Three months after her first doctor's appointment, the least of Ruthie's concerns was being pregnant. Since she was so distracted by everything else going on in her life, her eighth grade year was proving to be her toughest yet. She was still doing pretty well in school, averaging mostly A's and B's as the first semester came to a close, but she seemed to struggle with everything. That had never been the case before.

Wilson stood in the kitchen doing the dishes after dinner while Mary started to get Billy ready for bed. Wilson observed Ruthie as she stared blankly at her English assignment for nearly a half an hour. She was sitting at the kitchen table after she had helped to clear it off.

"Do you need some help with that?"

The sound of Wilson's voice snapped her out of it. "My English teacher is insane. She threw stupid Shakespeare at us, a ninth grade book, and left us to ourselves to interpret it. Everyone is struggling."

"Maybe I could help. What is it, 'Romeo and Juliet'?"

"No. Mrs. Brady thought that everyone would just go out and rent the movie if we had to read that. We're reading 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'."

"That's a movie, too" Wilson pointed out.

Ruthie's eyes went wide with glee. "Really? Could I go rent it?"

Wilson smiled. "After you read the book."

"All right," Ruthie said sulking.

"Well, I remember reading that in school," Wilson told Ruthie. "Would you like me to help?"

"OK," Ruthie conceded in defeat. "But it's not just that, though. I'm too preoccupied to try and decipher this stuff."

Wilson took the seat next to Ruthie. "The baby?"

"No, Peter."

"Peter?" Wilson asked. "Who's Peter?"

Ruthie rubbed her stomach. "The father."

"Oh," Wilson said, not sure what else to say.

"I mean, you think he would have tried you contact me by now," Ruthie continued. "A letter, a phone call- anything."

"Does he even know you're here?"

"I don't know. If he cared at all he would have found that out."

Wilson's tone turned sympathetic. "You can't make him care Ruthie, especially not from 2,000 miles away."

"I know," Ruthie said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Mary walked into the kitchen and stood next to Ruthie. "What are you guys doing?" she inquired.

"Talking," Ruthie replied.

"About?"

"Peter," Wilson said.

Mary scanned her internal database of names. It took her a while, but she finally remembered who Peter was. "The guy who…" Mary's voice trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

Wilson nodded.

"Oh, don't think about him," Mary said nonchalantly. "He doesn't deserve your time or energy."

"But I miss him," Ruthie admitted, "a lot actually. I can't get him off my mind."

"And why do you think that is?" Wilson asked. Ruthie shrugged. "How long were you two together for?"

"About six months I guess."

"What do you mean you guess?" Mary asked, taking a seat at the table so that she could properly join the conversation.

"We never officially 'got together' or anything. I met him at school, and then when I broke up with my other boyfriend we were sort of a thing." Ruthie stopped for a second, and then continued to give them the history of Peter Petrowski. "I just can't get him off of my mind. It's weird."

Mary looked at Wilson and he shrugged. He certainly had no idea why Ruthie kept thinking about this young man. He had never even met the fellow. But from the look in Mary's eyes, he could tell that she thought something was strange about this whole thing. After he thought about it for a second, he agreed with her. He had a strange feeling about this Peter guy- like he was no good for Ruthie, or even for him. Something told him that he was going to be meeting the father of Ruthie's unborn child, and a lot sooner than he ever planned to.

(A/N: Sorry, I know that this is short. I am going away tomorrow and won't be home for a week, and I wanted to get this chapter done and up so here it is. I hope it will satisfy you all until I come back. ;) And trust me, this is going somewhere. For now, bear with me.)

Thanks for reading and please review!!