Hanna sat before her vanity mirror with her blonde wavy hair pulled back, wearing a silver satin robe. She tapped her makeup brush on the edge of the cylinder and started applying the sheer powder to her face.

"Hanna?" she heard her mother call. "Do you have something you need to tell me?" Hanna froze. Ashley appeared in the doorway.

There were many things her mother could be referring to. In fact, it might be a fishing expedition. The smartest thing to do is to play dumb, Hanna thought. She did it all the time.

"No. I don't think so," Hanna answered sweetly, sweeping the brush across her nose.

"Are you sure?" Ashley sounded serious.

"I'm sure," Hanna said. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. She was mildly concerned this conversation was the direct result of A. A had been tormenting Hanna and her friends for months, and due for a new dirty trick. Though it was entirely possible A had nothing to do with it. Maybe Ashley found the bottles of lotion Hanna had stolen from the mall. Or maybe Hanna finished her mom's last diet coke. It could be anything!

"I went shopping this morning. I was just restocking the cabinet under the bathroom sink. I went to put a new box of tampons under there, only the old box was still there. Unopened," she added.

"So?" Hanna asked.

"So you didn't need any this month?" her mother pressed.

Hanna stopped what she was doing and thought back. She started silently counting on her fingers then gasped, "You think I'm pregnant? No. No way!"

"Hanna, I thought I taught you better than this."

"You did. There's no way," she repeated. No possible way.

"You take your pill every day? At the same time every day?"

"Yes." Usually.

"You make him use a condom every time?"

"I don't have to make him, he just does. We're not stupid," Hanna replied candidly.

"It doesn't matter. It just takes one time. One time, Hanna," Ashley responded sternly.

"I'm telling you we are careful. Always," she reassured.

"There's only one way to find out. You're taking a pregnancy test. Right now," Ashley declared. "I never thought I'd have to say that to my 16-year old daughter. Or at least hoped."

"Come on, you're serious? Right now?"

"Oh, I'm serious." Dead serious. "Come with me."

"What you have one already?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Hanna stood up. "Why?"

"It never hurts to have one on hand. For moments such as these." Ashley led her to the master bathroom and dug into the middle drawer. She retrieved a small purple box and handed it to Hanna. "Do you know how to use it?"

Hanna raised the box to eye level, flipping it around to find the flap. "Pee on the stick. It's not rocket science. Shouldn't I call Caleb?"

"You can call him when you know one way or the other," Ashley said as she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Hanna took the test then sat on the edge of the tub waiting for the result to appear. She could hear her mom pacing outside the bathroom door. "Anything yet?" Ashley asked anxiously, envisioning her daughter, and Caleb, and a screaming infant all living under her roof, depleting her entire paycheck.

Hanna leaned forward and peered over at the sink. "Nothing yet," she reported.

5 seconds passed. "Now anything?" Ashley called through the door.

Hanna stood and picked up the stick, bringing it close to try and read the little window. "It's fuzzy."

"Plus or minus, Hanna?" Ashley said, unjoking.

She squinted her eyes. "Minus. Definitely minus."

Ashley burst in the door and caught her daughter up in a hug. "Oh thank god!" Ashley exclaimed, relieved. She looked at her daughter seriously, holding her by the shoulders. "You do know you dodged a bullet there, right?"

"Yeah. For a minute there, I thought I was gonna get fat again."

"Getting fat would be the least of your problems." Ashley released her daughter. "You're not taking this seriously."

"Sure I am. Dodged a bullet. Got it. Can I go now? I'm supposed to hang out at Aria's today."

Ashley took the test out of Hanna's hand and double checked the results. Satisfied her daughter's life wasn't headed down the drain, for the moment at least, she pronounced, "You may go."

Hanna immediately took advantage of her liberation and left, striding down the hall purposefully. When she got back to her bedroom, she shut the door and leaned up against it, breathing a big sigh of relief.