THE BLOCK

999 🚑🧠

A couple of days later...

Lark's Point Of View.

I climb on the bus. I go upstairs, it's pretty empty apart from one girl sitting at the back with her head in her lap. I sit a couple seats in front of her, she's crying, usually I would listen to music to drown out any noise but my headphones broke earlier. It sounds like she's in pain. I try to ignore her. I didn't want to deal with it, but I couldn't just let her sit there, crying alone. I turn around to her.

"Are you okay?" I question, forcing her to look up. It's Lay. I go to turn away but she holds on to me. "Please Lark" "Why the fuck should I help you when you stabbed me in the back?" I ask "I'm sorry" "Your having a baby with..." "I'm bleeding. I think it's dead" she confesses, cutting me off. "I'm going to the hospital now, maybe this is what I deserve" "No one deserves that" she fakes a smile. I'm not a total bitch, even though she did wrong. "Your going by yourself?" "Yep. I don't think Brandon is gonna be involved like that" she shares as I nod. "If the baby does make it, I think I'm going to be on my own" "You don't know that" I tell her, trying to cheer her up. I don't hate Lay, I just hate what she did, we've been friends the longest. I thought she would have my back more than anyone else.

"He's not here now, no one is, well... apart from you" "Do you want me to go with you?" I ask "Please" she begs as I nod, facing forward.

At the hospital.

The midwife sighs while starring at the screen. From the corner of my eye I see Lay hold her hand out for me to hold, but I ignore it. For a second or two it's silent until we hear a heart beat. I hate to say it, but it made me feel a type of way. Not angry, just that a couple of months ago I thought I was pregnant with Brandon's baby, but now he's having a kid with someone else, my best friend.

"Your baby looks fine, some women experience bleeding" the midwife shares, turning the light on. Lay sits up while the midwife hands her some paper towels to wipe the goo of her stomach. "How comes?" "Usually stress, I know you have school and stuff but you need to take it easy. Make sure your eating healthy and drinking lots of water. Would you like a picture?" "Yeah" Lay replies as I stand up. "I'm gonna go" I add, grabbing my bag. "Oh, okay" Lay mutters as I leave.

Brandon's Point Of View.

"I'm coming!" I call as I hear pounding at the front door. I climb down the stairs and open it to see Malik and Ramell leaning against my porch. "We need to talk" Malik states, pushing his way inside, followed by Ramell. Fuck, they know. I close the door. "I'm pretty sure you know about us, we ain't tryna waste no time. Lay, leave her the fuck alone" Malik instructs "What do you mean?" "She doesn't need your fucking help, we got her" "Look, Lay and I are just friends, but I'm not gonna be a dead beat" "Were not asking, were telling you" Ramell interjects "We don't give a fuck about what dad you think your gonna be" "We can make this easy or we can do this the hard way" Malik tells me as I sigh.

"All you have to do is call her, tell you aren't ready to be no dad. It's best for both of you, she doesn't need to be worried about what your doing or who your fucking with. Do you really want to be pushing a baby in a fucking stroller?" "No, not really" I confirm "Exactly, you want to go college right?" I nod "Do the right thing" Malik demands as they begin to leave.

I dig into my pocket and follow through. I go through my contacts and call Lay. "Hey" she happily greets "Hi..." "I got pictures of the baby, it's so tiny" she squeals "Look, about the baby. I don't think I'm ready to be a dad" I hear her huff as I sit down. "I know your scared now, but everything is gonna be fine" "I'm just not ready and you can't force me" I state "So your just gonna make me do this on my own" "I'm sorry..." I hear her hang up.