[AN: I had the most awful morning at work today. I was woken up at 4:30AM from my standby shift to deal with an angry guest who made some poor decisions that led to security and police intervention. And then I spent the entire rest of the morning dealing with the fallout from it. Even if you don't, tell me that you like this chapter to make me feel better. Please?]
“I cannot believe her!” Hope shouted as she marched into Jericho’s room. “How could she even think that? If this is what having a sister means then I don’t know why I ever got one!” Jericho smiled to herself as she put away her laundry. She ignored Hope’s ranting. They had all learned that if you just gave her enough time Hope calmed down on her own. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Not really,” Jericho sighed as she folded another shirt. “Why did you come into my room anyway?”
“I needed to rant.”
“And I have to be here why?”
“What’s the point of ranting if no one is here to listen to me?” Jericho rolled her eyes.
“Can’t you talk to Zayn about this? He is your b—“
“If one more person calls him my boyfriend I’m going to scream!” Hope shouted.
“I was going to say best friend.”
“Oh,” Hope said sitting on Jericho’s bed. “Sorry.”
“No problem,” Jericho said sitting down next to her. “I suppose I’m going to regret asking this, but what’s wrong?” Jericho winced at Hope’s happy smile. This was going to be painful.
“So I was sitting downstairs with Zayn just minding my own business. We were watching television, and Autumn just marches downstairs holding the bathroom trash can in her hand. And she waltzes over to me and practically shouts ‘Hope Summer Harper, what is this?’ So naturally I answered that it was a trash can.” Jericho laughed.
“I take it that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear?”
“Yeah. She just got angrier and shoved the garbage can into my lap. Which by the way is super gross. Who wants a bathroom trash can shoved into their lap? So I shoved it back into her arms. I mean, I was trying to watch TV, and she was freaking out over trash? She got even madder, and asked me how I could let something like this happen. I assumed she was asking me why no one had taken the garbage out, but that’s hardly my problem. I have my own place. I was just visiting for the day trying to bond with my sister. It’s not my job to take her guest bathroom garbage out.”
“You were here to bond with Autumn?” Jericho asked skeptically.
“Of course.”
“Then why were you downstairs watching television with Zayn?”
“Would you stop interrupting my story?” Hope replied back angrily. Jericho motioned for her to continue. “Anyway Zayn decides to try and help. He told her that she was getting angry over nothing. So then Autumn starts screaming at him.”
“She’s always yelling at Zayn.”
“Not like this. She was telling him that it was a big deal. Then she started blaming him for getting me into this mess, which made absolutely no sense. I told her that her garbage is her problem. Then she says that it’s not the garbage, but what was in it. So she reached in the can and pulls out this white stick. Seriously gross by the way.” Jericho felt her throat begin to dry up. She felt nauseous and her face paled. Hope mistook her reaction as agreement on the gross out factor of reaching into a garbage can for something. “So then she’s waving around this stick telling me that we have to talk about it.”
“Did—did she say what it was?” Jericho choked out.
“Eventually. The minute she said the word pregnancy test Zayn totally bolted. He’s such a guy.” Jericho felt her heart race. Why hadn’t she thrown it away outside of the house? What had she been thinking? “So then I’m sitting there on the couch alone as Autumn asks me how I could have let something like this happen. And I kept telling her that it wasn’t mine.”
“Did she believe you?” Jericho asked silently hoping that Autumn would continue to believe the test belonged to Hope.
“No. She kept telling me that you, Jordan, and Alexa have your own bathrooms so there was no need for you to use the garbage in the guest bathroom.” Except Jericho shared her bathroom with Jordan. And Jordan could never know about this. “And I kept telling her that I have my own place so why would I come to her place to throw it away. It just doesn’t make sense. Besides I’m not even sexually active. And then do you know what she said?”
“What?”
“She accused me and Zayn of doing it! I mean, come on! We’re not doing that! Zayn and I are—well I don’t know what we are, but we certainly haven’t done that! And even if we did it’s not her business. She is such a hypocrite too! I know what she and Louis do together. Well, I don’t know exactly because that would be gross, but I have a pretty good idea. I just wanted her to believe me, but she’s convinced it’s my pregnancy test.”
“Do you have any idea whose pregnancy test it is?” Jericho asked. Please don’t let her say me, she thought to herself.
“For all I know it was something the guys picked up as a joke,” Hope said casually. “I even suggested that to Autumn, but then she told me it was positive. So it has to be someone’s right?”
“So what happened?”
“I pointed out that she was waving around a stick that someone had peed on,” Hope said with a big grin. “She dropped it immediately and raced off saying something about washing her hands. I know she’ll try to talk to me again, but at least I have a break for now. I can’t believe all that drama! I’m sure it’s just a joke from the guys or something. It’s not like any of you guys would ever put yourselves into that kind of position.” Hope lay back on Jericho’s bed stretching out.
“Yeah,” Jericho stuttered. “No—none of us would do that.” She laughed nervously. Hope sat up suddenly studying her. “Why are you looking at me like that, Hope?”
“You and Harry are really close right?”
“We’re dating.”
“Just how close are you?”
“Okay,” Jericho said standing up and returning to putting away her laundry. “You’ve gotten it all out now. Time to leave me alone.”
“It’s you,” Hope said softly. “The test was yours.”
“No way,” Jericho scoffed. “I have my own bathroom just like Autumn said. Why would I throw something like that away in the guest bathroom?”
“Because you share a bathroom with Jordan, and you don’t want her to know. Plus Autumn has a cleaning service come in each week so you must have assumed they would take care of it.” The shirt Jericho was holding fell from her fingers as Hope described her entire thought process from yesterday. “Oh man. I totally have to tell Zayn about this!” Jericho turned around to see Hope pulling out her cell phone and beginning to text.
“No!” Jericho shouted jumping over and snatching her phone away. “What in the hell is wrong with you? You can’t tell Zayn that!”
“So it is yours?” Hope asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“You are worse than your sister, do you know that?” Jericho asked shoving Hope’s phone back in her hands before sitting up on the bed with a groan. “You can’t tell anyone okay? No one knows.”
“Is—is it Harry’s?”
“Of course it’s Harry’s! Niall and I dated for like two weeks. Geez!” Jericho rested her head in her hands obviously upset. Hope felt bad for her. She and Jericho were both eighteen. She couldn’t imagine the stress that Jericho must be going through right now. “What am I going to do?”
“First things first, we have to confirm it,” Hope said confidently. “We’ll make you an appointment at a doctor’s office first thing. You’ll have to talk to Harry as well.”
“Oh no no no no no!” Jericho said sitting up straight. “We tell Harry nothing!”
“But he’s—“
“Nothing.”
“Jer,--“
“Think about it for a second Hope. How would I even have that conversation with him?”
“But he’s partially responsible.”
“He’s one-fifth of one of the most popular singing groups in the world. How would it look if his girlfriend suddenly turns up pregnant? I’ll come up with some kind of plan once I know for sure.” Hope nodded and both girls looked around the room while the deafening silence surrounded them.
“I thought you were saving yourself for marriage,” Hope said softly.
“I was,” Jericho said. “But have you seen Harry?” [AN: My entire idea for this chapter came from this line. I daydreamed it at work, and started cracking up at the front desk. I think my manager thought I had lost my mind.] Hope and Jericho laughed uncomfortably.
“If-if you are pregnant,” Hope started, “what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Jericho admitted. “I suppose it will ruin everything with Harry if I am pregnant.”
“But we can all help you raise it together. Your baby will be the One Direction baby!”
“This isn’t some stupid eighties sitcom Hope!”
“Do you remember what we told Alexa?” Hope asked wrapping an arm around Jericho’s shoulders. “We’re a family Jericho. We’re here for one another no matter what.”
“But what if he doesn’t want it?”
“We’ll deal with that when we come to it. We have to make sure you’re really pregnant first.”
“Oh, I’m pregnant.”
“There are things such as false positives. We’ll make sure with a doctor first before we make any decisions.”
“No, I KNOW that I’m pregnant.”
“It was ONE test Jericho.”
“No, Hope. That was the fifth test that I’ve taken this week. I’m pregnant.” Hope sat there still as stone. “Hope, please say something.” Hope opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “C’mon Hope. Now you stop talking? Say something!”
“What did you do to Hope?” Niall asked from the doorway startling them both. He stood next to a grinning Harry. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s peaceful having Hope quiet for once, but it kind of worries me.”
“Don’t knock a blessing, Nialler,” Harry said walking over and kissing Jericho on the cheek. Her face was still pale. “Jericho, honey, are you okay?”
“Just fine,” Jericho said shakily. Harry looked between his obviously upset girlfriend and now mute friend. Something was definitely going on.
“What have you two been talking about?” Harry asked. Hope opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
“We were just talking about our least favorite One Direction songs,” Jericho said smoothly.
“I thought you said you loved all of our songs,” Harry replied eyeing her suspiciously. Jericho felt her face flush as she struggled to respond.
“Of course I do,” Jericho answered nervously. “But Hope here was saying that she wasn’t that fond of ‘Moments’ or ‘I Wish.’ Crazy right?”
“Hope, I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Niall said jokingly as he walked into the room. “I thought you were one of our biggest fans.” Hope still sat there mutely. “Hope, love, are you okay?” Niall waved a hand in front of her face. “I think she’s broken.”
“She’s just tired,” Jericho said. “She had a silly little fight with Autumn. She just needs to go rest. Why don’t you go lie down Hope?” Hope looked around the room at their sympathetic faces. She just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Jericho is pregnant with Harry’s baby!” Hope shouted before slapping her hands over her mouth.
“Now?!?” Jericho shouted. “You keep quiet for that long, and now you choose to talk?!!?!”
“You’re pregnant?” Harry asked.
“Oooooo,” Niall said. “Autumn’s going to kill you two.”
[AN: Okay, I need to explain my logic in who I chose for this chapter. Hope and Zayn aren’t dating. Louis and Autumn were just too predictable. Alexa and Liam have enough drama going on with her past. And Jordan, Nialler is saving himself for marriage. I don’t care how you much you try to tempt him. ;) I had so much fun writing Hope in this chapter. She talks like I do when I’m on a sugar high…]