.:Chapter Five:.
It was raining.
It wasn't that much of a surprise. It just matched Stephanie's mood anyway. Not that she was particularly in a bad mood, she was just…anxious.
That was the right word.
She had the apartment to herself, she definitely needed that. Her father had said that he was going out to do…something, she wasn't even sure. When Mr. King had poked his head into his daughter's room to say where he was going, she was on the phone with Carlos, trying to figure out who they should tell first. They decided that they were going to tell Jo and Camille before they tried to tell the adults. It was the best thing to do, especially since Carlos already told Kendall, Logan, and James. It was probably hard for Kendall and Logan to keep the secret from their girlfriends, especially Logan to Camille, for a whole month. The fourth month of her pregnancy.
But it had to be done.
Stephanie felt badly for her father, he had left, all smiles, not knowing that his daughter wasn't the innocent girl that he thought she was. Well, he probably knew that she wasn't innocent; he was pretty upset when he found out that she was the one behind the 'PalmWoods Ghost' fiasco. She was grounded for a week for using other people. But he had still congratulated her for trying to go for her dream, and to not let anyone or anything get in her way.
Stephanie shook her head as another wave of nausea washed over her. She instinctively moved her hands to her stomach, which had started to harden. She heard that your stomach got hard when you were with child, to protect it, she supposed. She didn't know it was true though. It was still so strange to her, the idea of her carrying a baby inside her; she knew that's what she wanted later in life. But now that it was happening…it was more shocking than scary.
Stephanie sighed as she leaned back on her bed, her hands still on top of her stomach, which was covered by a sweatshirt. She wasn't going to be able to wear clothes like that much longer. Four months pregnant and she was getting bigger by the day. She went to the gym as much as before, so that may have kept people from noticing. But she could tell that her face had gotten a bit fuller, her breasts had definitely gotten bigger, and she was starting to get cravings. Carlos was good to her whenever she would call him in the middle of the night to get her something. She would then sneak out and meet up with him so they could eat and talk together. She would go out herself, but she knew that her father would get suspicious, especially since he stayed up later than her. She could only leave when she was sure he was asleep.
Stephanie closed her eyes. Jo and Camille were coming over, so she could finally tell them what was going on. She would have someone else on her side, for support. If they decided to give her support. Frankly, she wouldn't blame either of them If they were disgusted by her and what was going on. If it weren't happening to her, she would probably feel the same way.
Before she knew it, she heard the door to her apartment open (the Kings never kept it locked) and then there was a knock on her door.
"Steph, it's us," Jo said.
"Come in, doors open," Stephanie sat up and gave her two best friends a smile as they entered the room.
"Sorry we're late," Jo apologized as she flopped down onto Stephanie's bed. "Filming took longer than I thought and I had to pick up Camille from the dentist." As soon as she finished, Camille jumped onto the other side of the bed, jostling the two girls. It seemed like she did it just to put an exclamation point at the end of Jo's explanation.
"No cavities!" Camille cheered, throwing her hands in the air.
"And that pretty much just means that you're going to be eating more candy than ever," Stephanie said. She laughed as Camille nodded eagerly.
Jo laughed as well, but then she turned serious, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I know that's not why you invited us over, Steph." She reached out and grabbed onto her friend's hand. "What's going on?" She looked over at Camille. "We're getting really worried about you."
Stephanie cringed.
"Yeah, you don't ever want to go to the mall anymore," Camille agreed. She looked serious. "Is it because of the time I worked on my audition at the mall and made a little kid cry? If so, I promise I won't do it again."
Jo and Stephanie laughed. Stephanie pushed her hair over her shoulders. "No, Camille, it's not because of that. That was actually pretty funny." She twisted her hands in her lap. "It's…kind of serious, actually."
"Well, whatever it is, you know we're here to help you, girl," Jo said gently.
"Yeah," Camille agreed.
"Oh gosh," Stephanie held her hands over her face. She took a few deep breaths before lifting her head and looking straight at Jo and Camille. She wanted to laugh. The looks on their faces were priceless. She would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. "Ok, well, lately…I hadn't been feeling great and I wasn't sure if there was anything wrong."
"Nothing's wrong is there?" Jo asked, immediately jumping to the wrong conclusion. "You're ok, right?"
"That really depends on your definition of OK," Stephanie drawled.
"Steph, you're scaring us," Camille said, her jaw trembling slightly. Her hand was shaking as well. Camille was a good actress, but she wasn't that good. She wasn't kidding.
"I took a pregnancy test," Stephanie blurted. "It came out positive. I'm pregnant."
There was a stunned silence. That was the last thing that Stephanie wanted. All she ever heard now was silence. She hardly listened in school, when she and Carlos weren't talking about the baby, they were quiet. It was as if as soon as the baby was conceived, all of the fun that they used to have went flying out the window.
"Are you telling me the truth?" Camille suddenly asked.
Stephanie's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She flipped her hair over her shoulders again, but this time the movement was sharp and she nearly hit herself in the face because of the erratic hand movement. "Why would I like about something like that?" She demanded. "I'm not doing this for some sick joke; I'm telling you the truth."
"Is it Carlos's?" Jo then asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Stephanie demanded. She was angry, it wasn't just her hormones. The questions that they were asking, it was putting her on edge. Part of her knew that they were on edge too, not thinking clearly because of the news. But come on. Stephanie was in love with Carlos. Deep down she knew that she was going to marry him.
Why would they doubt that?
"Of course it was," Stephanie continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "Who else would it be?" She gave a scornful bark of laughter. "James? I'm not a slut,"
"I didn't say you were," Jo said calmly. "I was just making sure that things were OK between you two. It's a weird situation, I just...I don't know…"
Camille spoke up again. "Do your parents know?"
Stephanie's anger ebbed away and humiliation filled her body as she shook her head. "No," she whispered. "No one knows. We wanted to tell you guys before we told everyone else." She paused, not sure how they were going to take the next part. "Carlos told the guys a month ago…but I had a hard time trying to tell you." She looked up again. "And you can't tell anyone! Not until Carlos and I tell."
Jo and Camille nodded. The two weren't even looking at each other or at Stephanie anymore. They were looking at different parts of Stephanie's room. She wasn't sure what made them shell-shocked, the news, or the fact that their boyfriends kept it from them for so long.
"Don't blame the guys," Stephanie said quickly. "Carlos and I made them promise not to tell. And it's not their news to tell, it's ours." She reached forward and grabbed onto Jo's and Camille's hands. "No one in my family knows and you cannot tell anyone," she repeated firmly.
"What would your parents do if they found out?" Camille asked. She held up her free hand when Stephanie gave her a funny look. "I don't mean that in a harsh way, like, you should tell them kind of way. I'm asking because I'm curious."
"I don't know," Stephanie admitted. "And that's the part t hat scares me the most." She started to cry. "I know that I have Carlos's support through this whole thing, and the guys. But I can't help but think…that my parents would hate me when they find out and I don't know if I can deal with that."
Jo and Camille shifted closer to Stephanie and wrapped their arms around her, holding her in between the two of them. "Steph you're not alone in this," Jo said, rubbing Stephanie's back. "I'm here."
"And so am I," Camille agreed.
Stephanie leaned her head on their shoulders, letting the silent tears fall down her cheeks.
She hoped that they were right.