"So what do you think of the name Yao for a boy?" Chun Yan asked, wiping vanilla pudding off his lip.

"Been watching Mulan?" asked Elizabeta.

"Not just that! It means 'glorious'."

Elizabeta thought. "Mm, yeah. Sounds nice." She glanced around and whispered quietly enough for nobody to overhear "Mine was just Eli. Parents wanted something similar enough not to confuse me, since I was so young." Chun Yan, or Yao, nodded sympathetically.

Gilbert, hiding unsubtly behind a Superman comic at the next table, kicked Antonio in the ankle.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Weren't you listening? Chun Yan's asking about baby names!" Gilbert hissed. "Francis was right!"

"Of course I was!" said Francis smugly. "See, we'll be having a visit from the stork soon enough."

"Hm, pity she's not naming it after the father, then we'd know who it was. How far along d'you think she is?" Antonio mused.

"Mm ... I haven't seen her with anyone since she broke up with Arthur last year, so if it's his, four or five months? No, maybe not, she'd be showing more by now ..."

"Well, seems like she's decided to keep it, if she's naming it." Antonio sounded worried. "I hope she's up to it. Babies are hard work."

"She'll be fine!" Gilbert assured him. "I don't know her that well, but Kiku's known her for years and he says she's tough."

"Yeah, but what do her parents think? Being tough can only get her so far if she gets kicked out of her home. And what's the school going to think?"

"... That's a point." Gilbert tapped the straw from his juice carton on his teeth, nervously. "I know it's not our problem, but I feel bad leaving a lady in distress."

"Oui, we can't leave the poor girl to fend entirely for herself," Francis said, nodding sagely. "Babies aren't my area of expertise, though - I lean more towards making them than raising them, hahaha." He wiggled his eyebrows knowingly and both his companions jabbed him in the ribs. "Ow! Hey. Seriously, we should probably try to direct her somewhere she can get some real help."

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but we can't let her know we're onto her! She'll kill us!" Gilbert protested.

Francis stroked the fluff on his chin; he tended to grow it until the teachers caught him and instructed him to start shaving again. "Hmm ..."


"Okay, who left American Pregnancy Association printouts all over my classroom?" said Mrs Karpusi the art teacher, scowling uncharacteristically and tapping her foot. "If it's some kind of smart-aleck comment about my weight, I don't appreciate it."

Yao had sat beside Elizabeta instead of Ivan for once, and so didn't notice that there were three printouts instead of one at his usual seat.

Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio looked at each other and exchanged grins.