The Unexpected Trilogy: Unexpected

Can It Be?

Ch. 2

I run into my room screaming and crying. This can't be happening. I call up Toby as Haili bursts into my room. No answer from him. I throw my $450 phone across the room. It hits the wall and cracks the screen.

"Bell!" she screams at me. "What is the matter with you!?" Se picks up my phone and strides over to my bed. "You drove all the way home crying. Is this about what Toby was flipping out about this morning?"

I want to tell her. She's like my sister. But what would happen? Could she tell everyone? Or could I trust her to keep it?

"I..." I try. "I'm...." It just won't come off my chest.

She stares at me. "You're what?" she asks.

I plug my ears and armadillo into a little ball. "I'm.... I'm pregnant, Hail. And the dad is Toby."

Her jaw pretty much unhinges like a snake and drops to the floor. "How...?" she asks. "HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

I start crying again. Her voice softens. "Bell," she soothes. I'm still armadilloed. My hands are on my belly. I can't feel anything. Not yet, at least. sooner or later, my belly is gonna blow up like a balloon, and all the girls are gonna call me a whore, getting pregnant at 16 like this. I can't live like this. "After 2 1/2 months, I'm gonna have to quit school." I say.

"Bell," Haili says softly. "You're smart." she get cut off at me looking at her with the "WTF just crawled into your crap spout?" look. "You're the smartest dumb blonde I know. You wouldn't go through with this unless you thought it through first. You an do this."

I sniffle. "Easy for you to say." I snarl at her. "You're not the one in this position!"

Hmm... True." she says as she flops next to me on my bed. "But my judgement is still the same." she hands me my phone. "Call Toby. Tell him the news. He'll be ecstatic."

I smile at her and take the cell phone. "And you'll stay with me through this, won't you?" I ask.

"Every step of the way." she promises.

I smile at her and look for "Toby Woods".

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After I get off the phone with Toby, he agrees to stay the night with me at my house. Haili is staying with us too. We stay up almost all night, but fall asleep an hour before I'm supposed to wake up for school. I can't believe this is happening. It just seems so surreal. We stay up all night talking about what's going to happen, ad how we are going to support the family.

"Wait," says Toby. "How do you pay for this huge house, and still live alone and go to school and all that?"

"My dad walked out on us when my mom died, but he still comes back every 5 years to give me $1,000,000 to stay safe. Like, pay for groceries and pay mortgage and clothes and stuff like that."

"And now to support the family." says Haili solemnly.

"But when is your dad coming back?" asks Toby.

Suddenly, my heart practically stops in mid-beat, and my blood turns to ice. "10 months." I say.