"You've got to be kidding me." I shook the small plastic stick in my hand and pressed my palm against my face. This couldn't be happening to me. The little plus sign antagonized me. I'm pregnant. I gulped and looked up at my mother who was leaning against the doorframe of my bathroom. I nodded and she sobbed before kneeling next to me and hugging me closely.
The next day I parked my car in the Spencer Academy parking lot and sighed. I had to tell him. No matter how much I didn't want to, he deserved to know that he was the father to my child and I was keeping it. I slid from the car and out into the cool Ipswich air. My green eyes searched the parking lot before I found him, lounging against the familiar black Hummer with the rest of his friends. I took a deep breath before approaching the group. Caleb saw me first and said something, making him turn and look at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Uhh, hey, Reid. Can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked while I bit my lip. He smirked at me and nodded turning to tell his friends he'd be right back. I didn't miss the smirk he sent his sweet looking friend, Tyler. I rolled my eyes mentally before walking away towards a secluded area of the parking lot. This isn't how my life was supposed to work out. I'm not supposed to be dreading telling the father of my child that I'm pregnant and I shouldn't be telling him in the parking lot of our high school. "I'm going to make this quick, like ripping off a band-aid..." I said turning to face Reid. He raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"What do you mean?" he asked with the smirk that made my knees go weak. That was the reason we were in this situation, that god for saken smirk.
"I'm pregnant." I said. Biting my lip and waiting for him to say something. Anything.
"That's...cool?" he said, obviously wondering why I was telling him this.
"It's your baby, dumb ass." I said with a sigh. Reid's eyes widened and he cursed under his breath before starting to pace in front of me. "And I'm not getting an abortion, I'm keeping it." He gave me a look as if saying 'Duh you're keeping it'. "Look, I understand if you want nothing to do with me or the baby, just please don't tell anyone yet." I said before turning to walk away. Reid grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him.
"I want to be a part of our baby's life, Grayce. I know that you think that, that night meant nothing to me, but it did. I've wanted to be with you since we were seven. And now you're pregnant. I can't help thinking I've ruined your life. So just please, don't walk away from me right now. I like you Graycen, and I want to be in our child's life." he said looking at me with truthful blue eyes. I nodded, speechless and hid my face in his chest, letting my facade drop and sobbing. He pet my head and hugged my shoulders to him. I pulled away first looking up at him through teary eyes.
"Thank you. You have a way of telling me exactly what I want to hear." I smiled up at him. He smiled back before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leading me back to his friends. I wiped my eyes dry before we walked over to them, not wanting them to be curious as to why I was crying. Tyler raised his eyebrow but shook his head, deciding not to say anything. My head was resting on Reid's shoulder and his arm had gone down to my waist. Sarah and Kate smirked before turning back to their conversation with Caleb and Pogue. I really didn't know Reid's friends that well. I just knew what everyone else knew.
That Reid was the daredevil, Pogue was the badass, Tyler was the shy one, and Caleb was the leader. They all came from wealthy families and had lived in Ipswich their entire lives. My mother was from Ipswich, but moved away, to Maine, where she met my father and "fell in love". They got married and had me, but got divorced when I was seven. My mother moved the two of us back here to Ipswich, while I visited dad in Cape Porpoise every summer.
Reid kissed my temple as we walked down the hallway, his arms still around me. The way he was acting would surprise me, but I knew Reid. Ever since I was seven I've known Reid Garwin. I never took the time to get to know the other sons, but Reid Anthony Garwin had once been my best friend. I remembered the simple times when he told me everything, how whenever he got older when he found the girl he loved more than anything he was going to treat her like she was a princess. I smiled at the thought as we walked into our English class. I slid into the seat next to Sarah as Kate sat on my other side. I may not know the other sons well, but I knew their girlfriends.
Kate Tunney became my neighbor freshman year, while Sarah joined the both of us junior year as Kate's roommate. I was in a double room, but my roommate, Myriah, was my cousin and she liked to stay in her boyfriend's room more often then our room. I didn't mind one bit, Myriah and I didn't get along all the time. Plus, she hung out around Kira Snyder, so I really didn't want her finding out about my little "problem".
I looked down to see a folded piece of paper slid onto my desk from the mocha colored hand of the girl sitting to my right. I smirked before unfolding the note and reading it quickly. Of course, Kate wanted to know what had happened between Reid and I before school. I took the paper and looked around, before writing those two dreaded words, that I seemed to be saying a lot lately, on the paper. 'I'm pregnant'. Kate took the note and her dark eyes got wide before she passed it over to Sarah, who had a similiar look on her pretty face. I looked between my two best friends and waited for either of them to say or do something, but they didn't. They went through the entire period with wide eyes, just staring.
When the bell rang Reid met me at my seat and intertwined his fingers with mine. He gave Kate and Sarah a curious look before turning to me with a raised eyebrow. I nodded at him and he sighed before leading me and the rest of the group out of the room. We continued walking until we were all outside under the big willow tree. Reid and I had free period, along with Sarah and Tyler. Pogue, Kate, and Caleb just decided to skip after seeing the looks circulating between the four of us. Reid sat against the tree with me in between his legs. Sarah sat to our our write leaning against Caleb, who sat next to Pogue with Kate in his lap and Tyler was to our left. I bit my lip before looking up at Reid.
Sarah took my hand in hers and squeezed it, while Kate nodded. I took a deep breath before telling them. "I'm pregnant." I said. Tyler's baby blue eyes got wide before a grin spread it's way across his cute face. Caleb furrowed his eyebrows and Pogue raised his. I bit my lip again and looked anywhere but at the group of people surrounding me.
"Well, it's not exactly the best timing, but..." Tyler smiled at me. I smiled back and nodded, appreciating his optimism. "I'm going to say what we're all thinking. It is Reid's right?" Tyler said with a raised eyebrow, everyone watched me. I nodded and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. I furrowed my eyebrow when Caleb sent Reid a look.
"You're gonna have to tell her, man." Pogue said from his spot next to Kate. I turned to face Reid with a raised eyebrow.
"Tell me what?" I asked. Everyone turned to Reid and he sighed before standing in the center of the circle. He kneeled in front of me and took my hands in his.
"Don't be afraid, okay?" he asked. I nodded, not able to find my voice to say anything back to him. Reid took a deep breath before his eyes flashed, and instead of the bright blue that I love they were completey black. I gasped and my eyes went wide before I leaned forward.
"Wha-?" I asked with wide eyes.
"I'm a warlock, Grayce, all four of us are." he said indicating Caleb, Tyler and Pogue behind him. I nodded and looked around. Sarah and Kate were watching my closely, making sure I wasn't secrely freaking out.
"Well...okay. Why did I have to know this?" I asked, fearing what was coming next.
"Because...our baby is going to be like me, Graycen." Reid answered watching me closely. I looked up at him with wide eyes and looked around the circle, everyone nodded and I closed my mouth. Well, so my baby was going to be a warlock? Big deal, it didn't change how I loved him and it didn't change how I felt about his father. I don't know how I knew it was going to be a boy, Reid hadn't even told me that part of the Ipswich families history, I just had a feeling that he would be a boy. I smiled brightly.
"I'm glad you told me this. I feel like I'm in now." I grinned. Reid smirked before placing a small kiss on my forehead. Everyone joked around for the rest of the free period before we all stood to go to our next class. My next class was swim with Reid, Tyler, and Kate. I walked into the pool and told the coach I couldn't swim today, due to having had a "stomach flu" this weekend. The coach nodded, understanding and let me sit out. Little did he know that I would be sitting out a lot over the next few months.
I watched Reid and Tyler race with the team while Kate practiced her diving. I could feel eyes on me and looked up to see Aaron Abbott staring at me from across the pool. I looked down and flickered my gaze to Reid. He smiled at me and turned back to Tyler. The period went by fast and before I knew I was walking into the cafeteria with everyone. We all had lunch together and sat at the same table everyday. Reid pulled out my chair for me and then sat with his arm resting against the back of my chair the entire lunch hour. I talked with Sarah and Kate while the guys discussed swim and what we were all doing this weekend. Parties were out, for now, considering I couldn't drink. So we all just decided to have a movie night at Pogue's house. Reid's parents were coming back from Mexico that night and Pogue's had been gone for about three days.
After lunch the day seemed to fly by, and it was time to go home. I walked over to my car with my fingers intertwined with Reid's. He gave me a soft kiss before letting me slide into my car. He waved me off and then got into the Hummer. I drove all the way to the manor, not really wanting to deal with Myriah for right now. My Gramps was probably at the office, Mom was probably still working her shift at the hospital, which only left Gram at home. When I opened the door I could hear her singing softly to herself in the kitchen. I entered the room and smiled at my grandmother at the stove. "Hello grandbaby, and future great grandbaby." she pat my stomach easily before walking into the other room. Gram had taken the news easily enough, at least I was older than my mother had been when she had me.
Anne had gotten pregnant at the age of fifteen, with my father who was seventeen at the time. At least now I was almost an adult. I was a senior in high school, I could take care of my baby better than mom could.
Gram came back into the room carrying a box. She placed it in front of me with a soft smile. "It's all the boy clothes we had for when you were born, you know your mother didn't know you were going to be a girl, so we bought boy and girl clothes. I never threw them out, though. Somehow I knew we'd need them some day. Let's just hope your's is a boy, hmm?" she smiled and pressed my unruly blonde curls before turning back to the stove.