CHAPTER THREE

November 24th

13 weeks

"Oh my god," Cat whined as she walked out of her bedroom. "April!"

"What..." April said with an annoyed tone.

Cat walked to the next room and lifted her shirt up. "Am I fat?"

"Yes."

"April!"

April growled and took lifted her head up from her pillow, looking at Cat. "You're not fat. You're pregnant."

"But I'm starting to show," she said letting her shirt fall and sitting on her sister's bed.

"I didn't invite you to stay in here."

"I need someone to talk to, I'm getting nervous."

"You're always nervous, Catey. It's nothing new."

"But now I'm getting even more nervous. People are going to find out. By the time we go back to school, I'm gonna be all the way out to Florida."

"I wouldn't say Florida," April said, turning over from her stomach to her back before sitting up. "I'd say out to Nebraska at best."

"April!"

"What! I'm trying to be funny here, it's not my fault you take everything so personally," she said, getting out of bed. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

"You woke me up at eight in the morning?"

"Mom would have woken us up in a little bit anyways. She's making us help with dinner since everyone's coming over this year."

"Why are we having people over?"

"It's Thanksgiving."

"Oh, shit!" April said, running to her closet.

"What?"

"I was supposed to go out with Ryan tonight!"

"Mom's not gonna let you go."

April groaned as she grabbed a calendar from a shelf and walked back to her bed, plopping next to Cat and opening it. "Right here - date with Ryan at six."

Cat pointed to something. "Right here - November 24th, Thanksgiving. I dunno how you function sometimes."

"I function just fine, thank you very much Miss I See Rainbow Colored Zebras When I Eat Jade's Brownies."

"I only did that once," Cat muttered.

"Out of both of us, I can guarantee everyone thinks I'm the pothead, but wouldn't they be deceived if they found out it was sweet, innocent, precious baby Catey who eats the green-filled brownies... and has a bun in the oven."

"Can you stop reminding me that I'm having a baby? I think about it enough on my own."

"You know you have to tell them tonight, right?"

"Tell who what?"

"Grandma and Grandpa. Nonna. Aunt Trish, Kelly, Uncle Allen, Uncle Mike. About the baby."

"No I don't. They don't need to know."

"They're kinda gonna find out eventually. You have to tell Nonna, you can't just keep something like that from her."

"No! Nonna always says how responsible I am, I can't tell her about the baby!"

"You can't keep it a secret forever. That baby's gonna grow, which means your stomach is going to grow, and it's gonna be as round as a beach ball. Then, that beach ball shaped baby is going to come out of your vagina and -"

"I know where it's gonna come out, I took health class," she muttered.

"And then bam, Baby Valentine is in the world's existence and there's no way in Hell you can say she's not yours because everybody's gonna remember you being pregnant."

"Why would I say it's not mine? And why do you assume it's a girl? What if it's a boy?"

"Well, it's a good thing you get to find out the sex in a couple months."

"I don't need to find out 'the sex', sex is how I ended up in this situation."

April rolled her eyes, closing them for a second. "I mean the gender, dumb ass," she said, throwing the calendar behind her on the bed and going back to her closet. "Help me pick something out for my date."

"Mom's not gonna let you go on a date when we have family coming over and you know it. And I'm not letting you leave me all alone with all those people and Chris. If you're not here then I'm the only one sitting next to him, and he always -"

A loud noise interrupted her and she gasped as she got up and rushed into the hallway, April following quickly behind. As they looked over the banister, they saw their older brother Chris land at the bottom of the stairs and the stand up and kick the bottom step.

"Stop pushing me!" Chris shouted.

"They didn't push you, you fell," April said.

"No, they're always pushing me! They're mean!"

"You're a klutz."

"They hurt me!"

"It's your fault, start watching what you're doing."

"They pushed me! They always push me! It's their fault!"

"Whatever, psycho," April said before walking back into her room.

Chris let out an angry growl and slammed his head against the wall, causing Cat to gasp and make her way downstairs, pulling him away from the wall.

"Stop!" Cat said, wincing at the blood on her brother's forehead. "You're hurting yourself, just calm down!"

"The stairs pushed me!" Chris said.

"I know. They shouldn't have done that, that was a really mean thing to do, but you can't take it out on the wall or your head, you're going to hurt yourself, Chris," she said, pulling him into the kitchen.

"Christopher," Tara said. "Did you put a hole in my wall?"

"No he didn't."

"The stairs pushed me," Chris said as Cat made him sit in a chair.

"I'm sorry they did that, but I don't want you hitting anything or anybody," Tara said. "Here, clean him up while I finish breakfast," she said, throwing a hand towel to Cat.

Cat walked to the sink and got a corner of the towel wet before walking to Chris again and dabbing his head. "What are you making?" she asked.

"Eggs, pancakes, toast, sausage, bacon."

"Eggs are evil," Chris said.

"Why is that?"

"They're devils."

Cat giggled. "That's deviled eggs, silly. Not all eggs."

"What's wrong with your stomach?" Chris asked, poking at it.

Cat placed a hand over her stomach. "Don't poke it."

"What's wrong with your stomach?" he repeated.

"There's a baby in her stomach," Tara said.

"A baby?"

"Yes."

"Why did you eat a baby?"

Cat smiled. "I didn't eat it, silly. It grew in there."

"Well get it out, it's probably cramped up."

"It's not big enough to come out yet. It has to stay in there for a while," Cat said as she finished cleaning up his forehead. "All done, Chris. You want a band-aid?"

"No," Chris said before getting up and walking out of the kitchen.

Cat walked to the bathroom and tossed the hand towel in a hamper before walking back into the kitchen. The second she walked in, the smell of the food Tara was cooking hit her right in the face, which made her stomach turn immediately, resulting in her unexpectedly vomiting on the floor.

Tara turned around and rushed to her side, pulling her hair out of her face and rubbing her back. "April! I need you downstairs immediately!"

"Coming," April called out. As soon as she got to the kitchen, she scrunched her nose. "I'm not cleaning up after her, puke is not my territory."

"I need you to finish breakfast, I've got her covered," she said as Cat finally stopped gagging and took a deep breath from the lack of oxygen she was getting. "Are you okay, honey?"

"I'm not done," Cat said quickly before running out of the kitchen.

"When's the morning sickness gonna go away?" April asked as she manned the food at the stove.

"It should stop in a couple weeks," Tara said, walking towards the basement door. She returned a few seconds later with some dingy towels and a mop and bucket. "I wish it wasn't so violent on her. Poor kid's miserable."

"She did it to herself."

"Yeah. I know. She knows. You keep reminding her," she said as she spread the towels out on the floor to cover up the sick mess.

"Well..."

"Well, nothing. I want you to stop throwing it in her face that she got herself pregnant. You wouldn't appreciate it if she did it to you had you been the one in her situation."

"Damn good thing I'm smart enough to use condoms when I have sex then, right?"

"April Celine, one more negative comment out of your mouth about your sister's pregnancy and you will be grounded for the rest of her pregnancy."

"So, you're punishing me because my sister's the one that got knocked up? That's fair."

"You're being rude about it. Need I remind you about the scare you had earlier this summer?"

April rolled her eyes. "No..."

"Then leave Cat alone about the baby. She'd probably appreciate it if her sister was supportive, you know."

"I'm supportive. I hold her hair back when she throws up - she threw up on me the other day and I didn't punch her in the face, you have no idea how much willpower I needed to keep myself from smacking the shit out of her for that."

"I mean with your words, April. It'd probably be nice for her to hear some encouraging words from her own flesh and blood. The one that shared a womb with her for nine months."

"I'm the big sister, I'm supposed to be mean."

"You're younger than her by seven minutes."

"I am not! You said Twin B came out first."

"Cat was Twin B."

"I've been going all these years thinking I was the older one."

"Why do you think we always have Cat go first during birthdays?"

"I thought that was just because she's a cry baby and feels left out if she has to go last."

"She's older."

"My entire life has been a lie."


"Oh, hello Robbie," Tara said as she opened the door. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight."

"Cat asked me to come over, is that okay?" Robbie asked.

"Absolutely, come on in," she said as she moved over, allowing the boy to walk through the door. "She hasn't been feeling well, so you guys find something calming to do that won't upset her stomach. She's been sick to her stomach a lot more today than normal."

"Is that okay? I mean, could something be wrong with the baby?"

"I wouldn't think so. There's been a lot of cooking today, so I'm sure the smell's just getting to her. She's in the living room watching a movie."

"Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving."

"Well thank you, happy Thanksgiving to you too," Tara said before making her way to the kitchen.

Robbie walked into the living room, expecting to see Cat in the recliner she was usually curled up in, but instead she was on the couch, asleep with her head in April's lap, who was stroking her hair. "Hey, April."

"Hi," April said. "Please come trade me spots, she's been asleep for an hour and I've had to pee for two."

Robbie laughed and carefully lifted Cat's upper body up, which immediately let April get up.

"Thanks, you're a bladder saver," she said before leaving the room.

Robbie laid Cat back down on the couch carefully before scooting her towards the edge. He slid his shoes off and carefully climbed over her legs, laying behind her and pulling her closer to him so she wouldn't fall off of the couch.

Cat stirred a little and stretched, letting out a small groan before she let out a breath and placed her hand over Robbie's, which was rested on her belly. "Robbie?"

"It's me," Robbie said, kissing her shoulder. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't."

"Do you wanna get up?"

"No. Just lay with me," she said, carefully turning over so she was face to face with him.

"Hey, beautiful."

Cat smiled. "Hi," she said, wrapping her arms around him.

"Your mom tells me you've been really sick today."

"Yeah. I threw up in the kitchen twice."

"Gross."

"The gross part was seeing full pieces of things I chewed up."

"Ew."

"I hate morning sickness. I wish it would just go away."

"Me too. I hate seeing you not feeling well."

"I hate not feeling well."

"How's the little one?" Robbie asked, running his hand over her stomach.

"Good, I guess."

"Any moving yet?"

"No. I won't feel anything for another couple months or so. Apparently the first baby is harder to feel, so it'll take longer."

"Are you getting nervous?"

"I was born nervous," she said with a small giggle.

Robbie chuckled and kissed her lips lightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"And I love you, little one," he said, tickling her stomach lightly. "How'd your Thanksgiving go? Other than throwing up."

"Not terrible. We told everyone about the baby. The only one that's being rude about it is Kelly. Apparently I'm unworthy and stupid. And April, but she's always mean, so that's nothing new."

"I'm not mean, I just tell the truth," April said, walking into the living room and sitting in the recliner Cat was usually in. "Kelly on the other had can suck a dick and get over it, it's not like it's her body getting ruined."

"Yeah well, it's bad enough having a cousin that was stupid enough to get pregnant," Kelly said, sitting on the arm of the recliner.

"I already beat myself up over it Kelly, I don't need you to add to it," Cat said.

"Maybe you should have thought before opening your legs. Are you the baby daddy?" she asked, looking at Robbie.

Robbie raised an eyebrow. "I'm also the boyfriend."

"You're stupid too."

"Don't judge me, you don't know me."

"I know you got my cousin knocked up, so you must lack some sort of intelligence."

"Shut up," Cat said. "If you're gonna be mean you can leave."

"And make a fuss? No thanks."

"Then shut up. I'm tired of hearing it. I messed up, I know that. We're dealing with it. It's not any of your business anyways, so get over it."

"If you weren't a slut it wouldn't have happened."

"Hey," April said, smacking Kelly's arm. "I'm the only one allowed to call her names, you keep your fat mouth shut."

"Tell me I'm lying."

"She's not a slut, idiot - Robbie's the only guy she's ever slept with, and they've only had sex, what - a handful of times?"

"Twice," Cat said.

"Twice. That's it. She's not a slut."

"She shouldn't even be having sex at her age," Kelly said.

"You're the same age bitch, shut up. And I'm having sex, am I a slut too?"

"No."

"So why is Catey? Cause she's pregnant? That's a stupid reason to call someone a slut."

"She could have kept her legs closed. That baby's gonna be retarded being born to such a young mother."

April let her arm swing out, her fist connecting with Kelly's nose and Cat and Robbie gasped as Kelly fell to the floor.

"What the hell!" Kelly shouted.

"Stop talking shit on them," April said. "It's one thing for me to give her a hard time, she's my sister. But you keep your fucking mouth shut."

"What is going on in here," Tara said as she and her sister Trish walked into the living room. "Kelly? What happened?"

"April punched me!" Kelly said, standing up.

"April Celine!"

"Don't get mad at her, Mom," Cat said, getting up from the couch. "Kelly was in here calling me a slut and she wouldn't stop. Then she said the baby was gonna end up retarded," she said before looking at Kelly. "We don't use the R word in this house."

"You should, since you are one," Kelly muttered.

"Kelly," Trish said. "April, I don't appreciate you using physical violence on my daughter, what's the matter with you?"

"She should have shut the fuck up when I told her to," April said.

"Not that I condone the hitting," Tara started, "but Kelly shouldn't have said anything about or to Cat."

"It's not my fault she was stupid," Kelly said.

Cat's face turned red. "Kelly had an abortion last month," she blurted out.

"What?" Tara and April mused.

"You little bitch, I told you that in confidence," Kelly said.

"Yeah well, you mess with the cat, you get the claws," Cat said. "If you're gonna talk bad about me, I'm gonna make sure everyone in this family knows you're not any better because you got pregnant too, and you're still a teenager too, so why are you acting like what I'm going through is so terrible? At least my baby's going to be happy and healthy and loved, unlike yours, which was unfairly killed because you didn't want to deal with your responsibilities. Don't talk shit about me when you're the one harboring secrets that even I'm ashamed of to be related to you," she said before pushing past everyone and leaving the room.

Robbie and April both stood up from the recliner and the couch.

"Talk shit about my sister again and you'll get more than just a bloody nose," April said. "If I hear from anybody that you're talking about her I will end you."

"That's enough, April," Trish said.

"You can shut the fuck up too, I saw your smirk when Cat said she was pregnant. Almost every woman in this fucking house was a teenager when they got knocked up the first time. Mom was Cat's age. You were only eighteen, Nonna was fifteen when she had Uncle Allen. Calling Cat a slut is the same thing as calling everybody else here a slut, because every woman here with the exception of myself and Grandma were teenagers when they had their first kids. I know I give Catey a hard time, but I'm her sister and I'm allowed to poke fun at her. But I'll be fucking damned if you stuck up bitches think that just because we share blood that you're family enough to be mean to her. I'm also the only one allowed to call Puppet Boy stupid. If you'll excuse me and the nerd, we're gonna go make sure Cat's okay," she said before grabbing Robbie's hand and leaving the room with him.