Icon of the Indecisive #3 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 10

Jessica Torres was having her best friend's boyfriend's baby.

It was awful, and cliché, but she was hoping not to have to deal with it so soon. There were only a few weeks of school left, and the baby bump was barely there... all she had to do was hang on, shut up, and then take the summer off and never come back. No need to explain anything.

But then she couldn't help it, there in the bathroom. It was the first time she had said it aloud to anyone.

Justin and Marlee were still together. As far as she knew.

Justin didn't know.

She thought the nausea would be over by now, but thinking about Marlee just made her sick. They'd been friends since third grade. They went to piano, ballet, and swimming classes together. They decided to go to Ford River after taking a trip to the campus when they were in high school. Marlee could have gone anywhere, and Jessica always suspected that she had given up a slot in other universities just so they'd stay together.

She's going to hate me.

When she said the word "pregnant," out loud, to Kathy and Hannah, it was like she finally acknowledged that it was real. It was a reality she was waiting for, something that still hadn't come down to crush her yet. But it was going to.

Her first mistake was going to a doctor who knew her mother. The ob-gyn might not talk, but she didn't know if anyone else who happened to see her that day at the clinic would be as discreet. Jessica happened to be the daughter of a congressman, granddaughter of a former senator, sister of a vice mayor. People knew who she was, or at least knew her name. This was going to get out soon, and though she was hoping she'd last at least until finals, she couldn't count on everyone else to shut up.

And then Marlee would know, and Marlee would hate her.

* * *

"Are you done with the laptop?" My aunt Carmen said this as she peered into my bedroom's doorway.

Right. She had asked earlier at dinner if she could borrow mine. "What? Yes, just a sec."

"I just need it for a few minutes."

"No, no, I'm done." Right after I clear my search history...

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course." I tried to keep my eyes wide and innocent as I handed her the laptop. "Why?"

"You barely ate."

"I'm not hungry. I think I have a stomach thing."

"Did you come home earlier than usual today?"

I cringed. "Yes," which was true, and I missed three more hours of class when I did it. Ms. Farrah would have words for me. "But I really felt sick earlier. I feel better now though."

Tita Carmen kind of lingered there at my door awkwardly, probably deciding how to show more concern. But then she shrugged and said good night, and left. She was really nice, but I barely knew her. She was the aunt who never really visited, and though I'd been living with her for over a year, we hadn't exactly become besties.

My mom explained it simply as "Carmen's not into kids" which I argued with "But I'm not a kid." It may have had something to do with her traveling a lot, and whatever else. The result was that she was still single and childfree, but she seemed okay with it.

Maybe one day I could get her to open up to me about it, but not today.

The nausea stayed with me for hours after, but what freaked me out was what it could mean. Jessica stayed to talk to us in the bathroom long enough for me to pick up on her heartbreak—secret pregnancy, best friend—but I couldn't focus on it as much because I was all oh crap oh crap am I pregnant with a demigod baby.

So all afternoon my internet searches:

God human pregnancy

Half god baby

Can a girl get pregnant after a dream

How demigods are created

nausea not related to pregnancy

The good/bad news was that I could have anything from a concussion to gastroenteritis, but none of them explained why I was vomiting after that kind of dream with a god. And the internet couldn't help me.

I had no choice but to have a really awkward conversation.