Patricia threw the test on the ground and stomped on it with her foot. She was so angry at herself, and so confused that she didn't know what to do. Joy was right, and the test had been positive. She threw it away, only wishing that she could completely get rid of the thing and never have to worry about it or think about it again; but she couldn't. Not after what the results told her. What was she going to do? The girl whipped the door open and stepped out into the hall. "You were right, Joy," she told the girl in a soft voice. "It was positive."
Joy held her arms out to the girl as Patricia walked into them and into a tight embrace. "It's okay," Joy told her in a comforting voice. Patricia shook her head in disagreement.
"No it's not, Joy." Tears emerged from her blue eyes. "I'm fucking pregnant at sixteen! Everyone's going to know sooner or later and I'm going to be looked at funny, and judged. Fabian's probably going to want nothing to do with the baby since he's all interested in the new girl and I'm going to be stuck with a kid in high school! You don't realize how awful it's actually going to be. I'll probably have to be taken out of school and who knows? Maybe they'll even kick me out of school."
Joy hushed the girl, patting her back. "Don't you dare say that, Patricia. I highly doubt that Fabian will leave you alone with the baby. It's his child too you know. And they won't kick you out of school. I've seen this happen to other girls, and they're fine. Besides, by the time you have the baby school year will be on holiday. It won't be all that bad, Patricia, I promise."
The redhead continued to feel tears running down her cheeks. "I can't do this alone, Joy," she whispered. "I'm scared." Joy backed away from their hug and looked into the girl's eyes. "You won't have to. I'll help you through it. And who knows? Maybe you won't start showing that early after all." Patricia gave her a 'let's be serious' look.
"Joy, I'm practically a pencil. I think people will notice if I start gaining a bunch of weight." Patricia shuffled her feet and dried her eyes.
"It's going to be okay, I promise." Joy hugger her friend one last time. She made a promise, and it was one she intended on keeping. Patricia smiled this time, accepting the hug.
"Thanks, Joy. You're a good friend." After a few minutes of silence, the two girls exchanged a look. "Now what do we do?" The redhead asked.
"We should probably tell Fabian." Joy knew that Patricia might not want to, but they would have to tell him eventually. Patricia looked at the girl.
"Are you crazy? Joy, we can't tell anyone about this! Especially Fabian! Besides like I said, he's all interested in the American new girl." She crossed her arms and looked down at her feet. Looking back up and seeing the other girl's expression, she gave her a look. "I'm not jealous, Joy…" she lied. "Okay, so maybe I am. I don't even care." Joy smiled at her.
"Alright then, but we have to tell him eventually. And we'll need to tell Trudy as well." Patricia nodded as she realized all of this. From then on, this would be their secret. Although, what Joy didn't know, was that Patricia had a secret of her own. This was a secret that she intended on keeping to herself.
*Later that night, Fabian and Nina walked side by side out in the cool night air. Fabian had offered to show Nina the campus, and when better to show her than just as the sunset was ending. The sky looked beautiful as they walked underneath it, gazing up to get a good look. "It's beautiful," Nina said. Fabian nodded.
"It is, isn't it?" He led Nina further down the path until they came to a small patch of grass and stopped. They both sat on the ground, and laid back, looking straight up at the clouds. They watched the fluffy cotton like objects float by, changing size and shape as they passed by.
"You know, I wanted to thank you for all of this," the girl spoke. Fabian turned his head to the side to look at her.
"All of what?" he asked, somewhat confused. Nina laughed, and looked at him.
"For everything, I guess. Being nice to me and showing me around, you know?" She gave him a light smile. "I think I'm getting used to Anubis already. Everyone seems alright, and nice enough so far." Fabian laughed and smiled back at her.
"You're welcome, and that's great! Most of us are pretty nice. You'll get used to the school pretty soon, and then after you do it just feels like home." The boy looked back up at the sky and watched the clouds. Nina did the same. After a few minutes, it slowly started to get darker outside. Fabian stood up, and offered Nina a hand to help her up as well. She took it, thankfully, and blushed slightly.
"Thanks." Nina tucked her hair behind her ear and looked into the boy's eyes. "So, should we head back now?" Fabian thought for a minute.
"I guess so," was his reply. "Come on." The two headed back to Anubis, side by side. They talked as they walked. An occasional laugh and smile was thrown in here and there. The got back to the steps on Anubis house in no time at all.
"Thanks again, by the way," Nina said. Fabian smiled, getting lost in her eyes for a moment.
"You don't have to thank me," he replied, coming back to reality. She smiled shyly, and quickly kissed him on the cheek before heading into the house. He was surprised by this, no doubt, as he watched the girl run upstairs and as he headed in. At first the boy didn't see Joy standing there. In fact he wouldn't have seen her at all if she didn't call out his name.
"Fabian, what the hell was that?" she asked, walking over to him. Fabian suddenly became very confused. He wasn't sure whether to ask though, because usually when a girl asks you that question, you've done something wrong, and they expect you to know what it was.
"What are you talking about?" Joy walked up and punched him in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked, grabbing his arm with his other hand.
"I saw her kiss you! That's what I'm talking about. And you know what that was for." Fabian looked at Joy in disbelief.
"You were spying on us?" Joy crossed her arms over her chest in defense.
"No, I just so happened to be looking out of the window at that moment. Never mind that, don't turn this on me! What about you and Patricia, hmm? You two are practically a thing!" Fabian turned his head to the side, and then back at Joy.
"We're not actually together, Joy." The brunette girl uncrossed her arms and out them on her hips, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face.
"Well you might as well be! And what if you were? Would you go around taking girls out for romantic walks at night and letting them kiss you on the cheek then?" Fabian could hardly believe what Joy was saying. He looked at her more confused than ever before.
"What the hell are you talking about, Joy? If Patricia and I were a thing than no of course I wouldn't see anyone else. And I was just showing Nina around campus anyways! I wasn't taking her on a romantic walk. I just met her today, for crying out loud." Joy was prepared to object to this as well. Although, even she could barely make sense of what she actually was saying.
"Romeo and Juliet fell in love in a day and got married that same week! The point I'm trying to make is that I know you like Patricia and I know for a fact that she likes you. So you need to get over this silly little kindergarten crush that you have on the new girl, and just ask Patricia out. Please, just listen and trust me on this." Fabian ran a hand through his hair.
"Joy, you're beyond confusing me right now, and it's very stressful, how confused I am. Please, just let me go to sleep." Joy tried to say one last thing, but Fabian wouldn't let her. She knew it was better that he stopped her anyways. The girl watched him as he went to his room, and then proceeded to go to hers. It was going to be a long night, and many more to come.
*The next two or three months were the longest ever. It was hard, keeping Patricia's secret. Not so much hard as in not telling anyone, but hard as in covering for the illnesses she got because of it. Also, the mood swings were hard to explain as well. Even for Patricia. Luckily, the ones that made her angry were easier to explain based on her personality and the fact that it just seems normal. It was the ones were she would become extremely happy or sad that were harder. Surprisingly, she never had that many weird food cravings.
To take her mind off of the pregnancy, Joy often arranged for all four of them –Patricia, Fabian, Mick and herself- to hang out. Whether it was going to a restaurant or just relaxing together didn't really matter. Fabian and Patricia were normal around each other. They'd talk, and sometimes flirt indirectly. There were really no problems. Patricia did however freak out once when Fabian wrapped his arm around her waist and touched her stomach.
The Anubis kids were al sitting down for breakfast one morning, and that's when Joy started to notice a change in things. Joy had sat across from Patricia that morning, and on the other side of Patricia was Fabian. He was also sitting next to Nina. Joy watched Patricia as she hesitatingly put food into her mouth. The problem was, however, that there was barely any food on her plate or fork. This worried the girl, as she saw her best friend continue eating. She had to know what was up with her.
The redhead had barely touched her plate, even though there was almost nothing on it. She raised her fork to her mouth and took one last bite before deciding she was finished. Feeling slightly dizzy, the girl got up and headed back to her room. Joy got up and followed her after a minute or two. She found Patricia lying in her bed, facing the ceiling. "What's up with you?" Joy asked. "You're hardly eating anything lately. That's not good, Trixie. Not for you, or the baby." Patricia cringed when she mentioned the word baby.
"I know it's not, but that's the thing Joy. I'm doing this on purpose." This was the secret that Patricia had been keeping to herself. Joy sat down next to her friend.
"Trixie… you're starving yourself! What's going on? Give me real answers." The brunette didn't get it at first. Her best friend was purposely starving herself, and while she's pregnant. Patricia suddenly felt ashamed to admit it.
"I… I think I want to get an abortion…" she mumbled. The reason she was starving herself, she explained, was that she couldn't stand to go to the doctor and have them kill the baby. So she thought that if she didn't eat, the baby would die on its own. Patricia now realized that the idea was horrifying. It's not at all what she wanted, but she knew she couldn't handle a child at this age. "I can't do this Joy. I know I'd be a horrible mother. It just seems like the only other option. It's definitely not the easiest thing for me to decide, but I just don't know what to do."
Joy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wrapped her arms around her friend and hugged her tightly. "Patricia, think about what you're saying. Abortion isn't the only way to get through this even if you don't want to keep the baby. You can't do this." Patricia could feel the tears coming again.
"I don't know what to do, Joy. And not eating hasn't been the only thing…" she admitted also. Joy let her go and looked at the girl with confusion. Patricia rolled up the sleeve of her school uniform and showed Joy her wrists. She had started cutting.
"Patricia…" Joy gasped, almost speechless. "Patricia you've got to stop this! You might end up killing yourself eventually if you don't." Patricia nodded, her eyes closed.
"I know," she whispered. "I can't help it. Every time I see him with, her, I just get so angry, and upset, and just so confused that I cut and I don't eat, and I stay up all night trying to forget about everything. But I can't, and it just upsets me even more. Especially when my mind starts assuming the worst and tells me that he'll never care about me, or the baby, or anything and he won't want anything to do with me. And it makes me feel so stupid inside for thinking that he would care." Tears were pouring out of her eyes by now, and her emotions got the best of her.
Joy hugged her again, trying anything to calm her down. "Patricia don't ever say that, okay? He does care, I promise you that. Calm down, please. It will be fine." Joy ended up calming Patricia down eventually so that they both could get ready for school. The redhead fixed her makeup, and grabbed her bag. Joy stopped her before they left. "One more thing; when are you going to tell him?"
Patricia sighed. "Well if I go with the abortion idea, never. And right now, I can't afford to think about it anyways." She shrugged her shoulders as the two headed to school. Joy told Patricia to go on ahead and that she'd meet her inside. The brunette immediately went to find Fabian. If Patricia wasn't going to tell him, she would.