Ebony sat with her back against the fence of the Skate Park. She tucked her dress up and brought her knees close to her chest. She covered her head as she began to cry. Her arms and legs were covered with goose bumps and her tears were cold on her bare arms. She wished that she had the ticket for their coats at the country club, but it was in Jay's pocket.
"Ebony?" someone asked approaching her.
"Go away." Ebony said shaking her head no but not looking up to see who it was.
"Ebony you're in a dress. I can't go away." The person said as they sat down next to her putting a sweatshirt around her.
Ebony knew his smell from the sweatshirt. Tommy's smell was sweet, yet not overpowering. She leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around her.
"It's okay." Tommy said softly. He didn't know what was going on but he knew Ebony and that meant he knew she could get through anything. "Why don't I take you home?"
"I can't go home." Ebony sobbed.
"Why not?" Tommy asked.
"Everyone is there, the party." Ebony said with a big sniff.
"I can call the cops, and have them go by and clear the place out." Tommy said.
"Can you take me to my dads?" Ebony asked softly. She had never asked to go to her dads. She hated going to her dads almost as much as she hated going home when her parents were there.
"Yeah, sure." Tommy said smiling at her. He got up then helped her up.
The whole car ride was quite. Ebony didn't want to talk and Tommy wasn't sure to say.
"We're here." Tommy said pulling up in front of a rather large house.
Ebony looked over at Tommy and smiled. "Thank you." she said softly before opening the car door and getting out.
"Ebbz if you need anything at all you know I'm gonna be here for you." Tommy said through the open car door.
"I know." Ebony said nodding her head. "Thank you." she told him before closing the door and headed for the front door of her dads house.
Ebony knocked on the door. She had rung the doorbell twice and no one came. So now she was knocking hard. Her fist was about to hit the door when it opened and it almost came in contact with her step mom.
"Trying to kill me so soon?" the women asked.
"Where's my dad?" Ebony asked trying to act like she hadn't said that.
"Somewhere. Why? Need more money for drugs or whatever it is you're into now?" she asked.
"Leave me alone." Ebony said pushing past her.
"Did I say you could come into my house?" the women asked turning around with a look of total annoyance on her face.
"Did I say you could screw up my life?" Ebony asked turning around and looking at the women. "Don't push me tonight because I'm already in a bad mood."
Ebony's step mom stared at Ebony for a minute before turning and leaving her standing there. "Leo your daughter is here."
"DAD?" Ebony shouted walking farther into the house.
"Ebony?" her dad asked coming out of a room. "What are you doing here?"
Ebony turned around and looked at her father.
"Ebony what's wrong? Is it Java and Siva? Has there been an accident? Are they all right?" he asked noticing the tears.
"Do you honestly think I would be upset it Java died?" Ebony asked looking at her dad. She knew he was mad at her for saying it. "No. Your princesses are peachy." She said with anger. She didn't know why she thought she should come here.
"Oh. Well then is it your mother?" her dad asked.
"No. She's fine alright." Ebony said as she felt more tears well up in her eyes.
"You're step dad? One of your friends?" Richard asked.
"Why can't you just for once ask 'Ebony sweetie what's wrong? Why are you crying?'" Ebony asked shaking her head. "I don't know why I thought I should come here. You don't care."
"Ebony." Her dad said watching her walk right past him and walk right back out of the door she had just come in.
Ebony really didn't know what she was thinking. Going to her father's house was the equivalent of walking into a stranger's house. Although she was sure a stranger would care more about why she was crying than her own father seemed to.
"You okay?" Jack asked looking over at Cloe.
Cloe sat in the passenger side of Jacks car not saying a word. She looked over at him. "I really needed to get on that plane." She said softly.
"Why?" Jack asked putting his hand on the side of her face.
"Because where am I suppose to go now? I can't go home. My parents think that I'm gone." Cloe said looking him right in the eye.
"Well you can tell them that you've changed your mind." Jack said smiling.
"Jack, you don't get it." Cloe said shaking her head as she began to cry.
"I'm really getting sick of people saying that to me." Jack said jokingly.
"I can't go home. The whole reason I was leaving in the first place was because my parents. They don't want people to know that their perfect little girl isn't perfect anymore." Cloe said looking away from him.
Jack was silent for a minute. He needed the information to sink in so he could come up with some sort of plan. "You can stay with Ebony or Patsy. Cloe we'll figure something out. I promise."
Cloe nodded her head still knowing that he wasn't understand everything. Her parents had kicked her out, she was a pregnant minor with no where to go.
"Come on. Let's go to Ebony's." Jack said smiling as they pulled out of the parking lot.
"How did Patsy tell you?" Cloe asked looking over at Jack as he drove.
Jack laughed. "She thought I knew. He came up and pushed me into Danni telling me that I was a jerk for making her best friend leave."
Cloe felt sick as Jack told her what happened. She knew that he was looking over one factor. Danni. What was going to happen there now? Where did this leave her and him? Maybe she should have gotten on the plane.
"You okay?" Jack asked when Cloe didn't say anything after he told her what happened.
Cloe looked over at him and studied his face. She forced herself to smile. "Yeah, it's just been a long day."
"You can rest at Ebony's." Jack said smiling at her. Everything was going to be fine. He had to make sure that everything was always fine for Cloe.
Ebony sat with her back against her bedroom door. She didn't want anyone to come in and talk to her about what happened. After about 10 minutes of trying to talk to her through the door Mackenzie had given up. And on some level Ebony was disappointed that she wasn't still trying but she was also glad to be alone. She could feel the vibration of the music through the floor. It beat was steady and smoothing for her perfectly quit room. She looked around her room and when her eyes fell upon purple football that had brought her and Jay together. She sighed and rested her head back on her knees.
Jay had a bag of ice on his nose and he was looking up at the ceiling. He was still amazed at the force Ebony had. For being so small she really did know how to throw a punch.
"You okay?" Richard, asked coming into his son's room.
Jay turned his head and looked at his dad. "Yeah. It stopped bleeding." He said with a sigh.
"I wasn't meaning your nose." Richard said standing next to the bed. He knew the look in his sons eyes better than Jay did.
Jay lifted his head and looked at his dad.
"Your heart." Jay's dad said. "Ebony is a beautiful girl. She always has been and I know you've always known that. But in the last few weeks I've seen a twinkle in your eyes that I've never seen before."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jay said letting his head fall back.
"Are you sure about that?" Jay's dad asked before turning and leaving the room.
"I don't know." Jay said after he thought about what his dad had said. "I don't know anymore dad. Tonight, I don't even know what happened."
Cloe softly knocked on Ebony's door.
"Mackenzie, go away." Ebony said from the other side.
"It's not Mac." Cloe said putting her back to the door and sliding down it.
"Cloe?" Ebony scrambled to her feet and looked at the door, unsure if she should believe her ears.
"Yeah." Cloe replied looking at her feet.
"I thought you were leaving." Ebony said.
"Jack showed up and won't let me leave." Cloe said with a sigh. "Ebony things are really screwed up and I don't know what to do anymore." She said as she started to cry. She looked back at the door when it opened.
"Get in here." Ebony said helping Cloe up.
When Cloe got into the room she watched as Ebony closed the door and locked it. She sat down and Ebony's bed.
"What's going on?" Ebony asked looking at Cloe. She grabbed a box of tissues off her desk and handed them to Cloe.
"I'm." Cloe said taking a breath. "I'm…pregnant." She said but this time when she said it she sobbed for the first time. It had finally hit her that this was happening.
Ebony stared and Cloe for a second. "What?" she asked.
"I'm pregnant." Cloe said through her sobs.
"Oh my god." Ebony said sitting down on the bed.
"That's why I was leaving. My parents don't want to deal with it. They were sending me to a group home up north until I had the baby." Cloe said.
"Jack knows?" Ebony asked still taking in the information.
"Yeah. He found out tonight. He says everything is going to be fine." Cloe sobbed. "He doesn't get it. Nothings going to be fine."
"Well then what's the problem?" Ebony asked.
"My parents, Danni, school, being a parent, money, my life. Everything." Cloe said. "My parents don't want me at home anymore. They think that I'm on a plane right now going up state. And then there is Jack and Danni. I mean he said he loves me but I'm not going to be able to see them hanging out or whatever. I'm always going to wonder what if Jack didn't know. Then school. I can't go to school and I'm not ready to be a parent. This is all too much for me." She rambled, there was so much.
"Cloe, breath." Ebony said. "All of that is stuff we have to deal with day by day."
"Don't say we. This is stuff I'm going to have to deal with." Cloe cried.
"No." Ebony said looking at her friend. "Cloe you're one of my best friends. Which means, we are going through this together. I'm not going to make you do this with just Jack."
Cloe could feel even more tears well up in her eyes. "Thank you Ebony." She said hugging her.
Ebony looked around the living room full of people. She smiled at her friends as they approached her.
"Hey." Bray said smiling back at her.
"Hey guys." Ebony said looking over at Cloe then back at the group.
"I need to go." Cloe said looking at the group.
"Where are you going?" Jack asked looking at Cloe.
"We need to talk." Cloe said smiling.
"Okay." Jack said confused.
"I'll be back in an hour." Cloe said looking at Ebony before pulling Jack towards the door.
"So are they working things out or what?" Tai-san asked when the two were gone.
"They've got some stuff they need to work on but yeah I think things with them are gonna go back to being somewhat normal." Ebony said smiling.
"Good then maybe things can get back to how they use to be." Bray said smiling.
"Very unlikely," Ebony said giving them all a small smile. She wasn't sure if she should tell them or wait for Cloe to do it. "But I do think some things are going to go back to how they were before."
"Like what?" KC asked.
"Well Jack and Cloe are gonna work things out. So that's something." Mackenzie said.
"Yeah." Ved said smiling. "Who knows what's going to happen next."
"I do." Ebony smiled. She knew what was coming their way.
"What?" Tia-san asked.
"Nothing." Ebony said smiling. "Let's enjoy our youth." She said before walking into the crowd.
"Cloe what's going on?" Jack asked as they sat down in Ebony's yard.
"Jack I'm pregnant." Cloe said looking at him.
"I know that. So what's the problem?" Jack asked.
"That's the problem Jack." Cloe said.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"We aren't ready for this Jack." Cloe said softly. "And I don't think its hit you fully that I'm pregnant."
Jack didn't say anything he just looked at her. He knew she was right. It hadn't hit him yet and he had no clue what he was going to do when it did hit him.
"Jack we have a lot to talk about now." Cloe said looking down at the grass. "I mean there is Danni."
"What about Danni?" Jack asked looking at Cloe. "She has nothing to do with this."
Cloe started to nod her head slowly. "She has a lot to do with this. A lot more than either of us know right now. I mean I know it's been like a week but Jack you have to talk to her."
"What do you want me to talk to her about Clo?" Jack asked. "I mean yeah I'm gonna tell her that we're back together. But other than that what does she have to do with this?"
"Jack if you didn't know, if Patsy hadn't told you, where would you be right now?" Cloe asked him.
Jack wrinkled up his forehead as he thought. He didn't see where she was getting with this. "Here with Danni I guess." He said.
"Do you see?" Cloe asked.
"No I don't." Jack said.
"You would still be with her if it wasn't for me. Jack I don't want to take anything away from you. And that's what I'm doing by staying here." Cloe told him.
"You're not taking anything away from me. You're adding to my life Cloe." Jack said taking her hands. "Cloe we will work something out. No matter what we have to do. But you have to know that I want whatever you want as long as I get to keep you in my life."
Cloe smiled at him. Maybe, just maybe things would end up being somewhat okay. If she had Jack and she had Ebony and the rest of her friends things might turn out okay. But she knew better than to just hope for the best.