Fall 19

I opened my eyes with a huge smile plastered on my face. The weekends were so nice! Especially festival free weekends where, not only was there no school, but the day was also a more relaxed pace than if we had a festival!

I felt my stomach growl as I sighed. I wanted to stay in bed for a little while longer, but I didn't want to be hungry either. I grabbed my bed post, hoisting myself up with difficulty. This kid was doing a number on me, even if I am in my second trimester my midriff was already huge and the baby felt super heavy!

Natalie said that everything was going well from my check-up a couple of days ago, and considering that it was already so big now, a C-section would definitely be needed when the time came!

I wasn't looking forward to it, and Natalie was concerned about the baby being stressed from not having enough room to grow. She had given me a small brochure on the procedure; just in case I would have to have the procedure on the medical carriage. However, I hadn't even looked at it yet. I was too nervous to even open it.

I quickly slipped on a purple dress from the drawers, brushing my hair. I noticed that it had grown longer; it looked really nice! I looked at myself in the mirror as my eyes widened.

I hadn't really looked at myself in the mirror for a while; every time I did, I hated what I saw. But looking at myself right now, I saw...what I see with my mom. Beautiful! But I haven't done anything differently! Besides my hair being longer now, and my curves being more noticeable I still looked the same, but there was still something. What was different?

My growling stomach and an impatient kick from the baby told me to stop pondering as I waddled downstairs with difficulty

"Good morning, Clara!" Mom exclaimed, "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Yes, please!" I exclaimed as mom smiled.

"I also want to discuss something with you. But first, what do you want for breakfast?" She asked as I furrowed my brows. She wanted to discuss something with me? I wonder what.

"Uh, scrambled eggs sound nice." I said as mom smiled.

"Alright. I know you've learned a lot from Mana's classes and since you're going to be a mother soon, I think you should start taking on some responsibilities. I'm not asking you to do much, but I think you should start helping out around the house. Including cooking! And starting tomorrow morning before school, I'm going to ask for some help with cleaning!" Mom exclaimed as I sighed.

"I know this is not the best discussion, but-." Mom began as I interrupted her.

"No, I get it. I do need to be more responsible. Especially since I am keeping the baby." I said as she smiled in understanding.

"I'll be around to help out with the baby as well, and I know for sure that Leonel will be by our house a lot to help out as well!" Mom exclaimed.

"Let's just hope dad won't do anything drastic." I said in a joking manner.

"I'll be sure to put your father in his place." Mom joked back. "Now, let's prepare your breakfast."

My scrambled eggs had actually turned out fairly decent as I shoved the fluffy, savory bites in my mouth. They weren't as good as mom's, but I was hopeful that with enough practice, my cooking would become as good as mom's and maybe Ceci's! Well, probably not as great as Ceci's, since she's been around for a while and has had time to perfect her cooking, but still good enough!

I had finished my plate, heading over to the basin to wash it before drying it and placing it back in the cabinet.

"Now, go hang out with your friends. It is the weekend after all! But be back by six for dinner." Mom demanded me as I smiled.

"I will!" I exclaimed, heading out the door, heading towards Cherry Blossom Square. My best bet would be to either head to the mayor's house to hang with Leonel or the manor to hang with Leann.

I looked ahead at the bench at Cherry Blossom Square, noticing that Leann and Orland were huddled together on the bench. I walked towards them, and could hear that they were giggling about something; I noticed as well that they each had a pencil and pad of paper in their hands. I walked closer to where they were seated. It made me wonder…

"Are you teaching Orland how to draw?" I asked as they both jumped from surprise, turning to face me. I noticed that the papers they were writing on had some form of code and was not any form of a drawing.

"Ah, no! Orland and I are making a few Punnett charts and taking a guess at what the baby might look like." Leann said with a small smile.

"Well, I don't think we'll know for sure until it's born." I said with a small sigh.

"True, but it's still fun to predict." Orland said, holding up his chart.

"We've predicted it to have reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, like its mother." Orland stated as Leann nodded.

"And now, we're determining its height!" Leann exclaimed.

"Considering you and Leonel are both pretty short, I don't think that the baby will be tall either." Orland said as Leann tapped the pencil to her lips.

"Not unless it obtains any of the tall genes that Jack or even our grandfather or Gordon has." Leann said, furrowing her brows.

"Wow. Genes did you and Leonel dirty." Orland said as I groaned.

"Yeah, please don't remind me. I was really hoping to be tall, like my dad." I said with a sigh. I was the shortest one in my class, not to mention, the shortest student in the academy. Orland was lucky to have gotten Egan's height, considering Orland's the tallest of the academy.

"Well, you are a little taller than aunt Rosalind." Leann said.

"When she's not wearing her heels, and I'm only an inch taller than mom." I said with a small sigh as Orland tapped his pencil against his lips. I looked at him curiously.

"What are you debating?" I asked as Orland shrugged, sighing slightly. He placed his pencil and pad of paper next to him, turning towards me.

"The height thing is being proven difficult. And if it's this difficult to predict your kid's height, imagine if Leann and I had a ba…by…" Orland turned white when he realized what he just said. And even though he wasn't saying anything, his face was saying Oh, shit! A dozen times simultaneously.

"Wait. What…did you just say?" Leann asked in a hopeful tone as Orland blushed deeply, looking back at her direction again.

"Uh, I-I was just using us as an example! O-of how difficult it is to predict height! C-considering you're about average height, and I'm tall…I-." Orland said in a slight frenzy as Leann crossed her arms, giving Orland a stern look. I leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"You know, there's a personality gift type thing that Leann got from her dad. The ability to read people to tell when they're lying." I gave him a slight wink as Orland turned pale.

"Ah, I-I'm gonna…go, now." Orland said nervously, lifting himself from his seat on the bench. His legs were shaking with each step he took, it reminded me of a newborn buffamoo.

"Orly…" Leann whispered softly, I looked over, noticing tears welling in her eyes.

"Leann?" I asked in concern as she wiped her eyes with her fingers.

"S-sorry if I'm worrying you." She said, sniffling, footsteps started to approach us.

"Uh, hey, do you two know what happened to Or-? Okay, w-what happened in general?" Leann and I looked over at Leonel's confused and concerned face.

"Uh, first off, what did Orland say to you?" I asked as Leonel furrowed his brows.

"He didn't say anything. I just saw him going into the inn with the most shameful look. I called his name, but I don't think he heard me. That or he was ignoring me." Leonel said in concern.

"So, why is Leann crying?" He asked as I furrowed my brows.

"Actually, I-I don't know myself." I replied, crossing my arms.

"I…" Leann began as Leonel and I looked over at her, her cheeks started to turn pink as she sniffled.

"I really like Orland." She said, her cheeks went from pink to red; her tears flowed out faster.

"Uh…did Leann try to tell Orland how she feels but it backfired?" Leonel asked.

"No, I think Orland did that in the most embarrassing way." I said with a sigh.

"So, Orland told her and it backfired?" Leonel asked.

"No." Leann began, "Orland said something, and then Clara told him that I was really good at reading people. But…what if you're wrong, Clara?"

"Uh, you're crying because of that?" I asked, blinking in confusion.

"I'm crying because what if Orland was using that as an example? What if I'm not really capable of reading people? I don't think…Orland likes me like I do." Leann started to sob.

"Ah, I don't know the whole conversation, b-but I can assure you that Orland likes you too, Leann!" Leonel exclaimed.

"How do you know?" She asked in a way that was kind of snarky.

"Remember that fight Orland and I had?" Leonel asked.

"How could I forget that? I was worried that one of you would have hit the baby!" Leann exclaimed as Leonel blushed, he began to shake a little.

"Ah, okay, l-let's forget about that part." He said nervously, "I-instead, let's focus on the part when Orland and I were at the clinic! I know you two weren't there, but we talked about some things. I'm not going to tell you everything we discussed, but there was a moment when Orland became flustered when he realized his crush on you is obvious." Leonel said as I nodded.

"I'm really surprised you two aren't dating yet." I said with a sigh before noticing that Leann was shaking.

"O-Orland…likes me?" She asked with such shock and hope.

"Y-you mean you really didn't know?" Leonel asked as Leann shook her head.

"I thought it was obvious, yet you two didn't see it within each other?" I asked in surprise. Leann looked down, as if pondering about something before she stood up from the bench; the most determined look on her face.

"I'm going to talk to him." She said, "Even if we don't get into a relationship, I still value our friendship."

Leann started to head towards the west end of town, she stopped, turning towards us again.

"I'll see you two later." She said, blushing slightly, continuing her walk to town.

"G-good luck, Leann!" Leonel exclaimed as I sighed heavily in exhaustion.

"I gotta sit down for a second." I said, plopping on the bench.

"Uh, what's this?" Leonel asked, as I looked over at him picking up a pad of paper from the bench before he sat next to me.

"Some kind of chart. Leann and Orland were trying to guess what the baby would look like. One of them must have forgotten it." I said as Leonel looked at the paper, studying it. He was probably curious about what they had predicted.

"Orland forgot it." He said matter-of-factly as I looked at him in confusion.

"Uh, how do you know this is Orland's?" I asked as he smiled slightly at me.

"I-I've observed some things during my time helping dad grade papers. This is definitely Orland's handwriting, plus there isn't any smudging, like there would be with Leann's writing."

"Why would Leann's writing have smudges?" I asked as he blushed.

"I used to wonder about that myself! So when we were kids, I quietly observed her in class. It took me a while to figure it out, but Leann is left-handed." He said as my eyes widened.

"Wait, she is?" I asked in shock, "Do you think Orland knows?"

"Ah, maybe? A-and if I didn't observe I wouldn't have known either." He said flustered, before looking at the paper again.

"You know, I-I actually also pictured our baby having red hair like you." He said, slightly flustered as I looked over at him; a small smile on my face.

"It's a possibility, though I don't think we'll know for sure until it makes its entrance." I said.

"Well, I-I do know for sure that sh-it'll be a cute baby!" Leonel exclaimed as my smile grew bigger.

"I think you'll be right about that." I replied with a giggle.