House of the Scotts
Two weeks later
It was my seventeenth birthday and I should be happy, but I didn't feel like celebrating. For several days I had been waiting for my menstruation – of no avail. I had tried to calm myself that it was normal that it was delayed for a few days. But now I was 5 days late and had to face the fact that this was no longer normal. I had confided to Sawyer, as she already knew what had happened before. No one else knew that Davis and I had sex. But if this pregnancy test, which I had stashed in my bag, should be positive, then there would be no denying anymore. I took a deep breath before I knocked on the front door. When Sawyer opened the door and hugged me spontaneously, I could barely hold the tears back.
"Hey Lyddy! First of all, happy birthday!" She said and pointed to the bag. "Did you get it?"
I nodded as I tried to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach.
"Come in! My mom isn't here and my dad's in the study, typing. He won't disturb us."
I reluctantly entered the house and then took a deep breath. "Thanks for allowing me to do it here," I said quietly. "Right now it's pretty crowded at home, my aunts came to visit with their families and my mom is bustling around the house, preparing everything for my birthday party in the afternoon."
Sawyer nodded. "No problem. Are you really sure that you want to do the test right now? I mean, it's your birthday. Maybe it would be better if we postpone it."
I shook my head. "I can't wait any longer. I need certainty. If I have to wait only one more day, I'll go crazy!"
"Fine. Let's go to the bathroom upstairs."
My fingers trembled slightly as I took the pregnancy test out of my bag and then put it on the edge of the sink.
"Do you want me to stay?" Sawyer asked.
I nodded. Usually I preferred to stay in the bathroom alone, but this time I needed support. Sawyer handed me a water glass and then opened the packaging.
"Pee in there and then put the test stick in the glass," she gave instructions after reading the leaflet. "After that we have to wait a few minutes and then we can read the result."
I stared at the glass and suddenly wasn't sure if I was ready to do it. Only a few minutes left and I would know if I was pregnant or not. But it was the thought that I might be indeed pregnant that stopped me from doing the test. How should my life continue then? I couldn't imagine becoming a mother and I didn't want to marry Davis just because a baby was on the way.
"It doesn't help you if you delay it," Sawyer said, her face grave. "Just do it and get it over with."
I sat on the toilet, peed in the water glass and then put the stick in it. After I had finished this I placed it on the sink. Those were the longest 5 minutes of my life, until the time was up to read the result. "Can you have a look at it first?" I asked Sawyer.
"Are you sure?" She asked uncertainly. "Maybe you should better look for yourself."
I could tell from her behavior that she seemed to be afraid of the result as well. "Please do it!" I looked pleadingly at her and she understood that I couldn't do it. I watched her nervously as she took the test stick out of the glass and read the result. She raised her head and looked at me, knowing what she was going to say to me before she said it.
"I'm sorry," Sawyer muttered in a low voice.
I stared at the result and suddenly felt her arms around my body.
"I told you before you made the test, that I would always be there for you. And I keep my word. But you have to tell your parents. They must know that you're pregnant."
Pregnant! Just thinking the word felt wrong. I remembered watching a TV show about teenage pregnancies a couple of years ago, and that I wondered how dumb the girls must be to get pregnant at the age of 16 or 17. And now I was in the same situation. I took a step back and put the test back to the sink. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone!"
Sawyer nodded hesitantly. "I promise, but how long do you want to keep this to yourself?"
"I don't know," I said slowly. I knew that I couldn't keep this a secret forever. But I needed a little more time.
"And what about Davis?"
I shook my head mechanically. Just the mere thought to tell him the truth made me cringe, though I knew that he, more than anyone else, had a right to know first.
"You want to keep that from him?" Sawyer asked in disbelief. "But he's the father."
I took the pregnancy test, wrapped it in toilet paper and then threw it carelessly in the trash can. "Can you get rid of it somewhere else?" I tried to ignore her worried look, opened the bathroom door and stepped into the hall. "I don't have time anymore. Everyone is waiting for me at home." I quickly ran down the stairs to the front door.
"Lydia!"
Hesitating, I turned and waited for Sawyer to approach me.
"That's not something you can ignore," she said in a soft voice. "You have to talk about it with your parents. Your mom went through the same thing, maybe she can give you some advice."
I nodded. "I'll talk to her," I promised, though I knew it was a lie. I wasn't ready yet to confide in my mom. "See you later at the party," I said and left the house.
Lydia's House
When I drove to Lydia's birthday party that afternoon, I wasn't in the mood to celebrate. All the time I had been wondering how she was doing and whether she had already told her parents. At my first knock at the door Lydia's mother opened for me and let me enter. The party was already in full swing, because you could hear loud music and dozens of guests, most of my age, standing together in groups or dancing on the cleared space in the living room.
"Hello Sawyer! Come on in. You can go straight to the kitchen, I set up the buffet there. Take what you want. Oh, and you can find cold beverages in the fridge."
"Thank you, Mrs. Scott," I said politely. "But I want to greet Lydia first."
"I don't know where she is right now," she said, laughing. "Hardly anyone can be found in this crowd of people. Maybe she's upstairs in her room."
My stomach clenched. She shouldn't be alone right now. I thanked Lydia's mother again and then quickly ran up the stairs. But when I pushed the door to Lydia's room open, I found it empty. Where was she? There were two bathrooms upstairs that I also searched for her, but even there I couldn't find her. Gradually, I became really worried. I rushed downstairs again and ran into Davis. "Did you see Lydia?" Apparently I sounded really worried because he looked at me frowning.
"She's at the pool with some other guests," he explained. "I don't know what's going on with her, but she's totally wasted." He grinned slightly. "Actually, I'm the one who always gets drunk at parties. But maybe she thinks, now that she's 17, she has a lot to catch up with."
I looked at him in shock. Lydia was drunk? She was pregnant! Apparently she wasn't caring much about that fact. But something else, what he had said, alarmed me. "Come with me!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him along. I suddenly had a very bad feeling in my stomach and when we arrived at the pool, my fear was confirmed. Lydia stood at the edge of the pool, staring into the water with glassy eyes. No one except me seemed to notice what she was up to, as the other guests by the pool laughed and chatted and ignored what was happening around them. When she jumped, I started to scream. All eyes were fixed on me for a moment before they moved to the spot were Lydia had disappeared. She could swim. Everyone knew that. Probably a reason why no one helped her, hoping she would reappear on her own. But I knew the true reason why she had jumped into the pool. I tugged at Davis's arm. "Do something!" I pleaded, catching a confused look from him. But he reacted immediately, took off his shoes and then plunged headfirst into the pool. When he reappeared a little later, with Lydia in his arms, I breathed a sigh of relief. She coughed and spat out water, but she was conscious. Apparently someone had called Lydia's mother, because she suddenly came running and bent over her daughter, who now lay powerlessly on the ground next to the pool.
"Oh my God, Lydia! What happened?" She exclaimed in shock.
I was probably the only one who knew what really happened and so I answered the question. "She probably drank a bit too much and then stood too close to the pool and slipped," I explained. Davis looked at me frowning and I realized that he knew that I was lying. He had been there. He had seen her leaping deliberately into the water. When Mrs. Scott hugged Lydia and held her, I could see tears in her eyes.
"Do we need an ambulance?" Someone from the crowd called.
"No, I think she'll recover soon," I said quickly.
"I'll take her to her room," Davis offered, lifting her up in his arms.
I walked slowly behind them as he made his way through the gaping crowd while Lydia clung to him and sobbed. When he put her down on her bed, he looked at me pleadingly.
"Could you undress her?" He asked quietly.
I nodded and started to strip off her wet clothes. Lydia didn't move and I didn't know if it was because she was too drunk or still in shock.
"What happened out there at the pool? Can you explain that to me, Sawyer?"
I could have told him what had just happened, but I didn't want to betray Lydia. It wasn't my business to tell him that she was pregnant. So I just shook my head and quickly wrapped her in a warm blanket.
"You're a liar!"
I winced slightly. How did he know that? I didn't say anything.
"The moment I told you that Lydia was at the pool, you had that panicky look in your eyes," he said with a frown. "As if you had known what would happen."
"You just imagine that," I said. "Let's go. She needs rest now." I had hoped he would drop the subject, but Davis was stubborn.
"I'll find out what it's all about," he said threateningly and then went to the door.
Luckily I didn't have to respond to that, because Lydia's mom entered the room.
"How is she?" She asked worriedly, looking down at her sleeping daughter.
I would have liked to tell her everything I knew, but my loyalty to Lydia kept me from doing so. "She's fine," I said reassuringly. "She will sleep now."
"I sent all the guests home," she said quietly and then sat down on the bed and gently stroked her daughter's hair. "I don't know what was wrong with her today, but Lydia never gets drunk."
I hastily lowered my head because I couldn't stand Davis's piercing gaze. He sensed that I was hiding something and I hoped that Lydia would soon confide her secret to him and to her mom. They had to look for a solution together. "I'm going now, too, Mrs. Scott," I said and headed for the door. "Lydia should call me when she's feeling better."
"Davis, just a moment! I would like to talk to you."
I felt sorry for him when Lydia's mom asked him to stay. Presumably she would grill him if he knew what Lydia's strange behavior was about. And he was the last one who knew what was really going on. I gave him a compassionate look, left the room and then ran down to the front door.
