Forever Friends

Chapter 13

Annie Maxwell had been in a perpetual state of agony for the past week, and the only thing that could make her feel better was the same thing that she worried would make her feel worse at the same time. Letting out a sigh, she sat on the closed top of the toilet seat, her elbow on the counter, and chin in her hand as she looked at the box. It seemed so menacing and to be honest, it scared the hell out of her. She perked an eyebrow as she read the writing on the side for the hundredth time that morning. She could probably recite them back verbatim if she had to.

What a silly thought! When would she ever have to be in the position to recite the label of a pregnancy test to anyone? She stretched her arm out and leaned her chin down a little so she was more like eye level with the test. "Alright, it's just you and me." She could hear the whistle, then the sounds of an old western song playing in her brain.

In her mind, she saw tumbleweed roll across the bathroom floor and disappear under the sink.

She looked away from the test and closed her eyes. She'd had her mom call her out from school today. How could she be expected to concentrate when she was still worrying about this stupid test? She told her mom that she felt sick to her stomach, which wasn't far from the truth. But she refused to believe it was because she was the P word. She spent all her time figuring that her stomach only ached because she was so nervous. Anyone would feel like this. Anyone. Not just her.

Perking a brow as she looked back at the test, she then leaned in close to the box, nose just inches from it. "You're not going to intimidate me." She warned. Then it sunk in.

Annie got up from the toilet seat, angry at herself for being such a coward. Her arm swiped out and her hand slapped a dark blue towel that hung a foot away from her. It swished forward but fell back into place crookedly, then became still. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself, pacing the few feet of her small bathroom, practically wearing a hole in the ground. "I'm talking to a test. No, not even a test.. a box that the test is in! Can't intimidate me, who am I fooling?"

She stopped when she saw her reflection in the mirror and stared at the image. She had bags under her eyes and she looked pale. Her short, blonde hair was tucked behind her ears but fell limply along the back of her neck. Ok, and maybe she was a little curious so she took a step back so that she could see down to where her gray, oversized t-shirt fell to her hips.

It was just for a second. She just wanted to try it out, and then she swore to herself that she would never mention this again.

Annie turned her body to the side. She was always thin, thanks to good genes, and fit, thanks to a love of sports. She slowly brought her hand towards her stomach and then tentatively touched her palm over her belly button, almost worried like it would bite her.. or worse, she'd feel a kick, or a bump. But there was nothing. It was just flat. Her fingers tightened in the shirt and then she looked down at her hand instead of her reflection.

Her heartbeat started to run just a little bit faster. Looking back at the sideways blue towel, Annie picked it up, folded it and then curiously slipped it under her shirt. She was a little nervous to look up but after a minute of convincing herself it was just an experiment, she raised her eyes to her reflection. The shirt barely rose over the curse of small breasts but then it jut out around the rolled up towel. Her heart started racing even faster. The beat echoed in her ears as she saw what she looked like. Her mind instantly rushed over a flash of images: a positive pregnancy test, her sitting down with her parents to tell them, her walking down the hall of school with a big belly, her in a hospital bed, throwing back her sweaty head in labor. It all built up and Annie's heart raced so hard.

She aggressively pulled the towel from under her shirt, threw it to the ground, then smacked the pregnancy test into the trash and ran out of the bathroom as if it were on fire.

Falling on the bed, Annie grabbed her pillow and curled her arms around it, burying the tears into its welcoming fabric.

****

The week had gone by pretty quickly for Savannah. Despite the fact she knew people were talking about what happened, or didn't happen, at the party, she ignored it all. At first people spoke to her as though they were waiting for her to breakdown. That had mostly stopped over the past few days. She had seen how they looked at Randy though, and that was the worst part of all of this. She just wanted them to forget what happened so things could go back to normal.

She sure as hell was going back to normal.

Pretty blue eyes looked over the row of seats beside her to see Max Hunnington. She most definitely had plans for him. He and Sara Wolfe had gone on one date together and perhaps it was something deeply ingrained but if Sara could have someone, Savannah wanted to prove she could too; Knock Sara down a couple pegs. Besides, Max was hot. Lacrosse captain with a body that had been chiseled through years of hard work outs. He had dark skin and dark hair, dark eyes.. She assumed he was Greek and he definitely lived up to the Greek god symbol.

Opening her notebook, Savannah slowly ripped out a piece of paper. Then she picked up a purple pen and wrote, "Looks like you ran into a wall. What happened?" She had of course heard that Kaleb had been on the war path so she figured the bruise on the side of Max's face was courtesy of the Kaideen. Still she wanted to ask, show her interest and concern. Looking towards the teacher who was grading papers with a pair of glasses perched on the old lady's nose, Savannah made sure she wasn't paying attention.

She folded the piece of paper and leaned over the aisle to the person next to her. Max was on the other side of him. She held up the note and then put it on the person's desk. "Max." She said, nodding towards him. The kid who looked like an utter social outcast let out a little sigh. She should probably know his name since she's been in homeroom with him for the past couple years but she just had never paid attention. He leaned passed the note to Max, who looked up curious and then sat forward to look in Savannah's direction.

Sav had pulled her hair over her shoulder and played with it when he looked over. She looked towards the note and then smiled. He checked with the teacher before opening the note and smirking. He grabbed a pen, quickly wrote something down and then passed the note back again. Savannah took it excitedly, opening the paper. Written in messy black ink, he wrote, "Want to take care of me?"

Her smile widened and she felt her stomach do a little flop. She knew exactly what he was wanting. She smiled again up at him and then bit her bottom lip and put her pen back down to the paper under his remark. "I bet you'd like that." Then she handed the note back and sat back in the chair. Despite the pleased look on her face, she felt a sudden and overwhelming sense of guilt. Wasn't it just last week that she was sure that she belonged with Randy? It was fate, that's what she'd said. They were meant to be together. She thought about Randy again and felt her chest tighten. Max was nothing against Randy, but there was no way that she'd get Randy again. She had freaked before getting the chance to have s*x with him and then claimed that he raped her just because she was afraid of being added to the Walk of Shame wall.

She was shook from her daydreams with another note. Taking it politely, she looked down at the scribbled letters. "I like your smile. Wanna hang out tonight?"

There was a rise of butterflies and nerves that balled together in her throat. What the hell was happening to her? She looked over the line of desks to where Max was looking at her. She knew that look. He was wondering if he'd have to buy her dinner before getting her out of her clothes. She parted to lips, about to say something when the loud shrill of the bell rang. Savannah jumped and looked at the clock before quickly folding the note and slipped it into her pocket. As the class started to empty, she tried to escape quickly but instead felt a hand around her wrist. She turned and tried to keep herself calm. So what if that's what he wanted. She was an attractive girl. But she didn't have to sleep with him just because he wanted her to. Did she?