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Chapter Eleven
A Serious Talk
For the second time, in the space of two days Esmerelda was standing in Ada's office which was highly unusual, the girl only went in there when she had to defend Ethel, she was not usually the one in trouble.
"I don't know what to say Esmerelda, this behaviour has to stop, I am afraid I have no choice but to remove your head girl status" Ada told the girl and was shocked by what reaction this got.
She had expected the girl to be upset at least but she lowered her shoulders as if a weight was of her shoulders, was she not happy about being headgirl? Maybe it was to much for her with everything that had happened.
"Belt please" Ada said putting her hand out as she watched the blond slowly untie her belt and hand it to Ada, Ada flicked her fingers making a plain purple one, the same as her sisters, appear and handed it to the girl who tied it around her waist.
"Now I heard what happened with Ethel, I asked you yesterday if it was true and you said no, why?" Ada asked more hurt more than anything the girl had kept it from her.
"It wasn't my secret to tell..." Esmerelda simply replied as tears fell down her face and Ada felt bad for punishing her, to Esmerelda the news her sister was attacked must be horrible but she had to treat her fairly.
"Are your parents aware?" Ada asked her and Esmie shook her head.
"I only found out the other day myself" Esmerelda told Ada who sighed. She was not looking forward to this.
"Well I will have to get them in, you have to tell them, Ethel can't just return home with a baby in her arms" Ada told Esmerelda logically and Esmie sighed.
"Fine" the girl said with her arms folded.
"You may go, I will let you and your sisters know when your parents arrive" Ada told the girl.
"So in about a year's time? Alright thanks for the warning" Esmerelda said sarcastically before leaving only Ada knew she was right, when she tells them she needs to talk to them about Ethel they will take their time to show, which gave her an idea.
Esmerelda knocked on Ethel's door and hear a timid "Come in" behind it. She pushed open the door and saw Ethel and Sybil sitting on the bed, clearly both upset about what had happened. Ethel kept her head down but Sybil looked up as she entered and saw Esmie's belt.
"Esmie….you lost your head girl status!" Sybil said as she looked at her close to tears, clearly it was to much after what she found out about Ethel.
"Don't be upset Sybil, it is a relieve actually, I don't have to worry about it now, I couldn't focus on it when I was worried about Ethel" Esmerelda told her sister as she went to sit between Ethel and Sybil.
"Mum and dad will flip when they find out you lost your status" Ethel said quietly looking at the floor.
"Who cares?" Esmerelda replied past caring if they were angry at her or not. "I have more important things to worry about than whether or not my belt has gold trimming or not" Esmerelda replied logically. She paused and then remembered about their parents.
"Speaking of mum and dad, Cackle is contacting them, sorry Ethie I couldn't talk her out of it" Esmerelda warned Ethel not wanting it to come as a shock, Ethel sighed but had expected it.
"It is alright, with any luck I would of already given birth by the time they decide to show up, I couldn't hide it forever anyway" Ethel admitted knowing this would happen sooner or later.
"What are you going to do with the baby Ethel?" Sybil asked innocently as the sisters had not really discussed it yet. Ethel sighed before replying.
"Either way I am going to have it, I can't have an abortion, I just can't, I just can't bring myself to do it I would never forgive myself for it, anyway it is not the baby's fault, they didn't ask to exist" Ethel replied with a shrug.
"So you either will keep it or put it up for adoption?" Esmerelda asked, knowing they are her only two options left.
"Yes, I don't know what to do, I know nothing about babies, I don't know if I will cope on my own" Ethel admitted looking at the floor again.
"Hey you aren't on your own you have me" Esmerelda told Ethel telling her she would help as much as she could.
"And me" Sybil said even if she was clueless about how to help.
"Thanks" Ethel said with a smile "I appreciate it but...well neither of us know anything about babies and we have no money or anything, mum and dad aren't going to let me keep it in the house are they?" Ethel asked to the air as the three of them fell silent.
"I can help with that, I can use a little Esmie charm on mum and talk her around, you know she listens to me" Esmerelda said before mentally slapping herself. She saw the hurt in Ethel's eyes at that as Esmerelda spoke about how their mother loves her when she never has Ethel for reasons no one can fathom.
"Sorry I didn't mean to upset you, but if you decide you want to keep the baby we will figure something out" Esmerelda told Ethel. She knew Ethel was young and it would be difficult and exhausting for her to raise a baby by herself but she had no choice about the situation and if she decided she wanted to keep her child then they would somehow get by, all of them.
"I might decide too...I don't know if I can go through the pregnancy and the birth only to give it to someone else, I mean just because they are adopted doesn't mean they will be loved, look at our parents, they are our biological parents and they couldn't care less about me" Ethel told her sisters with a sigh. Esmie and Sybil glanced at each other and smiled slightly.
They all fell silent for a good while until Ethel reached into the drawer next to her pulling something out. It was a letter already opened and unfolded.
"I contacted the doctor like you told me to Esmie, they send me a day for a scan" Ethel told her sister as Esmerelda took the letter and read it, Ethel was about four weeks pregnant and her first scan was scheduled for when she was ten weeks so it was still a while yet.
"It is on a Thursday so we will have to get Cackle and HB to let you have the morning off, luckily you should still be able to fly that early on" Esmerelda told her sister.
"Esmie..." Ethel said nervously playing with her hands clearly trying to ask her something but embarrassed about it. Luckily for Ethel she was spared as there was a knock on the door. Esmie pointed her fingers at the door to open it and saw Mildred Hubble of all people stood in the doorway.
Despite Esmerelda not being part of the silly feud between her sister and Mildred and despite the fact she always got on well with the girl and they had helped each other in the past, right now she was annoyed to see her. Ethel was really upset about everything as it is and she always got more upset and angry when Mildred was about and it was not just Ethel now, it was her baby, stressing her out could be really bad so Esmerelda was not taking any chances.
"Mildred not now please just leave" Esmerelda said in a bit of a louder tone than she meant to but things were difficult enough without Mildred getting Ethel into a state about something. Mildred though stepped further into the room clearly not done what she needed to yet.
"Mildred Hubble, what are you doing here? Come to laugh at my situation? Tell me how bad a mum I am going to be?" Ethel said bitterly clearly on edge about it. Esmerelda could see Ethel had wet eyes and knew she was really upset.
"Mildred please, will you just go, it is not a good time" Esmerelda told her not wanting this to lead to an argument or something. Ethel needed rest.
"Esmie is right Mildred, Ethel is upset" Sybil said in a more poilte way than her sister.
"I just came to say I am sorry about what happened to you it really is horrible, if there is anything I can do at all just ask me" Mildred said with a small smile before she turned away and left.
"Thank Merlin she is gone" Ethel replied not trusting Mildred and thinking she was up to something and now she had her parents to worry about.
"What was it you wanted to ask me Ethie?" Esmerelda asked remembering what had happened before Mildred came in, Ethel immediately started to play with her hands again nervously.
"I was just going to ask if you….and Sybil if she wants to….will come with me to the scan" Ethel said nervously looking at the floor. "I don't want to go by myself" Ethel admitted. Esmerelda smiled happy Ethel wanted her to go and cuddled her slightly before talking.
"Of course I will Ethie, I wouldn't expect you to go by yourself, thank you for asking me" Esmie said cuddling her.
"I will come as well" Sybil said beaming as she looked at her sisters and Ethel was grateful in that moment she had sisters, it made what was happening to her much more bearable. At least she knew she was not alone.