Frankie and I slowly trudged over to the living room where Newt and Jewell were waiting for us. Along the way, we talked for a bit.

"J-Jasper, I'm scared," Frankie said. "What if Mom and Dad kick us out of the house? Then what?"

I tried to think. "I'm not sure, to be honest. Hopefully, we can figure something out. I mean, I could get a job if it came down to that."

"I don't know, Jasper. Most places don't like to hire, um..." She trailed off, not wanting to say anything that could hurt me. I knew what she meant, though. "I mean, they could probably just fire you because they think of you as a threat and that was it."

"Let's just focus on telling your folks for now."

Frankie nodded numbly. "Okay."

Soon enough, we saw Newt and Jewell sitting down on the couch.

"Peachy," Jewell said. "You guys are just in time for spaghetti."

We gulped back our nerves.

"Oh cool," I said, trying not to show too much emotion. "Is it any good?"

Newt just laughed. "Of course it is! We wouldn't be serving it if it wasn't."

Frankie and I laughed back before following him and Jewell into the dining room. We then listened to Jewell call Homer, Shelly, and Melba for dinner. They came out, with Melba holding Amy in her arms, and they joined us at the dining room table. Amy, however, had to be placed at the high chair near where Jewell sat. At the table, the savory-sweet smell of homemade spaghetti filled out noses and helped to calm us down after a long day. Spaghetti had actually become one of my favorites during the two years I'd lived in Vinita. I remember it being one of Namęšéme's favorite foods as well. God, I wished he was still here. I wished he could just magically come back and tell me what I needed to do. I was scared to do this without him, but I had to convince myself that Namęšéme was watching over me and smiling while he watched me grow up. I was sure he would've been proud of me for taking this on.

"Sheesh, you guys!" Jewell exclaimed once she saw that all the kids were at the table. "What took you so long? Jessica and Frankie usually aren't the first ones at the table for spaghetti night!"

Homer just shrugged. "Sorry, guess I got too caught up reading my syllabus."

Shelly chimed in. "Uh, me too, actually."

Melba piped up as well. "Me three."

Jewell tasted the spaghetti sauce at the counter before then taking the pot of sauce and the pot of noodles and setting down at the table. "All right, everybody! Dig in!"

Everybody started eating their plates of spaghetti. The whole time, Frankie and I were filled with anxiety. We had no idea how to anticipate Newt and Jewell's reactions. I mean, they seemed like nice enough folks, but I wasn't too sure how they would take to Frankie being pregnant at fourteen and me being the sire. Would they suddenly look at me with disgust when they found out? Would they throw us out? Would they be accepting of us?

"So..." Jewell began. "Did anything interesting happen on the first day of school?"

I instantly spoke up. "Oh yeah, you remember Ms. Biggs from Ewing Halsell?"

"Oh right, what about her?"

"Well, she's teaching English I at Vinita High."

"Really now?" Jewell looked at me with intrigue. "When did she transfer?"

I just shrugged. "I don't know, over the summer, I guess."

"I see." Jewell then focused her attention on Frankie. "What about you, Frankie?"

"Well, uh..." She absentmindedly twirled her spaghetti around with her fork. Admittedly, it was pretty hard to eat with all of the nerves. "I... met up with Tiffany Richardson from back at Ewing Halsell."

"Oh yeah... what's she been up to lately?"

"I only met up with her in between second and third periods. Apparently, she's got a new boyfriend now. His name's Ralph Fields, and he's supposed to be, like, a bad boy. Real bad boy. I could smell smoke on them, but it didn't smell like cigarette smoke."

"Did you try bringing up the smell at all?"

"I was afraid to. I was worried she'd be like she was back in middle school, but we got along okay." Frankie then let out a long sigh. "Anyway, I need to tell you something. Well, Jessica and I do. Something happened to us, something stupid. We did a stupid, stupid thing."

"Oh, honey... whatever it is that happened to you guys, you can tell me and your father. We love you, no matter what you did or what happened to you, I promise."

"Alright, but this... this isn't just something that can easily go away." Frankie kept beating around the bush.

"Your mom's right, sweetie," Newt said. "Just tell us. We did some stupid things ourselves when we were around your age. Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't be too bad."

I could tell from Newt's laugh that he was worried about us.

"Okay," I finally said. "Frankie, why don't you go grab the pregnancy tests from the bathroom?"

Jewell looked at us in shock. "The what now?"

However, Frankie had already gotten up from her seat to retrieve the tests. Just about a minute later, she was back and she laid them out for Newt and Jewell to see, pink lines and all. They were shocked beyond all words. Frankie and I cringed, waiting for them to explode into an angry outburst, but we were met with more silence.

Jewell finally looked up at us after a while. "Oh my gosh, Frankie... is this... are you...? My little baby is going to have a baby? My sweet little Frankie?" Tears were brimming in her eyes and she was biting down on her lip.

"Yep," I said. "Frankie and I are having a baby."

Newt did a long exhale. "Okay. It's gonna be alright. I don't want you to worry too much right now. Your mother and I will take care of everything."

"You're not gonna schedule an appointment for me at the abortion clinic, are you?" Frankie asked nervously. "Because Jasper and I already decided that we wanted to keep it."

"No, that wasn't what I meant. Listen, you're only fourteen. Do you have any idea how big of a responsibility it is to take care of a baby, let alone at your age? You just started high school, for crying out loud! And since you're too young to be raising a child, we figured that your baby would have a better chance at having a normal life if we gave it up for adoption. Does that sound like a good idea to you guys?"

Frankie and I just stared at each other. What Newt was suggesting... our child would be looking at a chance to grow up in a stable home. We wouldn't have to sacrifice anything. It seemed like the best thing for us, but then our child would probably never know that we were their birth mothers. They'd grow up with someone else as their mother. There weren't many options for us, though. We just had to take it as was.

"Yeah," Frankie finally replied. "It sounds like a good idea."

"Alright, then it's settled," Jewell chimed in. "We'll get started on contacting the adoption agency and finding a family who could adopt your child."

"Actually, Jasper and I wanted to go see the doctor first. You know, just to make sure."

"Right. Okay, then, doctor's appointment first. Then contacting the adoption agency."

Frankie got up out of her seat and hugged her mom tightly. "Thanks, Mom. You're a lifesaver."

I had a feeling that everything was going to be all right.