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22
Since our friends told us it was a zoo at school with people asking them about us, we decide to skip school Wednesday, and then the rest of the week. Hopefully, things will calm down a bit by the time we return. Aiden’s already facing a media frenzy as it is, and I’m trying not to draw attention to myself.
Mom’s home, and as soon as she got back she called Agent Dylan to tell him about everything that happened. Like the last video I told him about, he didn’t seem too concerned that I was on camera, and convinced her that you couldn’t even see me. Even though it’s true I’m only in it for a couple seconds, and the part I’m in is shot from the floor, I’m still suspicious when the viral video doesn’t bother Agent Dylan at all. Why bother not having social media or never taking pictures with my own camera if the people who told me the rules don’t care about my following them? Mom was confused, too, but he reassured her, which I think calmed her down. After all, if the FBI agent isn’t worried, why would she be? I didn’t bother telling her mine and Aiden’s theory—that Agent Dylan wants me here and found, because that wouldn’t accomplish anything at all. It would just make her double down on not wanting me to hang out with my friends, and that’s not something I can live with. Maybe he wants me here and has no intention of moving us because it’s their best chance of catching Tony. But how is he going to keep me safe at the same time if things like this don’t worry him?
Even though Aiden and I skipped school much of the week, our friends have been dropping off our homework so that we don’t fall behind, or more specifically, I don’t fall behind. Aiden could practically teach every class, but we all know I need that extra help in calculus or I’m not graduating.
Aiden agreed to come over Friday morning after dropping the twins off at school to help me catch up. He follows me up to my room where we can sit comfortably while being tortured with math, but pauses before we get there.
“I just have to go to the bathroom first.”
“Yeah, sure. Use this one.” I point to the rarely used bathroom in the hallway as we walk by it.
I continue into my room and am setting up our books when I hear the bathroom door swing open, followed by some quick, heavy footsteps, then Aiden charges in.
He’s holding a little plastic stick. It looks like a thermometer. His face is an almost comical mix of fear and confusion. He holds the object out to me, and that’s when I realize it’s a pregnancy test.
I feel all the blood drain from my face.
He trips over his words. “But we . . . But that’s . . . we used . . . you’re pregnant?”
It’s then that the situation actually clicks in my head.
“What?” All the blood rushes to my head and the room spins around me. Pregnant? It says pregnant? No, no, no, no, no, it cannot say pregnant. There’s way too much going on right now to handle that too. I rush over and grab it from his hand, then let a sigh of relief immediately escape.
“It says not pregnant.” I set it down on my dresser, my heart trying to calm itself as I glance back at Aiden. His eyes are wide, the frustration and disbelief not dissipating like mine did.
“You thought you were pregnant and weren’t going to tell me?!”
“Wait, what?”
He looks like he wants to pull all his hair out. “Thea! Were you not here when I just handed you your pregnancy test? Why wouldn’t you tell me? We could’ve gone through this together.”
He thinks it’s mine? For some reason I feel like laughing even though this isn’t exactly the right situation to laugh at.
“Aiden, that’s not my pregnancy test. I have my own bathroom. If it was mine, it would be in there.”
The anger and frustration is replaced by confusion. “But if it’s not yours—” I wait a second for him to connect the dots when his jaw drops. There it is.
“Oh no.”
Oh no, indeed.
“This is not good.” He voices the words I’m thinking.
“I know. What would’ve happened if my mom was pregnant with Mason’s dad’s baby?”
All the possible scenarios run through my head, none of which end with Mason and me still being friends.
“Brian needs to tell Mason, and soon, or else you’re going to have to.”
I rub my eyes and flop onto my bed. “I know, I know. I’m going out with him tomorrow and I think it’s best I tell him.”
Aiden sits down beside me and rubs my back. “It’s for the best, Thea. He deserves to know.”
Mason’s going to hate me. For not telling him. For destroying his vision of his perfect father. For ruining his family life. For my mom being the other woman. For everything. “How pissed at me do you think he’ll be?”
Aiden tilts my chin up to look at him. “He cares about you. I’m sure he’ll be upset for a bit, but he’ll get over it. He’d be much more upset finding out some other way, like your mom going to his house and announcing she’s pregnant.”
Could I even imagine that scenario? What would happen if my mom was pregnant? Would Mason’s dad embrace it? Leave his family? Would he say it wasn’t his? Would he want nothing to do with it?
Thank goodness we don’t have to find out, but it could happen down the line. And Mason needs to know before it ever gets to that point. I just hope I don’t lose one of my best friends.
“This is going to be the easiest free ice cream I’ve ever gotten,” Mason says as I miss the first shot at the third hole in mini-golf, again.
We’re at the only mini-golf place in town for our rematch. It’s glow in the dark and every couple of holes there’s a room with a different theme. The theme of the room we’re currently in is dinosaurs, and Mason’s white shirt glows neon blue under the black light.
“Hey, don’t get your hopes up yet,” I say, getting the ball straight in on the second shot.
My mind is off today. I don’t want to tell him right away—the plan is to have some fun with him first, then before we get out of the car to get our ice cream, I’ll break the news to him as gently as possible in private.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m already beating you by two shots, so maybe you should just call it quits right now.” He lines up his shot and misses.
“Looks like you’re only beating me by one now,” I tease, laughing even harder when he shoots me a face but misses his shot again.
We play a pretty evenly matched game, and by the time we’re almost done, I’m leading by three shots. It’s fun. We’ve been laughing nonstop, and I’m reminded how much fun Mason is to be around. I feel bad for avoiding him this whole time, and even worse that he might avoid me for a while after I tell him.
