My blood ran cold. Did Tamara just say 'it was MY parental right'...? I needed to know what the hell was going on.

'We need to talk.' I typed a new message to Jenna as I power-walked/sprinted to my truck. Was Tamara being serious? As far as anyone knew, Jenna was in no way pregnant. And we had been safe! Well, most of the time...oh, shit. All those sayings from sophomore year sex ed with Ms Marks came flying back into my mind. "It only takes one time to get pregnant so keep your sausage wrapped!" I was so traumatised by that class, I shuddered. As I put my keys into the ignition, I decided to hit 'send' on the message to Jenna. If everything T had said was true, then we really did need to talk. I just hoped that she would be willing to talk to me.

I drove around town for what felt like hours, waiting for Jenna to respond. Having kids was something I had definitely thought about while we were together, but I didn't want any for maybe another ten to fifteen years!

I used to think about it a lot when it was just us hanging out together. She would say something silly or awkward and she would realise what she'd said, try to cover it up but then realise it was too late and start to blush. That expression, that smile she used to do in those moments made me think that she was the one I wanted to spend years with. I saw us going for another ten to fifteen years at least, and having those kids I thought of. That was when I thought I knew who Jenna was. Even since we became friends again, she just wasn't the same. I couldn't look at her in the same way anymore - because she cheated on me? No, but because I broke her. She said her affair with Collin had started the night of that photography showcase - the one where I ditched her after telling her that I had been embarrassed by her. I ditched her. I told her I had been embarrassed by her. It had taken me months to realise, I broke my Jenna when I told her that.

Then I realised. She would have been pregnant throughout all this. How could we have not known?! I didn't understand it. We couldn't have a baby. We weren't even done with high school. We weren't even together anymore! This is so fucked up.

I heard my phone start to buzz, so I broke out of my thoughts and pulled over to see if it was a response from Jenna.

"Yeah, I guess we do."

That was it? How could she be so casual? Was what Tamara said to me even true? It couldn't be if this was how Jenna was acting. Then another message came through.

"Come over, we've just got home."

We. They had just gotten home. Maybe T's outburst did check out after all. The anxiety was killing me, so I put my cellphone down and headed toward the Hamilton's. Tamara might be wrong. There might be nothing there. Jenna might just want to talk about Bailey.

I might be a dad.

As I pulled up outside her house, I remembered the last time I did this. It was when I had come to ask Jenna if she was cool with me asking Bailey to prom. I saw the look in her eyes when I eventually spat it out. I guess it was the look I was going for. It was a look that showed me I had gone too far leading her on. I wanted to ask Bailey, because I wanted Jenna to feel the betrayal I felt, when I found out she was cheating on me. In my mind, I would never be able to move on until I knew she had felt that pain. I thought I would be satisfied seeing the hurt in her eyes. I wasn't. I thought it would make things easier. It didn't. It proved nothing except that I still loved her; I just didn't have the guts to tell her. So I asked Bailey, who said yes, and we went to prom. I got us a hotel room for that night, with every intention of getting laid. And I did. Now I felt nothing but regret. I felt so, so bad about everything. And having a baby with Jenna would make all that messed up shit feel so much worse.

Oh, fuck. I might be a dad.

It was the longest ten seconds of my life. I had finally found the guts to get out of the truck, walk up to the house and knock on the door. I felt like my stomach was doing flips as I stood there, waiting for someone to answer the door. Then I heard someone fumble with the doorknob on the inside.

"Matty! Come in," Lacey said, kinda feigning surprise as though she didn't know I was coming. I let go of the sort of self-hug I was giving myself and walked through the open door sheepishly. I turned to face her as she shut the door behind her.

"Soo..." This was so awkward.

"So..." Lacey echoed. She looked just as awkward and anxious as I did. Silently, she led me into their living room. I had been here so many times, but this time, everything felt strange and unfamiliar. It was way too weird. Stupidly, I was too caught up in my own daydream to realise I was just about to walk into Kevin, Jenna's dad.

"Oh, sorry!" I said as I bumped into him. I looked at his face, and to say he looked pissed would have been an understatement. I quickly looked down at my shoes - I didn't know what to say to him.

"Matty," I heard Jenna's voice call. Kevin moved out of the way, crossed arms still in tact, eyes still watching me. I could feel them burning into the side of my head.

Then I saw her for the first time. There she was, a tiny new baby fast asleep across Jenna's arm and lap. She had thick dark hair, a defined little button nose and the tiniest little mouth I had ever seen. I knew as soon as I laid my eyes on her that she was *mine*. I felt my eyes sting with the threat of tears and I started to blink a little too fast to try and stop them from coming. I was completely enthralled by this little girl. I slowly crouched down in front of Jenna to get closer to the baby. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lacey nudging Kevin, and soon after both of them left the room.

"How did this happen?" I whispered, looking up at Jenna. She had tears in her eyes too, but she looked scared.

"I'm sure I don't have to explain how sex works to you, Matty." She said bluntly. Fair enough, she must have still been pissed about the whole Bailey and prom thing. I couldn't blame her for that.

The baby gave a little sigh and we both looked at her. I was completely overwhelmed. Confused, distraught, angry. But I was confused more than anything.

"It was a phantom pregnancy..." I looked at her even more confused, and she went on "apparently you can not have any symptoms...not have a belly and have a full-grown infant inside you. I learned the hard way." She scoffed slightly. "I just thought you should know, because I haven't decided...what to do yet."

"What do you mean?" Surely she wasn't saying that she was thinking about giving our baby up? As unprepared as we were for this, there was no way in hell someone else was going to raise her. Not a chance. At this point I didn't even care what my parents (who would probably bury me alive when they found out) thought.

"Matty...we're seventeen. We're not together. We didn't even know this was happening. She deserves better."

"How can you be so cold about this? This is our daughter you're talking about! No, I won't let you give her away!" I raised my voice a little without meaning to. I stood up and ran my hands over my hair. I felt my heart race and my stomach was sinking. I had only just met her, but she was MY baby.

"I hadn't made a decision yet!" She yelled at me, startling the sleeping baby. "I'm thinking about it. I'm not being cold. I gave birth to her, and I've spent the last four days with her, I'm completely in love with her. I have never felt anything like this in my life!" I winced at that. Ouch. "What I'm saying is," she continued when she saw my expression "I love her. And that's why I'm trying to think about what's best for her. Not me. And definitely not you."

"Your parents were our age when they had you. Look at them now! Look at you! Jenna," I kneeled back down in front of her. "You're right, we're not together. But this is just an extra reason that we should be together. We can do this, together. Please, I want to raise my own daughter. I don't want strangers raising her or worse, what if she ended up in foster care?" I knew she knew that I had a point.

"No. I don't want to get back together, Matty. You didn't want to before this, so why now? I asked you to come today because I wanted to make the decision with you, but you're not thinking clearly. All of our futures depend on this. I have to choose the right option, so I'm making this decision alone."

"Jenna..."

"So what happened with Bailey?" She asked as though she already knew something.

"Don't pretend like you haven't guessed, but that's not important right now anyway." I responded. It wasn't her business, but now I felt like it kinda was.

At that very moment, the very last person either of them wanted to see, walked in on their conversation. "Jenna are you here?! Jenna, I swear nothing happened between me and..." Bailey stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw Jenna wasn't alone. "...Matty."

Liar.

A/N: thanks so much for the reviews, they really mean a lot! - pzajm