A/N: info & warnings in prologue; much thanks to everyone who's reading and thanks for reviewing!

Part 10

Josh's parents tell him that it is completely understandable if he does not want to go to school on Monday. What else is he supposed to do? He can't stay home, constantly worrying about Mindy and thinking about the miscarriage. He needs class work to distract him. He needs to hear Craig and Eric ramble on aimlessly about what they did or didn't do together that weekend.

As Drake drives them to school, Josh wonders how long Mindy will be out. It doesn't cross his mind that she won't take a few days off and he does a double take when he sees her at her locker before the bell rings. There she is, wearing blue jeans and a lavender sweater, with her hair pulled back in an uncharacteristic ponytail, taking books out of her locker and placing them in her backpack. He knows that he's supposed to be respecting her wishes and giving her time and space however he can't stop himself from approaching her.

"Mindy, what are you doing here?"

She doesn't look at him as she zips her backpack. "I do go to school here, Josh, same as you."

He leans against the locker next to hers. "You know what I mean. I didn't think you'd be here today."

"Why not?"

"Because of," he looks around and lowers his voice, "what happened Saturday."

She presses her lips together and pushes her locker door shut hard before looking at Josh. "The doctor said that I was perfectly healthy and that there was no reason that I would not be able to continue on with my normal schedule."

"Yeah, but—"

"But what, Josh?"

"I just thought that you would want to take a few days off. You said that you needed time to yourself; how can you be by yourself when you're surrounded by everyone?"

She snorts. "You'd be surprised, Josh. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get homeroom."

The hardest part of Josh's day is sitting in the same class as Mindy, sitting three desks across and one back from her. She sits straight, perfect posture as always, but her hand doesn't immediately shoot up in the air at their teacher's questions, instead it takes nearly a full second for her arm to extend straight above her head. She answers with a confident tone but her volume is not as high as it normally is. There are a couple of times when she starts to turn her head, possibly to glance in his direction but she stops both times.

By lunch, a handful of their classmates have noticed that Josh and Mindy aren't meeting at their lockers and exchanging chaste kisses in the hallway. At first, there are just whispers that the two had a fight but by sixth period word is that they broke up.

"Oh, please, again? They'll probably be back together by Valentine's. Definitely before prom."

"Why'd they break up?"

"I heard that she wouldn't put out."

"I heard that he wouldn't put out."

The gossip is annoying and banal. They have no idea, they just don't know.

Josh wants to tell them that he and Mindy are taking a break; that neither of them has wronged the other. They just need time. And space.

He hopes that they're just taking a break. He doesn't want to believe that they're done. They can't be. He's not ready to let her go, to let go of them and what they have.

Okay, fine, maybe they won't be together forever but this can't be the end of them. It's bad enough that they'd foolishly spent so many unnecessary months apart in the past. Now he knows how much she means to him and he knows that he means the same to her.

He ignores the chatter. He wonders how Mindy feels about all of this gossip, if she's listening, if she's paying it any mind. He wonders if she's thinking about him, about them, about the baby.

She blocks it out, selective deafness. Mindy knows how to focus, how to concentrate, how to deny, how to pretend. It's nobody's business why she and Josh are no longer together. How awful it would have been if she had not lost the baby and she had decided to go through with the pregnancy. There's a chance that she would have been able to conceal her pregnancy, maybe until graduation; but what if she would not have been able to hide it? The halls would have been filled with rumors, vicious comments, and judgmental stares.

It was for the best. Just like breaking up with Josh was for the best.

Josh and Mindy almost walk right into one another after the final bell. For a second, Mindy's walls start to come down and her eyes soften because perhaps it would be easier if they were together. Then Josh gives her a small sad smile and he starts to open his mouth and Mindy can feel her heart breaking and the tears starting to build.

She shakes her head and quickly walks around him, down the hall, and out the double doors towards the parking lot where her mother is waiting.