Painful Lullaby

_____About 5 Weeks Later_____

School had started, and I'd been getting a lot of shit there. Sure, my friends were there to beat the shit out of them when they called me a slut, but the words still hurt. I wasn't upset, I was pissed off. Big time.

Why were they calling me a slut? Because I was about 13 weeks into my pregnancy, and there was a bump there. It was little, but everyone seemed to notice it, and they all made fun of me. I don't see how I was the slut, though. I was with the same guy who's gotten me pregnant and I hadn't slept around. And that's exactly why the words hurt.

"Roxie, don't listen to them, they're the sluts," Zoe murmured to me as we walked down the hallway.

"I know they are," I sighed. "They're also hypocrites."

At that moment, there seemed to be a lot of preps in the hall, all calling me sluts. I was in a group, and we were walking down most of the hall, asking for attention. Zoe and I were in front, followed by Abbie, Veronica, and Kori.

"Slut," my worst enemy, Kaylee, coughed as I walked by. And that was the last straw. I ditched my books and grabbed her by the neck. I slammed her up against the lockers by her throat, cutting off her breath.

"Wanna repeat that, bitch?" I hissed.

"Slut," she choked out.

"Oh, wrong fucking answer," I said, slamming her up against the lockers again. Her 'posse' started advancing on me, but were held back by my friends.

"This is going to be fun," I murmured, gripping her neck tighter. She started turning an unattractive shade of blue and desperately grabbed onto my hands, weakly trying to pry them off. I whipped her helpless body onto the ground.

"Now, starving yourself so that the guy who never called you back would think you were pretty wasn't a good idea, was it?" I yelled, kicking her. She wailed out in pain and collapsed to the ground dramatically.

"Acting like you're hurt isn't going to stop me. Now get up here and fight like a woman," I said, yanking her up by the hair. She had tears in her furious eyes, and she tried to smack me.

"ARGH!" she screamed, and slapped me weakly. It didn't hurt at all.

"MISS AUSTIN! TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW!" One of our teachers yelled at her.

"But she started it!" Kaylee cried, pointing at me. I tried to look as innocent as possible.

"No excuses! To the office!" He yelled, pointing in the direction of the office.

"Just because she's a stupid whore, you let her get off!" Kaylee screamed, but stomped towards the office.

"THAT LANGUAGE IS NOT PERMITTED IN THIS SCHOOL!" the teacher yelled, following her to the office. As soon as her crying couldn't be heard, I realized how dead silent the hallway was. I collected my books and walked to class with Zoe, since we had our next class together.

"Sometimes being pregnant has its advantages," I murmured to her. She started laughing and gave me a high five.

When we walked into the classroom, Jag was there, waiting for me before he had to leave for his class. He ran over to me, grinning.

"I heard what happened out there. That's awesome!" he complimented me, giving me a quick kiss.

"Thanks. It was really easy. And I didn't even get in trouble!" I said. Jag gave me a high five.

"Very nice," he smiled.

"Hey, can you guys come over tomorrow? It's Saturday!" Zoe said.

"No, sorry. Roxie needs to get checked out by the doctor since it's the start of her second trimester," Jag said. I groaned, completely forgetting about the torture that they called 'doctor appointments'.

"I think I'd rather go to Zoe's, thanks for the offer, though," I said.

"Sorry, but you have to go," Jag laughed, "I'm definitely not going by myself!"

"Fine," I sighed, and sat down at my desk.

__________

Lunch time came quickly. We all had lunch hour together, so the table was crammed with people. Well, all of us except Donny. He'd graduated. This made Veronica sad, which made the rest of us laugh at her. We're real great friends, I know.

"Aaadaaaaaaam," Zoe whined, leaning on Adam.

"Zoooooeeeeeee," Adam whined back.

"Can I have your cookie?" she asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"No!" Adam exclaimed, grabbing his cookie from his plate and cradling it in his hands.

"OH PLEASE?!" Zoe yelled, jumping up and down in her chair.

"NO!" Adam yelled back, then stuffed the cookie in his mouth.

"ADAM!" Zoe shrieked, smacking his arm. "I wanted that!"

"You can have it. Just give me a few days," Adam smirked through a mouthful of cookie.

"OH, EW! Keep it!" Zoe yelled, then stole his juice off of his tray. She sucked on the straw like her life depended on it. Her face was hilarious, a mix of amusement, concentration, and a sad attempt to not be noticed by Adam.

"ZOE! GIMME BACK MY JUICE!" he yelled, grabbing for the juice. Zoe finished off the juice slowly, thanks to the straw and her laughing.

"Oh, you'll get it back," she smirked, and Adam smiled at her, then kissed her. Their relationship was based on this petty fighting, but I think it brought them closer. Besides, it was better than it being based on lies or cheating.

Bryce and Kori were sharing a chair, because we were only allowed to have seven chairs, and there eight of us. Abbie was wrapped up in building a food fort with Veronica. And then there was Jag and I. I was leaning on his shoulder, my hand rubbing my stomach. I was really starting to love this little baby.

Things were perfect right now. Nobody was taunting us, nothing bad was happening. We were all wrapped up in our own little peaceful worlds.

I looked down at my bump again and sighed. I was thinking about keeping the baby. Jag got money from his parents and we could get jobs if we needed to. I could even quit school if it was necessary. So many drastic changes for such a little soul. All of them were worth it.