Pretending to be Pregnant

Fifteen

I waddled along the corridor, the five month fake bump growing heavy as the day passed sluggishly. Soon I was at my locker and abruptly shoving the heavy textbooks into it.

"Hey Esme!" An unknown voice shrieked from the other end of the winding corridor. I turned towards the voice and rolled my eyes. It was probably just somebody looking to be invited to the wedding or somebody who desperately wanted to make a snide remark.

It was Diana.

"What do you want?" I asked Diana, slamming my locker door shut.

"Just wanted to ask you what the hell you think you're playing at?" Diana replied, unlocking her own locker.

"What've I done now?" I asked, tired from having a lump hang from my belly all day.

"Consented to marrying Ryan. Esme, you know what he's like! He has commitment issues."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know that you cared. I mean, I swear we're in the middle of a legal battle. And that was ages ago. You and I both know that."

"I do care Esme. Don't get me wrong, it hurts that you betrayed me, but I don't want you to make the biggest mistake of your life."

"I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life, the biggest mistake of my life was ever trusting you." I told her, before walking away and meeting my new companion, Rita. Actually, I'd lied to Diana, the biggest mistake of my life had been pretending to be pregnant.

"Was she bothering you?" Rita asked, taking my bag from my shoulder.

"I can carry that!" I told her, desperately trying to take the bag back.

"You can't Esme. You're so fatigued, I can tell." She was right, my back was killing me and my legs felt like lead.

"Can we sit down for a moment?" I asked, placing myself on the nearest bench.

Now, let me take a minute to explain how my friendship with Rita came about.

I had been sitting alone at dinner when she had approached me. Now this had been unusual at the time, considering everybody usually avoided me like the plague. Rita had the most sleek, curly, red, hair which reached just below her shoulders. Her face was incredibly well defined and she wore the sleekest clothes, constantly dressing in long pencil skirts and silky collared shirts. There was no doubt about it, Rita was beautiful.

Now, on this particular day, Rita sat opposite me and for a moment, ate her lunch in silence.

"I think what you're doing is really cool." Rita told me. For a moment I looked at her, wondering if she was being serious. Rita was one of the most popular girls in the school and not once did I think she would take any notice of me.

"Er thanks." I told her.

"I thought, maybe, we could be friends?" Rita had asked. For a moment, I had wondered if Rita had just wanted to be a bridesmaid at my wedding, but then I discovered, she wasn't like that. However, she soon became pretty useful in the wedding planning area. By the end of the day, Rita was my new best friend and I was steadily climbing up the social status ladder again.

"Esme, we need to go. You have to go and try wedding dresses on!" Rita interrupted my thoughts. I slowly stood up after groaning in exasperation.

"Uh, try ons." I murmured. Rita offered me a sympathetic smile as we made our way towards her car. "Is my mum coming?" I asked as soon as we were both sat in a car seat. Rita nodded.

"Hopefully, today, we'll be able to find the perfect dress." Rita smiled hopefully. So far I'd tried on a total of twenty dresses and I hadn't discovered anything that was perfect. "Esme, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale." Rita took a quick concerned glance at me.

"I just feel tired." I told her. She raised her eyebrows. "Rita seriously, I'm not going into labour." Rita laughed.

"I hope not, four months still!" I bit my lip self-consciously. Four months to find somebody who was willing to give me their baby.

"So this wedding shop, you seriously believe that you've found the perfect dress?" Rita nodded, keeping her eyes directly on the road. "It's