It's Yours

When I woke up the next morning I decided that I needed to go shopping. Today was a school day and even my loosest shirts didn’t exactly hide my growing stomach. I figured that I could get away with it by wearing a jacket. It was October so wearing a jacket was perfectly acceptable. But I would need new clothes by this weekend.

It was the same as last week. I felt like all the eyes were on me. And my gradually growing tummy. What was I going to do? I couldn’t hide it forever. Mom and Dad would find out when they got back. And it was only a matter of time before the school found out. It’s not like I would be able to hide behind jackets and loose shirts forever.

Jake had to know. Today. That was my new ultimatum. Tell Jake or tell Mom and Dad. Jake was the lesser of two evils. I decided to try and call him sometime in the day, during one of my frequent bathroom trips. He would not ignore me this time.

“Hello?” It was a girl’s voice. A girl’s voice different from the last time I called. The tears started forming.

“Can I talk to Jake?” My voice broke a bit on his name.

“Why?” She seemed irritated. Maybe she wasn’t expecting him to have a girl back home.

“I just need to.”

“Well unless you can give me a half-way decent reason then no.” Bitch.

“Tell him it’s Emma. Emma Campbell.”

“Babe! There’s someone on the phone for you. She says her name is Emma. Emma Campbell.” I could hear her say to Jake.

“Shit! Tell her I’m not here.” I heard him respond. The tears overflowed. How dare he! I was his girlfriend! He owed this to me!

“Sorry but-”

“You know what? I can hear his voice. So why don’t you give him the fucking phone.” I cut her off.

“Who the hell are you to-” I cut her off again.

“I’m his fucking girlfriend, that’s who I am!!!”

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m his girlfriend!”

“Yeah well then you can tell him that I called. And you can tell him that I’ll be waiting for him to come back. And you can tell him he has to stop screwing every girl he meets.”

“I’m not your fucking messenger! Tell him yourself slut!”

My tears had stopped. Jake didn’t have control over me anymore. It was my turn.

“Hey Em.” His voice was as slick as melted butter. It almost swayed me. Almost.

“Jake I have to tell you something important.”

“Well you see, babe, I’m kinda busy right now. I just got back from school and I have homework and tests to study for. How about we do this later? I’ll call you-”

“Shut up and listen Jacob Knight. You can go out and have all the bed buddies you want in ‘Ohio’ but I’m still your girlfriend. And I still get to talk to you and tell you things that you need to know. Because as much as I would like to keep you out of the loop Thom and Paul won’t let me. So just shut the hell up and listen.

“The week you left I found out that I was pregnant. I’m nearing my second month. Now I don’t want you to drag your sorry ass back here because I’m sick of you and I’m sick of crying over you and thinking that you love me. I want you to stay where you are and go around screwing as many girls as you want because as far as we’re concerned you left me. You left me to deal with this and I am. I don’t need you. But I need you to know because it’s your baby too, as much as I wish it wasn’t. So, now you know.”

The other line was dead silent.

“You can talk now.”

“What do you mean pregnant? As in going to have a baby? My baby?”

“Yes, Jacob, your baby. Didn’t I just cover this?”

“Well then you’re getting an abortion!”

“I’m not getting an abortion. You can’t make me Jake. Oh, and by the way, we’re finished. If you ever call me again I will get a restraining order on you faster than you can say ‘Cheating’.”

I hung up. And then the floodgates opened. I slumped to the gritty bathroom floor and sobbed. I fumbled for my phone. I was going to call Jake back and tell him I was kidding. That I still loved him and I still wanted him and I wasn’t pregnant. I couldn’t find it. Then I realized that I was sitting in someone’s shadow. That someone was Melissa. Standing there holding my cell phone with tiny tears in her eyes.

“Janie thought you might be in here.”

I nodded.

“You really shouldn’t have yelled at him you know. I’m sure he wants to help.” She said in a small voice.

I looked up through my tear blurred eyes. What was Melissa thinking? I had every right to yell at him. Sure it tore me up inside, but he left me, not the other way around.

“Besides, he loves you.” Her breathing hitched a bit on that last word. The tears started streaming down her face.

“Mel, hon, what’s wrong?” My own worries moved to the back of my mind.

“Y-you have e-everything! A-and you’re g-going to th-throw it a-away! Y-you have J-Jake a-and you’re p-pretty a-and e-everyone l-likes you!”

“What do you mean I’m throwing it away? Jake’s nothing but an awful, cheating scumbag who treats me like shit!"

“Well wh-why did you k-keep him then? I-I know p-plenty of g-girls wh-who want h-him!” Her glare was ice cold.

What the hell was going on here? Melissa was supposed to be my friend. She was supposed to take my side. Now she was standing here defending the guy that had ripped me apart.

“Mel, he cheated on me! I heard her! She answered the phone! And he did it when he was here! He destroyed me! How can you defend him?” I was crying now.

“Because I love him. You don’t deserve him! He needs someone who loves him no matter what and who will always be there for him. You took him when he should have been mine! I loved him way before you. I even made love to him before you! Why did he want you? WHY?!?!?”

“Are you telling me that you’re the one he cheated on me with? That’s a really horrible thing to do, Melissa.”

“Yeah well he loved it. And you know what? You don’t deserve me as a friend. Not when you did that to Jake, you fucking bitch.”

Then she slapped me so hard I fell down. I heard her heels click as she left the bathroom. I didn’t move. I just stayed on the ground, holding my stinging cheek, tears rolling down my face.