There couldn’t be someone more perfect for me to get close to, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was a pretty girl.
“Dude, come on,” Mason complained when I didn’t answer. I’d forgotten what he even asked. “Her name? Is that too much to ask?”
“It’s Anita,” I said with a shrug. They’d find out if they asked around, anyway, so there was no problem with telling them.
“And are we ever going to meet her?” Abe asked. “Oh, wait. Probably not, right? Because you’re not serious about her. You only ever introduce us to the cheerleaders you date, so are you just trying something new?”
“It’s a huge shift in taste,” Mason added. “You could have warned us first.”
Immediately, I got irritated.
“Would you two shut up about this already?” I drawled, sounding bored. “Just back off and mind your own damn business, okay? And don’t even think of going anywhere near her.”
I stared at them, waiting, and they shrugged it off with a chuckle and started talking about last night fun at the movie theater. I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it, but I let my body relax.
Chapter Ten
Anita
My hands twisted together as I stopped outside of the pharmacy. Even with Hayley by my side, I wasn’t sure I could do this. Hayley, as always, seemed to be able to read my mind.
“You have to do it,” she murmured. “Even if you’re scared, it’ll be worse if you wait for your stomach to start showing before you start to make plans. It’s been a month by now, I think. Better to start planning early.”
I bit my lip. I was totally afraid of it, but I knew she was right. What would I do if I had to go to school with a giant belly? People might assume Evan was responsible, especially with all the recent rumors flying around about us, and while it was true, I hadn't told him yet. What would he think?
“Can we just wait out here for a minute?” I whispered.
Hayley pursed her lips, but at my pleading look, gave up with a sigh.
“Fine, but we are not turning back,” she warned. “Not after I finally got you to come here. Honestly, I almost thought you were running away from me or something.”
I smiled weakly. “I have been doing detention, you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure and getting a lot of attention because of it.”
I chuckled, but really, I was not in the mood for humor. I couldn’t blame Hayley, though. We were supposed to do this days ago, but for the past few days, I’d been giving her the runaround.
“I’m sorry about the way that I’ve been acting lately,” I weakly apologized for ignoring her lately. She was my friend not only that but my best friend and I’d been acting like a jerk lately.
Evan was finally talking to me, and while I was worried, I could still act normally around him as long as I didn’t know for sure if I was about to have my life changed forever. I could pretend nothing was wrong; it could just be a hormonal imbalance that will fix itself. We learned in biology that it could happen during puberty.
“Let’s go in,” Hayley said gently after some minutes, ignoring my apology. She probably didn’t know how to react to it. She put her hand on my back to nudge me forward.
I didn’t move.
“It’s a little late,” I said frantically. “Can't we try again a bit earlier tomorrow? Or, you know, the weekend?”
“No,” she said firmly. “No more running. We’re already here, so we do this today. It’s just a quick thing, and I can talk to the lady in there if you’re so worried. I’ll do everything; I’ll even pay for it, just don’t forget to pay me back. We find out about this tonight. Crap, even I’m starting to get anxious about the answer here!”
I winced. Hayley was a really good friend about this, and I knew that. She was just trying to help me. So, I took a deep breath and let her lead me inside.
The whole procedure was quicker than I’d thought. We headed to the aisle quickly, and I knew from the way Hayley didn’t hesitate that she’d been down this aisle before. I’d never gone down it. I hadn’t needed to. The lady at the checkout counter wasn’t surprised when Hayley approached her with a pregnancy test. She noticed me standing awkwardly behind Hayley, with a panicked look on my face, and she gave me a glimpse of sympathy. I knew right then, she knew the test was for me, but she handled everything very quickly and professionally, explaining it to Hayley but loud enough so I could see, without it being too loud as to attract the attention of her coworker and some of the other people around.
In about five minutes, we were out of there. Hayley’s house would be empty for a few hours, so we decided I would be sleeping over, and headed back.
“I’m sure you heard the instructions,” she said, immediately pushing me to the bathroom. “Just pee a little and come out here. Be careful how you touch it, though. Use tissues!”
I closed the door between us and wobbled over to the toilet bowl. I peed, and I waited.