Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait to update. Also, just a side note, I decided to change Austen's name to Adam.

Chapter 13: Pretend

Nessie

All I could do was cry. It hurt so much to think that my own friends could betray me one of the worst ways possible. That Adam, my best friend for many many many years, would do such a thing to me.

I felt the smallest, tiniest, of nudges in my lower belly. My emotions were all over the place. My baby. Was it wrong of me to love this baby? Was it wrong of me to love my rape conceived son?

Another thought raced through my head. What was I going to do now that I knew the truth? How could I tell Adam that he was the father of my baby? How could I tell him that I knew of his treachery? How could I look him or any of my friends in the face ever again?

I had to pretend. At least for now. That was the only solution I could see. I had to pretend that I didn't know anything because after all I wasn't supposed to know anything. I'd been drugged so I couldn't resist or remember the assault that took place.

I reached over to my nightstand to get one of my human pills. I swallowed it quickly and grimaced when it scratched the back of my throat. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were red and puffy from crying. I decided to take a shower just to give myself time to calm down before facing the day.

The hot water felt good against my stiff muscles. A half hour or so had gone by when I finally decided that I should get out of the shower. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and all traces of redness and puffiness had disappeared from my eyes. Still though, I took my time drying myself off, drying my hair, getting dressed, and even putting my makeup on.

I went back to my room and saw a few text messages from Adam on my phone. Do you want to go out to the movies tonight? There is a movie that Liam, Adrian, and I wanted to see. The next message said Hey Nessie did you receive my message? I'm about to book the tickets for 7:30 tonight.

I felt anxious at the thought of going to the movies with my friends. But because it was very much unlike me to say no and I needed to pretend so they wouldn't suspect a thing I texted back Sorry I was in the shower. Yes I'd love to go. See you guys then. I took a deep breath. This was going to take some serious mental gymnastics to prepare myself to face my friends tonight. Friends. That was what I was still calling them. I couldn't stomach the actual word for what they were. Rapists.

I swallowed a quick breakfast, just cereal, before heading out the door. I'd just remembered that I had another doctor's appointment with my OBGYN to check on how my baby was doing. Thanks to me taking my time in the bathroom this morning I was already running late. I drove as fast as I could do so legally and made it to my appointment with only two minutes to spare.

I laid there with the cold jelly on my belly. "Well this certainly is odd," the doctor stated more to herself than she did to me. "What's odd?" I asked, panic surged through me at the thought of anything being wrong with my baby.

"The fetus has grown a lot since the last appointment three weeks ago," she said, shocked.

"I'm not understanding. Aren't fetuses supposed to grow fast?"

She shook her head. "Not this fast. It looks as if he has aged two months rather than three weeks. Here, I'll show you," she was right, my son had grown, but I didn't think it was that much. Maybe her guess was off.

I left my doctor's appointment feeling perplexed, however. The sun shone brightly in my eyes as I walked to my car. Meaning that I wouldn't see my family until at least nighttime. If I saw them at all. I had tried calling mom on the way to my appointment and it went straight to voicemail. I tried again and again and still the same thing. It was strange.

The day passed by in a blur and before I knew it was 7PM. Adam, Liam, and Adrain were standing outside of the theater waiting for me when I got there at exactly 7:25PM. For the first time in my life I felt fear when I saw them. I forced a smile on my face though. I was going to pretend like absolutely nothing was wrong and I would make it through the movie. I could do that much.

We all went to the concession stand to buy food and drinks for the movie. Once we were at our seats I forced myself to eat though my stomach was in knotts. "Hey Nessie do you mind going and getting us more popcorn?" Adam asked about an hour into the movie.

"Of course not. Sure I'll go," I jumped at the chance to get away from my friends even for a moment. I still had half a bucket of popcorn and half a cup of Diet Coke so I only got food for my friends.

Adam was smiling when I came back a few minutes later with the food. Sometime later, I couldn't say exactly how much time had passed, I started to feel sick. My head was spinning and I felt like I was going to pass out. I grabbed soda cup thinking another sip would help but I'd already run out of soda. Then I made a horrific realization.

I got up so fast that I nearly fell over. "Nessie where are you going?" Adam asked me.

I ignored him as I made my way out of the theater room. My head was really spinning now. Please don't pass out. Please don't pass out. I went into the restroom and locked myself in one of the stalls. I dug through bag and found my cellphone quickly. I called the first person I could think of.

"Nessie. Your mother just saw your missed calls. I'm sorry she didn't get back to you sooner. Let's just say there was an incident last night involving Rosalie and we no longer have a house standing and-"

"Dad-"

"Nessie what's wrong?" he picked up on the panic on my voice.

"I fucked up big time dad,"

"What happened? What did you do?"

"My friends wanted me to go to the movies with them. So I said yes because I didn't want them to suspect that I knew about what they did to me and-"

"Nessie you're really scaring me. What is going on?"

"During the movie Adam asked me if I could go buy more snacks. I left my soda unattended and now I don't feel good. I feel really sick. Like I'm going to pass out. Dad I think he-"

"Where are you?!" my dad demanded to know. I could hear him growling.

I felt sick to my stomach. As soon as I told him which theater I was at and the address the line went dead.