She blinked at me. "Hi."
"So, I know we aren't best friends or anything, but since you are carrying Derek's baby, I figure we should try to get along."
"Why should I get along with you?" she replied.
"Well, because you're going to be in Derek's life because of the baby and I'm also going to be a part of Derek's life, so I think it would be in the best interest of the baby—"
"It would be in the best interest of the baby if you weren't such a homewrecking whore."
I bit my tongue, stifling the urge to tell her I hadn't wrecked a home, I had just ended a brief and meaningless relationship that had been doomed from the start anyway.
"Whether you like me or not, you're going to have to coexist with me," I stated.
"No, I plan to push your skanky ass out of the way before long," she returned.
Her blunt reply caused my eyebrows to rise. "Well, good luck with that. At any rate, I just thought I would express some interest. I was talking to Derek the other day, just asking him questions, and I realized you haven't told him much of anything."
"Why should I?" she replied, shrugging carelessly.
"Because he's the father," I offered.
"He left me," she stated simply.
"Well, I know that, but he is busting his ass right now so he can help you support a baby that you won't tell him anything about. I don't think it's that much to ask just to let him know when the due date is."
"I don't know the exact date," she stated.
"I know, but you have to have a general idea. If you don't, I found a website that can help you figure it out. If you just enter in—"
"Look, I have better things to do than talk to you," Kayla told me.
"How many weeks are you?" I asked her.
"None of your business," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "What's the big secret, Kayla? You don't think he deserves to even know the little details? I mean, it doesn't even make sense that you're so reluctant," I told her. "You're dangling your pregnancy over his head, so you'd think it would be right up your alley to shove ultrasound pictures and due dates in my face."
She stopped, turning to give me a dirty look. "Look, Nicole, at the moment my stomach is upset, probably because of the baby, and I need to get to class. I'm sure you do, too. So stop grilling me and leave me alone."
With that, she walked away.
Chapter Thirteen-
Wednesday was my day off, but Derek had to go straight to work from school, so we made plans for him to come over to my house when he got off to do our homework and spend some time together, since it seemed our schedules rarely allowed it.
He was supposed to get off at eight, but Derek called me at 8:05 and told me he had to stay until 11, so he wouldn't be over until probably 11:30 or so.
I wasn't very happy about that, because I had finished all but my math homework and I decided to glance through his and see what he needed to do. There was an English paper that we had known about since Friday, due the next day, and all he had compiled were some notes. He hadn't even started a rough draft that we were supposed to turn in Tuesday. What had he turned in? He didn't even have enough notes to write the whole report. On top of that paper, he also had homework in two other subjects, and he wasn't even going to get to my house until close to midnight?
I told myself that things would get better.
It might seem hard, but once we graduated and Kayla had the baby, hopefully we would settle into a routine. I told myself that the only reason Derek had to run himself ragged was because he was still getting the hang of things, that once everything settled down and we all figured out how to deal, it would get easier.
But would it? I had doubts, and then I felt guilty that it was mostly because of me that he was working so hard.
I stopped thoughts like that, reasoning that it wasn't my fault, it was Kayla's fault. After all, while Derek was killing himself to help out, she was still happily going to the mall and working one day a week at the local grocery store. Obviously she wasn't concerned about the costs of a child, and once I got Derek to jump off his big white horse, maybe he would chill and start making her share the responsibility.
But would I be able to get Derek off that damn horse? Because it didn't seem like it was going to be an easy task.