Nope, I do not own W.I.T.C.H.
Irma's POV
Monday morning, the alarm sounded and woke us up, with Caleb's arms around me, I felt so warm and comfy. I really didn't want to move.
"Okay, so what are we doing first...doctor or school?" Caleb asked as he flipped from his side to his back. "I vote for doctor first."
I sat up on my side of the bed, dropping my feet to the floor as I answered, "Doctor's office first...definitely. I'll never be able to focus in class until we know."
Caleb sat up grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back down on the bed, quickly laying on top of me and stealing a kiss, "Good that gives us plenty of time before we have to get dressed."
Boy can he kiss! It's the way he just claims my mouth so slow and deep...it makes me tingle and nothing else matters. It should be a sin the way he tastes, even first thing in the morning! Lying beneath him, giving him my every breath is how my mom found us when she walked in.
"Oh!," she squealed, "Sorry, I thought you were up...I should have knocked."
Caleb broke our kiss and I moaned at the loss of our contact. We both looked at my mom in her lavender bathrobe standing in our bedroom doorway, waiting to see what she wanted to talk about.
Having our attention, my mom continued, "I was able to get an eight-thirty appointment in my doctor's office...they can run the test in office and have a definitive result in less than an hour. That's if you're interested."
Still lying under Caleb, I lifted my head and told her, "That'd be great, thanks mom."
She started to close the door and leave, but turned back and asked, "I can drive you there...um, would it be okay if I stayed until you get the result?"
The look on her face was hopeful, there was no way I could even consider telling her no. My last visit without her had almost killed her. But more than her pleading look, if we got bad news, I'd want all the support and comfort I could get.
Caleb looked at me and I looked at him, then as one we turned back to my mom and said, "Sure."
The more the merrier right?
A smile instantly lit her face, "Okay, I'll go get ready," she said as she closed the door.
"Well that was much shorter than I planned, you definitely owe me time," Caleb teased and emphasized the word 'time'. With a quick peck to my cheek, he rolled off of me, stood up, stretched then headed to the bathroom.
So far this day is starting off pretty good. But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.
We got to school in just after the start of third period. Caleb and I went our separate ways as we left the main office. Trying to recoup from our morning and find a small slice of normalcy...I mean what else can we do? It is what it is. Now we just have to deal.
Coming out of class, Caleb was waiting for like our normal pattern and we headed to lunch. But nothing was normal. I desperately wanted to see the other Guardians.
As usual, we were the last ones of our group to get to the cafeteria. Hay Lin was the first one to see us as we headed for the food line and waved. It was cool seeing everyone there talking and smiling. Cornelia was leaned on Peter's shoulder, chatting merrily. Matt was scribbling in a notebook, probably a new song as Will looked over his shoulder. Taranee ate her sandwich while Nigel fiddled with his MP3 player and offered her one of the earphones. Hay Lin and Eric held hands as they chatted with Will and Matt. It was easy to see that bringing the guys in on our secret was the right thing to do. I know how much I love Caleb and I hope that my friends can find the same thing we have. But what are the chances that we all have the same destiny? Better to just enjoy what we have now. And what I have are best friends, teammates, sisters...that part will definitely last forever. We'll just have to see how the rest unfolds.
We headed for seats between Hay Lin and Peter. Before we could set our trays down, the questions started.
"Hey what happened to you guys?" chimed Hay Lin.
"Yeah where've you two been?" Will questioned from around a mouthful of Jello.
Caleb responded first, trying to soothe the questions, "Something came up last night and we had to take care of it before school."
"Is everything okay?" Taranee asked, but Caleb and I were ready for her and had blocked our thoughts, so she could not take the information. And the puzzled look on her face was one of genuine concern.
"Um, yeah it will be..." I started. "I'll tell you after school, okay?" Digging into my lasagna, I hoped the girls would let it rest until later...was I really ready to talk about it?
This was not good enough for Taranee, she was not used to being out of the loop, "This is serious isn't it?"
Will caught the look on her best friend's face and voiced her concern, "Oh my God, Irma...Caleb, if something's really wrong it affects us all, you need to tell us."
"Dude, what's up," Peter was the first guy to weigh in.
"Can we help?" Matt asked.
"Really you guys, there's nothing you can do," Caleb said not looking up from his tray.
I really didn't want this to become a big thing, I grabbed Caleb's hand and squeezed it under the table as I looked around the table at all the looks of fear and concern.
"Irma," Hay Lin whimpered.
"Just tell us," Cornelia finally spoke up.
Caleb finally looked into my eyes, his face straight and his mouth held in a tight line as he gave me a small nod.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded again.
"Okay, but you guys have to keep a lid on this." Everyone nodded their agreement.
I waved everyone to lean in, as I whispered, "I'm pregnant." As Hay Lin's eyes lit up and she moved to scream, I slapped my hand over her mouth. I haven't been her BF for this long and not known how she would react. "We got a call from the hospital last night, telling us that the tests from Wednesday were back and I tested positive for pregnant...I guess some of the nausea and throwing up has been from the baby not the concussion.
A huge smile filled Caleb's face, replacing the forced somber look. All our friends stared silently at us, Hay Lin only because my hand was on her mouth. It was perfectly quiet in our part of the room until Nigel's fork fell out of his hand.
"Okay, Hay..I'm going to remove my hand but you have to promise not to yell, scream or shout. If you do I will be forced to pinch you – hard."
Hay Lin's eyes still shined brightly, but she nodded her head, recognizing she had to show some control. I slowly removed my hand. To her credit Hay Lin didn't scream, but she did grab me in a quick hug then let me go and sat on her hands in an effort to sit still. I really appreciated that.
Slowly, animation returned to the others, first Will began to mouth the word 'pregnant'.
First to actually speak this time was Cornelia, "You've got to be kidding!"
"Nope, it's true," Caleb confirmed happily. "We went to get a test to confirm she hadn't lost the baby from all the Martin drama, but she's fine.
I nodded my agreement as I shoveled another bite into my mouth.
"How do you feel?" Will asked timidly.
"Good. Really good. After everything that's happened I could have lost it, but now just know everything is alright, I feel really good." Not only did I feel really good, I realized I felt absolutely beautiful. I don't know about the myth that pregnant women shine, but I felt like the most beautiful girl in school. I felt radiant in my everyday old jeans and tummy tee.
Caleb interrupted, "Okay now that you guys know, let's change the subject until after school. We're not ready to make this public knowledge."
On that note, I remembered the wedding plans, I turned to Hay Lin, "I hope you're dress designs are ready, because my mom is going full steam ahead with the wedding plans."
Hay Lin nodded, still sitting on her hands.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Corny announced and stood up. "Don't you guys?" she asked as she cast pointed looks at me and the other Guardians. Following her lead, we all got up and went with her.
Cornelia and Will walked fast ahead of me, Hay Lin and Taranee. By the time we walked into the restroom they had checked all the stalls and I was instantly mobbed with hugs and squeals.
When I didn't think I had any more giggles or hugs left in me, we collected ourselves and headed back towards the cafeteria like was nothing new.
Courtney Grumper and Alchemy Nicholson came out of the cafeteria as we walked back. Perfect timing because Corny had a message. So we waited with her.
"Hey Alchemy," Cornelia greeted the girl, but was rewarded a look of disinterest.
"Oh, hi Cornelia, I almost didn't notice you," Alchemy feigned not noticing Cornelia.
"Okay, righhht...I just wanted to tell you Elyon will be coming back to Sheffield in the fall. She asked me to tell you."
Like a light switch, Alchemy's demeanor changed from ice acquaintance to warm and friendly.
"Oh my god, you're kidding me right?"
"Nope, very serious."
"Ey!," Alchemy squealed and dance in a circle, then stopped and grabbed Cornelia's shoulders, "When? Is she moving back this summer?"
"She'll visit during the summer and move back just before school starts. She wanted me to tell you she misses you and can't wait to see you again."
"This is great! I just wish she would have called me herself. Oh well, I can call her, give me her number okay?"
"Um, sorry, Alchemy, I can't give out her number, but next time I talk to her I'll tell her you miss her okay?"
"Why do you get to call her and I don't? She's my best friend too. In fact the three of us used to be best friends before you joined your 'new' friends," the last part of her sentence was only slightly bitter, if you ask me.
"Alchemy, we're still good friends, we just grew apart because we have different interests but I know we could be close again if we hung out like we used to. We should get together one Saturday, okay?" Cornelia offered and it was genuine and from the heart.
Alchemy looked Cornelia up and down, surveying her and her offer. "Will they be there?" she asked rolling her eyes in our direction like we were bugs.
"They don't have to be, but I imagine that if we start hanging out, sooner or later we'd all hang out as a group. Why do you have a problem with them?"
"Oh come on Cornelia, the way you guys walk around school like an exclusive club, I just don't know if I want to be associated with all of you. How can I say this...that kind of association could make my stock go down."
And just like that, Corny's words came back to haunt her.
"Oh! She is so not invited to the wedding," I snapped, I can't help myself, she's really pushing my buttons.
"Irma, hush!" Taranee hissed through clenched teeth. I know she's right, I shouldn't let it get to me, but I'm just saying...
But Cornelia kept her cool, so much better than I could. "Gee that's too bad, I'll let Elyon know how you feel about her best friends - all of them. We'll really miss you this summer."
Courtney chose then to jump in, commenting, "Oh yeah, well Alchemy doesn't need you - she's got new friends now."
"Gee I never knew you could have too many friends, especially good friends that care about you."
With that Corny turned and walked into the cafeteria. I was really impressed by how maturely Cornelia handled the situation. We joined the guys back at our table and started talking about the wedding.
Cornelia was unusually quiet and I think we all noticed. She stared off blankly lost in her thoughts.
"Hey Cornelia, what's up?" Caleb asked what we all wanted to know.
Cornelia's focus snapped back to the lunch room and our conversation. "It's just the thing in the hall with Alchemy. You know we how we just worked everything out between all of us and things are starting to look so good with Elyon coming back. Then Alchemy has to go and ruin everything from coming together perfectly. We used to be so tight, me, her and Elyon - it really hurts to have her saying such mean things about me and my friends..."
Talk about bad timing, in the middle of Cornelia pouring her heart out, Kyle Sommers walks up behind her, carrying his lunch tray with a smirk on his face. Corny didn't see him but the rest of us did. Peter and Kyle had 'talked' before and we all knew that was the reason Kyle hadn't been telling everyone about his and Corny's little interlude. But that was before she and Peter were official, unsure what to expect Peter went tense immediately. Watching Peter closely, Caleb was also ready for something bad to start.
But before Kyle could say a word, his milk exploded spraying in every direction. The sound of the carton popping caused all heads in the cafeteria to turn and see the milk launch into the air. At first I was amazed, but quickly figured out what had happened - Taranee, our little fire imp. I quickly added my 'two cents' and guided the water in the milk away from us and back onto Kyle and the floor. Catching on to what was going on, Hay Lin decided to get in on the fun and a sudden breeze pushed him back into the spilled milk. We all laughed uncontrollably as Kyle crashed on his scrawny butt.
Taranee leaned in and whispered, "And that's how Guardians take care of business." She sat back as a genuine and deep smile crept across her face.
"Thanks Taranee," Cornelia whispered between giggles, her mood obviously lifted. Peter wrapped his arm around Cornelia's shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze and flashed a thumbs up to his little sister.
In my best puppy training voice, I added, "Good Taranee!"
The little run in with Alchemy and Courtney was all but forgotten. Overall, the day was looking pretty good.
Somedays all you need are your friends and you can face the world and win.
Cheers!