**To those who are reading this now, have a very Meryy Christmas! And a Happy New Year!**
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Rin was staring at the clock in her History class literally once every two seconds. It was the last day of school until the Christmas vacation, and Dr. Dunlop, the main History teacher with silver hair, pale eyes and his well known stutter, was droning on about something that Rin kinda knew anyway. She knew all about the My Lai Massacre of 1967 and the Charlie Company soldiers and that guy… who was it, William Calley or something like that? Any who, Rin was getting bored of him repeating the same old points to the class when they weren't even paying attention. On Rin's left Len had decided that he was going to doodle a very cute drawing of a rabbit for some reason. In front of Rin were Teto and Dell, who were writing down notes as if they were worth all the gold in the world. Behind Rin was Nessa, who was reading the History textbook making more notes in her huge notepad that was already half full of those History notes anyway. And to Rin's right was Neru, but she didn't look that well to be honest. She looked as if she was trying to not throw up as she was listening to Dr. Dunlop. She put her hand up hesitantly.
'Err, Dr. Dunlop? C-Can I be excused? I don't feel too good…' Neru murmured. Dr. Dunlop rolled his eyes at her.
'V-very well then, b-b-but you'll have to copy your n-n-n-notes in your fr-fr-free time.' He replied. Neru nodded and stood up from her chair, grabbing her little bag. She rushed out of the classroom, hand clasped over her mouth. Now Rin was suddenly curious. She really wanted to know what was wrong with Neru. She hadn't been the same for the past six weeks. After a few seconds, Rin put her hand up. Dr. Dunlop stopped talking and looked at her.
'W-What's the matter with y-y-you three?' He asked exasperatedly. Rin frowned, but then she realised; Teto and Nessa put their hands up as well. The three of them looked at each other, and then to Dr. Dunlop.
'We need the toilet sir.' They said. Dr. Dunlop sighed heavily and started shaking his head at them.
'You g-g-g-g-girls these days… very well, at least I-I-I know you've made an effort to make some n-n-n-n-notes for your assignment over the Christmas v-v-v-vacation. You might as well t-t-take your stuff girls,' Dr. Dunlop added as Rin Teto and Nessa were standing up, 'there's only t-t-ten minutes to the bell a-a-anyway.' Rin nodded, packed her backpack and swung it over her shoulders. Len looked at her enviously, and Rin stuck her tongue out at him.
'Oh, R-R-Rin, c-c-can you take Neru's stuff f-f-for me as well.' Dr. Dunlop asked. Rin nodded, and packed all of Neru's stuff into Neru's backpack. Rin grabbed Neru's back and walked out of the room, with Teto and Nessa right behind.
'I take it that you two are wondering what's up with Neru then as well?' Nessa asked casually after five minutes of walking. Teto and Rin nodded at her. Nessa laughed
'That girl has a lot to explain for these past seven weeks. She's been running off to the toilets non-stop and fainting left right and centre!' Nessa exclaimed, turning a corner and walking past the Chemistry lab. Rin couldn't help but with agreeing with Nessa on that point; Neru had fainted last week during gymnastics when she was doing the rope climbing and almost broke her neck. Everyone freaked out; even Hatsune got a little bit worried. And the week before that Neru was in the bathroom at the foster home for ten minutes of non-stop vomiting. Rin was hoping that Neru wasn't turning bulimic on them all. Rin had been there, done that, got the freaking the T-shirt. They reached the toilets and Nessa opened the door for them to enter.
Rin could hear distinct sobbing. She walked inside the toilets to find Neru on her knees, sobbing her heart out, her hair was framed around her face as her hair bobble was gone. Teto crouched down next to Neru and wrapped her arm around Neru's shoulder.
'Neru, what's the matter? Is everything OK?' Teto asked hesitantly, glancing at Rin desperately. Rin knelt down next to Neru and started hugging her. Neru returned the hug, sobbing and sobbing harder than ever. Nessa was looking at the sink for some reason. She reached inside and revealed a long stick. Then she went pale, as in, almost ghost white pale. Rin knew that this was not a good sign at all.
'No way… there is no fucking way…' Nessa said in disbelief. Rin stood up. Nessa wasn't holding a stick at all. She was holding a pregnancy test.
And, to Rin's horror, it was a positiveone at that.
Rin gasped loudly, hands flying to her mouth in shock. Nessa looked at Neru with shock.
'Neru, is this…?' Nessa asked, waving the pregnancy test. Neru looked up at her. She looked utterly defeated and she looked so small. Neru gave her a very small nod, and looked onto the floor. Teto bounced up to her feet and looked at the pregnancy test herself. She looked horrified.
'You're pregnant.' Teto said numbly, stumbling into the wall. It looked as if the shock hit her hard. Neru stood up slowly. Rin found herself shaking her head.
'You can't be pregnant, you can't be!' Rin said in horror. Nessa laughed icily. She looked furious. But for some reason, Rin had a feeling that she wasn't mad at Neru.
'The little bastard's Akaito's. I'm right aren't I?' Nessa snapped. Neru flinched when Nessa said "bastard," but she nodded nonetheless. Nessa started cracking her knuckles.
'That is it. I'm gonna fucking kill the prick.' She hissed. Rin grabbed her arm and stopped Nessa from leaving.
'Nessa, you have to stay calm for Neru's sake. She needs support. And besides, maybe the test is wrong.' Teto said hopefully. Nessa laughed.
'You can't fake a pregnancy test. Her life's fucked up. This was from that Bonfire party wasn't it? No point in crying Neru,' Nessa added harshly as Neru burst into tears again, 'I'm just being rational. I wanna know if Akaito would be willing to help look after his little bastard when it's born.' Teto started trying to calm Neru down. Rin pulled Nessa to the other side of the toilets away from Neru and Teto.
'I know you're angry Nessa, but there's no need to take it out on Neru at a time like this!' Rin said softly. Nessa chuckled darkly.
'If you think I'm angry now Rin, just wait until you see what I'm like with Akaito. That'll be a lot more than an eruption, let alone a few fireworks.' Nessa hissed. Rin frowned. Nessa wasn't acting like her usual self at all.
'What happened to the Nessa who told me that my parents died for a reason? Where's the Nessa who said that God was on my side?' Rin asked, tears swelling up in her eyes. Nessa rubbed her forehead hard and sighed heavily.
'Look Rin, I'm only acting like this because I know what this is like. I didn't get pregnant at a young age,' Nessa added quickly, 'but my mom did. My eldest brother's dad fucked off as soon as my mom told him about my brother.' Nessa looked at Neru. She walked towards and hugged her tightly.
'I'm sorry for yelling at you Neru; I just don't want you to throw your life away like what my mom did.' Nessa murmured. Neru hugged Nessa back and just started crying all over again. Teto and Rin looked at each other. Rin had a few ideas on what they were both thinking: the first thing was how the hell they were going to break this to Mama Lily; the second thing was how the hell they were going to break this to Akaito.
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As expected, all hell broke loose when Rin, Teto, Neru and Nessa walked back to the foster home in the snow. When Neru pulled Mama Lily to one side and told her about her "little problem" (pardon the pun), of course, Mama Lily went shooting through the roof. Literally, she jumped up so high she almost hit the ceiling she was that shocked. Then she got angry. As in she got angry.
'Why, Neru? I mean, I taught you all the things you should and shouldn't do didn't I teach you well enough? I lead you down the right path!' Mama Lily shrieked.
'Now Lily, calm down for a few-' Leon said calmly. Mama Lily whacked him over the head with a frying pan, completely K-Oed as he landed on the floor. Teto took it upon herself to drag Leon into the main room. She had the advantage really. Mama Lily could be scary when she wanted to be.
'Ma'am, please listen. You know that it's not just Neru's fault in this right?' asked Nessa calmly, stepping in front of Neru protectively. Mama Lily collapsed against the wall, head in her hands.
'I'm not mad at Neru. I'm mad at the fact that she wasn't careful… at least tell me that you know who the father is.' Mama Lily groaned, looking up at them. Neru hesitated, and then nodded guiltily. She looked at Nessa pleadingly. To Rin it seemed that Neru was completely dependent on Nessa. Nessa sighed.
'The dad's Akaito. I know this because Neru told me.' Nessa added when Mama Lily opened her mouth. She closed her mouth, eyes wide in surprised. But then she got angry again. She rushed upstairs yelling her head off about how she was going to slaughter Akaito.
'What did I miss?' asked Teto curiously. There was a yell from upstairs, which was obviously Akaito's yelling. Neru looked terrified and burst out crying again. Nessa put her arm around her consolingly and gave her a one arm hug. After a few seconds later, Rin saw to her surprise Mama Lily literally flinging Akaito down the stairs. He landed on his head pretty hard, and he looked at them all dizzily.
'Geez, what's wrong with the old bat- Neru, are you OK?' asked Akaito, jumping up onto his feet. He made his way towards Neru, but Nessa stepped in front of her. Akaito looked shocked. Rin felt something tug at her skirt. She looked down to see Gumi, who was wearing a dark green dress and a very large coat that kinda made her look like a penguin with earmuffs and a green hat.
'Onee-chan, where's your coat?' Gumi asked. Rin was confused.
'What do you mean Gumi?' Rin asked in return. Gumi put her arms up and Rin picked her up. Gumi was a lot happier now at the foster home, and she was gradually starting to warm up to Leon, which was indeed a major bonus. She even started calling him "Papa Lee".
'You said that you'd take me Christmas shopping, onee-chan.' Gumi said in a simple tone. Oh. Rin suddenly remembered how she said to Gumi earlier that morning that she was going to take her shopping to buy presents for Mama Lily. Rin looked at Nessa.
'Rin, you made a promise. I'll try my best to calm everyone down.' Nessa said firmly. Rin smiled at her and put Gumi down.
'OK, let me just get some warmer clothes on and we'll be off as soon as possible.' Rin said warmly. Gumi smiled at her widely.