“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’d still have to deal with being pregnant. You’d have to admit it to your father. And it’s hardly gone well with your friends so far, has it? Do you want all your teachers to know too?”
“No. But . . . I don’t know. I need more time to think.”
Madge eyes my belly. “You probably still have a bit of time, but if you want to put an end to the rumors, I’d get it done soon.” She twists her face into an expression I’m sure she means to be comforting. “I’ll tell you what, Anne. I’ll do the research and figure out where we need to go. I can make you an appointment, and we’ll take care of this problem.”
I know she’s being selfish, but it’s pretty damn tempting to let her take over. If Madge gets her hands dirty helping me arrange an abortion, she’ll hardly be able to rat me out later. I smile encouragingly at her and nod.
A slow smile stretches across her face. “Good. I knew you’d listen to reason.” And then her eyes harden. “I don’t think I need to tell you that this would be best kept between us. We don’t need everyone getting all worked up over a little accident, right?”
“Right,” I say, eager to escape the conversation.
“Go on, then. I’ll make the appointment and we’ll put this behind us.” She waves her hand dismissively, and I scuttle around her and fly through the dining room door to find Sophie pacing in the hallway outside.
“I’m so sorry—”
“Fuck you, Sophie,” I hiss, pushing past her roughly. “Never talk to me again.”
“Annie!” she calls after me, but I don’t turn around. I race to my room and lock the door behind me, then collapse in relief with my back against the door.
Jessie
I hunched over my history textbook, my elbows on the table and my hands resting like blinders against the sides of my head. Studying in the cafeteria was about the dumbest idea I’d ever had. I’d hoped the chaos would drown out the noise in my head, but I couldn’t focus any better than in the library or at home.
I let my head fall forward onto my textbook. I was going to bomb the test. It was inevitable.
“Still too busy to eat lunch with us?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped I was imagining things.
“Jessie? I know you’re under there.”
I turned my head to the side and peeked out from under my hair.
Jody.
“Hi,” I mumbled, sitting up. “I was just . . .”
“Hoping the information would jump out of the textbook and into your brain?” Jody dropped into a chair across from me and pried open a bag of chips. “Want one?”
I shook my head, squinting at her.
“So, how come you’re sitting over here all alone?” She leaned forward and winked at me conspiratorially. “What’s taking you so long to come join us?”
“Oh! I just . . . I figured . . . I mean, I have to study.”
“Mmhmm. Okay, I’m going to be totally honest with you. I’m here on a mission, and I’m not leaving until you agree to come talk to Charlie. I can’t take one more day of watching him pine over you.”
“Charlie?” I sputtered. “But . . . I thought you two were . . .”
Jody laughed and shook her head at me. “You’re kidding, right? That boy is completely obsessed with you.”
I blushed. “Was obsessed, maybe. I’m pretty sure I screwed things up bigtime.”
“Ah. I presume we’re talking about the infamous comic book?”
I groaned and let my head fall back onto the table.
“So you did read it?”
“I’m a loser,” I moaned.
“Not according to him, you’re not.”
I raised my head and met her eyes. “I told him I’d read it, but I really hadn’t, and then I picked it up months later. I felt like too much of an idiot to say anything, so I’ve been ignoring it ever since.”
The right side of Jody’s mouth twitched as she tried not to smile. “You two are perfect for each other. You’re both a comedy of errors.”
I hid my face in my hands.
“I’m serious,” she said. “This is the kind of story you’ll tell your grandkids one day.”
“That’s assuming he’d ever want to talk to me again.”
“Trust me,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s been mooning over you since the day I met him. Let’s go.”
“What?” I asked, my eyes bugging out of my head. “You mean right now?”
“Right now.”
“But what will I say to him? What if he hates me?”
“Just tell him what you told me. He’ll be relieved.”
“You think?”
“Come on!”
I followed her over to my old table, my heart pounding with every step.
“Hey, boys,” Jody called out as we approached. “Look who I found.”
Charlie looked up and met my eyes, and for a split second I saw a flicker of something that looked like hope. Then his eyes dulled, and he nodded at me casually. “Hey, Jessie.”
“Jess and I were just talking about comic books,” Jody sang, pulling out the chair beside Charlie and shoving me into it.
“Yeah?” he asked cautiously as I stumbled into the seat.
“Yeah. I . . . I finally got a chance to read the one you gave me.”
His brow furrowed. “But you said . . .”
“I know. I hadn’t looked at it yet.”
“Then why . . . ”
“I was—” I groped for words, looking to Jody for support. She nodded at me encouragingly. “Trying to impress you?”
He barked out a laugh that warmed my insides. “Impress me, huh? Interesting strategy.”
I blushed and looked down at the table. It seemed to be going okay. At least he hadn’t gotten up and stormed off.
“So,” he said slowly. “What did you think?” The hopeful look was back, and my heart started to beat alarmingly fast.
“That you were right,” I said shyly. “One good comic can change everything.”
Charlie ducked his head and then flashed me a smile that made my heart leap.
“This is some painfully awkward shit,” Kevin broke in, earning a smack from Jody.
“Shut up, Kev,” she said
