That Was Unexpected! (Unexpected, #1)

Chapter 04

CHAPTER 4

I looked at Kayleigh with betrayal evident in my eyes because she said, "I'm sorry Nas! She overheard you with Chad and then she started yelling at me. I tripped and fell to the floor and the tester fell out of my bag. I'm so sorry."

"Nasettia?" Mum was looking impatient now. She was tapping her foot to a fast tempo against the linoleum floor, waiting for my answer.

I let out a great sigh and confronted my family with my news.

"Yes, I'm pregnant. Okay?" I shrugged it off. Indie, Nettie and Caylus had lost interest when Kayleigh was speaking, so only Mum, Don, Dallas and Ellie were listening. Dallas was looking at me as if he was telling me, "I told you so," but in his eyes, I could see that he was in shock just like the rest of them.

"This is so not okay Nasettia!" my mother screeched. "You get out of my house now! I don't want a slut living under my roof! Go!" My mother's words shocked me, although I'd guessed she would act like this.

"Where am I supposed to go?!" I yelled back.

"I don't know, and I don't fucking care! You should have thought about this BEFORE you got knocked up!"

Her words tore at my chest. She was right; I hadn't been impregnated, I'd been knocked up. For some reason, the differentiation was huge to me. It really did make me sound like a slut. I clutched at my abdomen - I wouldn't let anything make me rid of my baby.

"Go to your room! I'm calling your father. He can come and get you. You'll be living with him!" she declared.

I walked to my bedroom and indicated for Kayleigh to follow, but Mum ordered her to go home.

My room, I shared with Dallas and Ellie, whilst Indie, Nettie and Caylus shared the room next to us. I went to my bottom bunk, curled up into a ball and let the tears fall.

It seemed like an eternity later when Dallas came into our bedroom with a plate of food. He put the plate on the desk and came to sit with me. He put his arms around me and I cried into his chest.

I pulled my head back to look at him. He rubbed my shoulders and started soothing me with words of comfort.

When my tears eased, he started to fill me in on what had happened in the past three hours.

"Well, Mum phoned Dad and Rebecca. Of course, they were shocked, but Dad's really excited that you'll be living with him. He said that Rebecca was determined to help you through this, even though she's never met you. Mum said that they were going to be here tomorrow afternoon sometime. I know it's so soon, but I don't think Mum's the best person to be around at the moment."

I just nodded. I knew I wasn't welcome here anymore. Even if I did stay, it would be like a biker walking into a Christian cult and trying to act like them. I knew I had to get away from here.

"Mum's been down to the school," he continued, "and tomorrow's going to be your last day there. Dad was going to North Geelong Secondary College to enrol you tonight. He's so stoked that his daughter is going to live with him, he doesn't really care that it was because Mum threw you out. Dad's a good guy, really."

Of course Dallas would know Dad was good. He was there only last summer, but as if any of Dallas' news was going to make anything better. I still had the matter of the child I was carrying, and I had no idea what the hell to do about it.

"I'm so sorry Dallas. I was stupid, selfish and ignorant not to listen to you. Please, will you - can you - forgive me?" I blurted out.

"Of course you're forgiven Nas. Chad's the one I'm going to knock down because he got you knocked up," he chuckled at his play on words. "But I do have to say this Nas, next time I warn you about something - and I don't care what the hell I'm warning you about - you have to promise to listen to me, or at least contemplate my reasoning." He looked at me with serious eyes.

"Of course Dallas. There's no way I wouldn't be able to listen to you anymore."

"Good," he gave me a sweet brotherly kiss on the forehead. "I brought you some stir-fry. Are you hungry?"

I shook my head, but he wasn't having that.

"Now, that's no way for a pregnant lady to behave. She's got to eat double now that she's carrying another person." Obviously, he wasn't going to be a dickhead about the whole pregnancy thing. This was the Dallas I knew and loved; the one who would always be there for you, no matter what. And even in the tensest situations, he'd be the one that would make it lighten and you'd be able to become optimistic.

He went and got the stir-fry and made me eat it. I didn't fight with him about it all as I knew I'd lose the fight. It tasted good, and it made my tummy feel a whole lot better.

I fell asleep that night in the supporting arms of my big brother. He woke me at 7.00am so that I'd be able to get ready for school. This was going to be my very last day at Hawthorn Secondary College, and I didn't know when I'd be able to see my friends again. I didn't care about Chad - he could go and rot in hell for all that I cared.

When I got to school, it was evident that Kayleigh had told the group of my departure. She, Ava, Simone and Bella were all in tears and hugging me as I got off the bus. That didn't help my situation. Tears flowed down my face throughout the whole day.

At lunch time, Dallas came to find me, tears streaming down my face of course, and he told me that Chad was going to Perth to live with his jackass father because he didn't want to hang around and be a father. Too bad that I was leaving town also and it was moot that he should move town also.

By 3.00pm, I felt like I'd said goodbye more than anything else today. But when the bell sounded throughout the school corridors, it rang with a deafening finality. I would have never thought that only twenty-four hours ago, I was with Kayleigh, and nobody knew of my pregnancy - hell, not even me. But now, everybody had heard that I was leaving the school, and the town of Hawthorn East, mainly because of my fling with Chad McMurray.

The bus ride home was over so quickly that I couldn't believe that I'd got on the bus at all. I walked up to the house with Dallas right next to me. Ellie didn't seem so worried. When we passed the fence, I saw an old station wagon car parked in the driveway. It was covered in dust and could belong to no one other that Dad and Rebecca...