Friday was there before Amy knew it and she was a little apprehensive about the dance. She wasn't sure what exactly Ricky wanted to ask her but she was certain it was bound to be an uncomfortable conversation. As she sat at the table eating breakfast with her family, she kept glancing at Robbie wondering how events that evening might actually play out if her conversation with Ricky got heated, especially with Robbie and the boys around.

"So what time's the game start?" George asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"6:30," Anne replied.

"Do I have to go?" Ashley asked, secretly hoping the answer was no.

"Yes," Anne told her, causing Ashley to frown; Robbie chuckled.

"Don't worry, Ash. I'm sure you'll have so much fun mocking the cheerleaders and mascot that the game'll be over before you know it," he said, reaching over to ruffle her hair and causing Ashley to duck to try and avoid him. While the whole family always went to Robbie's games, Ashley had never developed a love or even a passing appreciation for sports and hoped that once she became a teenager her parents would let her stay home when Robbie had a game, but no such luck. Robbie knew Ashley wasn't a sports fan but it didn't hurt his feelings that his little sister could care less about something he loved.

The school day passed like any other but Amy remained preoccupied with thoughts of her upcoming conversation with Ricky. She was so preoccupied that even once she was home doing homework she had to re-read two chapters in her history book when she suddenly realized she'd finished her reading assignment but had no idea what she'd just read. She was actually grateful when Madison and Lauren came over a little after 4:00, their arms laden with clothes and accessories, so they could put together the perfect outfits for their first high school dance. Even though Amy knew what was going to happen at said dance, she was able to relax and be a normal teenager for a while as she and her two best friends played dress up for a little while. The girls stayed for dinner and then the three of them headed over to Lauren's house so her mom could drive them to the game. When they arrived at the school's football field, they quickly located the rest of their group. Anne was talking animatedly to Madison's step-mom about something while George and Lauren and Madison's dads were watching the field and discussing the players. The girls trailed Lauren's mom as she headed over to the group.

"So Simon's been saying all week this game is in the bag," Madison said. Amy nodded in agreement.

"Hopefully the game's over soon," Lauren said with a sigh. "I mean, I love my brother and don't mind being his cheering section but football's really not my thing, you know? Not to mention I never know what's going on." Amy giggled.

"Me either." The girls shared another laugh as they made their way up into the stands to join their parents. As the coach had predicted, the game was in the bag. The other team put up a good effort in the first half but the lancers had simply worn them out and they were dragging their feet for the second half, giving the lancers, who didn't let up, an easy win. The girls said goodbye to their parents, double checked that they knew their brothers would be taking them home, and then followed Lauren's mom to her car to head off to the dance. There were quite a few teens already there when the girls walked in and they quickly made a beeline for the snack table. However, once Amy was standing in front of the food, suddenly she started feeling a little nauseous. I wonder if that's because of the baby? She opted to just grab a can of soda while the girls fixed themselves hotdogs and grabbed some chips. They had just reached the end of the table when Ricky walked up behind Amy.

"Amy?" She hadn't seen Ricky approach her but she knew who that voice belonged to and she tensed. She took a deep breath to steady herself before she turned around to face him.

"Yes?" Ricky motioned with his head to the main entrance.

"Can we go outside and talk for a bit?" The thought of being alone with him again made Amy start to panic a little. She knew she had to talk to him but she really didn't want to. Suddenly Amy remembered something that could help her: dance rule number one. Amy shook her head.

"We can talk over there," Amy informed him while pointing to some chairs that had been set up around the perimeter of the room. The chairs she was pointing to were at the far end of the gymnasium and there was no one else sitting nearby, so they would have some measure of privacy. Ricky nodded and they headed over to the chairs, Amy pausing to look over her shoulder at her friends nervously. They nodded their heads, silently letting Amy know they'd step in if they saw that she was getting too uncomfortable or upset.

As she was heading towards the chairs, Ben spotted her from across the room and started to walk over, Ricky being momentarily hidden by a small group of students who were passing by him towards the food table. When he noticed Ricky and Amy sit down next to each other and turn towards each other to talk, Ben stopped in his tracks and frowned.

"Guess the bad boy beat you to it," Henry said as he walked up beside Ben. Ben glared at his friend but Henry simply shrugged and took a bite of his hamburger. Ben turned around and he and Henry headed back over to Alice, Ben hoping Alice could point out some other girl possibly willing to sleep with him. Amy sat unnaturally stiff in her chair as she faced Ricky; neither of them spoke for a moment. Ricky scooted his chair a little closer to Amy in order to make sure she heard him over the music and Amy flinched. Noticing her Reaction, some of Ricky's resolve faded and he decided to start off their uncomfortable conversation gradually.

"How're you doing?" he asked gently, glancing down at her stomach to let her know exactly what he was asking about.

"Fine," she replied, her eyes trained on the soda can she was holding in her lap. Realizing this wasn't going to be easy, Ricky changed his mind and dove right into the heart of the matter.

"Look, Amy, I get it. We had sex and then I avoided you so I'm not your favorite person in the world and then you found out I'd gotten you pregnant so I get that I'm the last person in the world you wanna talk you." Amy didn't respond so he pressed on. "It's just that I need to know something before I can figure out if I should sign that form or not and you're the only one who can help me with that." Amy looked up at him questioningly, obviously confused by his admission. Ricky sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd been rehearsing this little speech for the last two days and now it was time to give it.

"I'll spare you the more unpleasant details but I'm in foster care because my parents were potheads and drunks, my dad beat up me and my mom, and he molested me." Amy gasped but Ricky kept talking before she had time to say anything. "One of the reasons I'm not sure if I should sign is because part of me wonders if I'd be a better dad to my kid than my dad was to me while part of me wonders if you'd even want me around the kid given my screwed up childhood. I'm sorry for hurting you, Amy, both by avoiding you and getting you pregnant, honest. And what I need to know is if you'd ever consider forgiving me and giving me another chance?" Amy was quiet for several minutes processing what Ricky had just said to her, and since he could see that she was thinking he stayed quiet and let her.

"I don't know, Ricky," she said finally, and his heart sank. "I get that finding out you're gonna be a teenage parent is a bit of a shock but I guess I don't know if I can forgive you because I don't understand how you could just avoid me like you did. You really hurt me, Ricky, and not just by getting me pregnant." Ricky took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair again.

"Amy, I know I hurt you; you're reaction to me every time I get close to you lets me know that." Amy shook her head.

"No, Ricky, you really don't know what you did to me." Ricky's eyes filled with confusion and it was Amy's turn to take a deep breath. Ricky became alarmed when he saw tears forming in her eyes. "You were the first guy to ever be interested in me, Ricky. You were the first guy who'd ever kissed me or held hands with me. You were so nice and sweet to me at band camp that I started to really like you and so I believed you when you said you thought I was pretty, that maybe I could be your girlfriend, that you liked talking to me, and that you had feelings for me." Ricky blanched at her last words. When did I tell her I had feelings for her? He quickly searched his memory for those exact words and couldn't come up with anything. His confused expression made Amy stop her train of thought. "What?"

"Huh?"

"You look confused about something. What?"

"When did I tell you I had feelings for you?" A single tear fell at his question.

"Before we started making out you jerk! You said 'you feel the same way about me as I feel about you?' implying you had feelings of some sort for me!" Amy huffed in irritation, wiped the moisture off her face, and crossed her arms, the soda can forgotten in her lap. She hadn't raised her voice but the irritation it was laced with and the single tear that had fallen let Ricky know he'd screwed up more than he'd realized. Unfortunately for him, before he had a chance to start groveling or apologizing, he was yanked up by the colar of his shirt and held a few inches off the ground. As he tried to register what had just happened, he found himself face to face with a pissed off Robbie and his two cronies.

"What he'd say!?" Robbie barked at Amy, his eyes never leaving Ricky's face.

"He just forgot one of our conversations from band camp. You can put him down now." Robbie didn't listen to her.

"She cries one more time and we're going outside for a little discussion of our own," Robbie warned Ricky. Simon gave him a stare that sent a shiver up his spine and Terrance cracked his knuckles menacingly. After a moment Robbie released Ricky and he staggered back into his chair. The boys gave Ricky one more angry glare before walking off. Ricky rubbed his throat and turned to look at Amy. She was still irritated with him and didn't offer any sort of apology or explanation for Robbie's behavior. Ricky slowly lowered himself back into the chair next to her to continue their conversation.

Unfortunately, most of the teens in the room witnessed the confrontation and gossip and questions started flying. Who was the girl Ricky Underwood was talking to off in the corner? Why'd three of the football players try to jump him? What had Ricky done? Did the girl know those players? Was she the girl currently sleeping with Ricky or was he trying to get in her pants? Unaware that they were now the talk of the dance, Amy and Ricky continued with their conversation.

"Ricky, when you avoided me like I was invisible I felt like the world's biggest, most idiotic slut."

"What!?" Amy rolled her eyes and forced herself not to cry. If I start crying I'll never get the chance to tell him this again because Robbie won't let him near me.

"Ricky, the first guy who was ever interested in me used me for sex, and horrible sex at that, and then suddenly I was invisible. What kind of girl has sex with a guy she's known for less than twenty-four hours? What kind of girl is too distracted trying to process what's happening to her during a make out session that she doesn't realize she's about to have sex until it's over? I felt stupid for letting what happened to me happen to me and I felt like a slut because all you wanted from me was sex and after you got it you were done with me." Her voice started to waiver and Ricky's palms started getting clammy from nervousness. "I felt like I was being invaded, Ricky. It wasn't romantic and it hurt so bad that I had almost convinced myself there was no way that I'd had sex that summer, until I was late and that test came up positive." Amy paused to take several deep breaths in order to get her emotions under control. Ricky reacted without thinking and hugged her. Amy stiffened in surprise for a moment but then began to relax. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned towards it. Seeing Robbie barreling towards her like a freight train she quickly pulled back from Ricky and shook he head at Robbie. Ricky turned to see what she was shaking her head at and blanched when he noticed Robbie staring straight at them, pissed off again. Ricky also noticed that the gym was rather hushed and saw that most of the students were looking back and forth between Robbie and he and Amy, just waiting to see what would happen. Thankfully at that moment something else caught everyone's attention.

"GWACE! GWACE! GWACE!" came a loud, screeching voice from outside. Grace Bowman, and everyone else in the gym, rushed outside to see what was going on, well everyone except Robbie, Simon, Terrance and their sisters. Ricky took advantage of the empty gym to begin groveling to Amy.

"Amy, there's a little more to it than that." Amy arched an eyebrow in disbelief and he explained quickly, not wanting to give her a chance to interrupt him. "Amy, I have this love-hate relationship with sex, alright? Sometimes I'm attracted to a girl and I have sex with her because I want to and sometimes I try and get a girl to sleep with me simply to feel like I'm in control of some part of my life if I can get someone to do what I want. Yeah I know that's twisted and I'm working on it in therapy. When I saw you at camp I was attracted to you. After talking to you for a bit I found that I really liked talking to and hanging out with you. When we went into the cafeteria that night I didn't have any plans to sleep with you, Amy; if I did I would've been prepared and had a condom 'cuz I'm not usually a careless guy when it comes to sex. When we started making out and things got a little heated, when you didn't stop me I assumed you were on the pill or something." Amy rolled her eyes and Ricky reached for her hand, suddenly overcome with the feeling that she was drifting away from him and he was desperate to keep her there by his side. "Amy, it wasn't my first time and I didn't realize it was yours and you weren't ready until we'd gone too far to stop." Amy's eyes widened in shock at his admission.

"And that's why you avoided me? You were upset about being with a virgin?" Ricky rolled his eyes and sighed.

"No, Amy. I avoided you because I had to."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It would if you'd stop interrupting me." Amy pursed her lips but stayed silent so he could continue. "Amy, afterwards it hit me like a ton of bricks that I'd just had sex with a girl I kinda sorta had feelings for and that scared me senseless."

"Why…" Ricky arched an eyebrow at her and Amy quit talking so he could finish talking.

"Amy, with the kind of childhood I had I have a hard time letting people get close to me and the fact that all I wanted to do was spend all my free time around and making out with a girl I'd just met scared me. And over the years I've learned that when I'm scared the best thing to do is run away from what scares me until I get somewhere safe. I know that it came across as me avoiding you because all I'd really wanted was to sleep with you but really I was just trying to get away from my feelings for you because they scared me." Amy could see the sincerity in Ricky's eyes and this time she reacted without thinking about it. She reached over and pulled him into a hug, which he eagerly returned.

"I'm sorry, Ricky." He stiffened and pulled back.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked bewildered. Amy giggled, making Ricky's heart skip a beat.

"It does seem kinda weird for me to be apologizing but what I meant was I'm sorry you're childhood wasn't what it should've been and I'm sorry you're still dealing with the effects of it."

"It's not your fault, Amy, so you've got nothing to apologize for." Amy nodded her head, confusing Ricky even more.

"Ricky, if we'd spent more time getting to know each other before it happened, then maybe in time we coulda become friends, if you still weren't sure you wanted to have feelings for me, and then we wouldn't be in the situation we're in. If I'd understood where you were coming from then I would've handled this situation differently." It was Ricky's turn to laugh.

"You mean that had you known your dad wouldn't have tried to rip me a new one and your brother wouldn't have threatened me with bodily harm?" Amy laughed as well.

"Given who they are and how much they love me they probably would've come down on you regardless, but at least if they'd known that you weren't avoiding me but trying to figure out if you really liked me or not they would've been a little nicer about it." Ricky shook his head in disbelief.

"Guess we'll never know now though, huh?" Amy shrugged.

"Maybe all we need to do is give it some time." Ricky looked at her with hope-filled eyes.

"Does this mean you'll think about forgiving me someday?" Amy gave him a smile.

"Knowing what I know now, yeah. I think in time I can get past it." Ricky smiled back but it quickly vanished.

"Are you still upset enough that you'd be happier if I signed?" Amy thought about his question carefully and the longer she took to answer the quicker Ricky's hopes started to sink.

"I don't know, Ricky. At the moment we don't know each other well enough to raise our kid together as friends so having to talk to you before I can make any decision about the baby growing inside me still makes me nervous, and a little uncomfortable." Ricky hung his head. "But the thought of forcing this baby to grow up without you around doesn't seem quite as appealing as it did before. I really don't know what's best for this baby right now." Before Ricky could formulate a response, Robbie walked over and cleared his throat. Students had filtered back into the gym a little while ago and they were all eagerly watching Robbie walk over to Ricky and his new love interest.

"The dance is almost over, Underwood. What's it gonna be?" Amy looked at Robbie questioningly but he avoided her eyes. "Well?" Simon, Madison, Terrance, and Lauren came over to join them at that point.

"What do you mean, Robbie?" Amy asked. Ricky looked between the two siblings and realized that Amy didn't know about Robbie's ultimatum. He looked at Robbie.

"Are you gonna tell her?" When Robbie didn't answer Amy looked at Ricky.

"Tell me what?" Ricky looked at Amy.

"Robbie and his two buddies approached me at school a couple of days ago and one of 'em knocked the wind outta me. Your brother said if I didn't sign the paper by Friday and give it to him during school the three of 'em would beat me up." Amy narrowed her eyes and gave her brother an annoyed glare. "I asked him at lunch the other day to give me until the end of the dance so I could have a chance to talk to you." Amy suddenly put the pieces of the puzzle together, sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Robbie, now I need more time to figure out if having him sign the form is the best thing to do or not." Robbie stared at his sister skeptically for several moments and Amy knew exactly what he was thinking. "He didn't try to talk me out of it; he just gave me some things to think about." Five set of eyes gave Amy a skeptical look before giving Ricky an angry one. Amy stood up, just managing to catch the soda can that was forgotten in her lap before it hit the floor. "I need more time, Robbie," she told her brother more gently. The two shared a silent, sibling conversation with their eyes and Robbie's demeanor softened, but only slightly. He didn't say anything, only nodded his head once in a gesture of acceptance.

"We need to be getting home." Amy turned towards Ricky and said goodbye simply by smiling at him, a smile he returned. Amy turned back around and followed the boys and her best friends out to the parking lot, leaving behind a lot of curious teenagers.