"i'll do it," he shrugs, calmly, "but no strings attached, okay?" he holds his hand out and i shake it, smiling.
"of course, no strings attached."
i let go of his hand as his team start yelling for jeff's attention. "atkins! we need you over here!" another junior, montgomery, cheers. he nods at me briefly and i slowly wave as he runs back to join his team. wow, that was easy. i expected him to protest or at least ask why he need to be my fake boyfriend. but he willingly agreed without much persuasion.
i shrug if the thought and think about wether i want to leave or not. i decide that i probably should go and prepare for tonight instead of watching jeff play baseball.
i walk around to the front of the school and i wasn't expecting to see marcel in his car. normally, since i was a freshman, i always walk home. i pretty much walk everywhere within five miles. i watch him roll down his window and wave at me, exaggerating. i roll my eyes as he calls out for me. "hey, little sister!" he yells.
i run over to him, or at least jog since i rarely do sport, to stop him from embarrassing me further. i forcefully open the car door and quickly climb inside, strapping myself in. "marcel!" i whine like a child. "what are you doing here?"
"hunting elephants," he rolls his eyes sarcastically, he looks over at me as i squint my eyes at him. "i'm here to take you home," he rolls his eyes again and i sigh.
"you've never done that before. you know i normally walk home," i shrug as he pulls out of the liberty high parking lot.
"i'm not letting you walk home while you are preggo," he chuckles. his comment was lighthearted but i could tell he was being serious.
"i'm perfectly fine walking home," i retaliate. i'm grateful that marcel cares about me this much, but i'm scared i will be treated like a charity case.
"well, prepare yourself to be picked up for the next nine months," he says as we near our house. i don't bother arguing with him any further, since he's going back to college anyway. we sit in comfortable silence for the next ten minutes, until we finally pull into our driveway.
i follow marcel up the steps as he unlocks the front door. no one else was home, as buster and mouse usually walk home too, and bunny's still in middle school, so she's always home later than the rest of us.
i throw my bag to the side and slump down on our couch, instantly turning on the tv. just as i was about to watch the screen, marcel takes the remote out of my hands and switches it off. "hey! what the hell," i whine.
marcel shakes the remote in front of my face. "don't get comfy, jackass atkins needs that dna test for some reason," he rolls his eyes at the mention of jeff's surname, "so you need to get ready," he points the remote at me before walking into the kitchen, which was connected to our living room.
"about that," i yell, causing marcel to poke his head around the corner, "jeff is actually coming with us. he'll be here at six," i tell him, a sweet smile on my face.
he comes back out from around the corner and tilts his head. "since when is that asshole coming with us?" he leans against the doorframe and crosses his arm.
"i asked him today," i admit but marcel's stern facial expression doesn't change. "we kind of need him there, marcel. how else are we going to prove that the baby's his?" i explain.
"i was going to break into his house and steal his toothbrush or something!" he raises his hands in the arm and then let's them fall down to his sides in frustration.
"why are you stealing toothbrushes?" mouse asks, as him and buster walk through the door together. they stop and stare at me once they realised i was already home. "how are you home already?" mouse furrows his eyebrows.
"marcel gave me a lift," i jab my thumb over my shoulder, pointing at our brother. mouse shakes his head while buster tilts his head in confusion.
"how come diana got a lift and we didn't?" buster whines, clearly annoyed. and i can see why. we're in fall, it's getting pretty cold outside.
"because you two aren't preg-" marcel begins but he stops his sentence once i shoot him a glare, warning him to stop. "because you two are boys, man up," he quickly recovers. i sigh in relief and look over at buster and mouse, who just roll their eyes.
"whatever," buster complains, pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket, "move over," he sits down on the couch next to me as i move over slightly. he turns the tv back on and instantly starts to play video games.
and just like he did this morning, he opens his packet of cigarettes and offers me one. i feel marcel's eyes dig into me as i decline. "what's up with you lately?" he shrugs as he balances his second cigarette of the day on his lip.
"nothing," i defend as i hear someone opening and closing the front door. everyone, besides buster who was engrossed into his video game, turns their attention to see bunny walking in, her face blushed.
"bunny, guess what," mouse speaks up as he walks out of the kitchen, a soda in his hand, "marcel has favourites now," he points at me before opening his can.
"what?" she groans, looking tired. normally bunny's the hyperactive one, the one everyone wanted to be around. but today she looked tired, exhausted even.
"marcel gave princess diana here a lift home. didn't bother with us," mouse snickers, sitting down next to me. bunny just rolls her eyes and walks upstairs. i furrow my eyebrows and watch her disappear up the stairs. what's up with her? she seemed perfectly fine yesterday.
buster lets out a puff of his cigarette and i wave my hand in front of my face, something i never usually do. which mouse notices. "don't you usually smoke when mom and dad are out of town, diana?" he asks as he throws his can at the back of marcel's head.
he misses. "i just don't feel like smoking, okay?" i snap back, sounding more annoyed than i actually am.
he opens his mouth to speak back to me, but we're interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "i thought all our siblings were home," i mutter as i stand up and answer the door. unexpectedly, i see jeff. standing in his baseball jersey with a nervous smile.
"jeff? you're like two hours early," i say, checking the time on my phone. he stuffs his hands in his pockets and shrugs.
"baseball practised finished early," he tells me, looking past my shoulder and into my living room, where my siblings were staring at him.
"well, come in. give me five minutes and we'll go," i open the door wider, inviting him in. jeff shuffles through the door and closes it behind him as i walk back into the living room, where buster, mouse and marcel were staring at me.
"you got a boyfriend? again?" mouse raises his eyebrows, but he smirks due to his sarcastic comment. jeff hears his comment and blushes, scratching the back the his neck.
"he wishes," i lean down and whisper, confident jeff can't hear me. i hear mouse snickers as i grab my purse.
"oh look, it's asshole atkins," marcel comments, glaring at the boy. his eyes widen as my siblings laugh under their breath. marcel grins, clearly proud of himself.
"stop being a cocky bastard, marcel. let's go," i grab his hand and pull him out of the house, following jeff. mouse tries to ask where we're going, but we all ignore him. i continue to follow jeff into his car but marcel stops on our porch.
"what's wrong now?" i whine, tired of my older brothers childish behaviour.
"i'm not getting in a car with that lil bitch," marcel calls him yet another nickname, crossing his arms.
"fine, then you can drive yourself," i order as i climb into jeff's car. i lean back and sigh, slightly embarrassed. but i guess i understand. jeff has been a dick to me the past week, but i can tell he's trying to make up for it. marcel's just being over protective.
"your brother really hates me, huh?" jeff chuckles as we drive away from my house. i turn my attention towards him and bite my lip, nodding.
"he's easily annoyed, i guess," i try to cover fro my brother, but i don't sound convincing at all. "he cares a lot about me, and my siblings. i'm sorry he's acting like that," i glance in the rear view mirror to check if he's following us. fortunately, he is.
"hey, it's cool, i get it," he replies, a reassuring smile on his face. "i would be over protective of my sister too. if i had one," he tells me.
"only child?" i continues the conversation.
"yep, just me, my mom and my dad," he informs me.
"lucky you," i laugh, "you know how hard it is having four siblings?" i say and he shakes head, laughing. considering we were on our way to determine jeff's future as a teen father, he seemed to be in a perfectly good mood.
we sit in silence for the rest of the journey, jeff's music filling the silence. eventually, we pull up to the maternity centre twenty minutes later and find a place to park. marcel pulling up behind us. i stumble out and so does jeff. marcel jogs over to us, not taking his eyes off of jeff.
"will you give him a break?" i whisper, scolding marcel as we walk into the maternity centre. he just sighs and nods his head slowly. he's older than me, he should stop acting like a child.
"it's just he treated you like shit," he reasons, pulling me over to the side, "and i don't want anyone treating my little sister like that," he frowns. i smile at him and wrap my arms around his skinny frame.
"jeff's a good guy really," i reassure him, patting his shoulder, "i just need to prove that the baby belongs to him, okay?" he nods and i turn around, quickly catching up to jeff who was already at the front desk.
"how can i help you, today?" the kind old lady asks, readjusting her glasses that were perched on the top of her nose.
i glance over at jeff, slightly embarrassed. there didn't seem to be any other teenagers here, just a lot of middle aged women, taking advantage of the free service. "yeah, my sister here needs a dna test to prove a point," marcel says blankly.
jeff and i both stare at him in disbelief. he didn't need to be that upfront about it. he looks at us and his facial expression looks innocent, as if he's unaware of what he's said. "okay," the receptionist coughs, noticing the awkward silence, "i'm just gong to need your full name, address and age first," she informs me, pulling out a sheet of paper from underneath her desk.
"diana avery, 170 samantha drive andi'mseveneteen," i say the last part quickly, scared that she'll judge me for my age. i thought she heard me, but she looks up at me with a puzzled expression.
"i'm sorry, dear. i didn't catch your age?" she positions her pen on the paper as she waits for me to repeat my age. great.
i take a deep breath. "i'm seventeen," i grimace, expecting to earn an odd look from the lady, but she simply writes my age down on the form. i guess i was over reacting.
"ok, and where is your offspring?" she asks, peering over the desk. i raise my eyebrows while jeff looks confused.
"i'm sorry?" i ask.
"we can't perform the dna test if the baby isn't even born yet, miss avery," she informs us and i drop my head, embarrassed.
"what? but i thought-" marcel chimes in.
"not in this area of philadelphia," she shakes her head, placing her pen back down. "maybe in other states, but we don't have that kind of advancement here," she shrugs.
we stare at her for a while longer until jeff scoffs and turns around, leaving the building. "shit," i mutter, running after him. i don't hear marcel behind me, he's probably sick of this too.
"jeff!" i yell as he walks across the parking lot. he stops but doesn't turn around. as i get closer, i notice his body is tense and his jaw is clenched.
"i can't do this, diana," he breaths shakily, "i'm eighteen, i can't be a dad now. i'm going to college next fall," he tries to reason with me but i shake my head.
"how do you think i feel, jeff?" i yell, clearly frustrated, "i still have two years of high school left! my parents will probably kick me out once they find out about this baby and then i'll have nowhere to go. i can't do this alone," i croak, lending against the single lamppost in the parking lot.
it was starting to get dark, and the yellow light from the lamppost highlighted jeff's features, which i couldn't help but stare at and admire, despite the situation i'm currently in.
"what about marcel?" he continues and i shake my head.
"he's going back to college," i sigh, sliding down the lamppost and sitting on the cold concrete. i pull my knees up to my chest and rest my head on my knees.
jeff doesn't say anything else. instead he just shoves his hands in his pockets and shifts his weight. "diana, i-" he tries to apologises but i shake my head.
"whatever, jeff. you don't even believe that the baby's yours, do you? you might as well just go home," my voice trails of as the lump in my throat grows bigger. he reaches his hand out but i smack it away.
and then he takes my advice, and leaves. giving up.
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Thanks for 1k reads ily all :))