Chapter 19- Have you heard the rumour?
Heath was hanging out with some of the River Boys by the beach. Brody smiled. "Oh look, boobies." He stared over Heath's shoulder. Heath wasn't really paying attention but he turned around to see who he was talking about. When he turned around and saw Casey and April, anger filled him. "Do you think you could get your brother to introduce us."
Heath scowled and launched himself at a completely unsuspecting Brody. "Do you want to shut your mouth or do you want me to do it for you?"
Brody was horrified. "What's the problem mate?"
"The problem is that's my girl you're talking about! So I'm going to give you one more chance to take it back." Heath informed him as he held Brody by the collar of his t-shirt.
Casey rushed over and pulled his brother off him. April followed. "Let me go Casey!" Heath demanded.
Casey shook head. "No can do. Not unless you calm down."
April frowned. "Heath stop, please." She begged her boyfriend. April hated seeing him like this with the boys when he was always so different with her.
Heath sighed. "Alright! Just don't let me catch you talking about her again!" he threatened him and Brody raised his hands in defeat. "I'll be back in a minute." Heath told the boys and he and April walked away from them.
April smiled. "Please tell me that wasn't about me."
"It was. Brody was commenting on your... chest. No guy is going to talk about my girl like that." he told her.
April kissed him. "That's sweet, but you don't need to defend my honour. I'm used to men making comments at this stage."
Heath shrugged. "Still. None of the River Boys will be making any comment about you any time soon. What are you getting up to?"
"Just going to the diner with Case. You going for a surf?" she wondered.
Heath nodded. "Yeah, I was going to but if you want me to hang with you then I will?"
April shook her head. "No, it's fine. Surf looks good today. We can catch up afterwards." She looked down at her four month pregnant stomach. "Is my bump really noticeable in this?" April wondered, smoothing down her dress.
"Well, it is noticeable, but you nearly four and a half months pregnant April. You can't hide it much longer. I doubt anyone will notice."
April nodded. "I'm just nervous about people finding out. I don't think I'm ready for people whispering behind my back. And before you say anything, if that happens I don't want you physically accosting anyone!" she warned him and Heath looked disappointed.
"Fine. I won't. But they better not be saying anything about you either." He said.
April smiled. "Just don't get into a fight with anyone else. I'll see you in a while." She kissed him and walked off with casey.
The moment April and Casey walked into the diner, they were met by whispering and discreet pointing from their class mates. They exchanged glances and went to sit down at a table. "They're not talking about you. They couldn't be. Who knows about the... you know what?" Casey whispered.
"You, Heath, Brax, Ruby, Bianca, Liam, Irene, Dr Walker and... Dex." April sighed. She didn't want to believe that her ex-boyfriend had told people.
Casey frowned. "You don't think Dex said something, do you?"
April shrugged. "I don't know. I would like to think not but, you said it yourself, he was pretty upset by what happened in the hospital. I should have talked to him about it. He's been avoiding me ever since." she said ruefully. April looked around. "They're still staring at me." she said anxiously and folded her arms over her stomach.
Their suspicions were confirmed when Stu walked past. He fake coughed. "Whore."
Casey stood up angrily. "What is your problem?" he demanded.
Stu smiled. "First a junkie, now a slut. I didn't think that was you. How wrong I was!" he sneered at April.
"What are you talking about Henderson?" Casey spat.
Stu rolled his eyes. "Oh please. We're not idiots. It's easy to see that Little Miss Perfect had gotten herself knocked up. Who's the father? Xavier?" he wondered tauntingly.
April looked down. She couldn't deal with everyone staring at her. Casey grabbed Stu's top and was about to hit him. "Hit me if you want to go straight back into juvie." he grimaced.
Casey remembered himself and let him go. He promised himself everyday in juvie that he would never let his temper get the better of him again. He looked around and saw that everyone was gazing on shamelessly. "That's okay, you can all keep gossiping and whispering behind her back. I wouldn't if I were you though."
"And why is that?" Stu wondered, not believing him.
Casey shrugged. "Well that baby belongs to my brother. I'm sure he would only be too happy to set you straight if he found out that you were mocking his girl."
April's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Casey had just revealed that she was pregnant with Heath's baby.
Stu's face fell. "That's Heath's baby?"
Casey smiled. He knew that the tables had turned. "Yeah it is and he's very protective of the both of them so if I were you I'd stop insulting April."
Stu frowned and looked at April. "I'm sorry I called you a junkie, a whore and a slut." he apologised, covering all his tracks.
April grimaced but did not respond. She stood up. "Let's go Case." She said lowly.
"One more thing. You obviously didn't figure it out yourself, you're not that smart. Why don't you tell me who started spreading the rumour?" Casey wondered threateningly.
Stu wasn't giving anything away. "I told you, it's easy to see."
Casey shrugged. "You can tell me, or I can leave it up to my brothers to find out. It's your choice." Either way Casey wasn't going to say anything to Heath or Brax but he was fishing.
He sighed. "Well, I don't know who started spreading it but I heard it from Summer."
Casey smiled. Stu really was as gutless as everyone thought. "Right choice." He couldn't help saying before turning to April. "Come on, lets go."