"You are what?!" Her mom just about had an aneurysm when she told her. Jade sat across from her at the large, marble kitchen island in her mom's house. The woman who raised her glared at her with judgemental eyes.

"You've ruined your life," her mom shook her head. "How could you be so stupid, Jade?"

"Well, obviously we didn't plan it!" Jade yelled back.

"Jade, you are nineteen years old," She reminded her sternly. "You are not nearly mature enough to be someone's mother-"

"I don't have a choice-"

"You do have a choice, you can get rid of it!" Her mom raised her voice.

Jade gritted her teeth. This was exactly the reason they waited until she was twenty weeks along before they told anyone else about this. Everyone would feel entitled to their opinions.

"Beck and I have made our decision," she folded her arms. Her mom scoffed.

"Beck would do well to run fast and far…"

"You know what, I don't need this today!" Jade had heard enough. She knew she was proving her mom's point about maturity by storming out but she couldn't sit there and listen to her throw insults at her any longer. She got in her car, slammed the door shut, and rested her head on the steering wheel, trying not to let her mom's opinion get to her.

Her phone vibrated and she knew it would be Beck. They'd decided to do this at the same time and rip the bandaid off together. She glanced at her phone screen to see he'd sent her a thumbs-up. His parents were much more likely to be supportive than hers, meaning his conversation would likely last longer than five minutes. He was probably still in the middle of it. Which reminded her; she still needed to tell her dad.

She had spent hours last night writing an email to him and it was sitting in her drafts, ready to go. Her heart pounded in her chest as she read over it one last time. She decided to send it now and get it over and done with before driving back home to tidy up her apartment.

They had invited their friends over for drinks tonight, which was really just an excuse to get them all in one room together. Since leaving school, it was rare for them all to hang out at the same time but they both agreed it would be best to tell them about this as a group. Honestly, Jade could happily have waited several more weeks before telling them about this but she was starting to show, so it was now or never.

Other than the inconvenient vomiting and feeling ridiculously tired, she had mostly been able to pretend this wasn't happening to her. She knew it wasn't a healthy coping mechanism, but pushing it to the back of her mind was the easiest way she'd found to get through this.

She hadn't changed her mind about keeping the baby but it still scared the shit out of her. And in the last couple of weeks, she had started feeling flutters in her belly. It started out really light, like tiny bursting bubbles. She tried to convince herself it was indigestion but she knew what it was. She could tell it was the baby kicking.

Cat arrived shortly after she finished tidying and was gushing with excitement. Jade dodged all her attempts to speak with her about the pregnancy. She was the only one who had an idea what this reunion was about - the other three were clueless.

Andre, Tori, and Robbie arrived a little while later and made themselves at home. Beck was running late which pissed Jade off to high hell. Apparently, telling his parents had taken over three hours. For some reason, this fact irritated her and by the time he finally got there, she was furious with him.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the kitchen. "I've had to sit here and play happy hostess while you stroll in here like this is some kind of backyard barbecue!"

"What did you expect me to do?" Beck lowered his voice. "I couldn't just leave… My mom and dad were talking to me about the fact, I just told them, I'm having a child!"

"How about… I'm sorry mom and dad. I need to leave because the mother of that child is actually depending on me being here, on time!"

"Are you two fighting already?" Andre called over from the couch. Apparently, their conversation wasn't as private as they thought. Beck followed Jade into the living room and they sat down beside each other on the couch. Beck put his arm around Jade who immediately shrugged it off. Their friends were all watching them curiously.

"Right, there is no easy way to say this," Beck started the conversation. "We have something to tell you all…"

"Let me guess, you're back together?" Robbie teased. The others all laughed.

"Not quite," Beck shook his head, looking nervous. Jade just looked mad.

"What's going on?" Andre asked suspiciously.

"Jade-" Beck tried to meet her eyes but she was pretending to be more interested in the velvet green couch cushion. This was much more awkward than they expected and she had already shut down.

"Alright," Beck cleared his throat. Clearly, he was going to have to be the one to do this. He looked around their friends and tried to gage how they would take this.

"Jade is pregnant…"

The silence amongst their friends was loud.

"Obviously, this happened before we broke up. We've decided to keep the baby, so if you have any questions, now is your chance," Beck opened the floor to their friends. All four of them sat there stunned.

"Sorry man, let me just clarify this. You and Jade are having a baby together, but you're not together-together?" Andre frowned. "How's that going to work exactly?"

"Plenty of people co-parent, Andre," Jade clenched her jaw. "It's not that uncommon."

"So when the baby is born, where are you all going to live?" Robbie asked skeptically.

"We haven't exactly decided that yet," Beck admitted, "I guess they will live with Jade here and eventually I will get my own place and the baby will spend time with both of us separately."

"Are you getting a new job?" Andre looked at Jade concernedly. "How are you affording everything?"

"We've decided that Jade will wait to look for work until after the baby is born," Beck jumped in to answer that question for her. "For the foreseeable future, I will support her with any finances that come up."

"This sounds messy you guys," Tori piped up disapprovingly. "I don't know in what world you think that you two can raise a child together, practically live under the same roof, when you can barely go five minutes without one of you attempting to strangle the other..."

"In this one, Vega," Jade growled at her. It was easy for her to have all these big opinions when it wasn't her dealing with this. The criticism of her failed relationship felt like a knife to the chest. Beck shot Tori a warning look.

"I'm just saying, you two have been hot and cold with each other for as long as I've ever known you," Tori reminded them, twisting the knife. "Is bringing a baby into this situation really the right thing to do?"

Jade decided not to dignify that statement with a response and stormed out for the second time that day. She was upset and anger radiated through her body, but she had no idea why. She had never given a shit about any of Tori Vega's opinions, so why she was starting now, she truly didn't know.

She decided to ditch her friends in search of some fresh air. She sat down on a bench in the courtyard usually reserved by the resident smokers. She closed her eyes and took several deep, grounding breaths in an attempt to get her emotions back in check.

After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes and checked her emails on her phone. Still no response from her dad.

She knew she was lucky to be in a position where money was the last thing she needed to worry about and her dad was a huge reason for that. She didn't even know why she cared this much. He was an absent parent and always had been. She knew he wouldn't give her the emotional response she was craving, but any response was better than none and she was sure he would have read her email by now.

"Jade," Beck called after her, having followed her out of the building.

"What?" She snapped. Beck ignored her irascibility and took a seat next to her.

"Tori wants to apologize to you," he explained.

"Oh," Jade rebuffed in an aggravated tone. Beck knew not to push. He had been here one too many times and he knew when his ex-girlfriend wasn't ready to forgive someone - especially Tori - that it was pointless trying to persuade her.

He could tell that she was hurt their friends reactions but he didn't know how to comfort her in a way that didn't blur the boundaries of the friendship they were trying to build together. Instead, he just sat with her in silent solidarity and waited for her to calm down.

"How did your parents take it?" Jade eventually changed the topic. She wanted to know anyway.

"Well, Mom cried," Beck admitted. "But she came around in the end. Dad was pretty pissed with me. He kept making all these snide comments about protection. But overall, they handled it better than I expected."

Jade nodded. That was exactly how she thougyr it would go with his family. Beck could rob a bank and they would still love him.

"How did it go with your mom?" Beck returned the question.

"She's thrilled! She says she wants to host the baby shower."

"Really?" Beck raised his eyebrows. Jade frowned at him.

"Obviously not, Beck.."

The atmosphere for the rest of the night was tense at best. None of their friends really knew how to handle the news and she was more self-conscious than ever about her growing bump. They showed them all the pictures they had from their latest scan and it seemed like they were starting to come around. Beck took the hit with any of their invasive questions, which she appreciated, but she really wished they would all just shut up about it. Jade kicked them all out before 10 pm. She was exhausted anyway.

She had just laid her head down on her pillow when she heard her phone vibrate. She immediately grabbed it and opened her emails with bated breath.

I have transferred some additional funds into your account - Dad.

Jade placed the phone, face down on her bedside table and buried herself under the covers.

She wished she could say that the money was a thoughtful gesture. But the reality was, her dad had more money than he knew what to do with and whatever sum of it he'd sent her, it wouldn't make a dent in his wallet.

Out of all the reactions from her loved ones and all the criticism she had received that day, none of it stung as much as someone who simply did not care.