19 & Pregnant (BOOK 1)

Chapter 1

LIV

"Liv! Get up. Don't you have class at 10?" Amanda stood next to my bed, tapping at my shoulder, in what felt like the most annoying way possible. I'm definitely not a morning person, and being woken up in the morning is so irritating. I groaned as I turned to look at my sister, them my clock.

   "It's already eight in the morning. Why aren't you with your boyfriend," I asked as I got up out of bed and walked to my bathroom.

"Well, even though it's none of your business, he has an appointment." Amanda said, defensive as she watched me in the bathroom doorway.

I gave her a look into the mirror as I put toothpaste on my toothbrush, "he's going to the beauty salon at eight in the morning?"

She rolled her eyes then left, finally giving me some space.

I eventually made my way downstairs and sat at the table, in the middle of my parents' conversation with my sister. My mom was engrossed in conversation and didn't even seem to notice me. My dad did though, and gave me a warm smile, "good morning kid."

I smiled back at him, "morning."

It took my mom a few more minutes to say good morning as well. Her main interest at that moment was my sister's first NY Times' best seller. Amanda is a 'fixer' with a law degree, who's now seen as one of the best in the country. Someone approached her about writing a book on her work, and here we were.

I was happy for her,  really I was. I was glad she'd done what she loved and had found success in books, too.

"Oh, Olivia," my mom turned to me, "we have some new neighbours that moved into that house next door. Since you'll be the only one home tomorrow, can you take the fruit basket and cake over there? It'll be ready once you get home."

I shrugged, "sure."

"Thank you, ma chere," she said, then returned to their conversation.

I sat in front of my eggs, fruit, and toast, half-listening to my family's conversation as I looked through my phone. It felt kind of like I wasn't there, aside from their occasional glances at me and 'what do you think's every now and then. That was the first I'd seen my parents in about a week, since they traveled all the time for work.

And it was  like I wasn't there.

******

    I walked down the hall to my lecture, with Amanda in tow. Not by choice. She practically forced me into her car when I was leaving, saying she wanted to "visit old friends". I didn't know how many friends she'd find here after going to this school for one semester. I was pretty sure these friends were gone, but whatever.

We walked past this guy with the most gorgeous hazel eyes I'd ever seen. And I knew those eyes, because I looked into them for hours last week at a dive downtown. Jessie Eliot, who I was very close to becoming exclusive with. He looked at me intently as he passed us, and I smiled to myself.

   Amanda caught up to me, with a big smile on her face. Her heels clicked as she tried to match my pace. "He was totally checking you out!"

I shook my head then look at her, "don't worry about it." She scoffed, "I don't understand you sometimes."

******

   "Liv, I saw your sister earlier," Myra, my best friend, told me during our early childhood development class. We'd been friends since middle school, and our families were also pretty close. We didn't think we'd be lucky enough to get accepted into the same program at the same school, but here we were.