Chapter Thirty-Three

The end of Nudge, Iggy, Fang and my first year of University came around in no time. The end of the year was always the busiest time of the year for us, though Christmas and New Year's is always busy for every one, it felt like we had a lot more on then usual. Nudge, Ig, Fang and I had our first year Uni exams, the twins Year Twelve exams and Ella Year Eleven.

Angel and Gazzy turned eighteen in early December, and both got their licences, Gazzy a day before Angel, which of course he was thrilled about.

The twins also had their high school graduation. It was held at the same function hall as ours. The seven of us sat at a table with Angel and Gazzy's parents and grandparents. Angel finished top of her class with the highest final score. Gazzy was jealous of this at first, but we all knew he was proud of his sister, and this was proved when Gazzy cheered louder then very one else when Angel was announced and made her speech.

Afterward the graduation the seven of us walked across to the beach- the function hall is right on the beach, we went to a few weddings there in our time- and sat down on the (famous) stone wall that goes five kilometres along the shore line, and watched the waves in the dark sea. It was eleven pm by the time the graduation was finished, after the ceremony and all the dancing, so it was dark and incredibly cold- which it always is by the sea at night- so we took blankets from out of Nudge's car and huddled together. We talked of Ella being the only one left in high school and how soon we'd all be 'grown up'.

We were going into that in between age.

For that year when Ella was in high school by herself, she was jealous of us, as if she missed out on the time we all spent together, which I guess she did, though for the rest of us we were all in different schools, but we did catch up regularly in the city. Ella got her licence mid year so that made it easier to catch up.

We spent our holidays like we usually did, that year. We went on our camping trip to Wilson's Prom and had our movie nights and trips to the beach. We all spent as much time as possible together before Gazzy left, at the start of January. The rest of us finished off our holidays doing the normal stuff for the rest of January until we all started back at school at the start of February.

Gazzy got an apprenticeship at Bondi Beach in Sydney, straight out of high school, which we were all so happy about for him. But the catch was it was for a year and he would have to move away. Up until then we had always lived so close and had been such a big part and so involved in each others lives that it came as a shock to us.

Angel applied to six Universities and got into all of them. She decided to go to Melbourne University- the same school as Iggy. It seemed to me that Angel had a harder time in figuring out what she wanted to do with her future then myself, which was hard to believe. The problem wasn't that she didn't know what she was interesting in doing for the rest of her life, but that she had too many interests and was good at them all. She was good at all subjects at school, Maths, English, Science, History, Art, Drama and P.E. But in the end she chose to pursue a career as a Therapist. I was surprised by this, but then again she had always had a way of getting into peoples heads and knowing more about them then themselves and knowing what they needed. I turned to Angel a lot in my adolescent and adult life.

Once again big changes happened that year. Nudge, Iggy, Fang and I turned twenty and we were no longer teenagers, but that was only a small change to what was to come. But more into that later.

Age Twenty

I walk into the apartment to find Nudge and Iggy standing in front of the television doing karaoke, singing to the Spice Girls 'Stop Right Now'. Which I would expect two girls to sing, but not a girlfriend and boyfriend...

I laughed out loud, startling them.

"You know all the words. Impressive." I say. Walking across the the room and dropping my bag onto one of the stool chairs at the bench before opening the pantry door and looking for something to eat. I didn't eat breakfast before going to school this morning, which makes concentrating in a lecture very hard with your stomach rumbling and sounding like an earthquake- which we had the other day here in Melbourne, just a small one, nothing was damaged, well... other then a the pot plant that was sitting on our window ledge that fell off- luckily it didn't hit anyone, though Nudge did cry over it. She had named the plant Sunni with an 'I' -yes that's what she calls it 'Sunni with an I'. Apparently her mum gave her the plant to train her in keeping things alive. I think Nudge wants to get a puppy and had mentioned it to Melanie. Nudge has a bad track record with pets.

"Thanks- but the words are right in front of us." Nudge laughs, and then add. "There's left over Chinese we ordered at lunch in the fridge." Iggy and she resume their singing.

"Thanks." I get the Chinese out of the fridge and put it in the microwave. "No I mean Ig. You can't see the words, yet you know them all." I say looking up over the bench and couch at them.

Iggy grins not at all embarrassed.

Nudge looks as if she had forgotten this fact for a moment. "Oh, yeah, babe, Spice Girls fan eh? And you know Max this was his turn to choose the song."

"You chose the spice girls?" I ask smiling.

"Yes. And proud of it." He says in a sing song way.

I shake my head to myself as I get the food out of the microwave. "What are your plans for tonight?" I ask.

Nudge looks at me like I'm mad. "What do you mean? Have you forgotten about our plans?"

I hadn't made any plans for tonight? I was hoping for a quiet one. I hadn't ringed Fang yet today, because as bad as it sounds I didn't want to face him tonight.

"We're going to pig out and hire the last season of How I Met Your Mother, remember?" Nudge says.

"No."

"You're the one who suggested we watch How I Met your Mother." Iggy joins in.

"Oh. Ah yeah. Sorry I forgot. Yes, um great it should be fun." I try to cover myself. I don't remember suggesting it.

Nudge and Iggy both stare at me for a moment with out saying anything.

"Stop that." I say.

"You've been acting strange today." Nudge comments.

"Yeah. What's got your knickers in a twist?" Iggy asks.

"My knickers aren't twisted. I'm not acting strange."

"Yes you are!" Nudge protests. "If anyone should act weird, it's me." She mumbles the last part.

"What?" I ask confused.

"What?" Nudge asks just as confused.

"What?" I say again.

Nudge puts her hands up in a 'what' gesture and lifts her shoulders as she does so.

Iggy laughs from next to us and we both turn away from looking at each other with puzzled expressions.

"Now you're both acting weird! Why don't you guys go to the supermarket to get what we need tonight and I'll text Fang to pick me up and we'll go to the Video shop. How does that sound?" Iggy asks.

Ten Minutes Later

"So Iggy and Fang are both coming tonight? Not just Iggy?" I ask Nudge uneasily, as we stand in front of the toiletries section of the supermarket. I grab a tube of toothpaste and drop it into the trolley.

"Yes." She says slowly, looking at me strangely. "What's going on with you? You've been acting really strange, and if anyone should be acting strange, it should be me."

"Nothing, well... wait. Why should you be acting strange? Now you are acting strange- I feel like we've already had this conversation. You're strange."

"No, you are. And I... well I need to get something from this section."

"Okay." I say slowly this time. "So do I"

"You what?"

"Need to get something from this section." I tell her.

"What?"

"What?" I stare at Nudge in confusion, as she stares at me.

"Don't freak out." I say taking a couple steps over and standing in front of the pads and tampons section.

"What? I won't. Don't you freak out! She comes and stands next to me and reaches forward just as I do and we both put our hand on the same box.

We look up at each other startled, and then look back at the pregnancy tests in front of us, next to the tampons.

"Now I'm really confused." I say.

"Are you pregnant Max?"

"Are you?"

"I don't know."

"Me neither."

"God. What are the chances?" Nudge exclaims.

"Very slim."

"Are you going to take the test?"

"Yeah. I've been freaking out for two weeks."

"Two weeks! I've been freaking out for a week."

"Maybe you're just late."

"No I'm always on time. I pride myself on it." Nudge says and I laugh unexpectedly. Nudge looks at me sharply.

"Sorry." I say guiltily. Then look at Nudge's worried face"We'll both just take the tests, you know, get it over with. Then we can relax." I start dropping tests into the trolley.

"How many are you getting?"

"Three each... does that sound okay? Should I get more?"

"No. Three each is fine, I think..." She trails off.

"They'll probably come back negative; this is just to be sure." I get behind the trolley and start to push it back down the isle.

"And if they come back positive?" She asks, adding toilet paper into the trolley.

I look over my shoulder at her. "What are the chances of that? We'll be fine. And if they are... we'll figure it out- together."

We get back to the apartment before the boys. Which we're both grateful for. We decided in the car to take the tests as soon as we got home. We wouldn't have been able to sit with the boys and act like nothing was bothering us, since neither of us had told Iggy or Fang.

"Who's first?" I ask as we both stand in the bathroom with the tests on the bench.

"I'll go first" Nudge says. "Then you and we'll look at them together."

"Yes. Good idea. Alright." I walked over to the door and say, "good luck." before closing it behind me.

Once we're both finish we place the pregnancy tests on the sink and sit down on the edge of the bath as we wait.

"What happens if Fang or Iggy walk in right now and see us?" Nudge says after we are quiet for a couple minutes.

"Well it'll be pretty obvious what we're doing, so we'll tell them the truth."

"Hm." Nudge nods. "If I'm pregnant, do you think Fang will be mad at Iggy? It'll be like having to tell my brother I'm pregnant at nineteen to his best friend."

"It would be pretty hypocritical of him."

"True."

"What are you going to do if you are pregnant?" I ask.

"I don't know. I decided not to think about it until I know for sure. What about you?"

"I'd keep it. I've thought about it. We're too young and still in school and have no money and don't know the first thing about raising a child, but we love each other and we'd get through, you know?"

"Yeah." Nudge answers but I hardly hear her over the ringing of the five minute alarm we set. We both look at each other.

"You're my best friend Max. I'm glad we're going through this together, and not alone, since we have to go through this." Nudge says. She leans forward and pulls me into a hug. I cling to her for a moment before we pull apart and stand and walk over to the sink, our eyes levelled at the mirror and not our fates down below.

"Look on three." Nudge says.

I count "One, Two, Three."

We both look down.

Three negative tests.

And three positive tests.

Hope you enjoyed :D Feel free to leave your thoughts on what should happen.