As she walks up the drive way to Tori's house she knows she's desperate. She has no one else to talk to. Tori is the only option. Jade figures Tori will jump at the chance to help her because she just loves to help. Jade hates it. She tries to wipe the tears off her cheeks before she rings the doorbell.
Nobody comes so she knocks. Still nothing. She rings the doorbell four or five more times before she decides to give up and go home to deal with it herself.
Just as she's walking away she hears the door open. "Jade? What are you doing here?"
"I um... sorry." Jade sighs, pushing past her and going into the living room. She looks at the floor so Tori doesn't see the black eyeliner running down her face.
"Hey, are you here to pay me back for all the ingredients we used to make pizza? My mom was really mad and she said that-"
"No! God, Tori."
"Ok, ok. What's wrong?"
"I- Tori- Beck and I sort of... well," Jade sobs, sitting on Tori's couch.
"Did you break up?" Tori talks slowly, not wanting to set Jade off. Anger flashes across Jade's face and Tori can see her eyes narrow, ready to put up her defenses.
"No!" She says. "What would it matter to you?"
"Well, you guys are my friends and-"
"We're not friends." Jade reminds her, pulling her bag onto her lap.
"Whatever. So what's wrong?" Tori asks, watching as the tears stop falling from Jade's eyes. Jade sighs and takes a deep breath, pulling a box out of her bag. "Oh, Jade."
"Look, I don't want to scare Beck because he'd probably..." she trails off, because she's honestly not sure how he would react. "I could go to Cat, but I can't deal with her now and Robbie is Robbie, and I guess I could talk to Andre but this is more of a girl thing and-"
"I get it." Tori interrupts. "Are you sure you need this? You're not just making a mistake?"
"I'm three weeks late." Jade tells her. "It's not a mistake."
"What do you want me to do?" Tori questions, not totally sure of how to proceed. She doesn't want to make Jade any more upset than she already is.
"I don't know! Just... look, I threw up this morning and you're really not making it better." Jade says as she starts crying again.
"Hey! I don't know what to do any more than you." Tori defends, sitting beside Jade.
"I... I need your help." Jade admits.
"I think you need to take the test." Tori decides after a few minutes of silence.
"Chiz," Jade sighs. "Maybe I'll just wait a little while and I'll get my period. I'm pretty sure I just miscoun-"
"Jade, you need to take it."
"I knew I shouldn't have come here." Jade groans as she stands up. "Take me to the bathroom."
"Ok." Tori leads her there, although she's not sure why Jade's making her go with her; Jade has been to her house before. She figures Jade is just scared and doesn't want to say it. "What are the instructions?"
Jade looks down at the box and tears it open, unfolding the paper. "I just have to pee on the stick and wait for two minutes."
"Alright," Tori says, "Have fun..." Jade replies with a rude hand gesture and slams the bathroom door behind her.
After she takes it she pulls her jeans over her hips and stares at herself in the mirror. Jade can't image having a baby. It's too much for her. She gently pulls her shirt up to just under her bra, tracing her hand over her stomach. Jade can't image something growing in her. Living and getting ready to become hers.
"Are you OK?" Tori asks, gently knocking on the door.
"Probably not." Jade sighs, and opens it. "I think I'm going to puke."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry? The rest of your life isn't depending on a stick you just wazzed on." Jade looks down at her phone. Only a minute left.
"Look, I think you need to take a deep breath and think about what you're going to do if... you know."
"You can come with me to unplanned parenthood."
"I think it's called 'planned parenthood'." The seventeen year old reminds her.
"It shouldn't be." Jade mutters.
"How much longer?" Tori asks, nervously looking at the counter where the stick sits.
"Maybe thirty seconds." Jade sighs and sinks to the floor. "Can you look?"
Tori nods and grabs the stick. She closes her eyes for a second before snapping them open and seeing the little red letters on the white plastic.
"Just tell me."
"Positive." She says. "Jade, sometimes these are... they're wrong. It's called a... um..."
"False positive." Jade supplies, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah. So, maybe we should like, go to the doctor and get it double checked. We can go to mine, if you want to. Just in case." Jade nods. "I can come with you."
As much as Jade hates to say it -much less think it- she's scared. It's crazy but she needs a friend who's smart enough to help her deal with this and Tori's going to be the one to do it.
So she agrees to go.
.
"Jade West." The woman at the front desk calls. They've been waiting for like forty-five minutes and Jade is getting really impatient.
"Finally." She mutters as she walks up, Tori in tow.
"You can go back there. Alone." Receptionist #2 tells her, motioning for Tori to sit back down. "Room number six. You might need to wait a minute."
"You'll be alright?"
"Jesus, Tori. I'm fine." Jade grumbles over her shoulder, walking down the hall.
"Hi, you must be... Jade West?" The doctor asks when she enters the room.
"Yes." Jade answers, attempting to say it firmly, but her voice wavers.
"Please sit." Jade walks to a chair across from the doctor, not taking her eyes off of her feet. "I'm Dr. Green. I understand you're here today because you are worried about possibly being pregnant?"
"Um... yes."
"Alright," Dr. Green nods, grabbing a note pad and shifting her glasses up her nose. "Are you sexually active?"
Jade's usually non-embarrassed composure flees her body at that instant, causing her face to turn a bright pink. "Yeah."
"Do you use protection?"
"Yes. Always..."
"What makes you think you are pregnant?"
"Well, I was late... and so I took a home test and it was positive. But then my friend -the one who brought me here- said that sometimes they have false positives and that I should get it checked because I don't want to freak my boy-"
"I see." Dr. Green interrupts, stopping Jade's near-hysteric rant. "Well, home tests are almost always correct. We can double check the results, if you want, but-"
"Yes! Yeah. Please." Jade says.
"Alright. So you need to urinate in this cup-" Dr. Green says, holding up a small lidded container, "and then bring it back and we'll re-test it. Ok?" Jade nods, not trusting herself not to cry again. "The bathroom is three doors down."
Jade grabs the cup and walks quickly to the bathroom.
And for the second time that day, she pees in something that isn't the toilet.
.
"Alright, Miss West, we have your results back." Dr. Green announces as she walks back into the office where Jade is awaiting anxiously. "It came out positive."
Jade takes a deep breath, running her hands through her hair. "Oh."
"Now, with pregnancies like yours, there are typically three options, are you aware of these?"
Jade rolls her eyes. "Duh. Abortion, adoption or... keep it."
"Is there a father?"
"Yes."
"Will he be willing to help you with this?"
Jade thinks for a second, playing with the necklace that Beck gave her. "Yeah, he will."
"I don't know if you want to discuss things with him before you make a decision?"
"I think I do." The whole process of explaining it makes her want to throw up. Mostly the look on his face, the shock and realization of the fact that things are, well, over. Dr. Green nods, writing a few things down.
"What about your parents?"
Jade gulps; that thought hadn't even occurred to her. Her mother would probably cry, her step dad would have a serious talk about 'safety'. Her dad would probably... disown her. Maybe kick her out. He wouldn't approve of anything that she would do, no matter what. The embarrassment of telling all of his rival lawyers that his 17 year old daughter was pregnant would kill him.
"They... I think... I don't know. My dad hates me and my mom is just sort of gone."
"Ok, well if you need any help or anything we have some help phone numbers. I don't know if you have a doctor, but-"
"I don't. Can I just come here? It's really close to my boyfriend's place and I think I'll be there a lot."
"Yes, of course. I'm going to give you some prenatal vitamins that you will need to take. Call to set up another appointment, OK?"
"Ok." Jade says, standing up and grabbing her gears of war bag, nearly spilling the contents.
"Do you have a ride home?"
"Yeah. My... uh," Jade stutters, not really sure of what word to use. "Tori Vega..."
"Oh! Yes. Ask her if the rash cleared up, will you?"
"Sure." Jade smirks, standing up. As she walks down the hallways she touches her tummy about a hundred times, each one expecting to feel something different.
"So?" Tori asks, jumping up when she sees her. Jade grabs her wrist and drags her outside to where the car is.
"Dr. Green asked about your rash." Jade says, nearly smiling as Tori's expression turn to a look of horror.
"What? Yeah. Um. No. Yes, I mean, well, - Are you pregnant or not?" Tori asks.
in response Jade unlocks the car door and flops into the driver's seat, Tori has to run to the other side of the car to get in before Jade drives off.
"Don't avoid it Jade, I'm going to find out sooner or later. Are you pregnant?"
"Yes! I'm pregnant! I have no future, I'm going to get kicked out of my house, Beck's going to dump me, I'll end up being an alcoholic with a kid who hates me. I'll be my dad." Jade yells.
"Jade. Calm down. Beck is not going to leave you. He loves you more than anything and this will make him love you more. Just breathe for a minute." Tori tells her, patting her arm awkwardly.
"Stop touching me." Tori pulls her hand away as quickly as she put it there. "How could this make him love me more? I'm one of those girls who you see and you think 'shit, she's messed up,'. Do you think I wanna bring a kid into this?" Jade asks, choking up.
"I think that maybe having someone else to love you no matter what will make things better. You are going to have a real family. You probably planned on this at some point, so maybe it's just coming a few years early." Tori smiles hopefully at Jade.
"Tori. I'm 17. I will have to go to school looking like a whale. I just... I think I need-"
"You need to tell Beck before you decide on anything. He will want to know that there is a little, tiny, tiny thing inside you that is half him." Jade sighs and turns left, heading towards Beck's house. "Are you going to make me walk home again?"
"Yes. Problem?" Jade asks, fake sweetly.
"Pssssshhh, no." Tori lies. "Hey, did you finish that project for calculus?"
"We don't need to talk." Jade snaps, turning on the radio. When Tori starts to sing along Jade gives her a death glare and she immediately stops.
It's not long before they pull into Beck's driveway and Jade takes the keys out, breathing deeply before exiting the car.
"Uh, Tori?"
"Yep?"
"Thanks."
"It's no problem." She smiles weakly, nodding a little as Tori waves bye. "I'll see you at school."
Jade watches Tori walk away, suddenly wishing she could trade places with Tori and not have all of this worry. She shakes her head and goes to the door of the RV, knocking three times before taking a step away.
The door swings open and Beck smiles at the sight of her. "Hi, babe. What's up?" He asks as she walks inside. Beck watches her sit down on the couch, her eyes not leaving the ground.
"Not much..." she lies, feeling the tears well up in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's OK. Are you alright?" He asks, quickly going to sit beside her.
"I'm go-oo-d." She whispers, a tear falling down her face.
"Babe. What's wrong?" Beck asks calmly, wrapping her in his arms.
"Please don't freak out. I know we didn't plan this and you don't want this, I don't want this, well, right now but maybe one day but not today. NOT today. And you'll probably dump me but just... please. Don't."
"Jade, you're freaking me out. Please just tell me. I'm sure there's something I can do."
"I- I'm pregnant."
Beck gulps and nods, hugging her again. He takes a few shaky breaths before pulling away. "Jade, I'm not going to leave you. Ever. Even more so now. I don't you want you to do this on your own." He breathes, gently kissing her. He wipes the tears that are running down her face away with his thumb.
"I don't either." She admits. "I found out earlier today and then Tori took me to the doctor and she said we have options, but..."
"I don't think adoption can even be on the table." Beck finishes. Jade nods. She's not going to get attached to this kid and lose it.
"Abortion... I... I don't think I can do it. It seems like I'd be giving up and I never want to do that. It happened to me too much."
"So... we're having a baby?" Beck asks.
"Yeah."
He gives her a half smile before kissing her again and holding her tight to his chest, murmuring 'I love you' over and over again. He rubs her back and strokes her hair, trying to stop her from crying. He can feel her face nuzzle closer into his neck, the tears starting to leak through his shirt.
"We can do this."
A/N: So I started writing this a long, long time ago, but I never got around it finishing it; I lost my interest. I worked on it for three hours last night and finally finished it. I was nervous to publish it, but I figured I should at least try.
Please review!