~Chapter 3~
Sam paced her room several times, her bladder about to bust. She tried everything to distract her from the pain her was feeling. "Ugh...Where is he?" she moaned. Where could he possibly be at 11:04 at night? She watched the last number of the clock change. Now it stared at her, it's glowing red eyes reading the altered time of 11:05. Night had fallen and he still wasn't back with the pregnancy tests. Could he have forgotten? True, he was a boy, but when your best friend might be expecting? C'mon!
"Sam, over here," a familiar male voice whispered, almost scaring the person to whom he talked.
The goth turned and saw Danny just resuming his human form. In his hands were two handfuls of preganacy tests, each brand name different. They ranged from white to blue to purple in color. And the tiny rectangular boxes had never before looked so intimidating to the potentially pregnant teenager. They were a symbol of the shame she wore, and they could possibly change her life forever.
"Where were you?" she hissed, "School was over hours ago!"
"Sorry to make you wait; I got detention for skipping class. Tucker didn't do a good enough job of lying to Mr. Lancer. So naturally my parents had to come up and debate with him, and that took forever. So then I had to serve detention time and when I got home we had a family discussion about how to avoid trouble at school. Then Jazz started saying a bunch of psychological stuff and then the discussion went back to me and to top that, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere until I finished my homework." By the time he got done explaining himself, he was breathless.
"Yeah, nice story. We have more pressing matters, though," she gushed. "Quick, give me the tests!"
He saw her wince in pain as she snatched them from his hand. He just assumed he waited too long and now she about to pop. Luckily for him, he assumed correctly. The first thing she did after obtaining the little boxes was dash to the bathroom.
The door was carefully shut, so as not to wake her sleeping parents. But even after she was in the bathroom, the knob jiggled for a mere half-second due to her forgetfulness to let go of it. Soon the sounds of cardboard tearing were heard throughout the room. Danny assumed this was the first box being brutally 'opened'.
An almost complete silence filled the atmosphere with tension. What would the outcome be? Would the results be positive? Negative? Though he desperately hoped it was negative, there was a very real possibility that his friend's life could change from here on out. And if it was positive, then she would be devastated. But the chances were slim since it was just one encounter, so why was he worried so much? It was probably because fate had already dealt her a cruel hand; he knew she didn't need any more stress. And a baby would be just too much, even for Sam.
The goth came out of the restroom, looking more relieved than he'd ever seen her.
"It was negative?" he asked with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah, the results say I'm not pregnant," she beamed.
"That's great, Sam!" he said excitedly but softly, still mindful of her snoring parents. And especially mindful of her snoring father. "I was kind of getting worried."
"I told you there was no way I was pregnant," she replied smugly.
Danny smiled; Sam was already starting to act like her old self. Apparently, discovering she wasn't going to be a mother had lifted her spirits. And he was happy to know he helped take part in it. Suggesting the tests may have been the best idea he'd ever had!
"Wow," Tucker mused when he saw his friend's exhausted state, "You really need to try out the concept of 'coffee'."
"Eh, there were alot of factors involved. But, c'mon; I'm not that bad," the halfa said.
"Yeah, well...we'll see how you do in class today. Think you can stay up for another six hours?" Tucker teased.
Danny sighed, "No..."
"Anyway, did you talk to Sam yesterday?" he asked.
"Yeah, he did. Now I'm back in action," a feminine voice rang.
Both the boys looked to their left to find none other than Samantha Manson. Her hair was brushed, which had not been the case last night, and her mascara trails had been wiped off her face to be replaced by a new layer of mascara around her eyes. She not only managed to clean herself up, but she even retained her Gothic look.
She casually walked up to the hybrid. "You know, my mom wants to thank you for something. You should probably come over and accept whatever gift she wants you to have. You don't want both my parents to hate you, do you?"
Danny had a marginal expression at first, but quickly caught on to the shy begging in her tone. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'll try to stop by later this afternoon."
She smiled a nearly unnoticeable smile and gave him grateful look. Realizing she hadn't paid any heed to Tucker's presence, she turned to him and said, "And as for you, you dropped this." She held up what looked like a small, round discus that reflected the sun's light to make it shine in a spectrum of colors.
"Hey! That's my configuration disc! I was looking everywhere for this. Where'd you find it?" he asked excitedly.
"I found it on the sidewalk when I was walking to school," she answered evenly.
"Wait, what? You went alone?" Danny intervened.
Sam cast the most fiery glare he'd ever seen her give him. "Yes, just like I always do. Why? Is there a problem?" She made sure to emphasize the last word so he'd get the point.
Tucker seemed to shrink away from anger she was emanating. He decided it was best to go with the pack leader on this one and sided with her, "Yeah, Danny, is there a problem?"
His shoulders sagged but the rest of his body tensed. However, he wanted to honor her wishes. This was, after all, her problem. This issue had nothing to do with him or Tucker. "No; there's no problem."
The bell rang urgently at that precise moment, telling all the students waiting outside that it was time for school. It was also telling them if they were late again it would mean bad news.
"We gotta go; I can't afford one more tardy day this semester," he said.
The trio agreed; they'd all been late before and it wasn't exactly fun getting detention for saving Amity City from ghosts all the time. Plus, Danny was the one who was late most often because while Sam and Tucker stood back and helped indirectly, he was the one who actually threw the punches. Well, in his case it would be whatever that green energy was that shot out of his hands.
"Ah, Ms. Manson. You were gone for a long time. I assume you're feeling well now?" Mr. Lancer asked her as she was walking into his classroom.
She took her desk next to Danny and Tucker and said, "Yeah." Her answer was so concise it was believable.
The teacher nodded and walked toward the whiteboard to begin his lesson. "Today," he started, "We will be discussing lower Asia and its large population."
Sam heard Danny groan next to her; he hated history because it bored him to snores. And he'd already gotten busted twice for snoring in class. She probably would've continued to think about how funny it was whenever he was found out, but a wave of lightheadedness swept over her. She held her head and tried to stay focused enough to physically take notes, even if she couldn't mentally take them.
"And during this war..." Mr. Lancer's voice droned.
Okay, so... something about a war in Asia-no, lower Asia. And then something about the outcome damaging an empire? Her vision began to blur as she still fought to jot down everything as he spoke it. Reluctantly, she put down her pencil and cupped her hands around her forehead. Thinking she'd simply missed sleep last night and was now tired, she closed her eyes and tried to think of anything but schoolwork. Hearing Danny lightly snoring next to her didn't help much.
Before she knew it, class was over and the lunch bell sounded. She decided that her dizzy spell was probably almost over and she'd simply wait it out. But she sat at her desk motionless for several minutes before her teacher finally took notice.
"Ms. Manson, is everything alright?" he asked. "You usually rush off to lunch with your friends."
"Swell," she replied. Images of the negative test flashed in her head, and in turn, doubts began arising. What if it...was wrong?
"Are you sure you don't want to see the school nurse? You may not be completely over your sickness yet," he insisted.
"No, I'm fine," she returned.
"Very well. I'll leave you be, then."
Sam just barely nodded. Her head was throbbing not with pain, but with confusion. And unfortunately for her, it was only worsening as her teacher walked out of the classroom to go eat his lunch.
Danny came back moments after Mr. Lancer's departure. He immediately noticed something was wrong with her. "Sam, you okay?"
"What do you think?" she drawled. She shifted one hand and put a little more of her weight on the other to try to increase her comfort.
"Is it a headache?" he inquired.
"No, it's dizziness."
"Dizziness? But...Sam, I thought you said the test results were negative."
"I...can't even remember it anymore. I think they were, though."
"Did you misread it?" he asked.
"I doubt it. It was one of those things that actually spelled out 'pregnant' and 'not pregnant'." she answered.
Danny sighed. Had the test been wrong? Sam was already showing two symptoms of pregnancy. He glanced down at her stomach, trying to imagine it growing to an unrealistic size. But there was just no way he could picture her pregnant. And on her small frame, there would be no hiding a baby. In fact, if she was with child, it would probably start to show within around two months.
He offered an hand to help her up. She recognized his chivalry and took it, even though she didn't feel like standing. And to prove it, she wobbled around a bit, her body slightly swaying like a metrnome.
"Wow, you really are dizzy, huh?" he said.
He lead her to the cafeterium and allowed her to lean most of her weight on him. The pair was greeted by Tucker.
"What happened to Sam?" he mused.
"Nothing, she just stayed up too late," he said, not knowing whether he was lying or not.
Her eyes lifted. Through her confusion, which wasn't too much to begin with but it was still very uncomfortable, she smelled the food that the school served. There was always some meat, so it pretty much blocked out the scent of cooked veggies. But, though normally a vegetarian, her eyes lit up at the thought of meat.
She got vegetables only to retain her vegetarian status. There were a few fruits involved as well, but all of these combined couldn't relieve her meat fetish. That hot, steaming, juicy meat...
"Uh, Sam?" Tucker waved his hand in front of her face and snapped his fingers, trying to call her back to Earth.
She blinked. "Huh?"
"You were staring at his food," Danny answered for him.
"What? No I wasn't. I was just thinking," she lied.
"About what?"
An unknowing look crept into her eyes. "Does it matter?"
The boys exchanged curious glances. "Guess not," they said at the same time.
The individualist munched on a celery stick, trying her best not to think about meat for the rest of lunch. The bell rang again, signaling the next period.
Quoms of students roamed about, jostling each other in an attempt to get to their next class. This was where Sam parted ways with her friends. She had P.E. next, whereas they had their own classes to attend. She, too joined the crowded halls until she was in her destined class.
The room she now stood in was huge, being as it was the gym. The ceiling was covered with metal support beams that intersected, forming the outline of large skyward squares in perfect alignment to the next. The walls were painted a soft goldenrod color with a strip of white bordering the floor. White lines formed a basketball court.
The coach stepped into the room, locking the door to his office. He was a large man with a deep voice to match. His hair and eye color were both brown and he had a big nose. "Okay, to get us started, we'll do ten laps around the gym."
Everyone groaned in displeasure. Laps were done on the very edges of the gym walls, and since it was huge, nobody wanted to start off with laps. Especially not ten of them. "Weren't we supposed to play football outside today?" one person dared to ask.
"It's raining; I'm ordered to keep you all in here for excercising. Football can wait." he replied gruffly.
Sam sighed; she still hadn't fully recovered from her lightheadedness. She wasn't dizzy anymore, but her head felt like it could float away at any given moment.
The goth flopped on her bed and put a hand over her eyes. Such an exhausting day... But there was also the fact that she had homeowrk to do. Too bad; the weekend never came soon enough...
"You know, you really shouldn't have insisted you walk home alone," Danny chuckled, "I'm not gonna let that happen."
Sam moved her hand and stared up at the ghastly green eyes. She understood why he didn't want her alone, but she still needed her space. "Danny, I'm a girl, and girls like their space."
His shoulders sagged and he averted his eyes.
She sighed. "Listen, Danny, I know you're trying to make up for...what happened," she didn't want to say the word aloud, "Okay, I know I was mad at you before, but that was because I...felt like I needed to blame someone. And since it was you I called for, I naturally just...blamed you. I'm sorry."
"It's alright. By the way, what were you doing in the nurse's office at school?" he asked.
"I passed out in P.E. today..." she murmured, almost hoping he hadn't heard her.
"Was it a dizzy spell?" he inquired.
She slowly nodded her head, not removing her eyes from the ceiling.
"Sam, it's...it's starting to look more and more like you're...pregnant." He lowered his voice to make sure it was impossible for her parents to hear.
Sensing this, she said, "Relax. My parents aren't even home yet. And about that pregnancy thing, the test was negative," she reitterated.
Hating to break this kind of thick ice, he added, "And sometimes those tests are wrong. You only used one, right?"
"I know. Believe me, I've had my own doubts throughout the day."
"When are you going to take another?" he asked.
She groaned. That was a good question. She turned over on her belly. If the test was wrong, then this would hurt in a few months. But a different pregnancy test would show whether or not she was, well, pregnant. She'd certainly shown some symptoms. In fact, the only ones she hadn't had were mood swings and the need to pee alot.
The spectre sat on the bed next to his friend. He knew this had to be hard for her, and while he was happy she had her spirits back, he wished she never had to get them back in the first place. "Sam, I'm sorry. If only I'd been there, I could've prevented this..."
"We don't know for sure if I'm pregnant yet! Don't jinx it, you jerk!" She punched him on the arm, getting angry for some reason.
He didn't wince; it didn't even hurt. Not because he was a ghost right now, but simply because Sam wasn't very strong. "That's not what I was talking about..."
After a few seconds, it dawned on her that he didn't mean the pregnancy thing, but what happened three weeks ago. Suddenly, she wasn't angry at him any more. "Oh. Sorry, I thought you meant-"
"Don't worry about it," he assured.
Sam rolled back over and sat up as a new realization hit her. "Why do you keep looking out for me?"
He grinned proudly and rapidly answered, "'Cause I'm a big jerk."
"Alright then, big jerk, I'm gonna start drinking, so you might want to entertain yourself 'cause this'll take awhile," she said, chuckling lighly.
"Drinking? You're underage!" he protested, shocked that she'd even think of doing that.
"Not that kind of drink!" She shoved water bottle in his face. It was labeled 'Dasani'. "I don't need to go to the bathroom right now, so I thought I'd speed up the process."
His face turned puce and he smiled sheepishly. "Oh..."
She rolled her eyes, a perfectly fitting action for her personality, and began chugging down water.
A/N (HAPPY HALLOWEEN!)
First thing's first, I know this chapter sucked, okay? So nobody comment on how bad this was. But I kinda needed some fillers, and on top of that I was really tired when I wrote this, so back off! And if any characters are a little OOCish, sorry but again, I was really tired. Oh, and I still don't know whether Sam's gonna be pregnant or not. I'm still waiting for you guys' advice on that topic, and though most of you are saying do it, there are some of you who probably don't want it. So thanks, 'cause now I'm stuck! *laughs* I'm not really mad at you guys. Just playing around. It's a holiday, after all. :]
However, I must emphasize the review thing. Someone reviewed me and told me that you guys might not like being told to review. I honestly agree with this person. I HATE pushing you guys to review, but I also don't want to lose interest in this story. I need to be able to read you guys' reviews to inspire new ideas; without you guys this story LITERALLY wouldn't exist because I'd have lost interest in it on the first chapter and just taken it down. So if you want this thing to stay up, please review. Let's try to bump it up another notch. When I get twenty-two (that's 22) reviews, I promise to post the next chapter. And you can count on my promise because I've never let you guys down before, right? Well, I hope not... Anyways, the new quota is 22 reviews. The previous quota was exceeded; I'm happy about that! And another thing: 22 reviews is only 5 more reviews than I currently have. So it's not as much as it looks.
I'm not going to do the reply thing that I did last chapter, because it's Halloween and I have to get to my friends' house. (yes, friends'; not a typo 'cause they're sisters) And also because it takes awhile to get down there. So instead, I'll do this: A heartwarming thanks to the following reviewers: Rachpop15, Anonymous, Codiak, Squeeze, KP100, Sunshine-Midnight123, Kpfan72491, jiminxx, and VampireGurlxox. (The reviewers are listed in the order they reviewed the last chapter.)
Thanks again for reviewing (and reading, of course) and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to dress up as a cat and go trick-or-treating with my friends! (I'll NEVER pass up an oppotunity to get free candy! NEVER!)
