XXI. Jasmine, October 3
Jasmine rolled over and groaned. Her head was pounding and she felt nauseous and thirsty. A bright light was already streaming through the window, and she blinked a couple of times to try to get used to it. No use—it still hurt. She reached over to the other side of the bed and found that it was empty. That was new. She sat up and tried to remember the night before. The blurry events of the homecoming dance slowly came into focus. The pre-party, the meltdown, the resulting argument with Thomas.
Jasmine remembered Aladdin shouting at her in front of all those people, making such a fool out of her. She couldn't remember exactly what he said, but she remembered it hurt. But that wasn't the worst of it—it was only the beginning of a rather horrific night. Of course Thomas had been there as Jasmine's date, and he had seen the whole thing go down. Apparently something Jasmine had said or done had indicated that she wasn't over Aladdin—and how could she be? She and Aladdin had been perfect, and she had gone and screwed it up by playing this stupid cheating game. After Jasmine's freak-out at Aladdin, Thomas had dragged her outside, away from the music, because apparently she hadn't been yelled at enough already that night.
"What was that all about?" Thomas had asked.
"What—what do you mean?" Jasmine responded.
"You throwing yourself at your ex-boyfriend while I was standing right there?" Thomas said. "What's up with that?"
"Thomas, you—you think this is serious?" Jasmine asked.
"I didn't have any reason to think otherwise," Thomas said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Thomas, we—we started getting together when I was still with Aladdin," Jasmine said. "And… you knew I was with other guys then… The only reason we're together now is because Aladdin caught us."
"So—what, have you been with other guys since you started calling me your boyfriend?" Thomas asked, exasperated.
"Sure, I mean—haven't you been with other girls?" Jasmine asked.
"No," Thomas responded, shaking his head and looking at the ground. "No, Jasmine, I haven't been with anyone but you. I thought that was what it meant when you called someone your 'girlfriend.' I thought that had something to do with loyalty and… and faithfulness."
"How could you possibly think that?" Jasmine said. "I never…"
"Yeah, well… maybe Aladdin was right," Thomas said angrily. "Maybe you need to clean up your act. Goodnight."
And with that, he had stormed off to his car angrily, leaving Jasmine standing by the school entrance, alone and without a ride home. She had stumbled off onto the grass and sat down behind a bush, leaning against the side of the building. She had started to sob then, and she was crying now as she thought back on it. She wasn't crying because she was so sad to lose Thomas—it wasn't as though they had had a meaningful relationship, anyway—it was more about what the whole thing represented. Maybe Thomas and Aladdin were right.
She eventually had calmed down a little bit until only an occasional tear fell, but she stayed where she was, not really sure what to do next without a car or anyone to rely on. She heard police sirens in the distance, and then they grew closer and a police car pulled into the school lot. Paranoid and sure that the police were coming for her, Jasmine hid behind the bushes and watched as two policemen ran into the building. Maybe they weren't looking for her, then—she wondered why they were there. A few minutes later, the policemen walked out, dragging a resistant Gaston. Jasmine raised her eyebrows, wondering what had happened. She couldn't say she was particularly surprised that Gaston had caused some kind of trouble, but she was curious to find out exactly what type, as it could have been just about anything.
The policemen shoved the cuffed Gaston into the back of the police car and Jasmine's question was quickly answered as a group of people spilled out onto the bus port. First were Ariel, Tiana, Phoebus, and Hercules, quickly followed by Snow White, who had her arm around a crying Belle.
"Oh, no," Jasmine whispered to herself.
She had lit class with both Gaston and Belle, so she had seen the way Gaston harassed and picked on Belle—and she also saw the way he looked at her, with a horrible concoction of lust and malice. Jasmine knew that she was no saint herself, but she knew that whatever Gaston had done or tried to do to Belle was inexcusable. Jasmine shook her head, wishing she could go and comfort Belle. But she was drunk and it would show—and she couldn't risk that with the cops right there.
Jasmine sat back against the wall and pulled out her phone and tried to find someone in her contacts list that could drive her home. After ten minutes of searching, she threw her phone down in the dirt in frustration. Once upon a time, she had a group of friends who she probably could've called in a situation like this, but apparently she had alienated all of them. Most of all, she had Aladdin. She could've called him any time and he would've been there for her. He would have dropped everything to come to her rescue when she was in need. How many people can say they have someone who would do that for them?
"Hey, are you okay?"
Jasmine looked up and found a girl with wavy, light blonde hair standing above her. Jasmine squinted up at her—she looked familiar, but Jasmine couldn't place her name. She was pretty sure the girl was a junior, and that she had seen her hanging out with Snow, but she couldn't remember anything else.
"I—um—"
"Here, let me help you," the girl said, reaching toward Jasmine and trying to help her up.
"No! No, the cops will—"
"The cops left," the girl said quizzically. "It's okay, I'm not going to get you in trouble."
"Oh," Jasmine said, and allowed the girl to help her up. "What's your name?"
"Aurora," the girl said. "And you're Jasmine, right?"
"Mm-hmm," Jasmine said, nodding.
"Do you need a ride or something, Jasmine?" Aurora asked.
"No, I'm—I'm just going to walk, I think—" Jasmine said, and turned away, beginning to walk clumsily towards the road.
"Don't be ridiculous," Aurora said. "Come on, I'm leaving now anyway—I'll give you a ride."
Sitting in her bed now with the worst hangover she could remember, Jasmine was surprised and grateful for the stranger's kindness. As far as she was aware, she had never done anything particularly kind of this girl, but the girl had given her a ride home when she'd had no one else. Still, the one act of kindness didn't make the bad things that had happened that night seem any less horrible. Yawning, Jasmine finally got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Closing the door, she saw the calendar that she had hung on the inside of it. It was still on September, so she flipped the page up to October and something hit her. She took the calendar down from the door and flipped back a couple of months, and then flipped forward. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she dropped the calendar, stumbled over to the toilet, and threw up.
Jasmine stood nervously before the door to Aladdin's apartment. She could feel herself fidgeting and she couldn't stand still. She raised her hand to knock and hesitated. She didn't have a choice. She had no one else to turn to. She knocked, then stepped to the side a bit in case Aladdin looked through the peephole and decided not to open the door. The door swung open and there he was, still in his pajamas, his hair a bit messy. He made a little noise of disgust and tried to close the door, but Jasmine lunged forward and stopped the door from closing, looking at Aladdin desperately.
"Wait," Jasmine said, looking him directly in the eye. "Please. I don't have anyone else to turn to and… I need help. It's… kind of an emergency."
Aladdin looked at her for a few moments, then sighed deeply and let her into the apartment. She stepped inside, feeling awkward. It was the first time she'd been in the apartment as anyone but Aladdin's girlfriend, and it felt strange and suddenly unfamiliar and unwelcome.
"What is it, Jasmine?" Aladdin said, his voice somewhat harsh and impatient as he closed the door.
"I—" she said, her voice breaking. "I'm pregnant."
She began sobbing and Aladdin, in shock, allowed her to fall into his arms and cry against his chest. When he overcame the shock, his first instinct was just to comfort her, even after what she had done to him. He hugged her and stroked her hair, trying to say whatever calming things he could to get her to stop crying. He finally led her over to the couch and sat her down, taking a seat next to her. She eventually gained some composure.
"Are you sure?" Aladdin asked, looking at her seriously. "I've heard pregnancy tests can give false positives."
"I'm… pretty sure," Jasmine said. "Like, ninety-nine percent. It all adds up, I don't know why I didn't realize sooner."
"How… far along are you?" Aladdin asked, clearing his throat midway through the sentence.
"You mean, are you the father?" Jasmine said, looking glum. "I don't know. But I screwed it up with Thomas, too, so I guess it doesn't really matter."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. It was awkward but seemed necessary. Jasmine didn't even want to think about, never mind bring up, the fact that there were other potential fathers beyond those two. She had always been "safe" as far as she knew—well, as safe as one could possibly be without being on the pill. And besides, Aladdin didn't need to know that there had been anyone else.
"What are you going to do?" Aladdin asked.
"I really don't know," Jasmine said. "I don't feel right getting an abortion, but… then again… how screwed up is this kid going to be? I mean, I've been drinking, obviously, and… I know what that can do to a… a fetus."
"Would you want to… keep the baby?" Aladdin asked, trying to put it delicately.
"Like, for my own?" Jasmine asked, looking distant. "I don't know—I'd never thought about it. I guess I can't imagine having a baby in the world that isn't… mine."
"Well, it's your decision, Jas," Aladdin said. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. But if you decide to keep the baby—and it turns out that it is my baby and not Thomas's—I will be a father to that child. I'm not going to… be your boyfriend or marry you or anything, but I think every child should… be lucky enough to have a father."
"I don't know… I don't know what to do," Jasmine said, shaking her head and putting it down on the armrest of the couch.
"Well, first of all, you should go to a doctor," Aladdin said. "You need to find out how far along you are and I'm sure the doctor can give you the information you need to make this decision. It's not something you should take lightly."
"Will you go with me?" Jasmine asked. "When I make the appointment, I mean."
Aladdin sighed, "Sure, Jas. I'll go with you."
"Thank you," Jasmine said, wiping her face on her sleeve.
"Does Thomas know?" Aladdin asked.
"No," Jasmine admitted. "I just realized this morning, and… I don't think we're exactly on speaking terms after last night."
"What happened?" Aladdin asked.
"We just had a fight… over you," Jasmine said. "I think we broke up. I guess we did, yeah. And then… Oh. Do you know what happened last night?"
"Well, a lot of things happened last night," Aladdin said.
"I mean with Belle and Gaston," Jasmine said.
"Oh… that," Aladdin said, looking serious. "That was pretty bad. I didn't actually witness any of it, but from what I heard… That creep Gaston tried to rape Belle, but Snow stopped him."
"So he didn't succeed?" Jasmine said hopefully.
"No—that's what I've heard, anyway," Aladdin said. "They say Snow was just in time. How she knew what was going on and where to find them—who knows? Pretty heroic, if you ask me. I guess Tiana Grenouille and that new girl Ariel were there with Snow and Prince, and Tiana called 911 while Ariel ran for help. Ariel found Hercules and Phoebus and got them to come and hold Gaston while they waited for the police."
"That's amazing," Jasmine nodded. "Wow. I wonder how Belle's doing."
"A lot better than she would have been if Snow hadn't showed up, that's for sure," Aladdin said. "Last I heard, Gaston was still in police custody… And with so many witnesses hopefully they'll be able to get him put away for a long time. I'm pretty sure he's eighteen, so that's good."
"Yeah, he deserves it," Jasmine said, then her eyes drifted down to her stomach.
"Are you going to be okay?" Aladdin asked.
"I don't know," Jasmine said.
"I know you're lonely, Jasmine, but you don't have to be," Aladdin said. "I don't know what changed, but you used to be so awesome and fun and kind. You can be that way again—you don't need to be in a relationship to be happy. I think maybe you should try… I don't know, seeing a therapist or something. It might do you some good."
"Yeah, maybe," Jasmine said absently.
"I'm serious," Aladdin said. "I know you don't think it's true, but I do care about you. I wouldn't have said those things last night if I didn't."
Jasmine leaned towards Aladdin but he put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her.
"I think you should go now," he said.
He led her to the door and she turned as she walked out into the hallway. She looked at him, pausing for a moment.
"I love you," she said.
Aladdin sighed, "I know."