitts and handed them over to her before she forgot the oven was supposed to be hot and touched it with her bare hands in her eagerness. She opened the oven door, and the smell from the cake wafted into the kitchen.“It smells amazing,” I commented.“More than amazing, it smells delicious.”She pulled the tray out and set it on the counter, then tugged off the mitts. The cake had puffed up nicely.“It needs to cool down. Let’s take care of the icing now.”The cake was chocolate with chocolate icing, slight caramel and mint added in the icing. I watched jade as she perfected it. This was one area where she’d be better off than me, so I just leaned back on the counter and waited until she was done.Jade hummed as she tasted the icing once she was done mixing it. “I think it came out really good. Would you like to try it?”I was lost in thought, watching as jade licked the icing of
Getting to school, now that I lived at Monty’s, was a bit of an adventure. I usually got up early and left the house early, not because I was a particularly studious student, but it was so I’d have the decision to walk to school or take the bus. Jade usually ended up running late and had to rush all the way to school.Living with Monty, none of this was easy. Well, it was a little easy, because even after staying with him for nearly a whole week, I hadn’t once run into his family. So, I didn’t have to deal with any awkwardness, but Monty’s house was further from school than I was used to. So, I could get up early and go catch the bus, though it would take a bit of a walk, or I could get up a bit later and wake Monty up so he could drive me to school. He usually did it with not much time to spare before school started, but he was relaxed because he had a car, several of them in fact.This particular morning, I was feeling lazy, so he drove me to school. I was usually in class and revie
My alarm went off, waking me up, but I was too lazy to move. My head felt a little stuffy, like I wasn’t all awake, but the sound got annoying really fast. With a groan, I got up and reached for my nightstand, where I’d taken to keeping my phone instead of under my pillow, because of the radiation, and because this way I wouldn’t just snooze the alarm and go back to sleep.School. I had to go to school, there was never another reason for getting up early.I slipped off the side of my bed and rose up on my toes as I raised my clasped hands, yawning as I stretched my body out. I squinted my eyes, even though it was too early to have much light in my room. I stumbled my way out of my room, and was about to go to the bathroom when I paused, because it should be occupied.Zach was usually up earlier than I was, and he could take a ridiculous amount of time in the shower for a guy. I actually ended up staying in for about ten minutes because he took more than twice that time.Then, I rememb