The end. Hope you enjoyed this ride. As always and for the final time let me know what you think. The sequel to ETU will be out in a couple of days. Just putting the finishing touches on the first chapter. Thanks for reading as always. Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows. You guys rock!
Elena
Summer was over and I already missed it. We had such an amazing summer, between a road trip to Richmond that I had to lie to my parents about and many hours spent at the Falls just spending time together. We spent pretty much every day together and my parents were used to it. I would wake up in the morning with just enough time to get ready before Damon would pull up in front of my house and I would be gone. I would come home just before curfew and then we would do it all over again tomorrow. It's how the entire summer went and I wanted it back so bad it hurt, especially considering the possible pickle I had myself in right now. My stomach clenched at the idea and I rushed into the bathroom to empty my stomach. I chose to believe that it was because of my first day of my junior year tomorrow but I knew that's not all it was.
"Are you okay Lena?" Caroline asked me from my bed where we were putting our binders together for tomorrow.
"I hate this." I said rinsing out my mouth and coming back out. I had been throwing up for three days and I haven't seen Damon since then. I wasn't ready to face any of the possibilities, I chose to decided that it was just a minor stomach bug that I had gotten and I would be fine in the morning. I had been telling myself that every morning and I was no closer to believing it.
"I hope you're feeling better tomorrow." She said worried. It was our junior year, to Caroline that was huge. It meant one more year until we were the top of the food chain. To her that was a huge thing.
"I don't think I will be." I said. I was still far too scared to take a test even though all the signs were pointing to this. The second I took a test it would be real whether it was positive or negative. I wasn't ready for it to be it.
"Why? What's wrong?" She asked me.
"I'm late Care." I told her and realization dawned on her straight away.
"Are you sure? Are you sure it's not just a misunderstanding?" She asked.
"Care I'm late and I'm throwing up. That's kinda a crazy coincidence." I said with my arms wrapped around myself. I needed to tell someone and I wasn't anywhere near ready to tell Damon. I tell Damon and he puts his life on hold for me. I didn't want that for him. It already felt like he was pulling away. He hadn't called or texted in the three days since I had seen him and I didn't know what to do about it. If I did take a test and it did come back positive then I would need him. I didn't know what I would do if he left me and I never heard from him again.
"It'll all be okay. It's going to be a great year Lena. It's going to be a misunderstanding of some sort and everything is going to work out fine." She promised me and I tried to smile at her. I knew it wasn't convincing but Caroline opted to ignore that fact before going back to her binder.
"I hope you're right." I sighed as I returned my attention to the pens and pencils in front of me. I needed to occupy myself with something that had nothing to do with my inner dilemma.
Once our binders were done Caroline insisted we go clothes shopping. It was our last day of freedom so we needed to do something. She was right, I just wished that I didn't have to go in public to do that. I felt I had a sign that flashed "pregnant" on me even though where was absolutely no way anyone could know that it was a possibility.
"Come on Lena, please." She pleaded and I gave in as I always did when it came to her. We left the house without telling anyone considering there was no one to tell. My mom was on a girls trip for the week and my dad was working. Jeremy was God knows where but I wasn't really worried about him. He always came home eventually. When we got to the mall I
followed her inside and we immediately went to a jean store to stock up.
"You should really talk to Damon. He's involved in this too." She said as she browsed.
"We don't know there is anything to worry about yet Care. This could just be some horrible coincidence." I told her refusing to believe that it as true yet.
"Then take a test to make sure." She told me and I shook my head.
"I can't do it Care. I can't bring myself to buy one and take it. It's too real. I'd rather ignore it." I told her knowing that was wrong too. If there was a baby growing inside me I would need to take care of it. I would need vitamins and I would need to be told how to keep myself healthy for the sake of the baby. That was the one thing that I would never waver on. If I turned out to be pregnant, I would keep the baby and I would love it with or without his or her father.
"Alright then but you have to find out. We can go to the doctors tomorrow." She offered and I nodded.
"At lunch time maybe. Let's go to the clinic at lunch time and then I can find out for sure." I told her and she agreed with me.
"I'll be there by your side for the entire thing. I promise you." She told me and I nodded. I would need her. There was no way I was telling Damon until I absolutely had to. I was still wishing it was going to be a mistake and we would be safe.
"Thanks." I said to her.
"So are you going to tell me how this might have happened?" She asked.
"Well you know a few weeks ago I had that infection and the doctor put me on antibiotics. Well the antibiotics would have rendered my birth control useless. But we're always careful and we used condoms. The only thing I could think of is the condom breaking." I said and she nodded.
"Did he tell you the condom broke?" She asked me and I nodded.
"He did a few weeks back and I never thought anything of it. I'm really kicking myself now. At least if I had remembered I wouldn't be as surprised as I am right now." I said and she squeezed my arm in a sympathetic manner. At least I knew she would be by my side no matter what. When we left the jean store, I didn't buy anything. I wasn't really in the mood to shop, I had too many things on my mind. I was mostly just here to keep Caroline company. But when we left we ran into Damon and Klaus who were wandering the mall.
"Hey." I greeted them trying to keep my terror off my face. I didn't want him to know until I knew and besides we hadn't been on the same page for a few days now.
"Hi." He greeted leaning in and kissing my cheek. I smiled briefly at him and he shoved his hands in his pockets. Neither of us knew what to say and that had never happened before.
"Are you ready for the start of your senior year tomorrow?" I asked him aware that was something a friend or an acquaintance would ask, not a girlfriend.
"Yeah, are you ready for junior year?" He asked me and I nodded as convincingly as I could. He was being so cool and I didn't know what I did wrong.
"Yeah, well we should get going. We have a lot of shopping to do for tomorrow still." I said needing to get away from him. I hated how cool he was being and I hated that I couldn't tell him the biggest thing in my life at the moment.
"Yeah, I'll pick you up for school tomorrow." He told me and I nodded. Hopefully tomorrow he would be back to normal. He kissed my cheek once more before walking away with Klaus and Caroline looked at me expectantly.
"That was the most awkward meeting you two have ever had." She said.
"I don't know what's going on with us. I think we're on the road to a breakup." I said with a sigh. I didn't want to lose him and I knew if I was pregnant I wouldn't be able to lose him. This was turning into a disaster
"I really hope not. But even if it does end in a breakup you still have to tell him and if you are you'll still have to let him be involved. It's only fair." She told me and I nodded. I already knew that. He would hate me if I kept him out of this but I didn't want the baby to be the only reason the two of us stayed together. That would be worse than us staying together. But for right now the point was moot, I did not know for sure I was pregnant even though I was about 90% positive.
The next morning I woke up without throwing up and I was relieved. I ate breakfast which consisted of a bowl of cereal. The idea of eggs made my stomach roll and I knew eggs were out for the foreseeable future.
"Ready for the first day of school kiddo?" My dad asked me and I nodded convincingly.
"Damon picking you up?" He asked me and I nodded again.
"Yeah. Why would they start school on a Friday? It makes no sense at all to me." I asked him shaking my head.
"It's the school board. I guess they figured school starting on September 1st was more important than it starting on a Monday." My dad shrugged and I copied the action. When Damon honked outside I left the house and got into his car. I was nervous again. When I got in he leaned over and kissed me briefly. There was absolutely no passion in that kiss and I missed the way we used to be together. This was not how it was supposed to be and I missed us.
"Are you ready for the first day?" He asked me as he drove and I nodded.
"Yeah. I just hope I don't have Reynolds." I said.
"You haven't looked at your schedule yet?" He asked.
"No, I was hoping to prolong it. I wanted the summer to last forever." I told him and that got a small smile out of him.
"The summer was great." He agreed. By that point we had parked outside and we both got out. As always he took my hand and we walked to our table. But there was no easy conversation between the two of us. Everyone would be able to see the stiffness between the two of us and I didn't exactly look forward to the rumours that would be going around about us before too long. We sat together as we always did but his hand didn't hold mine under the table and he didn't randomly lean over to kiss me. This was not how it had been and I wanted to know what I did. I wasn't going to ask him though until I found out if I was or wasn't.
The morning was awkward and the rumours were out in full force. When lunch time came I told Damon I had to leave for lunch and he just let me go. Earlier in the morning we had made plans to go out tonight so we could talk. We really needed to talk. I just hoped that it was just going to be mostly about him not me having to tell him I was pregnant. When we got to the clinic I was relieved to see Martha there. She volunteered over here sometimes when they were short. She was one of the nurses who delivered me when I was born and I trusted her.
"Elena, is everything alright?" She asked me. She knew from experience that it was never a good reason when a teenage girl came into the clinic during school hours.
"I need to talk to you." I said and she immediately ushered me back into a room. The waiting room was empty and it was a slow day for the clinic.
"What's wrong Elena?" She asked me as Caroline sat down beside me on the table and took my hand.
"I think I might be pregnant and I'm too scared to take a test by myself." I told her.
"I'm glad you came to me. We can do a test here." She told me and I nodded. She handed me a package that looked very similar to the ones I could buy in a drug store and sent me into the bathroom with the instructions on how to use it. When I
was finished I came out with the test in hand.
"If it turns out to be positive just know it's not the end of the world." She said to me and Caroline took my hand in solidarity. A few minutes went by and we glanced at the test. My world stopped all at once and I felt dizzy because there on the test was a clearly printed word.
Pregnant.