It was the next week and Poppy was lying on her bed. She'd been back to school today, not that her day had been very productive her mind had just been elsewhere.
She didn't even make it to the clinic to have the abortion, she realised she just wasn't the type of girl that could go through with that sort of thing.
Poppy had been lying on her bed ever since she came in from school trying to figure out what she was going to do, how she was going to tell Rachel but there was nothing she could think of to make it any better.
She decided to go down and get a drink because she was starting to feel really thirsty.
Rachel was in the kitchen making a pasta bake for tea when she came down.
"Is pasta alright for tea?"
"Yeah fine"
Poppy made her drink and then sat at the breakfast bar.
It was just the two of them so it almost seemed like the perfect opportunity for Poppy to tell her about the baby. She very nearly opened her mouth and said the words when the kitchen door opened and Lucy came running in, she'd been out to play with some of her friends who lived on their street.
"I didn't hear you at the door" Rachel said
"Amy let me in"
"Oh right, did you have a good time?" Rachel asked
"Yeah it was really fun and Maisy said that Grace is sleeping at her house tonight and she said I can go too, please can I go?"
"I don't see why not, are you going to have tea before you go?"
"No her Mum said I can stay for tea"
"Okay I'll just get this pasta in the oven and then we'll go up and pack your stuff then"
Poppy sighed before going upstairs again realising that her chance to tell Rachel that time was gone.
Rachel watched as she went, she was starting to get a bit worried about Poppy, but she decided not to say anything.
Rachel finished making the pasta bake before putting it into the oven and going upstairs with Lucy.
"Have you got any pyjamas under your pillow love?"
Lucy went and had a look under her pillow and held them up to show Rachel.
"Come and put them in this bag then"
"No I don't want to wear these ones"
"Why not there's no point in getting another pair out"
"Because they're babyish, I want to wear the ones you bought me last weekend"
"Okay go and get them out of your drawer then, and get some socks and knickers out too"
Rachel got her out an outfit from her wardrobe before going to the bathroom to get her toothbrush.
Once Lucy was all packed Rachel walked her over to Maisy's house, even though Maisy only lived next door Rachel wanted to make sure Maisy's Mum had definitely said it was okay for Lucy to stay.
Rachel knocked on the door and it didn't take long for Maisy's Mum to answer.
Rachel and Sarah had always been quite close but since Rachel having the girls they'd become a lot closer because Lucy and Maisy got on really well.
"Hiya"
"Is it alright for Lucy to stay tonight?"
"Yeah of course, do you want a coffee"
"Yeah okay, just a quick one though because our tea will be ready soon"
Lucy and Rachel followed Sarah into the kitchen where Maisy was along with Grace and her Mum.
"What's she doing here?" Grace said rudely pointing at Lucy
"She's come for the sleepover too" Maisy told her
"Well I'm not staying if she's coming"
"Grace don't be rude, there's no reason why you can't have fun all three of you" Grace's Mum said sternly
"I suppose"
Rachel could tell that this had upset Lucy quite a lot, but she was trying her hardest not to let it show.
The girls went upstairs while the three ladies had their coffees in the kitchen.
Rachel didn't stay for long because she needed to get back to take the pasta out of the oven so she called Lucy downstairs so she could say goodbye to her.
"I'm going now love, you have a good night won't you?" Rachel said and Lucy nodded
"Sure you still want to stay?" Rachel asked wanting to make sure that Grace wasn't being horrible to her or anything
"Yes I'm sure"
"Okay well I'll see you in the morning then, love you lots darling"
"Love you too"
Rachel went home and got the pasta out of the oven before calling Amy and Poppy down.
"Shall we put a film on or something?" Rachel asked once they'd finished eating
"Yeah can we watch that one you bought last weekend that was too old for Lucy?" Amy said
"Good idea, I think I'm going to put my pyjamas on first" Rachel said as she hadn't had chance to change out of her work clothes yet
Amy and Poppy both decided to change into their pyjamas as well.
Once they were all sorted they all sat on the sofa with some blankets.
"I think I'm just going to get a glass of wine, do you want one Poppy?" Rachel asked knowing that Poppy would probably ask her anyway
"No I'm okay thank you"
Rachel was a bit surprised but didn't really think anything of it
"Amy do you want a drink?"
"Can I have a glass of wine?"
"No you can't young lady"
"Why not you were going to let Poppy have one, and you can't use the excuse that I don't like it because you let me have a sip of yours the other day and I liked it"
"Because you're 12 years old so I'm not giving you a glass of wine"
"Fine can I have some lemonade then?"
"Lemonade I can do yes, sure you don't want anything Poppy?"
"I'm fine thank you"
"Okay"
Rachel quickly nipped out to get the drinks and got some chocolate out of the cupboard too.
When Rachel came back in she sat in between Amy and Poppy and they put the film on.
It was a really good film and Poppy was really enjoying it, but she just felt so tired and couldn't seem to stop her eyes from closing.
By the end of the film she'd stopped trying to keep herself awake and had ended up falling asleep on the sofa.
Rachel was really surprised when she saw her as it was only about 9 o clock and it was unusual for Poppy to be this tired so early.
Rachel gently shook her awake.
"Are you going to go up to bed love?"
"No I'll watch to the end of the film"
"The film's finished" Rachel said laughing
"Oh has it, yeah I might go up to bed then I'm really tired for some reason"
Poppy went up and brushed her teeth and went to the loo before getting into her double bed.
Once she was in bed Rachel came in to say goodnight.
Rachel came and sat down on the bed next to her and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Are you okay love?"
That was all it took for Poppy to burst into tears.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing I'm fine"
"Why are you crying then?"
"I don't know"
"Is it time of the month or something?"
For some reason Poppy nodded at this, she didn't want Rachel getting suspicious of anything.
Rachel laughed at this
"Bloody hormones eh?"
Poppy just smiled before closing her eyes.
"Have a good night sleep then my love"
"Night Rachel, love you"
"Love you too"
Rachel went down and sat in the lounge with Amy again. She hadn't been back down for long when there was a knock at the door.
"Wonder who that could be" Rachel said before wrapping her dressing gown a bit tighter around herself and then going out to answer it
When she opened the door she saw Sarah stood there with Lucy
"Lucy got a bit upset and wanted to come home" Sarah explained
"What made you upset?" Rachel asked
"I just wanted to come home"
"Okay, why don't you go into the lounge I'll be in in a minute love"
Lucy walked into the lounge and sat up on the sofa with Amy.
"Sorry about this, I'd have come round for her if you rang"
"Oh it doesn't matter, I don't know what's got her so upset"
"Maybe she just wanted to come home, thanks for having her though"
"No problem, she's welcome anytime"
Rachel went into the lounge where Lucy was snuggled into Amy.
Rachel went and sat down next to them and Lucy moved closer to Rachel and snuggled into her.
Rachel decided to let Lucy stay down for a bit before she took her up because she still seemed a bit upset.
"How come you wanted to come home love? Were you not having a very good time at Maisy's?"
"I was having a good time but I was missing you"
After about half an hour Lucy got really tired so Rachel took her up. She was being really quiet but Rachel had just put this down to tiredness.
"You go to the loo and brush your teeth, I'm just going to make your bed up because I stripped it earlier"
Rachel made Lucy's bed up for her and then sat on it waiting for her to come back in.
Lucy brushed her teeth and then went to the loo however as she was sat there she started to cry. She couldn't help it but she really wished she could because it was just proving that what Grace said was right, she really was a baby.
Lucy had been quite a while so Rachel decided to go and see what was taking her so long.
She pushed the bathroom door open and saw Lucy sat on the toilet tears streaming down her face.
Lucy hadn't been expecting Rachel to walk in.
"Rachel I didn't say you could come in go out"
"Sorry love"
Rachel walked out again and pulled the door closed
"Come back to your room when you're done and we'll have a little chat"
Rachel wondered why Lucy was crying, but she was guessing it was something to do with why she'd come home from Maisy's house.
Lucy realised she couldn't stay in here for longer so got herself sorted and then walked into her bedroom despite the fact she was still crying.
Rachel was sat on the bed waiting for her when she came in so Lucy went over and sat on her knee and snuggled into her chest.
"Now then are you going to tell me what this is all about?"
"It doesn't matter I'm fine now"
"It doesn't seem like it to me, come on you know you can tell me anything don't you?"
Lucy nodded her head but still didn't say anything
"I'm not going to make you say anything if you don't want to tell me, but I really would like you to so that I can make you feel better, I don't like seeing you upset like this"
Lucy thought for a moment, Rachel always did make her feel better whenever she was sad so she decided to tell her.
"Grace was being really horrible to me all night, and Maisy told her to stop but she wouldn't"
"What was she doing to be horrible?"
"She kept calling me a baby and she went through all of my stuff and said how babyish it all was and when I was on the toilet she unlocked the door with a coin so Maisy's brother saw me" Lucy sobbed
"Oh love it sounds like you haven't had a very good time"
"I didn't"
Rachel really did hate it when kids were horrible to each other, she knew that girls especially could be particularly cruel for no reason but she hated it even more when they were mean to the girls she now considered to be her daughters.
"I don't know why Grace was being like that with you but she shouldn't have been so I'll give Grace's Mum a ring tomorrow so that she can make sure Grace isn't like it again"
"No please don't"
"I think I should to stop it happening again"
"No I don't want you to, please don't ring Grace's Mum" Lucy begged
"Why not?"
"Because then she'll know I told you and she'll think I'm even more of a baby"
"Well you're clearly not a baby love, but everyone gets upset and it's good that you can come to me when you're feeling like that because it's much better than keeping it to yourself"
"I know but Grace said she never cries"
"I'm sure that's not true darling, everyone cries even adults"
"Even you?"
"Yep even me, so I'll ring Grace's Mum tomorrow and get it all sorted you've got nothing to worry about darling I promise"
"Okay"
"Now you jump into bed, are you feeling a bit happier now?"
"Yes"
"Good girl, and maybe we can invite Maisy around for a sleepover at our house tomorrow night as soon as you missed out tonight"
"Just Maisy and not Grace?"
"Yep just Maisy if that's the only one you want to invite"
"Yes I like Maisy we have lots of fun together"
"I know you do, but you need to get a good night sleep first so you're not tired"
"Night Rachel love you lots"
"Night night my love, I love you too"
Rachel sat there and stroked Lucy's hair until she drifted off to sleep. She then kissed her forehead before going back downstairs for a bit longer with Amy.
They stayed down for a bit longer before going up to bed themselves.
Poppy woke up really early the next morning. She'd had another really bad nights sleep so she was really tired but she just couldn't get back to sleep.
In the end she decided to get up.
Once she'd been to the toilet, she was going to go downstairs but as she walked out of her bedroom she saw Rachel's bedroom door and decided to go in there instead.
Rachel was reading her book in bed when Poppy came in. She immediately noticed how pale and tired she was looking.
"Morning love, you're up early"
"I know I woke up and now I can't get back to sleep"
"Why don't you jump into bed with me, no need to be up this early on a Saturday"
Poppy went and got in next to Rachel and laid down facing Rachel.
Rachel continued to read her book but she kept glancing over at Poppy, she could tell she had something on her mind.
"Something on your mind?"
"Kind of"
"Care to share"
Poppy looked up at Rachel and before she knew it the words were coming out of her mouth, even if it was incredibly quiet
"I'm pregnant" Poppy said before immediately looking away
It was extremely quiet but still loud enough for Rachel to hear, not that she could believe it.
Rachel put her head into her hands trying to take in what she'd just been told.
"Well say something then" Poppy said
"What do you want me to say Poppy? Congratulations?" Rachel shouted getting out of bed "how could you be so flaming stupid? How many times did we talk about staying safe, taking precautions?"
"I know"
"You knew but you decided to not listen to anything I said anyway"
"I did listen I just didn't think"
"You didn't think? You didn't think about how much this is going to change your life, how much you're going to have to put yourself through, how much you're going to have to sacrifice, how much…" Rachel said however she stopped when Poppy ran out of the room tears streaming down her face
Rachel realised that maybe she'd overreacted a bit and been a bit too harsh, she was just so shocked and upset that Poppy was going to have to go through all of this.
Rachel sat back down on her bed thinking about what to do. She decided to let herself calm down a bit before going to find Poppy because she wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk to her properly yet.
After sitting on her bed for a bit Rachel decided to have a shower and then go and speak to Poppy again. She was just about to go into her en suite when Lucy came in.
"Morning love" Rachel said
"Rachel Poppy's in her bedroom and she's crying loads"
"I know she is"
"Well aren't you going to go and speak to her then?"
"Yeah in a minute I just need some time to think first"
"Why? Has Poppy done something wrong?"
"Kind of"
"What's she done?"
"Nothing for you to worry about. I'm just about to jump in the shower, do you want a quick cuddle first though?"
Lucy nodded before getting into bed next to Rachel.
"Rachel have you rung Grace's Mum yet?"
"No not yet, it's still a bit early yet"
"Do you think Grace will still be horrible to me because I told you?"
"No I'm sure she won't be, but if she is just come and tell me and maybe stop playing with Grace for a while"
Rachel stayed with Lucy for about five minutes before going and getting into the shower.
Once she'd had a shower and washed her hair she got out and put her dressing gown on.
Lucy had gone by the time she came out so Rachel presumed she'd gone to play with her toys or something.
Rachel realised she needed to go and talk to Poppy now so went and knocked on her door. When she didn't get a reply she opened the door and walked in anyway.
Rachel felt really bad when she was Poppy laid on her bed sobbing her heart out so immediately went over to her and started rubbing her back.
"Poppy I'm sorry, I know I handled that really badly I just wasn't expecting it"
Poppy say up against her headboard so she was facing Rachel.
"What am I going to do Rach?"
"I think you know what I'm going to say, you've got to decide whether you want to keep the baby or not"
"I can't get rid of it, I was going to have an abortion but I can't, I can't kill my baby"
"You were going to go through that all on your own?"
"I didn't want to disappoint you"
"Oh love you haven't disappointed me, I just want what's best for you that's all I'd hate to think of you going through all of this on your own, when did you find out?"
"Last week"
"You should've told me as soon as, yes I'd still have been a bit surprised but at least you wouldn't have been going through all of this alone for the last week"
"I can't get rid of this baby Rach it's killing my own child, but how am I supposed to look after it, finish my A levels and still go to Uni?"
"I don't know love but if it's what you want to do, we'll figure out a way. Have you told Jack?"
"No not yet, he probably won't want anything to do with me now"
"I'm sure he'll want whatever's best for you and this baby, just like you do"
Poppy looked up at Rachel with tears rolling down her face. She looked so young and vulnerable and Rachel felt truly sorry for her.
Rachel didn't know what to do to make her feel better so just wrapped her arms around her and gave her a big cuddle.
"I know this seems like the end of the world at the minute, but we'll work something out and I'm not going anywhere so don't worry"
Even though Poppy was still extremely upset about the whole thing she did feel marginally better for telling Rachel so it did feel like a bit of a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Now why don't you go and have a shower and freshen up a little bit, I'm going to go and make some pancakes"
Rachel was deep in thought about Poppy as she made the pancakes. Poppy's exams were getting closer and closer so Rachel definitely wanted her in the right frame of mind for them.
In the end she decided to take Poppy away for the night, figuring it would do her good to have some time away from Rochdale to figure stuff out.
After she made the pancake mix Rachel rang up and managed to get them a deal on a fairly nice hotel in London. Rachel then rang Mel to see if she would mind looking after Amy and Lucy whilst they were gone.
She knew Amy and Lucy wouldn't be very happy about her not taking them but she knew she needed to do this for Poppy.
Mel was happy to look after them and stay the night, so Rachel called them all down for their pancakes.
Poppy was glad that she hadn't been sick that morning however when she came downstairs and smelt Rachel's coffee she immediately had to run to the downstairs loo.
Rachel followed her in to make sure she was okay.
"I think that was your coffee" Poppy said laughing
"Sorry about that, I'll go and get rid of it and then are you going to come back in?"
"Yeah"
Rachel went into the kitchen and poured her coffee down the sink. Luckily Amy and Lucy weren't in there so didn't know that Poppy had just been sick.
They sat down to eat their pancakes so Rachel decided to tell the girls about what was happening.
"Right I've got something to tell you all" Rachel said
Poppy looked at her wondering what she was going to say.
"Amy and Lucy, Mel's going to be coming over in an about an hour or so because she's going to look after you for the weekend"
"Why and why isn't she looking after Poppy?"
"Because me and Poppy are going to London for the night"
"That's so unfair" Amy said immediately "you can't take her and not us"
"I'm afraid I am, don't worry I'll make it up to you both next weekend but Poppy really needs this break so I don't want anymore said about how unfair it is, okay?"
"Fine" Amy said rolling her eyes
After breakfast Amy and Lucy both went back upstairs leaving just Poppy and Rachel.
"How come we're going to London Rach?"
"Because I think it will help you to clear your head, give you the chance to get away from here for a bit even if it is just a night"
"Thank you so much" Poppy said tears filling her eyes
"Hey don't cry" Rachel said wrapping her arms around Poppy "are you going to go and pack your stuff. I looked at train times and there's one at about 10 so we're going to get that one"
Poppy was so excited now about going to spend the night in London with Rachel. The only other time she'd been to London was on a school trip.
Rachel went upstairs to get dressed and pack her suitcase. Once she was done she went into Poppy's room.
"Shall I put your stuff in my suitcase? There's not a lot of point in us both taking a suitcase for one night"
"Yeah my stuff's all out of the bed, I think I've got everything"
"Hang on a minute, why did you tell me you were on your period last night?"
"I didn't want you to be suspicious"
Rachel smiled weakly before picking up Poppy's stuff and going and putting it into the suitcase.
Mel arrived a little while later and agreed to drop Rachel and Poppy off at the station.
"Be good for Mel you two, I'll give you a ring later"
They quickly said their goodbyes before going and buying some tickets and then waiting on the right platform.
It didn't take long for their train to come so they got on and found two seats together.
The train journey went quickly and soon they were in London.
As soon as they arrived they went outside to get a taxi to take them to their hotel.
Poppy couldn't believe how nice the hotel was, she'd never stayed anywhere nearly as nice as this.
They had a really nice day together in London however by the end of it they were both pretty tired so they came back and had a little lie on the bed before they got ready to go out for their meal.
Neither of them had brought anything up about the baby all day but whilst they were having their meal they managed to have a sensible conversation about it and by the end of it Poppy was feeling much better about everything.
Please review and let me know if you think Poppy should have the baby or have a miscarriage xxxxxxx