Jagged Edge

"AWw, Aubrey. You are my life now," I cooed to the gurgling newborn baby girl in my arms. She didn't seem to understand me, but made a funny noise.

Jag walked into the hospital room and sat, grim-faced, next to my hospital bed. I smiled at him, but he didn't give me any response back

"Roxie, we're done. This whole thing was fun while it lasted, but I'm not ready for a kid. Sorry," he said, then got up.

"Jag, wait! I love you! We can put her up for adoption! Come back!" I called, heartbroken.

"It's better for all of us if you just moved on with your life," he snapped coldly, "Do not bother to look for me."

The door slammed and he was gone.

"Well, at least I have you, my baby," I choked out through the tears. But her body had gone completely still and motionless. Her eyes were frozen open and her breathing process had completely shut down.

"No!" I sobbed, "No..."

__________

"Roxie!" I was being shaken awake, "Roxie, get up! It's only a dream."

I forced myself to get up and open my eyes. Eva stood over me, looking completely and wholly frightened.

"It was just a nightmare," I gasped, "that's all."

"Must've been a pretty intense nightmare with the way you were screaming," she murmured.

"Jag and I had a baby. Then he left me and the baby died," I explained.

"That's horrible!" Eva exclaimed, "Maybe some breakfast would make you feel better."

She held a spoon out to me. I gave her a questioning look. She pushed a big tub of vanilla frosting (with sprinkles) in between us. She popped off the top and dug out a big spoonful of the sugary treat. I turned on the TV and changed it to SpongeBob. We both needed the happy lift of mood that the child show gave us.

"Well," Eva said after we finished the frosting, "you should probably take your shower before Jag gets here."

I nodded and grabbed my bag of clothes. The bathroom was vacant, so I went in and started the water. I took off Eva's pajamas and put them in bin marked DIRTY CLOTHES. Then I hopped in the showr and washed up quickly. When I got out, I dryed my hair with Eva's hair dryer. Then I headed back to Eva's room, fully dressed.

"I was thinking we could do our hair and makeup in the bathroom together," Eva offered, looking up from the magazing that she was reading.

"Sounds good," I said, dropping my bag on the floor. Eva jumped off her bed and hopped into the bathroom. I followed her and watched her plug in her hair straightener. She handed me an eyeliner pencil and I did my makeup while she did her hair. When we finished, we switched. Eva teased her hair and then we were done, just in time for Jag to walk into the bathroom.

"Aunt Maryanne said you'd be in here," he said. I smiled and ran over to hug him.

"Good morning!" I exclaimed and hugged him tightly as Eva said, "You're supposed to knock, dipshit."

"Hi there, love. One of your friends called. I think it was Zoe," Jag said, then kissed me on the lips.

"AW!" Eva sang, "Well, let's say goodbye. That means you hug me." She held open her arms and the both of us went over to hug her.

"You will call me," Eva threatened jokingly. We both nodded obediently and waved goodbye. I grabbed my bag from Eva's room and went to Jag's car, hand in hand. Jag opened the door for me and handed me his phone.

"You should probably call Zoe back. She sounded like she had something important to say." Jag said. I dialed Zoe's number as Jag walked around the car to the driver's side.

"Real nice of you to call me back," Zoe spat as soon as she answered the phone.

"Um, yeah...Jag said you called," I said, confused and taken aback by the way she answered the phone.

"Yeah, I called to have a party to celebrate you moving out of your mom's and I find out that you ditched us for Eva," she sneered.

"I didn't ditch you. We didn't even have plans, Zoe," I clarified.

"Yeah, well, you're not invited. Sorry," she hissed.

"Okay, what is this really about?" I asked.

"You never talk to us!" ZOe yelled, "Don't expect to talk to any of us again!" She hung up the phone. I slowly closed it, then stared at it. Either my life was crashing down around me, or this was a sick joke.

"What happened?" Jag asked, noticing my lost expression.

"They said that I ditched them and I do it all the time. We're not friends anymore," I said in a monotone voice. My mind was blank. I could only wonder what I did. My mind just couldn't grasp it.

"I'm sorry, Roxie. Maybe we can get it out of Adam. Hand me the phone, please," Jag said, holding his hand open for the phone. I placed it there and listened as he found Adam's number. I listened to it dial.

"Hey, Adam...Where are you?...Okay, meet me at my house in fifteen minutes. I heard, man. He like, passed out or something...Later," Jag said, then hung up the phone.

"Adam is meeting us at our house. And apparently Brandy's new boyfriend Zack got this major concussion and passed out in the middle of a basketball game. Some girl had a bad asthma attack watching it, too," Jag said, shaking his head. I remebered teasing Zack last year in class. We had become good friends.

"Seems like everything is going to shit, huh?" I said sarcasically. Jag nodded and we were immersed in silence until I turned on the CD player. Escape the Fate poured from the speakers and switched my thinking process on 'fast.' I tried to make sense of this whole shitty situation, but without much luck.

We pulled in the driveway and met with Adam, who was sitting on the front porch. He looked weary and a little worried but greeted us with a small smile. Jag and I both gave him a hug as a greeting, then Jag opened the door. I grabbed us some pop and Jag grabbed a box of donuts from the cupboard. We all sat down in the living room, me and Jag on the couch and Adam on the armchair.

"So, what's the verdict?" Jag asked, handing me a glazed donut.

"Well, Zoe's been hanging out a pretty bad influence these past few days," Adam said vaguely.

"Who?" I asked.

"Nickole," Adam explained, basically clearing up the whole situation. Nickole and I had gotten into quite a fight before and hated each other to this day. But why Zoe was hanging out with her was beyond me.

"Wait, hold on. What did Nickole do? Why is she such a bad influence?" Jag asked.

"Me and her got into a fight last year because she said I was sleeping around with all these douchebags in my class. She gets fucked up every weekend and gets high all the time," I said. Jag nodded in understanding.

"Well apparently Zoe started to talk to her because she felt bad that Nickole didn't have any friends. Nickole had been talking shit about you and doesn't want Zoe to be friends with anyone but her. She even came up with this bullshit story about how you talk about her behind her back and stuff. And by the way it turned out, it looks like she believed Nickole," Adam told us.

I stood up slowly and grabbed a baseball bat off the floor. Then I grabbed the keys and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Jag asked.

"I'm going to beat some sense into Nickole," I replied angrily.

"I think it's best that we just stay home and relax. We can figure out this problem without using violence," Jag said soothingly.

"I'll go home and try to talk some sense into Zoe," Adam sighed. I thanked him and said my goodbyes. I started to feel the emptiness inside my head, assuming that it was because there was no longer a mindlink. At that very moment the phone rang.