On Monday, after a weekend of successfully evading the outside world, Beck and Jade walked into Hollywood Arts to meet judgmental glances of seemingly limitless students, many of which the couple didn't even know.
Self-conscious, Jade trudged to her locker and opened it, tossing some books inside and pulling others out.
Tori approached the girl. "Congratulations, Jade," she smiled.
Jade glared. "For what?"
In disbelief, Tori raised her eyebrows. "You haven't heard? Check the Slap. It's trending locally."
Jade pulled out her PearPhone and pulled up the app, scrolling through the trends until she found what she was looking for:
#jadeispregnant
"What?!" the blue-eyed girl bellowed. "Who started this?" She then remembered that she had only told Cat. Slamming her locker, she stormed off to find the little redheaded girl.
When she finally found the girl, Cat sat cross-legged on the little stage in Sikowitz's room playing with yarn.
"Cat!" the noirette shouted.
"Whatty?" Cat replied innocently, rising to her feet.
"Did you tell?!"
"Tell what?" The redhead twirled her hair around her finger, clearly clueless to the origin of Jade's frustration.
"It's all over the Slap! It's trending!"
"Oh that?" Cat squealed. "No, I thought you did! I was so excited for you, telling everyone!"
"Why would I..." Jade trailed off. Almost growling now, Jade placed one hand on each of Cat's arms. "Did you tell anyone? Anyone at all?"
The little redhead shook her head. "Not unless my brother's turtle counts."
Releasing her grip on the smaller girl, Jade spun around and stormed out of the room, grabbing Beck's hand when she passed him in the hallway and dragging him into the janitor's closet.
"What's wrong?" Beck asked, still oblivious to the ordeal.
Jade sat on the floor, stifling tears. "Beck, they all know. Everyone on the Slap knows."
"I swear, I didn't tell anyone." Beck dropped to his knees beside his girlfriend.
"I told Cat, but she promised she didn't tell. I wanna know who did. I'll kill 'em, I swear."
Beck pulled his girlfriend and unborn child into his embrace. "Nobody will hurt us, I promise. Did you scroll through the tag to see who posted first?"
Jade shook her head and pulled out her phone, starting the search and doing her best not to read all the tweets about her.
Finally, as she reached the bottom, she found the first person to use the tag.
"I'm gonna kill him."
Jade stormed into Sikowitz's classroom just after the bell (but still before Sikowitz entered himself) and stormed over to Robbie.
"Shapiro, I will end you." She pulled a pair of scissors from her bag and lunged for the curly-haired boy as he leapt up from his seat and ran for the door.
Much to Jade's approval, Beck blocked the exit.
"Jade, it wasn't me!" Robbie shrieked. "It was Rex!" He threw his scrawny arms up in front of his face.
Undeterred, the blue-eyed girl grabbed his collar and pulled him up onto his toes, glaring into his eyes. "Your puppet doesn't have the dexterity to type. I swear, I will retire that thing to a wood chipper if you don't explain the tweet and who told you."
"What did the tweet say?" Andre asked, arms crossed.
Robbie's jaw dropped open. "Oh my God, it's true? I thought Rex was going crazy!"
Jade lifted the nerd higher and slammed his back against the wall.
"Fine, fine, I'll talk, but please put me down," Robbie begged.
Grumbling, the noirette acquiesced and set him back on the ground but blocked his exit. "Speak, Shapiro."
"Rex was telling me on Saturday that he noticed that your boobs were bigger and that you were wearing looser clothing recently. I looked through recent slapped photos of you and it was true. So while I was in bed, Rex went on the Slap and tweeted 'Bigger boobs and loose clothes? I smell baby. #jadeispregnant' and I swear I didn't know!"
"You were looking at my boobs?" Jade bellowed. "You pervert!"
"It was Rex!" Robbie whined, covering his face with one hand and pointing at his dummy with the other.
"The puppet has no brain! Its eyes are plastic!"
Robbie was silenced and dropped his head.
Jade was seething, so Beck interceded this time. "Rob, if you noticed you could have just asked."
Sikowitz then entered the room and all of the teenagers took their seats. The first thing the teacher did was look at Jade with an incredulous expression. "Is it true?"
Jade rolled her eyes and looked to Beck, who answered. "Yes."
Sikowitz didn't say another word on the subject, much to Jade's approval. Instead, he began a lesson on script loopholes and how to solve acting catastrophes in a response to Friday night's almost-disaster.
Normally, Jade would have been all for paying attention in one of her few daily classes that she enjoyed, but today she was in her own little world of thoughts. She leaned against Beck, who wrapped his arm around her and placed his hand on her belly, and stared off into space.
With her eyes trained on Sikowitz, Jade let her mind roam. She thought about the little flurries in her stomach at the moment and how bizarrely comforting they were. She pondered what it was like for the little girl to be inside her. She hoped she was doing everything right-she had even been punctilious in taking her vitamins. In fact, she even prayed that she could be a good mommy.
When the bell rang, Jade began to stand up to get her books, but Sikowitz pointed a finger at each half of the mommy-daddy pair. "Beck and Jade, stay here. You're not in trouble, don't worry."
Apprehensive, Jade took her seat again with Beck by her side. Sikowitz walked over and sat down on the chair in front of them, facing backwards so they could talk.
"Sikowitz," Beck started, only to be cut off.
"Kids, I'm your teacher and it's my job to make sure you're safe. Legally, I should send you up to Lane and have a big meeting with your parents. More importantly, I'm your friend and I realize this is a private thing. You have the right to tell your families on your own time, which I assume you will do if you haven't already."
"Thanks," Beck interjected.
"But," Sikowitz continued, "For your own safety I did inform Lane under the condition that he did not approach your parents. I just wish you would have let me know before Friday's fiasco."
Jade looked at her knees, embarrassed.
"Since you didn't though, and I couldn't have expected you to, I'm glad both you and the unborn human are safe."
The girl looked up at her teacher and a small smile graced her lips.
"Now go eat," Sikowitz stood up. "And remind me to never let you two do projects on parenthood again."
The couple blushed and stood up, gathering their belongings and scurrying out to the Asphalt Cafe.