Chapter 1
David felt his phone buzz in his shirt pocket as he fastened the buttons. Pausing he pulled it from the pocket, smiling to see a message from Wes. His best friend. Wes. His best-friend who he had a crush on. Wes his best friend he had a crush on and had slept with at the good-bye celebration of Choir Camp. The same Wes who had no memory of whom he had slept with and David was too much of a coward to tell him. His grin faded slightly as he read the text.
'Feel like crap and just threw up, can u go to the store in your free period and pick up some Ginger Ale? Please. W.'
Concerned he typed back a worried 'sure,' and proceeded to get dressed.
There was no reply; he suspected Wes had fallen asleep. On the rare occasion Wes did fall ill he slept it off, whether it was flu or the time he'd had chickenpox in freshman year. He slept unless he had to eat, use the bathroom or shower.
Walking out of History after being dismissed David text Trent to let him know he couldn't make their revision session and headed towards his car. Pulling into the store parking lot he parked in the shade and went inside. Leaving with two cases of Ginger Ale- Because it never hurt to keep a stock of the stuff- and some DVDs he knew Wes loved for him to watch while he recovered. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep forever and a bored Wes was an irritated Wes.
Knocking on the Asian's dorm he entered, placing three bottles in the mini-fridge and one on his bedside table with a glass from the bathroom. Pouring some he woke the sleeping teen. "Wes, wake up buddy, hey, how you feeling?" He asked helping him sit and drink some of the soda.
"A little better. I might make afternoon class."
"Don't even think about it, you look awful. Rest, I picked up some movies for you, you want me to get your laptop?"
"Please."
"No work." David warned as he handed the boy the laptop and the DVDs he'd bought.
"Little Mermaid? Help I'm a Fish?"
"You said you loved them last time you stopped over and there weren't many other options. I'll check on you later, I have to go before I'm late."
"Thanks David."
"No problem Wes. I'm warning you, no work."
Wes managed to talk David into letting him have his dinner in the dining hall with everyone else at 5:30. David kept an eye on his friend but Wes seemed to have recovered. They said their 'goodnights' as David refused to let him near the chiorroom, the last thing they needed was for whatever Wes had to spread through the choir. Wes went to sleep positive he was fine, only to find himself kneeling on the cold bathroom tiles again the next morning.
After a week of persisting sickness Wes began to think back to what could've caused this. There had been that drunken hook-up at choir camp before the summer ended. They had used protection, hadn't they? Wes hoped the bastard hadn't given him an STD. But he'd need to be tested to be sure. Groaning he pulled his phone from the draw and arranged an appointment for the next day. Booking off his lessons which the nurse approved he drove himself to the clinic.
A sterile place with a distinct smell of disinfectant he hated even thinking about going to any kind of clinic. It was just embarrassing for him of all people to be getting tested for STDs of all things. Pulling his hood over his head and pushing his hands into his jean pockets he walked inside and signed in, taking the forms he was required to fill in. Handing them back in at the desk to took his seat and waited for them to call his name. His eyes traced the walls, examining the posters. HIV, AIDS, Chlamydia and so on. Then he saw something he'd seen on the news recently. 'The Gene.' A recent scientific discovery that 2% of the male population carried a male pregnancy gene. Wes shook that thought from his head. The odds of it being that of all things were... 1 in a billion. Or something like that.
His name was called. Abandoning his musings he heaved himself from his chair and moved to the examination room of the dr. The man was reading the forms Wes had filled in. "Mr. Montgomery, please take a seat. Just some quick questions. When was the last time you were active?"
"About a month ago." Wes said in a careful voice.
"Mmhmm, sexuality?"
"Excuse me?"
"It's just a formality; if you are gay we next ask what you did last."
"I bottomed. As far as I know, I was pretty wasted."
"Right, symptoms, sickness, tiredness, Are you a carrier?"
"A what?"
"Do you have The Gene?"
"I don't know, I never thought about it."
"A blood and water sample then. Blood first, how are you with blood?"
"I'm good. Go for it." Shrugging out of his jacket Wes held out his arm, he was no stranger to blood tests. He had been donating blood since he was old enough to have a say. After providing the necessary samples the Dr. Told Wes to come back in two hours for the results.
For Wes the two hours dragged on longer than required. Arriving back at the clinic he was sent straight into the other room again. "Take a seat Wes and we can discuss these results. First may I offer you and your partner congratulations."
"What?"
"It was positive, you are a carrier of the Gene and you are in fact pregnant."
"That isn't possible, no... I can't be."
"I take it this was unplanned." If looks could kill.
"I'm a senior in high school. What do you think?"
"Well, I would like to do an ultrasound before you leave," Wes was numb; he complied with everything and accepted a print out of the ultrasound. It wasn't until he was sat in the driver seat of his car that he broke down into a fit of sobs. He hadn't even told his parents he was gay, let alone he was now pregnant!
He was required to tell the school nurse and she and the Dr. would have contact throughout the pregnancy, should he continue. He had the option of termination but he -for some reason- could not bring himself to agree to it. The medic had smiled, saying he knew a caring heart when he saw one. What sucked was he had to quit the football team, martial arts and soccer teams. The Warblers he could continue, the blonde in New Direction's had managed when she was a sophomore so why couldn't he? The medic had written a letter to the school nurse so Wes didn't have to do any explaining. It rested in the envelope beside the ultrasound. Although initially undecided Wes' subconscious had already decided to keep the pregnancy then go from there. His mind had made the choice for him the second he saw the heart beating on the monitor.
Wes decided he didn't want to find the dad. If the guy hadn't come forward after that night Wes didn't care anymore. He would do this alone if he had to. He would eventually have to tell his parents but he decided he could hold that off. The Warblers, would eventually see something was happening to his body and they would eventually find out, but Wes decided he needed to tell someone, but whom?
