Chapter 1

"Wait a minute…" Baron, a muscular boy with purplish hair, slid closer to the red-head girl. "Are you serious?" he asked, looking for any signs of a lie in the girl's blue eyes.

"Yes." she answered with a sigh, grabbing the coffee on the table next to them and taking a little sip. She glanced back over at her best friend and winced at his reaction.

"Awww! I'm so excited!" he cheered, jumping randomly and hugged the girl's stomach. "Can I be Uncle Baron? Pleaseee, Mira?"

"Get off!" she huffed, but the boy didn't move, cuddling with her stomach still and talking to it. People were staring at them strangely. "…If I say you can, will you let go?" he nodded his head vigorously and she just sighed as a form of defeat. He let go of her and went back to grab his own coffee.

"Wait.. So how did your dad and brother react?" Baron questioned. Mira just sadly looked at the table where her hands were clasped.

"They kicked me out…" she mumbled.

"WHAT?" this caught the whole café staring now at the two.

"Baron!" Mira hissed and people turned back to what they were doing. "Be quiet!" she scolded. "Yes, they did. I didn't want to live there anyway…"

"Where are you staying?" Baron asked, looking sadly at her.

"This guy I work with offered a place for me to stay in exchange for onion rings." Baron just nodded, but after a moment just gave her a blank stare.

"…Wait… there were too many things wrong with that sentence." he said. "First of all, why would you room with a guy from your work that you barely even know? Second of all, why onion rings?"

"Well, first of all, he's from around here and I know his mom, so its cool." she said, laughing at the expression on Baron face that was unconvinced. "Second of all, he got banded from Burger King for life and he's addicted to onion rings."

"Ohh… kay." Baron said, leaning back and still trying to comprehend his friends thinking. "Has getting pregnant messed with your brain?"

"BARON!"

After the two best friends left the café, they went back to Baron's house, where Baron explained to his parents the situation. Mira loved Baron's parents because as she got older they were the parents that were there for her after her mother died. She respected them a lot and when her dad and her got into a lot of fights, she would always end up at their house having dinner with them. Being the laid-back people they were, they were finally convinced with Mira could handle the situation. With hard work, and getting through school, she could make this having-a-baby-thing work.

The whole family sat down for dinner and Mira loved this time of day. She always laughed when she watched the whole family wrestling for what they wanted on the table and Mrs. Leltoy would scold them. They whole dinner was always so much fun, and never a dull moment. When the younger kids went off to clean the kitchen, Mr. and Mrs. Leltoy, Mira, and Baron stayed at the table to continue talking.

"I know it may be against your morals, Mira, but do you really think it's a great idea to have a baby this early in life?" Mrs. Leltoy asked the red-head.

"I don't want to give this up.. I mean, this is the first time I… you know." she blushed, not wanting to talk about her first time having sex. "And I really just don't want to give up a life." Mrs. Leltoy nodded.

"I completely understand, Mira, and if you ever need anything, just let us know." she said smiling warmly at the teenager. She turned to Baron. "And you, keep an eye on her!"

"She's my best friend, mom!" Baron whined. "Of course I have her back!"

After hanging out a little bit at Baron's house, and getting a LOT of tips on pregnancy from Mrs. Leltoy, Mira left the household to walk to the apartment a few blocks away. She didn't know if her roomate would be home, but thankfully he gave her a key.

Mira met her roommate, Shadow, at her work place when she started two years ago at the age of 15. Shadow was older, and goofy, but he always was caring to Mira when he thought no one was looking. His girlfriend, Mylene, often stayed with Shadow, but had her own apartment on the other side of town.

Mira walked into the apartment and saw the couple sitting on the couch, both playing some racing video game. Mylene paused the game and looked up to Mira.

"Hey, Mira. How did Baron take the news?" the older woman asked. Shadow complained in the background.

"Mylene! Un-pause the game!" he whined.

"No!" she smacked him on the head with her remote control. "I want to talk to Mira quick."

"It's just Mira!" he whined, and rolled off the couch, defeated. Mylene got off the couch, rolling her eyes.

"Let's go in the kitchen." Mylene said, and Mira nodded. Shadow shouted from the floor: "Hey, where do you think you two are going? I'LL KILL YOU!" but the two girls just simply ignored him.

Mira explained to the older woman about what happened at Baron's house, and about her getting kicked out of her house that morning. Mylene just gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"It'll be better, kid. Stay with Shadow as long as you can because you won't get a gig like this anywhere else." Mylene advised. "You save up your money while Shadow takes care of food and rent. He definitely has enough saved up but he's cheap."

"I can hear you." Shadow grumbled walking into the kitchen. Mira, for the first time, noticed that he was only wearing boxers. She made a choking noise, getting Mylene's attention.

"Shadow, would it kill you to be decent now that Mira's here? She doesn't want to be scarred for life." Mylene scowled. Shadow glared at his girlfriend from where he was looking through the refrigerator.

"I don't care! This is my house! Besides, the brat has seen a naked man before, right?"

"Shadow!" Mylene snarled as Shadow laughed like a mad man and stuck out his tongue. "Don't let him push you around, either. And make him put on clothes." Mira just nodded while laughing nervously.

After hanging with Mylene and Shadow for a little bit, Mira went into the quest bedroom, now her bedroom and thought about what happened that day. She had lost, but gained so much.

She shed a few tears before for drifted to sleep.

The next morning was filled with working on moving Mira into Shadow's apartment. Mylene stuck around a little bit that morning to make breakfast and help out but then she left for work. Mira and Shadow worked on organizing the girl's new room and Baron came over to help as well. After the three were finished with all the moving, Shadow went to work while Mira and Baron decided to do some research on pregnancy.

"You can't sleep on your stomach." informed Baron from behind Mira's laptop. Mira was folding some clothes while the boy was researching pregnancy. "And you can't eat a lot of fish. Well, that won't be a problem for you." Mira just laughed and listened to Baron's lecture from an article he was reading.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you are more excited for this kid then I am." she giggled. Baron blushed and grumbled under his breath.

"But I have so many younger siblings. I'm used to taking care of kids." he protested. "And you know I want to become a teacher when I get older." Mira just smiled at her sensitive best friend. There was a comforting silence for a while, with Baron reading off little facts and Mira organizing her room a little more. When Baron looked up suddenly at his best friend.

"Who's the father?" he asked suddenly. The red head froze where she sat. "Come on, tell me!" Baron whined.

"I don't think I can." Mira sighed. "It might cause some problems if he ever figured it out."

"So you're not even going to tell him?" Mira just shook her head no.

"Tell you what. He's from our school, so why don't you guess who it is. He'll probably be acting weird around me anyway." Mira stated. Baron was silent for a moment, then she looked up to see her best friends reaction. His eyes were sparkling which made her sweat drop.

"It'll be like a game! Oh, how fun!" Baron cheered. Mira deadpanned at this statement. Typical Baron.

"Yes, Baron… just like a game."

Oh, what she got herself into.

The next day, the weekend was over for Mira and Baron. The two sat in the back of Shadow's black pickup truck feeling slightly sick from the older man's crazy driving.

"I'm-gonna-puke." Mira spilt out, looking green. Baron looked frantically around the car. "Shadow! Slow down! We got a Prego-lady back here!"

"Right, sorry, Prego." Shadow slowed down to a stop at the school's entrance. Mira climbed out of the car and the color came back to her face. She glared at her two companions.

"What? I just saved your life!" Baron asked. Mira just continued to glare at him.

"Yeah, by calling me Prego!" Mira hissed, dragging him by the ear away from the truck.

"Have a good day at school, kiddies!" Shadow laughed like a maniac and drove off with his tires screeching. Baron watched this and turned to his friend, sweat dropping.

"And you say that he's perfectly fine to live with?"

"He's fine." Mira snapped as she composed herself and walked towards the school. Usually, Mira and Baron would meet at the corner between their two houses and walk to school from there, but thankfully Baron's walk to Shadow's house was closer and the man offered to give them a ride to school that day. When they got to school, Mira would usually hang out by the tree near the basketball courts, and watch Baron and the other players practice.

Mira settled by her favorite tree and sat down. She pulled out her notebook and studied for a little while, until the team jogged out onto the court a few minutes later, all joking around about something. Baron waved to her before the team started doing drills. Mira watched all of them closely everyday, and basically knew who they all were. There was a boy named Rafe who played on the team, with an average height and very cute face. Also, there was a boy named Shun who she had a few classes with. He was quiet, but popular with the ladies.

Next, there was a boy named Jake who was on the basketball team but also on the football team. There was also a boy named Ace who was extremely good at the sport. The captain of the team was always the one everyone wanted to talk to and was also very good at the sport. His name was Dan, and Mira felt butterflies every time she saw him play. He was the most popular guy in school, and had many girls on his trail though to be his girlfriend, so Mira never really tried.

Mira wasn't exactly the most popular person in school, she just kept to herself and her close friends and that never really bothered her. Sometimes she wished she could be like the popular Julie or Runo, but that was only sometimes.

"Alright, guys! Who wants some water?" Marucho called out, the team's waterboy. Everyone also loved Marucho, for he was the smartest kid in school with the best strategies for basketball. He was also best friends with Dan. The team all crowded around chatting with each other and with Marucho. Mira checked her watch. It was five minutes before the first bell rang! The team was really cutting it close. But they didn't seem to notice that they were going to be late for class, and were all in a deep conversation about some basketball game. Mira walked over to the group, catching their attention.

"You guys are really cutting it close today." she said, gesturing towards her watch. The whole team seemed to have the same reaction. They all looking at her confused, glanced at the clock nearby, and ran for the locker rooms, cursing. Mira just chuckled and asked Marucho if he needed any help cleaning up.

It was a good thing that Mira came over to the team to tell them the time, the team was rushing in the locker room to change.

"I forgot to do my homework!" Jake cried, making Baron laugh. He threw on his shirt and then realized he probably needed deodorant.

"Baron, it's that girl your friend Mira?" Rafe asked curiously. Baron found Rafe's sudden interest in Mira strange.

"Yeah, she watches us practice every morning." Baron answered, and realized the rest of the team was listening in. When he gave them a questioning look, they went back to changing.

"Mira's nice." Shun continued, shocking Baron. "I'm surprised none of you have tried to make friends with her yet. Well, besides Baron."

"She always has been interesting, and obviously into basketball." said Ace, shocking Baron even more.

Marucho then yelled into the locker room that they should hurry up, and the team bid each other good bye and went to their first classes.

Baron was very confused. The baby's father could have been anyone of his teammates! He had no idea the subject hit so close to home! He went to his first class, ready to question Mira.

"Is he on the basketball team?"

Mira coughed loudly at the sudden question.

"DOES THAT MEAN I'M GETTING WARMER?"

"BARON!" the class looked over questioningly at the two, but continued with their projects, the teacher looking sternly at them. "You'll have to figure it out yourself." Mira finally answered. "Maybe, maybe not."

Baron began to go deep in thought. If he questioned more of his teammates about Mira, he would figure it out soon! Mira wasn't going to give him any hints.

"I didn't know you and Shun had classes together." Baron decided to change the subject. Mira was slightly surprised, but continued her work.

"Yeah, we have history and English so sometimes we get paired up." Mira explained. "And he was also on the swim team, remember?" she sighed.

Baron frowned as the girl mentioned the swim team. She used to be the team's fastest racer, but now with the baby, the swim team would have to give her up this year.

"Maybe you could join some other club." Baron suggested to Mira randomly.

"Like what?" the two sat in silence for a moment, thinking about it. Mira sighed. "I can't do a club. I have to find another job."

"You can't juggle two jobs, school, and being pregnant!" Baron hissed. "Just do a club, it could help you get a scholarship."

"Like I'm really going to college with a kid." Mira sighed.

"It's possible." Baron shrugged. "You could give the baby to Mylene on days. She doesn't show it, but I can tell she's thrilled about the whole thing."

"I'll think about it when I get there." Mira sighed.

When lunch came around, Mira was so excited, she couldn't think about anything else. She was having trouble listening to Baron.

"Can you hear me?" she snapped out of it.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to figure out what sandwich I want…" Baron sweat dropped.

The two made their way to their normal lunch table where Fabia, Paige, and Lync waited for them.

"Wow. You must be hungry." Fabia pointed out to Mira, who's plate was full to the top. Mira just shrugged and sat down, staring at her food happily.

"She's a little." Baron sweat dropped. "What's up, guys?"

"We were just talking about the field trip coming up next week." answered Paige, showing Baron a paper with the information. "Apparently the school got this random rich dude to send them a bunch of money so they want to give us a trip."

"Sweeeet! I'm so excited!" Baron cheered, making the group sweat drop.

"Of course he would flip out over a field trip." Lync rolled his eyes. "How second grade can you get…"

"What'd you say, pinky?" Baron challenged back, swinging his fist around in anger.

"Oh, you say my hair's bad when yours is purple!"

"Cool your jets, guys!" Fabia grumbled, giving the boys little effect on stopping the fight. Paige eat her food happily, silently cheering them on.

"God, shut up!" Mira said loudly after a few minutes, startling them all. She was watching her food, though. "I'm trying to figure out which one I want next." she indicated toward her food, then glanced at Baron's plate. "….Can I have that?"

"What, is she being starved or something?" Paige whispered loudly to the rest of them.

"Well, she's always looked a bit skinny, I've always said it." Fabia said sternly.

"No, she's alright." Baron assured them. "I don't think she had breakfast this morning."

"I didn't either and you don't see me eating a whole horse." Fabia frowned.

"I'm hungry, guys. Not deaf."

When Mira got into English class, they were partnered up into groups again. Shun always asked Mira if she wanted to be his partner so she never complained since they always got the highest grades and socializing with him wasn't a main concern. They were working on a book when Shun suddenly studied her. She raised her eye brows at this and returned the gaze.

"Is there something that happened?" he asked quietly. His voice was so low and smooth. Mira was a little surprised it was him that spoke, at first, but she shook her head anyway. He just studied her again, and went back to work. Mira felt a tight knot in her stomach from the conversation, but continued her work in silence.

When classes ended, the two decided to walk around the school and see what clubs were being held during the time. They walked over to a classroom when they heard music.

"Band?" Baron suggested as they looked into the window to the band room. Mira imagined herself playing a trombone with a pregnant belly. She sweat dropped.

"I guess that's a no." The two continued on. The walked through the different hallways and saw chess club, French club, and even art club, but Mira didn't think she was fit for any of these clubs. They were about to give up when they heard shouting down the history hallway and went to investigate.

They glanced into one of the history rooms and saw that they were holding a debate. One person was shouting passionately while the other was watching the opponent with anger. Mira's eyes sparkled when she watched them.

"So, uhh. I guess you like debate club?" Baron questioned her. She only nodded in response.

Hours later, Mira collapsed onto her bed, exhausted from work and school. She had just completed her homework and was finally free to fall asleep. She felt her eyes getting heavy when she suddenly felt her stomach going nauseous. Her eyes snapped open and she bolted to the bathroom out in the hallway, getting curious looks from Shadow. She then proceeded to throw up. This all really bothered her.

"Are you okay?" Shadow called from the bathroom door, startling Mira. She reassured him that it would pass, but twenty minutes later, she was still in the bathroom. She quickly called up Baron.

"Hello?" Baron answered groggily.

"I've been throwing up for twenty minutes. Did something happen? Did the baby DIE?" Mira asked desperately. Baron yawned from the other end.

"No, Mira. You have morning sickness. Well, in your case, night sickness. Perfectly normal. Good night." and Baron hung up the phone.

"Oh thanks for caring." Mira grumbled and slammed her phone shut on the other line. An hour later Mira was in her bed, way more exhausted then she ever thought possible.

That's the end of chapter one!

Who do you think the father is?

Review, Please!