"I'm— I'm pregnant."
Tyler sat there, dumbfounded. "You could say something, y'know." Caroline shifted in her seat, growing uncomfortable. "What do you expect me to say, Caroline?!" He started to stand up, Caroline followed. "You could say that you love me. Tell me everything is gonna be okay... Or that we'll get through this–" She reached for his hand but he pulled back.
"Together?!" A cynical laugh escaped his lips and Tyler shook his head. "You think I'm just going to drop everything to help you with that– that thing?!" He pointed to her stomach.
"I– I just–" She stuttered trying to get her words out. "You know what? It's probably not even mine. Everyone knows you're a slut." He pushed her shoulder with two fingers, accusingly. Tears were on the verge of spilling from her eyes. She froze in disbelief of what was coming out of her boyfriend's mouth.
"You don't mean that." She was more trying to convince herself than anyone else. "Please, can we... Can we just talk about this? I know that you're scared. You don't think this is scary for me too?" She was gripping tight to the end of her shirt, something she always did when she was nervous. He laughed, grabbing her wrists and yanking her closer, "Caroline, I don't think you understood me clearly. Do what you what with that thing. But I want nothing to do with it. Or you." His grip tightened as she wriggled her wrists trying to free herself from his hold. "Tyler stop, you're hurting me." She sobbed.
"Let go of her!" Caroline and Tyler turned to see Elena walking towards them. "I said let go." Elena gritted her teeth as Tyler let his grip loose. "There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from her or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her."
"C'mon, Care." Elena put her arm around Caroline's waist ushering her away from Tyler.
They stopped in an empty hallway inside of the school. Elena could almost feel the blondes panic set in. Caroline's breath's were uneven and shaky. She might always look put together on the outside but on the inside she was breaking and Elena knew it.
"Care? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She knew it was a lie, they both did. "No... Caroline. You aren't, you're shaking."
"I'm– I'm fine." A tear ran down her cheek and Elena stopped her, pulling her into a hug. "I'm fine." She repeated, this time allowing herself to relax into Elena. Elena pulled her in closer, trying to hug all of her broken pieces back together.
They pulled apart, though Caroline was still close enough to feel Elena's every breath on her skin. Their gazes melted into each other. Elena's eyes lingered on Caroline's lips but only for a moment.
Caroline could feel herself blush. She smiled, wiping a tear from her own cheek. "I'm a mess." she giggled. "I think you look beautiful." Elena tucked a strand of stray hair behind Caroline's ear.
Dismay washed over the blondes face. Elena's forehead creased worried that she had said or done the wrong thing. "Caroline? What's wrong?" Elena placed her hand onto Caroline's upper arm for support. "Nothing, it's just I—" Caroline gagged putting a hand to her mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick." She sprinted to the nearest restroom, Elena following quickly behind her.
—
Caroline groaned, wiping her face. She was leaning over the toilet for what felt like the one hundredth time that morning. It had been two days since the hell that is morning sickness had begun. Being Tuesday, she had already missed one day of school and wasn't planning on missing another. She couldn't risk her Mom finding out. Just get up and deal with it. You can do this, Caroline, she thought.
She pulled herself up and moped over to her phone to text Elena and ask her for a ride. If she was gonna do this, she couldn't drive herself. She might be head strong but she wasn't stupid. This was going to be her trial day, considering she could puke at any moment.
She was avoiding changing out of her pajamas just yet when her phone buzzed.
E: Care, are you crazy?! You can't go to school. I just saw you yesterday and you looked just as bad as Sunday.
Caroline threw her head back "Ugh!". Elena was right but that wasn't going to stop her.
C: Please? I'm feeling much better now, trust me. 3
E: Fine. You win. I'm on my way.
Caroline looked down at her phone and smiled in victory. That is until her smile was replaced with another look that she had come to know all too well when her hand covered her mouth once more. Seriously? Again?!
—
It was 9:00 am, only an hour after she had texted Elena. Somehow within that hour, she managed to pull herself together and get ready for school with out puking.
She was rummaging through the medicine cabinet looking for anti-nausea pills when she heard Elena's car pull up in the drive way.
Elena honked the horn as she grabbed the whole container of pills and her water bottle, throwing her book bag over her shoulder, walking out the door.
Caroline climbed into the passenger seat. "Hey, feeling better?" Elena flashed a smile at her.
"I will be once I take these pills."
Caroline struggled to open the the pill bottle. "Woah, woah, woah. Pills? Caroline let me see those." Elena took the bottle from Caroline's hand. "Yeah, no. You can't take these, Care."
"What why? Don't be silly, Elena. Now's really not the time. I've already puked up all of my insides. I just have to make it through-" Her sentence was cut off my a gag and she closed her eyes trying to think of anything but puking all over Elena's clean car.
"Care, it says it right here, pregnant women should not take." Elena pointed her finger at the labeling on the back. "It could be bad for the baby."
She let out a sharp breath. "Well, what do you suggest I do, Elena?" Her eyes were tearing up. Partly because she'd been throwing up for two days now and those damn pills were the only solution she could think of and partly because her hormones were out of wack and even the most random thing could make her burst into a fit of laughter or tears. Sometimes both.
"Remember yesterday when I told you that you need to go see a doctor and you said that you don't need to yet and you're fine?" Caroline nodded. "Elena, what does this have to do with anyth–"
"I might have called the doctors office yesterday and scheduled you an appointment after I took you home. Please don't be mad. It's for you and your baby's own good." Elena exhaled deeply, her shoulders relaxing after tensing up while she blurted out everything she had done.
"You what?! Elena, are you insane?! The whole town is gonna know now. My mom is gonna know. She's the sheriff for God's sake! I'm not going. I can't." Caroline's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Elena took her hand. Her touch was enough to calm her down. "Look at me." Caroline looked up and their eyes locked. "It's okay. Okay? It's all gonna work out. Sure you might be young and this definitely wasn't planned. Tyler is an ass, and there will be people that are going to judge you. But there are worse things that could be happening, Caroline. And you still have me. Always. I have faith in you, Care and I know you're going to be an amazing mom. This is just the first step. So, please. Please, don't miss this appointment, okay? You trust me right?" Elena rubbed her thumb across Caroline's hand.
"Of course. Of course, I trust you." Caroline squeezed her hand and giggled through tears.
"When's the appointment?"
