Erica walked wearily into school. It had been two weeks since Stacie's funeral and she was so sure that she would end up killing herself if she stayed home any longer. She had thought about it, but didn't have the guts to do it.
On top of that, Mike was getting really fed up with her. He was getting mad at her for not coming to school and he was also getting mad with her deciscion not to have sex with him. He had even threatened to break up with her if she didn't have sex with him soon. Although Erica hated to admit it, she seriously thought it would be better for the both of them if he did break up with her. She was starting to fear Mike. She was afraid that the next time she would say no, he wouldn't listen.
And to finish everything off, she had fallen behind on so much schoolwork. Coming to school might actually be helpful, if she could concentrate on anything. She was so oblivious to everything around her. She didn't notice the stares that she was getting as she walked through the halls. She didn't notice all of the "that's her" looks. And she definately didn't notice the whispers behind her back.
I just have to take it one day at a time. Just make it through today, she told herself.
Samantha finished throwing up in the stall in the girls bathroom and walked out wearily.
"Ew," Nicole said,"I hope I don't get what you have." she tossed her hair.
"You won't." Samantha mumbled as she washed her mouth out.
"How do you know?" Nicole asked fixing her eyeliner.
Samantha stared at herself in the mirror. The reflection wasn't the same anymore. Who had she become? She lowered her head and gently splashed some water on her face and looked up into the mirror again. Water drops ran down her cheeks and over her lips and into the sink. The reflection wasn't the same anymore.
"Sam, I asked you a question." Nicole reminded as she dug through her bag for her brush.
Samantha stared at Nicole through the mirror,"Well, unless you plan on becoming pregnant anytime soon, I wouldn't worry."
Nicole gasped,"You're pregnant?"
Samantha stared at her own reflection again. It still wasn't the same reflection. The water still ran down her cheeks. Was it the water? It was so hard to tell where the tears ended and the water began. Samantha nodded as she whispered,"I'm late. And so I went to the drugstore and I got the test and I," her voice wavered,"I went home and..." she trailed off as she completely burst into tears.
Nicole kept her distance and made no attempt to hug her friend,"Who's is it?" she asked as she tried to get filled in on the juicy part of the gossip.
Samantha hesitated. Should she tell the truth? No, the real father wouldn't believe her, much less forgive her. It was all her fault. But she couldn't lie and put the other guy through that. She could ruin his life. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She was stuck between Taylor and Mike. What was she to say? What was she to do?
"Well..?" Nicole prompted.
Samantha looked down at where a new life was now forming,"It's Taylor's." she sighed. She only hoped that she had made the right choice.
Erica finally came up to her locker. The day was looking up so far, at least she made it to her locker with bursting into tears over Stacie. As she got closer to her locker she noticed that there was something written on it. The word, whore, was scrawled on her locker in black marker. She gasped, dropped her bookbag, and turned around. Everyone in the hall was laughing at her,"Who did that?" she demanded.
No one stepped forward to take the credit.
Tears of frustration brimmed at Erica's eyes,"Who did that?" she repeated scanning the crowd for a pair of guilty eyes. Over at the other end of the hall, Mike smiled and waved a black marker through the air. "Whore." he mouthed at her.
She stalked over to him,"You did that?"
Everyone in the hall gathered around in hopes of a fight. Mike only smiled.
"Why?" she demanded.
Alex stepped in front of Mike,"So, you're lousy in bed huh?" he grinned.
The students in the hall snickered.
"What?" she asked.
"You can admit it." Mike smiled.
"Why would I have sex with your ugly ass?" she challenged,"I mean, with your strong feelings for Alex over here, who am I to compete?" she asked crossing her arms.
The students roared with laughter as Mike turned red,"What would you know? You're nothing but a whore." he said stepping closer to her so that he was right in her face.
She pushed him,"Oh big Mr. Football Jock is just too embarrassed to admit that for once in his life a girl actually turned him down." she turned to face the crowd of students,"See, he won't tell you about how he was so desperate to get some and everytime he got turned down. He won't tell you that. But I think that you deserve the truth. I flat out said no to that asshole."
Mike pushed her up against the lockers,"Why don't you shut your mouth you filthy whore!" he yelled.
"Go ahead," she challenged,"hit me Mike! Show how a tough football player has to beat the shit out of a girl because he's too much of a pussy to fight another guy! Go ahead! Hit me, c'mon Mike! Hit me you asshole! I dare you!" she shrieked at him.
"What's going on here?" Mr. Warren, the principal, demanded as he pushed through the crowd of students.
Mike backed away from Erica,"Nothing." he mumbled.
"No, it's something," Erica raised her voice and pointed to her locker,"Mike Holandale wrote that!"
The principal surveyed the locker and sighed,"I'll see both of you in my office after homeroom.
Erica shifted uncomfortably in the chair that she was sitting in outside of Mr. Warren's office. She fiddled nervously with her hair as she waited to be called in. He had been in there with Mike for a good twenty minutes and she wondered what was going on behind that door.
Mr. Warren poked his head out of his office,"Erica, you can come in now."
She stood up and walked into his office. Mr. Warren motioned for her to take a seat next to Mike. She sat down, careful not to look at Mike. It was beyond her how things had changed so drastically from the time she had met him in the library until now. He was so sweet before. It was hard to believe that she had once actually cared for him.
Mr. Warren folded his hands in his lap, leaned back in his chair, and surveyed both Mike and Erica as if trying to decide what to say first.
"It is my decision that you, Erica, will have a weeks detention." he said calmly.
She jumped up,"Are you kidding? You didn't even listen to my side of the story!" she yelled.
"Sit down!" Mr. Warren said harshly.
Erica took her seat again and tried to tune out the quiet snickering that Mike was doing. He was enjoying this.
"I understand," Mr. Warren explained,"that you two broke up rather difficultly and let me remind you Erica, that writing things on your locker and blaming them on young Michael will not be tolerated, so," he paused,"I will cancel that week's detention and instead give you a week of sessions with your guidance counsler during your lunch period." he said as he made himself a note of that.
"This is ridiculous, I didn't write anything!" she protested.
Mr. Warren stared at her,"It is only because your cousin recently passed on that I am granting you this favor. That's exactly what it is, a favor. I am letting your little act of vandalism slide."
Erica lowered her eyes. Yeah, Stacie dies, and now this. They think I'm crazy. How much more shit does the world want to dump on me? she thought.
Mr. Warren scribbled out two passes,"I don't want to see either of you in this office again, is that understood?"
"Yes." Erica said rudely and snatched the hall pass from his hand.
"See ya Mr. Warren." Mike said taking the pass and following Erica out of his office.
Once in the hall, Erica turned to Mike,"How'd you get him to believe you?" she asked bitterly.
Mike grinned,"Oh come on, I'm a football player Erica. One of the best. You figure it out." he laughed as they walked down the hall.
"Why? Why'd you do this Mike? As if I haven't been through enough." she said as if all emotion and energy had been drained from her.
He shrugged,"Hey, put out or get out, that's what I always say." he finished as the bell rang and the hall flooded with kids.
Erica sighed and opened her locker once again. Her mind was clouded with thoughts and she couldn't even think one completely though. She just stared into her locker blankly. Samantha came up beside her,"Oh my God, I just heard about Mike." she said.
Erica glared at her,"Good news travels fast huh?" she said sarcastically.
Samantha put her hand over her heart,"The whole school is like, talking about it." she told her.
Erica nodded and grabbed her Biology book from her locker,"So what do you want? Did you just come here to gloat about it?" she snapped.
"I came to see if you need anything." she replied.
"You mean, if I needed you to ruin my life anymore than it is?" Erica snickered in disbelief.
"No, I meant if you need help. I'm here for you." Samantha said sympathetically.
Erica slammed her locker shut and stared at her in disbelief,"I don't need help, and if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't ask you!" she said pushing past her and heading for Biology class.
Samantha watched her stalk off down the hall and instead of feeling the joy that she usually felt at making someone miserable, she felt horrible. She didn't want to play this stupid game with Mike anymore. It was time for the truth to come out. All of it.
Erica plopped into her Biology desk and tried to avoid the few sympathetic gazes that she was actually getting. She watched as Mike and his buddies stared at her and talked about her. She turned her head the other way only to see Jeff staring at her,"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." he mumbled looking back at his book.
She looked around the room to see practically the whole class staring at her. It was almost as if they were waiting for her to crack. She wasn't going to crack. She refused to crack in front of her classmates. It would be all over school and then she would never be able to show her face in school again. She would not crack.
Mike and his friends erupted with laughter. She couldn't take it, she grabbed her book and ran out of the classroom. She cracked.
Jeff turned in his chair to stare at Mike. Mike stared right back,"What are you looking at dickhead?" he asked.
Jeff shook his head,"You really are an asshole." he replied as he grabbed his stuff and ran out of the classroom after Erica. He ran out into the hall, Where'd she go? he thought as he took off towards the right.
"Jeff!" someone called from behind him.
He stopped running and turned aroung. He saw, who he vaguely remembered as Nicole, coming towards him,"What?" he asked annoyed as he tried to keep walking after Erica.
Nicole caught up to him,"You're friends with that guy Taylor, right?" she sked walking with him.
Jeff kept up his pace and only glanced at her out of the corner of his eye,"Why?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, I just wanted to know how he was taking all of this?" Nicole asked as if trying to pry some sort of secret information out of him.
Taking what? he thought, Taking what happened to Erica? He didn't even know what Mike did to Erica and besides they aren't going out anyway, so what was she talking about?,"He's taking it fine I guess."
Nicole raised her eyebrows,"Wow, I would think that he would be devastated that his girlfriend is pregnant, but then again I would never picture Taylor as one to have sex and not be in love, but then again maybe..."
"Woah!" Jeff exploded and stopped walking,"Who's pregnant? Erica?" he asked in confusion.
"Erica's pregnant by Taylor too?" Nicole asked wide-eyed.
Jeff shook his head furiously,"No! Who are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Samantha," she said blankly,"who are you talking about?"
"Samantha's pregnant? By Taylor?" he asked in disbelief.
Nicole nodded,"From what she tells me anyway," she gasped,"wait a minute, Taylor doesn't know?"
Jeff shook his head,"Damn right Taylor doesn't know!"
"I wonder why Samantha didn't tell him." Nicole thought aloud.
Jeff resumed walking,"I don't know, maybe cause it's not his!" he called over his shoulder.
Nicole caught up to him,"Well then whose is it?" she asked as they exited the school.
"Well it's not Taylor's, I know that for sure. If he was to lose his virginity, which by the way he hasn't, number one, I would know and number two, it wouldn't be with Samantha."
"Well, what are you gonna do? Tell Taylor about Samantha?" she pryed.
Jeff stopped and turned around,"Why the fuck do you care what I'm gonna do? So you can blab it all over the school the way you blab everything else! I thought Samantha was your best friend? Or are you gonna push her down so you can be top knotch of your stupid little clique that destroy people's lives. Well, I have news for you, you are not gonna destroy Taylor. He is a decent person and he is the last person that deserves anything like this to happen to him. You make me sick, so why don't you get the fuck away from me before I rip your goddamned head off! You may be able to get to sweet, innocent people like Erica but I'm warning you now, don't even fuck around with me!"
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