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The next morning, Melissa lied in her bed with a thermometer in her mouth "Is this really necessary?" she asked, the thermometer still in her mouth.

Michelle took it out and looked at it "Well you don't have a fever..." she said shaking it "But you got sick again this morning."

"Does that mean I can stay home?" Melissa asked hopefully.

"Sure, why don't you go back to sleep?" Michelle said.

"Thanks mom, don't worry I can call Chris later for the homework" she said pulling her covers back over her, Michelle smiled as she closed the door behind her.

The day went on, she lied in her bed with a magazine when Michelle poked her head in "Honey, I'm going to the store, I'll be back soon okay?" she said.

"Okay" Melissa said to her.

Michelle went downstairs and the front door opened "Hey mom" Jessie said entering the house.

"Oh hi, this is a nice surprise" Michelle said happily as they hugged.

"I just wanted to see how Missy was" Jessie said.

"She got sick again this morning but she seems fine now" Michelle said.

"Think I can go look in on her?" Jessie asked.

"Honey you're pregnant I wouldn't want you to catch anything" Michelle said concerned.

"No, mom I'll be fine" Jessie said.

"You sure?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah, it's fine I promise" Jessie said going towards the stairs.

"Okay, you mind staying here with her until I get back?" Michelle asked grabbing her purse.

"Sure" Jessie said going up the stairs.

"Thanks, I'll see you later" Michelle said putting her coat on.

Jessie went upstairs to Melissa's room, knocking on the door "Hey" she said.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Melissa asked.

"Just wanted to come check on you, how you feeling?" Jessie asked sitting at the foot of Melissa's bed.

Melissa shrugged "I'm alright I guess" she said sitting up.

"Mom said you got sick again this morning" Jessie said to her.

"Yeah, I guess, so?" Melissa said to her.

"You and Alex...you're being careful right? When you're together?" Melissa looked at her curiously "When was the last time you had sex?" Jessie asked.

"Oh my god I am not answering that question" Melissa said.

"Missy, right before I found out I was pregnant I was acting just like you, I was tired all the time, I started throwing up for no reason...tell me, the last time you guys...did it, did you use protection?"

"I don't know! It was a while ago I don't remember!" she said incredulously.

"You need to see a doctor" Jessie said to Melissa insistantly

"No way, I'm fine" Melissa said to her.

"You're not fine, at least take a home test" Jessie said.

"What are you going to make me?" Melissa asked.

"If I have to" Jessie said.

"Fine, if it'll get you off my back" Melissa said irritated.

"Good, I'm going to run out right now..." Jessie said going for the door.

"Now?!" Melissa asked.

"No time like the present" Jessie said to her.

"Mom could be back any minute, I don't want her catching me taking a pregnancy test!" Melissa said in a harsh whisper.

"Mom is at the grocery store, you know how long it takes her to go shopping, I'll be right back" Jessie said leaving the room, she soon came back with a paper bag "Here" Jessie said handing her a box.

"Let’s just get this over with" Melissa said opening it begrudgingly. She sat on her bed "How long does it take?" she asked irritated.

"Just a couple more minutes" Jessie said to her.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, I'm not pregnant" Melissa said crossing her arms.

"Doesn't hurt to make sure" Jessie said to her "while we wait for the results maybe we should talk about your options" Jessie said.

"Options?" Melissa asked.

"yes, there's adoption, there's abortion..." Jessie said rattling off a list.

"Abortion? You would want me to have an abortion?" Melissa asked.

"That's your choice, you need to decide what's right for you" Jessie said, she then looked at her watch "Now's your chance to find out" she said nodding towards the bathroom, Melissa looked at her nervously and stood up from her bed.

"Okay so, it's two lines what does that mean?" Melissa asked.

Jessie sighed "It means you're pregnant" she said.

"What? No, it can't be" Melissa said looking at the test.

"It is, it says so right here" Jessie said pointing to the box.

"Oh my god" Melissa said plopping down on the bed “I am so dead, mom and dad are going to crucify me” Melissa said.

“Miss, I will help you with mom and dad alright, don't worry, you'll be okay” Jessie said pushing her hair back.

“Will you kill me?” Melissa asked her sister.

“Oh Missy, look, I'm your sister and I love you and no matter what happens, I'll take care of you” she said cupping her face in her hands.

“Thanks” Melissa said tearfully.

“Oh honey” Jess said hugging her.


The next night, she knocked on the garage door where she saw AJ sitting with the other guys.

"Oh hey" AJ said to her.

"Hey Miss" Brian and Nick said to her.

"Hey" she said nervously.

"What's up beautiful?" AJ asked kissing her cheek.

"Oh uh...it can wait" she said as she turned to leave.

"Wait" he said "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I Just needed to talk to you about something but I can see you're busy" she said, once again turning around to leave.

"Actually we were just leaving" Brian said.

"Yeah go ahead and talk" Nick said as they stood up and walked towards the door.

"See you tomorrow" AJ said as they left, they closed the door.

"Have a seat" he said pointing to a couch.

"Thanks" she said sitting next to him.

"So what'd you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Oh boy" Melissa said nervously.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh you know what? We can really talk about this tomorrow..." she said trying to leave again.

"Wait wait" he said grabbing her hand "Come on, you said you wanted to talk so...tell me" he said.

"Okay, but you should probably sit first" she said to him, he sat down. "Do you remember how I kept falling asleep in school and how tired I've been lately?" she asked.

"Yeah, so?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant" she said as his face went blank, he stared at her. "You okay?" she asked, he still didn't move and kept staring at her, she waved her hand in front of his face "Okay please say something, you're scaring me" she said.

"Wh... how...when..." he stammered "I don't understand"he said.

"You don't understand what?" she asked confused.

"Any of this...how did this happen?" he asked,

"You were there" Melissa said to him.

"Well yeah but..." he said.

"But what?" she asked irritated.

"I thought you were on the pill?" he asked.

"Who told you that?" she asked confused.

"You did!" he said to her.

"When?!" she asked.

"You said 'I need to get on the pill' " he said.

"I said I was thinking about it not that I actually did it!"

"Oh my god" he said "What do we do?" he asked nervously.

"I've been talking to my sister" she said.

"And?" he asked.

"She explained to me all the options that are out there, and I don't know about you but... I want to keep my baby" she said to him.

"Miss... I don't...I don't know if we can do this" he said to her.

"Our friends are doing it" she said to him.

"Our friends are smarter than us!" he said.

"Not by much obviously!" she said irritated.

"Oh god" he groaned in aggravation.

"What are you saying? You don't want this baby?" she asked sadly.

"Do you only want this baby because our friends are having one?" he asked.

She looked at him shocked "I can't believe you just said that to me" she said, she got up "Okay, fine" she said leaving.

"Miss....Miss... Melissa, wait!" he called after her as she left. “Stupid!" he said banging his head against the garage door.

The doorbell rang, Kellie opened the door and saw Melissa "Hey, what's up?" she asked.

"Can we talk?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah sure" she said letting her in, they went up to Kellie's room. Kellie shut the door "You okay?" she asked.

"Just to save us some time, I'm just going to say what I came to tell you, I'm pregnant" Melissa said to her.

"What?" Kellie asked.

"My sister made me take a home pregnancy test when she noticed I had all of the same symptoms she had when she found out" Melissa said sitting on her bed.

Kellie sat next to her on the bed "You okay?"

"Yeah I just...I can't believe it" Melissa said to her.

"Yeah I know that feeling" she said sadly pulling her close and hugged her.

The doorbell rang and Kevin opened the door "Hey" he said seeing AJ on his doorstep.

"Hey, I need to talk to you" AJ said.

"Sure" Kevin said letting him in "You look like you got hit by a truck, you okay?".

"Meet the newest member of your club" AJ said sitting down Kevin's couch.

"You're kidding" Kevin said.

"Afraid not, Miss just told me" AJ said.

"Oh wow...I don't know what to say...congratulations?" Kevin said.

"Thanks but I just made a dick of myself" AJ said.

"What'd you do?" Kevin asked irritated.

"I asked Miss if she only wanted the baby because Kel and Chris are keeping theirs" AJ said as Kevin sat next to him.

"You didn't" Kevin said to him.

"I did" AJ said rubbing his temples.

"What'd you do that for?!" Kevin asked angrily.

"I panicked!" AJ said.

"What happened?" Kevin asked.

"She walked out on me" AJ said sighing.

"Look...I know okay? it’s difficult to process I mean a baby means not being able to hang out with your friends or go to parties or..." Kevin said.

"That's not what I'm afraid of, you really think I'm that shallow?" AJ asked offended.

"Then what is it?" Kevin asked.

"All I could think is, what if I'm just like my dad? I can't do that to my kid" AJ said sadly.

"Well no offense but your kind of just did" Kevin said.

"Great, I'm off to a good start" AJ said.

"I'm sure if you explain all of this to Melissa maybe she'll understand" Kevin said.

"I don't know" AJ said.

"Look you may not understand what she's going through but even though she has another person growing inside of her, she probably feels more alone than ever, she needs you" Kevin said.

"He thinks I only want this baby because you and Chris are having one" Melissa said to Kellie.

Kellie gasped "He did not" she said "I'm so sorry" she said pulling her close once again.

"What do I do?" Melissa asked.


The next morning, AJ approached her "Miss" she looked at him irritated.

"Look I'm tired, I've been throwing up all morning and I have to get to class in the next five minutes I really don't feel like arguing with you right now" she said shutting her locker.

"Just listen to what I have to say" he said as she tried to walk away from him.

"What?" she asked, he sunk to the floor and stood on one knee.

"Melissa Maria Jordan...will you marry me?" he asked holding her hand.

She looked down at him "Get up" she groaned.

"That a yes or a no?" he asked confused.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Alright look, what I said to you last night? I’m sorry okay? I'm so sorry I said that to you" he said sadly.

"Good to know" she said.

"But you need to know why I said it" he said to her.

"I know why, you're afraid of losing your freedom" she said irritated.

"No... well yeah...but no... the point is, I don't know how to be a dad...okay? Mine left me and I'm afraid of being just like him" he said.

She put her hand on his face "You are not your dad okay? You're you and I don't know how to be a mother any more than you know how to be a father" she said softly.

"Great, I feel sorry for this kid" he said smiling.

"Don't worry, I have faith in us" she said putting her hand on her stomach, he put his hand over hers "So?" she asked.

"So I think we're going to be parents" he said, she smiled and hugged him.

"Speaking of parents" she said.

"You tell yours?" he asked nervously.

"Not yet" she said shaking her head, my sister said she'd help me with that.

"Should I scared?" he asked.

"Probably" she said nodding.