Almost a week had passed since Rachel had found out about the pregnancy, and although it had been a massive shock for both of them at first they were slowly starting to get used to the fact that Poppy was going to be having a baby.
No-one else knew yet, however she knew that she did need to tell Jack at some point because it was his baby after all. Poppy just couldn't help but feel that Jack had been really distant recently which was making it difficult for her to open up to him.
They were all sat at the table eating breakfast before school.
"Right remember we need to leave a bit earlier this morning so make sure you're ready in time"
"Why've we got to leave early? I wanted to curl my hair before school" Amy said
"Because Poppy's got an appointment and we don't want to late, and how many times do I have to remind you that school isn't a fashion show"
"I know but I still want to look nice"
Once they'd finished eating the girls all went upstairs to finish getting ready whilst Rachel got all sorted for the day.
Once they were already they got into the car to start the usual school run.
"Rachel" Lucy said
"Yes love"
"What appointment has Poppy got?"
"A doctor's appointment"
"Why? Is she poorly?"
"No it's just a check-up" Rachel said. Poppy had her first appointment with the midwife this morning but obviously she couldn't tell Amy and Lucy this as they didn't know about the baby yet.
Rachel watched as Amy went into school before driving off again.
They headed to the hospital and got parked up.
Poppy really wasn't looking forward to this. She knew how much they were going to judge her for being pregnant at 16.
Rachel had picked up on this so put her arm around her supportively as she walked in.
"Don't worry it's going to be fine, you haven't done any wrong okay?"
Poppy gave her a small smile but didn't say anything. She really was so glad she had Rachel by her side, there was no way she would be getting through this if it wasn't for Rachel.
They found where they had to go and then signed it at reception before taking a seat in the waiting room.
It was still quite early in the morning so luckily they weren't running late yet so got called in quite quickly.
"Hi Poppy my name's Karen and I'm going to be your midwife"
"Hello" Poppy said nervously
"And you must be Mum" Karen said looking at Rachel
"Yeah" Rachel said smiling, it had kind of come out without her even thinking about it the adoption papers had all been signed now so she was her adoptive Mum anyway
"Right well take a seat and we'll just start off with some routine questions"
They'd been in there for a while and Poppy was starting to feel a lot more relaxed. Poppy had been expecting to be treated like an immature child, but Karen was treating her just like she would any other woman.
"Now we need to do some bloods Poppy, is that okay?"
Poppy's heart immediately started beating faster when she heard those words. Even though the last one she had hadn't actually been that bad she still felt a bit panicky about having another one
"Yeah that's fine"
"I know you're slightly anaemic so obviously we're going to have to keep an eye on that"
The midwife took the blood and did a few other tests.
"Right I think that's everything for today, I'll give you your folder which you need to bring to every appointment you have, and like I said you're about 10 weeks along so you'll be receiving an appointment soon for your first scan"
"Thank you" Poppy said as they walked out
"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Rachel said as they walked back to the car
"No Karen was really nice, I was expecting the midwives to all treat me like I was a pain and shouldn't really be there"
"Of course not, you're certainly not the first girl to get pregnant at a young age and you're not the youngest either"
"I know"
They got back in the car and started to drive back to school
"What lesson are you supposed to be in now?"
"I don't have one until after break, I just missed English first"
"Shall we stop for a quick coffee then? Well obviously you can't have coffee"
"Yeah that would be nice"
Rachel stopped at a Costa on the way back so they went in and each ordered a drink and they had a piece of cake to share.
"I think I'm going to tell Jack tonight" Poppy said
"That's probably a good idea, he needs to find out sooner or later"
"I know, I just don't know what he's going to say"
"I'm sure he'll be shocked at first, you remember how you first felt don't you?"
"Yeah"
"So just don't be surprised if he, well you know needs time to think or something first. I'm sure in the end he'll be there for you and this baby"
"What if he doesn't want it though? What if he wants me to get rid of it?"
"If he doesn't want to be involved that's fine but he can't make you give up your baby Poppy, not if you don't want to. And if he doesn't want to be involved you know you've still got all of my support"
"Thank you, for everything. I really don't know what I'd have done if it wasn't for you"
"I'm just glad I know now. You're going to have to tell Amy and Lucy at some point too, it's not fair that we keep lying to them"
"I know, I just feel like I'm setting such a bad example to them"
"You can't worry about that, what's happened has happened and there's nothing we can do to change it is there?"
"I know" Poppy sighed
Once they'd finished they headed back to school.
"Bye love, I'll see you at the end of the day"
"Bye Rachel"
Poppy headed to the common room and sat down with her friends.
"How come you weren't in English this morning?" one of them asked
"I had a doctor's appointment"
"What for?"
"Just a check-up"
The rest of the day passed quickly and Poppy was walking out of school with Jack.
"Jack, do you want to come over in a bit there's something I need to tell you about?" Poppy asked
"Yeah okay, there's something I need to talk to you about too"
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you later"
Poppy said goodbye to Jack before walking to Rachel's car, where Amy and Rachel were already there waiting for her.
"Lucy's at her friend's house for tea tonight so we don't need to pick her up"
When they got home both girls went straight up to their bedrooms. Poppy was feeling so nervous about telling Jack but now she was really worried about what he had to tell her too.
Poppy helped Rachel with a few jobs around the house trying to pass the time.
After what seemed like forever Jack knocked on the door just as Rachel was leaving to go and pick Lucy up.
"Hi Jack, Poppy's in the lounge go on through" Rachel said before calling up the stairs to Amy telling her to come down
"I'm going to Tesco now and then to Lucy's, are you going to come with me?"
"No I'll just stay here"
"I think you should come, help me choose what we're having for tea"
"Do I have to?"
"Yes please"
"Fine I'll just go and get my phone then"
Rachel and Amy left to go to Tesco. She thought it would be a good idea to let Poppy and Jack have the house to themselves while Poppy told Jack.
They stopped in Tesco and did the shopping, in the end they decided to have chicken burgers.
After they'd been to tesco they drove round to Lucy's friends house.
The area was quite run down, but Rachel knew they were a bit of a rough family.
Amy waited in the car while Rachel went into get Lucy.
Lucy was so relieved when she heard Rachel's voice. She immediately picked up all of her stuff and ran down to Rachel.
"Hi love have you had a good time?"
Lucy just nodded her head
"Come on then we'd better get going Amy's waiting in the car, what do you say to Katherine and her Mum?"
"Thank you for having me"
Lucy held onto Rachel's hand as they walked back to the car.
Rachel made sure she was strapped in before getting into the front seat and driving off.
"You're being very quiet Lucy, is everything okay?" Rachel asked glancing into her mirror, It was only then that she realised Lucy was sat there with tears rolling down her face.
Rachel immediately pulled in and went and sat in the back with her.
"What's happened? Did you fall out with Katherine or something?"
"No I just didn't like it there, I wanted to come home"
"You should have phoned me earlier and I'd have come and got you. Why didn't you like it there?"
"It was horrible her Mum and Dad kept shouting at each other, her dog was really scary and the food was disgusting"
Rachel had been a bit worried about sending her there for tea in the first place, but she knew it wasn't fair on Katherine for her to miss out just because she didn't come from the best family.
"Well we'll have to have Katherine back to our house next time instead won't we?"
"Yes, please don't make me go back there again Rachel"
"Don't worry love I won't I promise. Are you still hungry then?"
"Yeah I'm starving"
"We're having chicken burgers for tea do you want one?"
"I love chicken burgers they're yummy, yes please"
Lucy felt a lot better now she was back with Rachel and stopped crying so Rachel got back in the front and then drove home again.
"We're home" Rachel called as they walked into the house
Rachel went and put the shopping bags in the kitchen before going to find Poppy.
She found Poppy in the lounge crying so went and sat by her.
"How did it go?"
"He didn't react as badly as I thought he was going to"
"That's good, why are you crying then?"
"Because Jack's moving, his Dad's got a new job in Newcastle so they're moving up there at the end of the month"
"Oh love" Rachel said feeling sorry for her
Lucy came into the lounge and cuddled into Poppy when she saw her crying
"Why's Poppy crying?"
"She just found out that Jack's moving to Newcastle soon and she doesn't really want him to go"
"You can still see him though, just not as often"
"Lucy's right, you can make it work"
"I just really wasn't expecting it"
"I know you weren't"
"Lucy can you go and get changed out of your school uniform so I can put it into the wash please?" Rachel asked wanting to speak to Poppy alone quickly
"Okay" Lucy said before hurrying off
"At least I know why he's been being so distant with me lately, he was worried about telling me"
"It shows he cares about you, how did you leave things with Jack?"
"He said he'd be involved as much as he can"
"Well at least he still wants to have a part in the baby's life"
"Yeah it'll just be so weird"
"You'll get used to it and I'm sure you'll be able to sort out some sort of routine"
"Yeah"
"Anyway I need to get on with tea"
"I'll help you"
"I don't mind love, you just sit down and relax"
"No I want to, what are we having?"
"Chicken burgers"
Poppy made a salad whilst Rachel cooked the chicken and unpacked all the shopping.
Once it was ready she called them all down.
"How come you're not going to Jess's party tonight Poppy?" Amy asked, as it was Amy's friends sisters party
"I'm just a bit tired I don't really feel like it"
Poppy thought about it for a while before deciding there was no reason for her not to tell Amy and Lucy now that she'd told Jack, so decided to tell them now
"Do you two want to know a secret?" Poppy said to Amy and Lucy
"Yeah" Lucy said
"What is it?" Amy asked
"Well you can't tell anyone else, but I'm going to be having a baby"
Amy was shocked
"Seriously"
"Yes"
"Aren't you mad with her Rachel?"
"Not anymore no"
"Aren't you too young to have a baby though?" Lucy asked
"She's not at the ideal age to have a baby love, no, but Poppy's going to be fine so don't worry about her" Rachel said
"But I don't want anyone else knowing yet, so you can't tell anyone none of your friends or teachers, not anyone okay?"
"Okay will you tell people ever?"
"Yeah eventually just not yet, because I'm in the very early stages of pregnancy which means that a lot can still go wrong"
"When will the baby be born?"
"It's due in November"
Poppy was glad she'd told her sisters, she didn't like having to keep lying to them so she was really pleased they knew the truth now.
After they'd finished eating Rachel gave Lucy a quick bath and then they all went into the front room and watched a film.
At the end of the film they all went up to bed because they were quite tired.
Rachel carried Lucy up because she was very nearly asleep on the sofa.
It was the middle of the night when Rachel woke up and could hear movement downstairs so went down to see who it was.
When she went down she found Poppy sat at the kitchen table on her phone with a glass of water
"What are you doing up?"
"Can't sleep"
"How come?"
"Jess has sent me quite a few messages, she's clearly very drunk but she's saying that I'm being a really bad friend at the minute and she can't believe I couldn't make the effort to come to her party. I hate lying to her, well all of them"
"There's no reason why you can't tell some of your closest friends, I'm sure you can trust them not to tell anyone else can't you?"
"I suppose I'm just really worried it's going to get spread around"
"It's going to at one point or another, but I think you'd be happy to have support from them wouldn't you?"
"Yeah I guess you're right, I'm not going to tell many people though"
"Do you feel like you're missing out? You know not being able to go to the party or anything?"
"Kind of, I suppose I could have gone obviously I wouldn't be able to drink"
"Yeah exactly there's no point in stopping doing things just because you're pregnant"
"I didn't feel like it tonight anyway though I was really tired"
"The joys of pregnancy huh. Anyway are you going to go back up to bed you're looking tired"
"Yeah I am, I'm just going to turn my phone off because it keeps going off"
"Good idea"
Rachel turned the lights back off downstairs and then followed Poppy up.
"I suppose there is one good thing about not being at the party, you'll be able to avoid being hungover tomorrow"
"That's very true"
"Night love, see you in the morning"
"Night Rachel"
Poppy went back to sleep quickly and managed to stay asleep until the morning. However when she did wake up she was feeling really sick, she hated the morning sickness so much.
Lucy woke up and decided to go in and see Poppy but when she got into her bedroom she heard her sister being sick so quickly went and got Rachel.
Rachel rushed into Poppy's bedroom and rubbed her back while she was sick.
"I hate this so much" Poppy moaned once she'd finished being sick. She sat against the wall because she was feeling really week
"I can imagine it must be horrible, hopefully it won't last for too long"
"Is the baby making Poppy poorly Rachel?"
"Not really poorly, but when you're pregnant it can make you be sick quite a lot"
"I hate being sick"
"I think most people do really"
"How are you feeling now?" Rachel asked
"Awful, I'm going to go back to bed"
Poppy's legs were really weak so Rachel helped her back into bed.
Lucy climbed in next to Poppy and wrapped her arms around her. Poppy cuddled her back.
Poppy stayed in bed for another couple of hours until she was feeling better, she seemed to have had it really bad this morning.
When she came down Rachel made her breakfast for her so she sat in the lounge and put some rubbish on TV while she ate it.
"Poppy?" Lucy said
"Yes"
"Can I see your tummy?"
"Yeah but it doesn't look any different yet"
Poppy lifted her top up
"Can I feel it?" Lucy asked and Poppy nodded
"Hello baby, I'm going to be your Auntie" Lucy said proudly
Poppy couldn't help but smile at her. Lucy really did make her feel so happy and she hoped this baby would do the same.
Rachel was stood at the door listening to Lucy talking to the baby and couldn't help but laugh.
They had a lazy morning around the house and then went out for a walk in the afternoon because it was such a lovely day.
Rachel decided to drive to the beach because she knew how much the girls loved going to the beach and she did too.
They had a lovely walk, Poppy seemed so much happier which was a massive relief for Rachel she'd hated seeing her so upset lately.
Please review xxxx