To the people who wanted Chloe not to get pregnant her first time, I'm sorry, but she is. There is a one in twenty chance of getting pregnant the first time after having sex, which are very good odds. Besides, at the moment, the conflict of the story is the fact that Chloe and Alek are in love with each other, but don't think the other feels the same. Having sex again wouldn't make any sense. That being said, there is still a much deeper, darker plot going on here, other than teenage pregnancy.

Chloe King was sitting on her bed, simply staring at the wall, deep in thought, trying to think about anything and everything. Aside from one particular subject, that was. She was waiting anxiously for Amy to arrive, and with every passing moment, she grew more fearful. What if she was right? What if this was really happening to her?

She really did not want her life to turn into some episode of daytime television, but it seemed that she wasn't really having much of a choice. She had to face the consequences of her actions. At first she had thought it would mean nursing a wounded heart, but she was quickly becoming worried that it might have far greater repercussions than something as trivial as a broken heart. Not that it hadn't hurt like hell when Alek delivered that painful blow.

Taking several deep breaths to steady her breathing, she glanced down at her phone. Ten minutes ago she had sent off a text to Amy, practically begging her to go to the nearest drug store, and purchase her a pregnancy test. Because Chloe King was finally facing the reality that she might be pregnant.

She was surprised that it hadn't occurred to her before. Two months ago she had unprotected sex with Alek. She had since shown symptoms of morning nausea, and completely weird cravings. Why hadn't it occurred to her before? Why hadn't she immediately gone to a clinic to get tested, after sleeping with Alek? She had assumed that he was a virgin, but what if she had picked something up from him? And now she might be pregnant?

Chloe felt her head spinning, and reached up to cover her eyes. She was sick of waiting, of dwelling on the what if's, but she was relying on Amy here. She was surrounded by a constant guard, and she knew that if she walked into a drugstore, and emerged with a pregnancy test, she knew that the news would circulate back to Valentina quicker than she could actually utilize the test.

Of course, that meant that she had to give some details to her nosy best friend. Amy always had her best interests at heart, but she was a very gossipy girl, and she would be dying inside, trying to figure out who could have gotten Chloe pregnant. But it was a small price to pay, if only to assuage Chloe's fears, or prove her concerns to be right.

She supposed she could have asked Paul. Or maybe Jasmine. But Paul would be just awkward, and he would probably come back with some shampoo, thinking it was a test. Or he would believe that some sort of mutant slime had impregnated Chloe so to raise its spawn, to carry out its evil schemes. And then there was no guarantee that Jasmine wouldn't report back to Valentina; or worse, Alek.

Just thinking of the blonde haired Mai made Chloe groan aloud. She could not believe that this was really a possibility. But of course, it was a very good possibility. In fact, it was most likely probable. And frankly, it scared the crap out of her. She did not want to be a teen mom. She had always been responsible, she had always scoffed at those girls on '16 and Pregnant', assuring both her mom, and herself that she would never be one of those girls. Yet here she was, waiting on a pregnancy test, waiting to see if her fate showed up positive or negative.

Suddenly her bedroom door slammed open, and Amy stood in the doorway, panting, and clutching a small plastic bag. Hmm, it seemed that the drugstores had upgraded from the telltale brown bag. Good thing too.

Before Amy could say anything, Chloe strode over to the window and locked it, drawing the curtains. Thankfully Alek wasn't on guard today, so the Mai who was protecting her probably would not be listening in, but she wanted to take precaution to make sure that the chances of them being overheard were slimmed. She had learned the hard way to play it safe.

"Okay, I got it. The box said that it's like, ninety nine percent accurate." Amy handed Chloe a box, and the blonde Mai took it, queasiness rolling in her stomach, that had nothing to do with what might be growing in her. "I know you just want to find out already, but after you take that test, we are sitting down and talking about this." Amy gave her a pointed stare, and Chloe nodded miserably.

"Thanks Ames." She said hoarsely. "You really are my best friend." Amy smiled at her, though it appeared strained. Taking a deep breath, Chloe went into her bathroom, and locked the door. Tearing open the box, she removed the small white stick with trembling hands.

Following the directions on the box, Chloe then washed her hands, and placed the test on the counter, and took several deep breaths. She glanced at herself in the mirror, seeing a pale, terrified girl, who looked even younger than the sixteen year old she was. She didn't need this. She had enough on her plate, what with her being Mai, and the Uniter, and attacked every other day. She did not need to be pregnant. In fact, this was the very last thing in the world that she needed.

Deciding that anything would be better than just standing here and waiting, she unlocked the door, and went out. Sitting on the bed, she looked Amy in the eyes, and said, "Go ahead."

It was as if she opened the floodgate. As soon as Amy's mouth opened, questions came tumbling out, faster than Chloe could really process them.

"Are you pregnant? How are you pregnant? Who did you sleep with? Was it Brian? How did you get around the whole 'curse' thing? How long ago was this? Was it any good? Did you use protection? Why didn't you tell me?"

The last question seemed to be laced with hurt, and Chloe winced. She took a deep breath, and attempted to answer Amy's questions to the best of her abilities.

"I don't know yet, I'm still waiting. And obviously I had sex, but not with Brian." Amy's mouth opened to deliver another round of questions, but Chloe cut her off. "I slept with Alek."

Promptly Amy's jaw dropped even lower, and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Remember like, two months ago, when we all went dancing? And someone gave me an alcohol filled drink? Alek was drinking too, and well, one thing led to another. Obviously we didn't use protection, which was probably the second stupidest thing we ever did, the first being sleeping with each other when there is absolutely no feelings between us."

Chloe couldn't help the bitter tone, and Amy obviously picked up on it. "Oh my god." She said, slightly breathless. "You like him. You have feelings for him, don't you?"

Chloe nodded miserably. "Yeah. And I was planning on telling him, after we…you know, but when he saw me, he started immediately telling me that it didn't matter. That it was just a quick hook up, nothing else. So I didn't tell him. And now everything is kind of awkward between us, and now this!" She held her hand up, gesturing towards herself, and what possibilities the scenario might have brought upon her. "That's why I didn't tell you. We agreed to pretend like it never happened; Alek so he wouldn't get punished by Valentina, and me so I could try to keep my dignity."

Amy looked at Chloe, her eyes filled with pity. "Oh my god, Chloe, I am so sorry." She reached over and hugged Chloe, arms wrapped carefully around her best friend. Glancing over at the clock, she squeezed her slightly, and said, "Chloe, I think you can check it now."

Taking a deep breath, Chloe shakily stood up, and disappeared into the bathroom. When she reappeared in the doorway, her arms were wrapped around herself, fear and regret painstakingly clear in her eyes.

And clutched in her hands was a small whites stick that spelled out 'pregnant' in thick, blocky letters.

Music was playing loudly, bodies were moving back and forth to the rhythm of the songs, and the lights were dimmed, with a strobe light flashing colored lights. It was the high school party of the year, eighteen floors up, in a jamming penthouse, and Alek Petrov could not have been any more bored.

He didn't know why he even had to host this party. The basketball players he hung out with at school said that it was his turn to host, and he had asked Valentina, so that he might keep up the façade of a normal high school jock. But at the moment, he wanted to be anywhere but here.

The plans for the evening had been altered slightly. He had been counting on at least having Jasmine and Chloe to talk to. However, Chloe's illness from the previous week had resurfaced, and she was currently at home sick. Jasmine, not wanting to be here anymore than he did, had gladly volunteered to watch over Chloe.

And so now he was stuck at a boring, human high school party, pretending to be something he wasn't, and wishing that Chloe were here. He knew that she really was sick, because she had been excited about the party. And Alek had been excited about Chloe being at the party. She was an amazing dancer, and he had been looking forward to dancing with her, to taking over the dance floor, showing the high school boys exactly how alluring Chloe King could be, and exactly how off limits she truly was.

But of course, she was sick. Alek was worried, as this was the second week, but neither Chloe nor her mother seemed to be showing any concerns. Then again, Chloe was annoyingly self sacrificing, and probably hadn't even told her mother.

Sighing, Alek grabbed a cup of soda, and began gulping it down. It was irritatingly hot, and he needed to cool down. He exchanged fist bumps with a few of his basketball buddies, but otherwise stayed generally out of the way. A few girls attempted to engage him in a dance, but he shook all of them off, easily enough. It wasn't like any of them were interesting. The only human that had ever held his interest, had been Chloe King.

Alek had never truly let himself become involved with humans. Even just admiring them from afar was far too 'Twilight' for him. But Chloe had interested him from the beginning. She certainly was pretty, and a fantastic dancer, yet she wasn't a cheerleader. She wasn't even on the fringes of popularity, she chose to remain completely outside the high school hierarchy, sticking to her crazy friends. It was a quality to be admired, and Alek had assumed that was all he would ever do. Until she became Mai.

He glanced around the apartment. This was probably many naïve people's ideals of a high school party, but all he could think about was how irritating this all was. He and Jasmine had taken great care to put anything Mai, and anything valuable, in the safe room. And without the artifacts and weapons, the apartment looked bare and sad, despite the raging party taking place inside of it.

Seeing Paul and Amy on the edges of the penthouse made Alek feel a slight pang of pity. Even when included in the epitome of high school popularity, they still did not feel welcome. Alek would not normally care; it wasn't as if he went around extending sympathy to the outcasts. But he had lately been realizing that Jasmine had a point. Chloe cared for them, and Alek cared for Chloe. He might as well make nice with them.

Walking over to them, he flashed a grin, and said, "Enjoying ourselves are we?" Paul nodded enthusiastically, and quickly went back to dancing like a lunatic. Amy, however, who was simply swaying back and forth, a clichéd red cup in her hand, simply glared at him. Hmm, that was odd. Well, he might as well find common ground.

"Is Chloe alright?"

However, as soon as her name passed over his lips, Amy's glare increased tenfold. "I'm sure she would be a whole lot better if you just stayed out of her life!" She said hotly, and then dragged a reluctant Paul off, leaving a confused Alek behind.

Had Chloe lied to him about being sick?

Preview for Chapter Four:

Chloe was running as fast as her legs could take her, feet pounding across the pavement, her heart practically exploding out of her chest at its frantic beating. She was breathing heavily, and she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Where was Alek? Where was Jasmine? Where was anyone? She was being chased by some deranged, psycho, were was that constant guard that she had?

But she realized no one was coming. And a part of her didn't want anyone to. She was in danger, she always would be. But at the moment, she was in mortal peril. She had eight lives, she would gladly spare one of her own to save the one life that another Mai had.

Yet, as she was literally flying across the streets of San Francisco, it dawned on her that she didn't just have eight lives to protect. There was another one, far more important than any of her own, and she had to protect that little underdeveloped life as well. She had to run as fast as she could, to escape this fate.

Too bad the figure that had been chasing her dropped right in front of her.