Caroline sat in her and Carmine's special spot, terrified!
What's Carmine going to say?!
The poor girl had never been so scared in her entire life, not even when she got her first lead role in a real ballet. Of all the guys she'd ever met, Carmine was the only one to win her heart, the only one who made her feel so special. Unlike all the rich guys who'd tried to woo her, Carmine didn't try flashing wealth in her face. The only thing he flashed was a smile, a genuine smile, and left her anonymous gifts that would look small to shallow eyes but were rich in truth and love.
What she had to tell Carmine now, she feared may lead her dream to come to a screeching halt, shattered to pieces, gone, kaput!
Katie's boyfriend left her the moment he found out about her.
"But Carmine wouldn't do that?" said Caroline, looking at her engagement ring, it now hanging from a silver chain around her neck.
One of the pieces of instructions she found online was to remove any rings and not wear one until later.
"He wouldn't leave me for something like this." Caroline tried to reassure herself.
Carmine was such a sweet boy. He loved Caroline so much, he asked her to marry him right after asking her to prom, for heaven's sake! He even said to her at prom that he'd have as many kids as she wanted with her. But he'd meant after they were married, not now!
Caroline started to cry, and not just because her hormones were out of whack right now. She wasn't just worried about how Carmine would react to this. What were her parents going to say? What would they do when they found out their daughter was pregnant? And what would Carmine's mom say or do? And despite it being less than a month before graduation, would she and/or Carmine be expelled?
Carmine soon came in with a beautiful rose in his hand.
"Hello, my love." said Carmine.
Carmine knelt and presented her with the rose.
"You wanted to see me?"
But, Carmine's smiled quickly disappeared when he saw his girlfriend was crying. He set the flower down and took a seat beside Caroline, taking her hand gently into his.
"Caroline? Baby, what's wrong?" Carmine said, caressing his wife-to-be's cheek. "Is Derek Hall messing with you again?"
Carmine pounded a fist into his hand.
"How much pain do I need to inflict?"
"It's not that." Caroline said. "I have to tell you something... something serious. And... I'm afraid of how you'll react."
Carmine was worried at first.
"Caroline... you know you can tell me anything." Carmine said. "If this is because I can't get you a big bouquet of roses-"
"It's not that!" Caroline said with a little too much emotion, startling Carmine. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that. I just... I'm not in control of my..."
Caroline sniffled.
That was when Carmine had a hypothesis of his own.
"Oh no. Are you... on your thing? Should I get the heat pad?"
"It's not that either, Carmine." Caroline shook her head. "Do you remember prom night?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Do you remember what you said to me about our future?" Caroline asked. "About having a family?"
Carmine started to wonder for a moment if Caroline had second thoughts about being parents or getting married, and then he noticed she wasn't wearing her engagement ring.
"Where's your ring?" He asked.
"That's the thing." Caroline said.
"You're breaking-"
"No!" Caroline took the ring from under her shirt. "I'm not breaking up with you. I do want to marry you."
Caroline was so scared now, but she decided she had to drop the bomb now!
"Let me just show you."
Caroline reached into a small paper bag she had and pulled out a small stick, which she handed to Carmine slowly.
"Do you also remember what happened at the end of prom night?" Caroline said. "After you got punch spilled on your shirt?"
Suddenly, Carmine had a much stronger hypothesis of what was happening, and he looked at the stick that was actually... a pregnancy test.
It was positive!
"You're..." Carmine gasped, looking at Caroline with wide eyes. "You're pregnant?"
Caroline nodded, smiling nervously.
"Surprise?" she said, sounding scared.
Carmine was speechless! He looked at the test again and didn't move for a while.
Caroline was sure Carmine was going to dump her right then and there, but instead... he kissed her! Though she was initially shocked, Caroline began to kiss back. The two kissed deeper and deeper, the passion increasing with each passing second.
Others would think it seemed like forever until they finally pulled apart, but to them, they didn't spend enough time kissing.
"You're not mad at me?" Caroline said, disbelief and relief in her voice.
"Of course not." Carmine said. "I had a part in making this baby too. And we both know it was an accident. A happy, wonderful accident."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'll be honest, I am shocked." Carmine said. "We weren't planning this, obviously until later. But, I'm so happy now because we know now you're not sick. You just have a miracle of life growing inside you."
Carmine placed an affectionate hand on Caroline's stomach.
"But what will our parents say?" Caroline asked.
"I don't know. But, if we just explain to them what happened, I'm sure they'll understand."
That weekend, visiting the Mitchells'...
"How could you let this happen?!" said Nicholas angrily.
"What were the two of you thinking?!" added Kathleen.
"It wasn't our fault!" Caroline said. "Someone spiked the punch at prom! We didn't know!"
"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Nicholas said.
"Both of you, stop!" Susy said. "It's true, someone did spike it. These two aren't the only students who were victims of the punch. Rest assured, Headmistress Mozarta launched an investigation and the hooligans have been expelled for inflicting underage drinking to unsuspecting students."
"And how many of them got themselves pregnant?" Kathleen asked.
"I don't know. Carmine is the first I know of." Susy said.
"You can't tell me you're actually okay with this."
"I'm not! I'm not okay with teen pregnancy, namely when it's teens being reckless, but my son is a very responsible boy. He told me right away that he and Caroline were expecting, unlike others, who would normally try to hide it."
"And you didn't think to tell us?" Nicholas said.
"We thought it better to tell you in person." Carmine said.
"On top of it all, you didn't even think to ask permission to ask for my daughter's hand?"
Carmine almost laughed at that.
"This isn't medieval times. Caroline doesn't need permission to marry anyone even when she is of legal age for marriage. And it's a good thing she and I want to get married." Carmine took his girlfriend's hand. "Because I intend to care for her and this baby, and love them both."
"And what is this going to do for your future, Caroline? Huh?" said Nicholas, looking sternly at his daughter. "How do you expect to go to True Pointe in this condition?"
"I guess I won't." Caroline said. "But that's okay."
"Okay?! You want to end our family legacy for an illegitimate baby? What is wrong with you? If you'd been more responsible with choosing your men, this wouldn't have happened!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Carmine said, standing up. "Don't you dare try to pin this all on Caroline! She is the most perfect woman anyone could ever hope to know! And I believe she will be a great mother. And lots of mothers have successful careers, so why shouldn't she be one of them? She won't be doing it alone either. Unlike that coward Sharo, I'm sticking by my girl's side and taking responsibility as a future father. And if being the father this baby deserves means putting my music career on hold, so be it! Caroline and I both had a part in creating this baby. Yes, it'll be difficult to raise him or her ourselves especially while we're still so young, and yes it'll be harder for us to have both a steady career and a steady relationship with the kid and each ither, but that doesn't mean it's impossible."
Carmine looked at Caroline and helped her up. Caroline looked at her parents and asked them, "When I fell down fifteen times in my first ballet lesson, did you give up on me then?"
"Of course not." said Nicholas. "You were only starting out."
"Then what about in the sixth grade, when that awful teacher said I twirled like a dizzy squirrel? Did you give up on me then?"
"No. I let your mother give her a good slap in the face."
"And what about when I felt sure I wasn't going to get in to Melody Prep because I fell down?" Caroline said "Mom, you said to me, 'Every dancer has their times when they fall. What makes a dancer truly strongest is when they have the courage and the will to get back up.' So, yes, it will take longer for me to become a professional dancer, or whatever else I decide to be... but Mom once gave up her career to be my mother. And I'm going to do everything I have to do to ensure my baby is loved and cared for."
It was then that the Mitchells and Susy decided to have the kids step out of the room so they could talk amongst themselves.
Carmine listened in and made out that his and Caroline's parents were talking plans to have Carmine and Susy move in with the Mitchells. They would support the kids and would still send them to college, hopefully finding some not too far off so they could be around. But once the baby was born, the teens' parents would look after the little one while the kids were at school. That way, it would work out for everyone. Carmine and Caroline could still go to school, their baby would be cared for, and their parents would get to spend lots of quality time with their future grandchild.
In the meantime, the teens still had to prepare for graduation, and they had to start planning their wedding, Caroline's baby shower, and the design and setup of the new baby's nursery.