Author's Note: I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please vote, comment, and/or send feedback :). Happy reading!!
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Lori waited until the first day of the second semester to talk to her guidance counselor. As it turned out, it wasn't too late to graduate early. She started the paperwork that day. All she had to do was get a paper signed by her teachers, and she didn't have to show up to class anymore. It was a good deal.
Lori went to all of her teachers, except Mr. Blackbrook, and had them sign her form. She handed it in to her counselor and hoped that she wouldn't notice a name missing. When Lori went home, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
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The next week Jonah was starting to get worried. Lori hadn't shown up to school for days. He had tried to casually ask Kelsey, but she hadn't seen her either. Was she okay? Had something happened? He finally went down to the office one day during lunch.
"Do you know where Lorena O'Reilly has been?" he asked the principal. "She hasn't shown up to my class for about a week."
"Didn't she do fall semester graduation?"
"She did?"
Mrs. Williams opened up a file cabinet and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Here it is, she filled out her form last week. Are you one of her teachers?" she asked.
"Yes, she's in my biology class."
"You didn't sign the form then?"
"No, she didn't bring it to me." Why didn't she bring it to him? He would have signed it for her. Was she doing this all because of him? It made him feel even more like shit for everything he had done. On top of all that, he might never see Lori again. That thought really bothered him.
"Mr. Blackbrook? If she's going to graduate early, you'll need to sign this." She pointed to the paper. Of course he would sign it; he had already hurt Lori enough. Jonah took a pen out of his pocket and signed the form. When he was done, it felt like he had lost something.
"There you go Mrs. Williams."
"Thank you Jonah. Have a good day now."
And he was dismissed. He wandered the hall until he made his way back to his classroom. The rest of the school year had lost its appeal for Jonah. His life had lost its appeal without Lori. He slumped into his chair and sat there for the rest of the period. When the bell rang, it was a welcome distraction.
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Friday morning Lori woke up feeling a little queasy. About ten minutes later she was on her knees in front of the toilet vomiting. She was still retching even when her stomach was nearly empty. All the stress must finally be getting to me, she thought.
Once she was done, she brushed her teeth and crawled back into bed. Lori felt like shit. She hoped this wouldn't last long; she had puked yesterday morning too. If this proved to be a pattern, Lori wasn't going to be a happy camper.
It did help that she didn't have to see Jonah in school anymore. She felt so relieved. Lori had no idea how she's handle it if she saw Ms. Stuart making googly eyes at Mr. Blackbrook. She hated Ms. Stuart now, and she definitely did not want to see them happy together.
On her bedside table she heard her cell phone vibrate. She had a text from Cody, one of the guys from her biology class.
"Why haven't you been to class?" he asked.
"I'm graduating early."
"Oh. Bio isn't the same without you."
"Yeah, but at least I don't have to see Jesse anymore." Really, she didn't want to see Jonah anymore, but it wasn't like she could explain that to Cody.
"I kind of heard about that. I'm sorry. How are you?"
Lori hesitated. How was she? She was heartbroken. But she'd get over it. Eventually.
"I'm fine. I've been getting a little bored without school."
"Really? Maybe we should do something sometime."
"Maybe. That might be really nice."
Cody and Lori kept texting throughout the day, and for the next few days. He was really nice, and it turned out that he wasn't really friends with Jesse. That was a good thing, because she didn't want to talk to anyone who could be friends with that douche bag.
Over the next few days the two kept talking and texting. Two weeks later they were still talking. Cody was turning into a great friend. She was tempted to tell him everything, but she didn't. It would make her feel stupid and slutty. Lori didn't want Cody to think of her like that.
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One morning Lori was heaving her breakfast into the toilet when a scary thought suddenly occurred to her: she hadn't had her period in over a month. She started to panic. Why hadn't she thought about that sooner? She and Jonah hadn't used protection; he had probably thought that she was on the pill. Most teenage girls were these days for one reason or another.
This could not be happening, Lori thought. She could not deal with this. What was she going to do? What was her mom going to say? She wasn't ready to tell her mom. She definitely didn't want to tell Jonah. If she was pregnant, she didn't want Jonah to be with her out of pity. Before she panicked too much more, she just needed to go to the store and buy a pregnancy test.
Lori debated telling Cody; she had to tell someone. In the end, she told him. There was nobody else she could think of other than Kelsey, and she hadn't talked to Kelsey since homecoming. Loti sent Cody a text saying that she needed help. As always, Cody promptly replied.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I think I might be... pregnant. I have to go pick up a home pregnancy test."
It took Cody a long time to reply. Lori was starting to get really nervous. What was Cody thinking? He probably thinks I'm a whore, Lori thought. Finally, Cody answered.
"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.
"Please. I don't want to go by myself. "
"Okay. If you give me your address, I'll pick you up."
Lori gave him her address and started to get ready. She didn't feel like looking cute, so she just threw on some baggy sweat pants and a tank top. She waited impatiently, fidgeting on her bed.
It only took Cody twenty minutes to get to her house. Lori walked outside and got into his Challenger. If she didn't have other things on her mind, she probably would have appreciated the car a little more. It was probably a gift from his parents.
"Um, I hope you don't mind, but I want to go somewhere out of town to get the test. I don't want anyone to know yet, and I don't want any rumors to go around."
"Okay. Is Mitchell far enough?"
She didn't think they'd have to go all the way to Mitchell, but she didn't say so. The drive would be good for thinking, and she wouldn't mind spending it with Cody. It was a little awkward at first to be around him in person. Texting someone and hanging out with someone are two very different things. However, she would definitely take it over being alone.
"Mitchell's fine. Cody?"
"Yeah?" He glanced over at me.
"Thank you. I didn't know who else to call."
Cody reached over and put his hand on top of mine and gave me a light smile.
"It's okay Lori, I'm glad you asked me."
She tried to smile back, but she wasn't sure how well it worked.
Once they got to Mitchell they just stopped at a random drug store. It was slightly uncomfortable, but Cody went with her down the family planning isle. Lori had to admit, the guy had balls. She didn't know many boys that would go with a girl that wasn't their girlfriend to pick out pregnancy tests, especially at the last minute.
The cashier at the register was an older woman. She gave Cody and Lori a disapproving glance but didn't say anything. Lori realized that the woman must have thought Cody was the father-to-be. The poor guy, he was going through all of this and it wasn't even his baby. Well, if there was a baby at all. Lori didn't know if she hoped there was or hoped there wasn't.
Lori was quiet on the ride home; she was too busy thinking. A baby would change a lot. Lori had always wanted a family and kids, but this was a bit too soon. Despite all of her worries, there was one thing she knew for sure: she would NOT have an abortion. Every woman could make her own choice, they were entitled, but Lori knew she couldn't do it.
They got back to her house and Lori's car was the only one in the drive-way. Thank God her mother had left. She didn't want to sneak pregnancy tests inside when her mom was home.
"Do you have to leave now?" Lori asked shyly. She wanted Cody to stay, especially because she didn't want to deal with the news alone.
"Do you want me to leave?"
Lori wanted to say no, but she didn't know if she should. She decided to ask him to stay. Wasn't she entitled to getting what she wanted right now?
"I want you to stay, if you don't mind..."
"Then I'll stay," he said simply. It was very comforting.
Lori led Cody into her house and then into her bedroom. He sat on her bed in her room while she went into the bathroom. She took a deep breath and then read the instructions. It sounded pretty easy: pee on the stick and wait five minutes to see if there's one pink line or two. Lori peed on the damn stick and waited. She chewed at her fingernails and checked the time on her phone to see when the five minutes was up.
When it was time to check the test, Lori was scared shitless. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to know. Lori hesitantly grabbed the test and looked. Two pink lines. Did that mean that she was pregnant or not pregnant? She checked the instructions.
Fuck. She read the instructions again just to make sure. Double fuck. She was pregnant. Lori wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Jonah's; he was the only person she had ever had sex with.
She was starting to freak out now. Breathe, Lori told herself. She thought of the man who had broken her heart, and who would be the father of her baby, and she wanted to cry. As the first tear started to roll down her cheek, she went back to her bedroom to find Cody. He was sitting there waiting for her. With one look at her face he knew.
Cody didn't say anything, he just opened his arms and Lori dove into them. They were gentle, but they held on tight just like she needed. Lori started sobbing; she couldn't help it. She was in love with the father of her child, but he didn't love her back.
She would figure out what to do, she had to. She had a baby inside her, and no matter how hard it was going to be, she was going to keep it.
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Jonah was starting to get antsy. It was easy not to call Lori when he at least got to see her in class. It was a different story not to see or talk to her at all. He felt like a horny teenager mooning over his first crush. The longer he went without seeing her, the more he thought about her.
One day he had been so desperate that he had looked up her phone number while he was on his lunch break. It had been easy to find it in his records. Jonah had even saved the number into his phone, but he had never called it. He wanted to. There had been a few times he had started calling, even let it ring, but he would change his mind before anyone could answer.
Every day he got more desperate to see her and talk to her. He couldn't believe it. He was going crazy over a teenage girl. He had let a silly little girl steal his heart. Jonah didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was pretty sure he loved Lori. He didn't want to love her; she was turning his entire world upside down.
Finally the day came when he couldn't wait any longer. He had to talk to her.
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