Kitty Wilde found out she was pregnant by accident.
Okay, it wasn't like she fell, crotch-first, on the pregnancy test and managed to activate it or something. No, she had taken the test consciously, but she hadn't been expecting the outcome.
She had taken a break from Ryder's midterm antics and gone for an R+R evening at Tina's. She loved Ryder, don't get her wrong, but she'd needed some space, some room to think about something other than exams, something to get her out of the study hall that their apartment had seemed to have become. So, bag in hand, she had trudged the ten minute walk to what was proclaimed to be "Tina Cohen-Chang's Girls-Only Spa Escape"- which Kitty thought made it seem like it was kinda strip club-ish, plus there was the fact that Tina still lived with her parents, so there wouldn't be booze, but there would be face masks and ice cream, two things that Kitty was loathed to miss, plus Marley would also be there, so at least she'd have her best friend to suffer with, on the off chance that it was awful.
But when she arrived, she had almost turned around and walked home when she was greeted by Tina and Unique, giggling like a bunch of lunatics, wearing matching pink pajamas. There was something disturbingly 'high-school-slumber-party'ish that made her cringe, but she had already RSVP'ed, so she gave them a wry smile and walked into the house.
They had been sitting in a circle, blowing on freshly manicured nails when Tina had burst through the bathroom door that was adjoined not only to her bedroom, but also to her older sister's.
"You guys are never gonna guess what I've got." She held her hands behind her back.
"Your virginity." Kitty was the first to reply, instantly reprimanded by a stern look from Marley.
Tina rolled her eyes. "Grow up. No, I was looking for polish remover when I found these." She pulled whatever was behind her back out in front of her, four little white cardboard boxes, and the girls craned their necks to read what was written on it.
"Clear Blue… pregnancy test?" Marley's voice sounded worried, to say the least. "Why d'you have those?"
Tina raised an eyebrow. "I think they're Kay's. I found one of these in the garbage a month ago. It was negative, but still." She grinned at the girls. "We should take them."
"And why the hell do you think that's a good idea?" Kitty piped up, looking incredulously at Tina.
"Because it would be fun. I don't know about you ladies, but I think Unique's completely safe." Unique said this time, and Kitty had to bite back a comment out of decency.
Marley grinned. "I think it'd be funny. I mean, I've never tried taking a test before. Come on, Kitty." She nudged Kitty with her elbow.
Kitty groaned, rolling her eyes. "Fine, okay, fine."
"Awesome." Tina tossed a test at each of the girls. "Okay, I'll go pee first, then Unique, then Marley, then Kitty-"
"This is so gross." Kitty muttered, fingering the box.
"-when we've finished peeing," Tina continued, ignoring the blonde. "we'll leave our tests in order on my desk." She walked over to it, pulling tissues out and setting them flat on the desk. "And then check the results together."
"Okay, but if any of you are growing fetuses in your stomachs, I'm not taking care of you." Kitty said, pulling a magazine close to her and opening it.
Tina just pulled a face, walking into the bathroom.
They sat in silence for a good ten minutes while each girl went. Tina came back a giggling mess – apparently she had missed the test a few times, which was a detail that Kitty had not needed to hear. Unique was victorious with managing to use the test ("Miss Beyoncé herself would've been proud!") and Marley came out, her quiet, nervous self.
All the while, Kitty had been growing a weird sense of impending doom. She wasn't nervous, of course not. She and Ryder were always safe, she was on the pill. Admittedly, they had stopped using condoms when she'd gone on the pill, but that wouldn't have any effect, the pill was, like, 99% effective or something.
Box in hand, she sauntered over to the bathroom, pausing only to shut the door behind her. She picked up the box and used a perfectly manicured nail to slip the lid open and shook the test out into her hand.
Ew. She hated the feel of it instantly. It felt clinical. Clinical and cold. Her features pulled into a look of revulsion, she tossed the box into the corner of the bathroom. She pulled her shorts and underwear down, settling herself on the toilet. She reached down, test in hand between her legs and pulled it out a moment later, her face crossed into a look of disgust. Disgusting.
She pulled her shorts and underwear back up, opening the door of the bathroom and walking over to put it on the desk with the rest of them. She didn't even bother to read Tina and Unique's, which were ready. She knew the result of all of them, it was the same result that hers and Marley's would have.
She moved back down to sit on the floor with them, blocking out the noise of Tina and Unique giggling about whatever shoes this time and caught a smile from Marley.
"It's pretty stupid, I know." Marley conceded. "But it's just for fun. No big deal."
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm pretty over it. It was just gross."
Marley laughed, nodding. "That it was."
Kitty grinned back, focusing on her magazine, only to be interrupted five minutes later by Tina calling them over. "It's time!"
Unique and Marley both laughed and stood up, walking over to the desk, but Kitty stayed behind, more interested in this article about J-Lo than the obvious outcome of a stupid pregnancy test.
"I'm safe!" Marley exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "So's Unique."
"Me too." Tina replied, smiling.
"Kitty, come see what you've got." Marley called, a smile on her face.
"No, I seriously don't care." Kitty replied tersely.
She could practically feel Marley playfully rolling her eyes and there was a short silence, maybe five seconds long before the next sound came.
"…Oh my god, Kitty."
Kitty raised her eyes at Marley's voice, an eyebrow raised. "Yes?"
"Yours… yours came out as positive."
Kitty groaned, standing up. "Then it's either faulty or you're trying way too hard to get me to come and take a look, but whatever, I'll look." She marched over to the desk, picking up her test and the instructions.
It took her a few tries to finish reading what it said. "'Pregnant, 1-2'?" She murmured. "That's not… that's impossible."
The rest of the girls looked at her, stunned. "When… when was the last time you and Ryder…" Marley asked softly.
"Uh… last night?" The words felt like ghosts on her lips. "I mean… we do it a lot."
"Were you ever unsafe?"
"No. I'm on the pill."
There was a silence as all four girls mulled this over.
"Holy crap." Tina was the first to talk. "You're pregnant."
"That's not necessarily true." Marley turned to her. "There could be other stuff tipping the test, like… stress? Have you skipped a period?"
Kitty frowned, thinking. "Well… I'm actually a couple of days late. Nothing serious, and I didn't think anything of it… but I am."
"Oh my glorious God in Heaven." Unique muttered.
"Look, it's probably nothing, so let's not freak out." Kitty took a step back, her hands outstretched. "I mean, it's just a test."
"That's 99% accurate." Unique finished, looking expectant.
"Maybe I'm the 1%!" Kitty exclaimed, taking a step back. "I mean, come on, how many women are actually pregnant when they get a positive reading?"
"Apparently ninety-nine out of a hundred." Marley replied, picking up the text box and examining it.
"But.." Kitty seemed lost for words. "But I can't be pregnant. I mean… it's impossible. I'm still in college, I'm not married, how could I be…" She trailed off, leaning against the table and rubbing her forehead.
Marley gave her a small, empathetic smile, moving to slide an arm around the blonde girl's waist, holding her close in a hug. "Look, the best thing you can do right now is go see a doctor. If you're not pregnant, it's no big deal. If you are, you'll deal with it and we'll help you out." Tina and Unique nodded, awkwardly patting her arms and holding her hands, something Kitty hated but didn't have the mind to voice at that moment.
Kitty leaned against Marley's shoulder and thought about the words. Yeah. A doctor's visit would put Clear Blue out of business. She was pregnant? Bullshit. She was just having a bad day, she was stressed, it was stress hormones that were making her late and changing the test. It wasn't impossible, there were finals that she was worried about. Yeah, that's what she'd do. Go to the doctor and get this whole nightmare sorted out.