Hi Everyone! Sorry for being so... dead lately. As I have told most of you who have been PM to me, I'm just so busy... I haven't been feeling well either.

Well this is a dedication to Wendy, who has been going through a rough time. I posted this in Periosha's review, but I am thinking of maybe dedicating this story to her. (making into a story) We love you Wendy, and we pray for the best! Thanks for getting an account; I just call you Wendy as a habit. c:

In case it's confusing, Eleanor is kind of me, since I have to make it related to AATC.

Wendy had been one of my best friends for as long as I can remember. That's why I knew when she called me at my house, having the worst week of my life, that something was wrong even before she said it. Just by her voice on the other end of the line. I knew.

"It's Jake," she said quietly. Her words crackled over the distance. "Jake..."

"What about him?" Miss Miller shifted impatiently beside me. I wasn't supposed to get phone calls. I was supposed to be in bed, waiting for morning to come the next day.

Wendy sighed, shakily. Something was up. "What about him?" Miss Miller rolled her eyes this time, thinking, I was sure, this was no emergency.

"He's badly hurt." Wendy's voice was so soft, barely audiable. I heard muffled shuffling in the background.

"How hurt?" I said. Miss Miller looked up, suddenly concerned, and I turned away. "How did he get hurt?"

"Motorcycle accident. This afternoon after football practice. He got hit by a car." More shuffling, and I remembered Kelly was living with her now.

"He was hit," I repeated, and the room seemed very small, suddenly, cramped, and as Miss Miller put her arm around me, I didn't shake her off. I pictured Wendy lying on her bed, her thick brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, the phone tucked between her ear and her trembling hands. "Oh my God."

"I know..." Wendy said. "I know."

We sat there on the line for what seemed like the longest time, the buzzing in the background only sound. I wanted to crawl through the phone right then, popping out on the other side of her room, beside her.

"Eleanor?" she said, quietly, suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Can you come here?"

I looked out the window at the dark, and the faint streetlights glowing, the moonlight shimmering off them.

"Ellie?" she said again.

"Hold on," I said to her in that bright room, the night it began. "I'm coming."

Wendy was sitting on her front steps when I pulled up. It was already dark, all the lights were on in the houses, all up and down the street, people out walking with their dogs or children. Someone a few streets over was barbecuing, the smell mingling in the air with cut grass and recent rain.

Now I just walked over to her in the darkness, aware of only the sound of my own footfalls and the air conditioner humming softly under the side window.

"Hey," I said, and she scooted over to the side to make room for me. "How's it going?"

It seemed like the stupidest thing to ask once I'd said it, but there weren't really any right words. I looked over at her as she sat beside me, barefoot, her hair pulled away from her face in that loose ponytail. She'd been crying.

I reached over and pulled her towards me, wrapping my arms around her, and held her close. We sat there for a long time, Wendy and me, with her house looming over us and mine so far in the distance. I sat there with her, feeling her thin shoulders under my hands. I had no idea what to do or say or what came next. All I knew was that she needed me and I was there. And for now, that was the best I could do.

...

"I need you," Wendy called to me once I got back from school. "Come into my bathroomoom!"

"What?" I said, hurrying up the long stairway that stood in front of me. Once I got into her bathroom, she was standing over the sink, arms crossed over her chest. "Whats wrong?" I said.

She just shook her head.

"What is it?"

She reached behind a tissue box and pulled out a small white stick-shaped object with a little circle on the end of it. As she held it out, I saw that the little circle was a bright pink cross. Then, all at once, it hit me. "No way."

She nodded and bit her lip. "I'm pregnant."

"You can't be..."

"I am," she shook the stick in front of me, yhe plus sign blurring. "Look!"

"Those things are always wrong," I said. Like I knew.

"It's the third one I've taken. Nothing is wrong three times, Eleanor!"

Wendy began pacing nervously, stray strands of hair stuck out from her ponytail. "What am I going to do? I only had sex one time."

"You had sex? You never told me! Why didn't you tell me?"

She sighed loudly. "Gosh, Ellie, I don't know! Maybe it was because he DIED a few days later!"

"Oh my gosh..." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"This is crazy." she pressed her trembling hands to her forehead. "I can't have a baby, Eleanor!"

"Are you going to get an abortion?" why couldn't anything better come out? Something that would make this all better. Nothing came.

"I... I don't know! Please, I don't know!" she cried, and tears started cascading down her thin face, running down to her pointed chin.

"It'll be okay." I said in my most confident voice. "You can handle this."

"Oh, Ellie," she said softly, leaning against me. "I miss him. I miss him so much."

"I know," I said, and I knew I had to hold us together; my turn to see us through. "Everything will be fine."

Sorry for such short chapter. I'm in a hurry right now. :D

Hope you liked it, R&R!

P.S. Send special prayers for a friend of mine; Chipmunkfan19. He is in a coma right now; more details in something he posted. God help him... TvT

And for those who are waiting for my story Beautiful Mask... I'm working on it, I'm just so busy!

-Simkaye out!