Argh, sorry this is a short one too! Hope you like it anyway!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!

Chapter Fifteen: Guilty Conscience

March 2002

Alex: 13

Jay: 15

Alex's tiny voiced interruption scared the life out of Jay. He leaped up and faced her guiltily.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked as Emily backed out of the room discretely.

"Try all of it." Alex said stonily.

"Now do you understand why I couldn't tell you?"

Alex was speechless. This was just way too much. "This is just way too much, Jay!" she shouted at him, exactly how she felt. "I was just getting used to being mad at you for having to go back to Oregon, now I find out you've got a pregnant girlfriend there! I can't deal with this kinda shit Jay, I'm 13!"

"This is harder for me than it is for you, Alex!" jay spat back angrily. He was feeling bad at first, now Alex was trying to flip this and make herself look like the victim, and that pissed him off. "Do you think this is a walk in the park on a Sunday for me? I wish to fuckin' God that it wasn't happening, but it is, and I can't handle it either! It's a million times harder for me than it is for you! I'm sorry, but it is, OK?" Jay ranted melodramatically. That shut her up. Then he realized he'd hurt her feelings. Seriously offended her. He stood up in the middle of the claustrophobic, suffocating living room wishing he could turn back time and keep his fucking mouth shut!

"Jay, I don't think I can do this. It's not gonna work, you being here either."

"You're kicking me out?" Jay gasped in disbelief. "Alex, please don't do this to me!"

"Don't make this any harder, please!" Alex's voice cracked half way through and she couldn't stop the tears from falling.

"Harder?" Jay echoed in shock. He too had tears in his eyes. "I've got no money, no life, no future and best of all, no fucking home! It doesn't get any harder than that!"

"Go back to Oregon then! You must have some money to send to that skank! There's another lie right there! Go back there forever! Go live with your slut and have your kid and make sure you live happily ever after!"

- - - - -

Jay was too proud and defiant to listen to Emily's pleas for him to stay. There was no way he was staying there after Alex had spoken to him that way. There was no way he could be around her knowing the pain he'd put her through. He knew he deserved every last insult she threw at him. He'd done wrong, and he'd hurt the girl he was supposed to care most about.

In little under ten minutes, he'd packed up his small back of personal belongings and was out of the door without so much as a goodbye.

- - - - -

"Alex, how the hell could you do this to that poor boy? In his situation as well!"

Alex saw a familiar look of hatred and disappointment in her mom's eyes.

"Mom, how could you ask me that? He'd meant to be my boyfriend and he's going around getting other girls pregnant!" the juicy tears slipped down her cheeks as she struggled to regain her composure.

"Yeah, and don't you think that under these circumstances, he could do without being made homeless? He's got nothing! Absolutely nothing! You're so selfish sometimes, how could I have raised such a selfish daughter?" Emily hissed scarily. "Go out there and find him and bring him back here, now!"

"No." Alex said insanely bravely. "I don't wanna see him."

"Do as I tell you girl, or else you'll be fucking sorry!" Emily stood up, grabbed Alex roughly by the arm and marched her toward the front door. "Do it!"

Alex left the house angrily, putting her hood up to hide her tear stained face. She didn't go looking for Jay though. She figured she#'d go down to the ravine for about an hour, then go home and act like she couldn't find him. The only thing that would mess that theory up was if she actually found him. She was too angry to think straight, let alone care enough about his welfare that she'd go out of her way to find him.

The ravine was bitterly cold, even though it was nearly April. She quickly looked around for Jay in a half hearted way. She scanned the area and looked for his body in the foliage, to no avail. Maybe that was too sinister. She'd never wish death on him, ever. That was never a good idea. Even if his betrayal was killing her inside.

She stopped and sat on a bench. She sat on the rickety table top and was once again reminded of Jay's presence by his tag that he'd carved into the surface. She looked at it once, then looked up. What she saw gave her the fright of her life.

As I said that was a short one, but please review, let me know your honest opinion and whether you like the direction this is going!