And Just Like That Mistakes Are Made.

But Matt never called and the weekend dragged on. When Monday finally arrived, after a bout of morning sickness I was ready and off to school. Ignoring most everyone, I painfully made it through the day and was now sitting in last period chemistry staring blankly at the chalkboard in front of me.
“Vanessa?” I heard Mr. Gray, my gorgeous young teacher, say and I snapped out of my gaze to look at him. “You just got called down to the office.”
“I did?” I asked with a frown and he nodded, a small smirk forming on his face.
“My lesson wasn’t boring you, was it?”
“Sorry, I’m not feeling that great.” I told him and gathered my books before standing. Mr. Gray followed me to the door and out into the hallway.
“Are you alright Vanessa?" He asked once we were out of the classroom.
“Yeah, everything’s fine Mr. Gray.” I replied giving him a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Turning away, I slowly made my way to the office, wondering what I had possibly done wrong this time and was unpleasantly surprised when I walked through the door and Matt was standing there with his hands in his pockets. Spinning around, I left and began walking quickly down the hall.
“Vanessa!” Matt called hurrying down the hall after me.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” I hissed spinning around to face him.
“I don’t know, I figured it’d be better if we talked face to face.” He replied with a shrug.
“Hmmm, so you just decide to fucking show up here after leaving me freaking out on the phone Friday saying you’ll call back and then not bothering to?” I ranted, and a look of guilt flashed across his face.
“I’m sorry, I just had to book a flight, cancel a show, things were really busy.”
“You were so busy that you forgot you knocked me up?” I whispered the last part angrily.
“No, I was busy trying to figure out what to do.”
I didn’t reply as I looked down at the ground and tried to keep my tears at bay. Matt’s legs came into my vision and I was pulled into his arms, my head buried in his warm chest. I slumped into his grasp as I let the tears fall, not knowing what else to do.
“Don’t cry baby,” he said soothingly, rubbing his big hand up and down my back. “I’ve got it all figured out.”
Leaning my head away from him, I stared up at his face and wasn’t expecting it when his lips pressed against mine softly. The bell rang in the background and we pulled away from each other as people began filling the hallways.
“Let’s go get your stuff and then we can get out of here.” Matt suggested wiping my eyes before taking my hand in his and intertwining our fingers.
Everyone began to stare and whisper to each other as we walked down the hall. Most likely wondering if that was actually the M. Shadows, rising rock star and if so, what he was doing with her? I kept my gaze away from everyone as I led Matt to the locker pit where we were surrounded by people.
“Van!” I heard my name being yelled and tugged on Matt’s hand, trying to avoid the person. “Vanessa, wait!”
Stopping in front of my locker, I mentally groaned when Josh appeared beside me. Letting Matt’s hand go, I shifted my books into one hand and began to open my locker.
“Hey Vanessa, who’s your friend?” Josh asked looking curiously at Matt.
“Actually I’m her boyfriend, Matt.” He replied before I could, straightening his back and folding his massive tattooed arms across his chest to make himself look even more menacing. “Who are you?”
“I’m uhh…Josh.” He said nervously and turned his gaze on me, hurt and confusion written across his face. “How come you didn’t tell me that you had a boyfriend?” Matt chuckled at this and I shot him a look, shutting him up. I didn’t think it was funny, he had no right to tell Josh that we were going out when we clearly weren’t.
“You never asked.” I replied with a shrug, not knowing what else to say.
“I didn’t think that I needed to, I thought we had something-” Josh said bitterly.
“Listen,” Matt interrupted. “I’m sure that in that pretty little head of yours you thought that there was something, but to be honest with you, she sees you as nothing but a pain in the-“
“That’s enough Matt.” I growled cutting him off.
“Sorry babe, I was just telling him the-” I slammed my locker door shut and slung my book bag over my shoulder.
“Shut up,” I told him before turning my gaze on Josh. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled.
“Come on.” I said pulling on Matt’s arm as I began to walk away.

“What’s wrong, what’d I do?” Matt asked looking confused as I got in the passenger side of his rental car and slammed the door.
“Why did you tell him that we were going out? I was just a fuck to you; I mean you didn’t even have the decency to talk to me after the fact.”
“I didn’t think that you’d want me to.”
“Oh cut the bull.” I grumbled, putting on my seatbelt and crossing my arms.
“Vanessa, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, none of it. And if I could change the way that everything happened between us, I would, but I can’t.” Matt said as he turned the car on.
“Does anyone know that you’re here?” I asked changing the subject.
“Other then the band, no,” he replied as he drove out of the parking lot.
“You didn’t tell them about…did you?” I questioned, glancing over at him.
“No,” Matt replied shaking his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Thanks.” I said with a small smile before turning my gaze out the window.
“Are your brother’s coming home today?”
“Yes,” I replied with a sigh. “They’ll be here late tonight.”
“Maybe we should tell your parent’s before they get here.”
“What’re we going to tell them?” I asked quietly.
“Let’s wait till we get to your house Nessy, then we’ll talk about it.” Matt replied soothingly as he placed his hand on my thigh and gave it a gently squeeze.

The drive home ended sooner than I would have liked it to and I found myself sitting on my bed leaning against the wall with Matt beside me. There were no words exchanged between us, as Matt’s hand played with mine in his lap and I kept my gaze on our intertwined fingers. I shifted my weight nervously, knowing that my parent’s would be home soon and Matt and I had yet to discuss what we were going to do.
“What’re we going to tell them?” I whispered lifting my head up to look at him.
“We’re going to pretend that we’ve been together for a couple months.”
“Why?” I asked slightly confused.
“Because they’ll take it better if we tell them that instead of what really happened.”
“I don’t think it’s gonna make a difference, either way I’m still pregnant.”
“That’s true, but if we pretend to be together, I won’t get such an ass-kicking.” Matt said with a light chuckle.
“You won’t be the only one getting an ass-kicking.” I mumbled.
“Hey, don’t worry too much,” he replied wrapping his arm around my shoulder and gently pulled me into his chest. “There isn’t much that they can do about it.”
I heard the front door opened, signaling that one of my parent’s had gotten home and groaned, burying my face into Matt’s chest. Kissing the top of my head, he pulled away from me and cupped my face between his hands. Leaning towards me, Matt gently brushed his lips to mine and then looked at me with a small smile.
“I’ll be right beside you the whole time.” He said reassuringly.
“Vanessa!” Mom called from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you home?”
“Yeah,” I called back. “I’ll be right down.”
“Come on, let’s go.” Matt said as he stood from the bed and held out his hand for me to take.
Hesitantly, I gripped Matt’s hand tightly and followed him as he opened my bedroom door and led me towards the stairs. Matt was practically pulling me along as we descended the stairs and walked down the hall to the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the table and looked up, surprise filling her face as she noticed who was with me.
“Hello Matt, what brings you here?” Mom asked with a smile.
“I decided to surprise Vanessa for her graduation.” He replied giving her a dimpled grin. Mom’s gaze went to our intertwined fingers.
“We also have something to tell you and Dad when he gets home.” I said hoping that I didn’t sound as nervous as I was.
“Alright,” she replied with a frown. “Do you have a place to stay Matt?”
“Yeah, I booked a room at the hotel downtown.” Hmmm, so you can run away after we drop the bomb…
“What time will Dad be home at?” I asked and Mom looked down to her watch.
“Soon, he was getting off early today.”
“Alright, we’ll be outside” I told her. “Just yell when he gets here.”
With a nod, she turned her attention back on the paper in front of her and I pulled Matt out the backdoor. Leaving the patio, we walked to the edge of the fence and to my childhood swing set. Matt sat on one and pulled me towards him.
“Sit,” he said.
“This isn’t going to work you know,” I replied. “We aren’t ten anymore.”
“At least try, I’m not that big of a fat ass.”
Holding on to my hips, Matt grinned at me as I lifted one leg and slid it between his hip and the swing. The swing jerked to the side and I almost lost my balance as Matt laughed at me and steadied us. Making sure he had a good grip on me, I placed my hands on his shoulders and pulled my other leg up, so that I was straddling him. Immediately the swing tipped backwards, bringing me facedown to Matt and I let out an unexpected yelp, quickly wrapping my arms around his waist tightly. Matt’s chest rumbled against mine as he laughed and pushed the swing with his legs.
“This is not as fun as I remembered it.” I groaned.
“I never did the spider when I was little,” Matt laughed. “Boys were too cool to go around sitting on each other on the swings.”
“Josh and I used to do it all the time when we were little.” I replied knowing he’d have some sort of comeback.
“Yes, but we all know that there’s a difference between Josh and I. He’s gay, I’m not.”
“Be nice,” I laughed lifting my head to look at him as we continued to swing back and forth gently.
“I am nice.” He replied with a mischievous grin and pushed the swing so that he was in the air and I was on the bottom, feeling like I was going to fall on the ground.
“Stop!” I squealed as we swung back and forth, higher and higher.
“No,” Matt laughed, “This is fun.”
“Do you want me to puke on you?” I warned and Matt stopped the swing completely, making me jerk forward into his chest.
“You gonna be alright?” Matt asked in a concerned voice and I smirked at him.
“Yes,” I replied with a laugh.
“Oh, you’re going to get it now!” He said standing so that I was dangling from him, my back to the ground.
“Stop it!” I laughed, leaning my head back to look at the grass. Suddenly Matt lifted his legs and everything blurred together as I was lifted into the air, Matt now under me.
“Vanessa!” Mom called from the patio. “You’re father’s home.”
Jerking the swing to a stop, our laughter died and we looked at each other seriously. Matt reached up and brushed my hair from my eyes with a small smile across his face. Slowly, I let him go and as he held my hips, I eased my way off the swing. Taking my hand, Matt stood and we began our way in to the house. My grip on Matt’s hand tightened as we reached the house and I nervously took a deep shaky breath.
“Everything will be okay babe.” Matt said quietly as he squeezed my hand reassuringly and led me into the house.
“Well this is a surprise, how’re you Matthew?” Dad asked as we walked into the kitchen and his eyes wandered down to our tightly locked hands.
“Good and how are you Sir?” Matt replied reaching out his other hand to shake Dad’s.
“Not too bad, what brings you here?”
“I came to surprise Vanessa for her graduation and there are some things that we need to discuss with you.”
“Let’s go into the living room shall we?” Dad suggested and nodding we followed him and Mom.
“Now what is it that we need to talk about?” My father asked as he sat across from us on the loveseat with Mom.
“Well, over the last couple months Vanessa and I have been talking and getting to know each other. We decided to wait until she was eighteen if we were going to begin a relationship-“
“That’s a good idea.” Dad said with a nod cutting Matt off.
“However Sir, things didn’t really go according to plans.” Matt told him.
“What do you mean by that?” He asked with a frown and I let out a shaky breath.
“At Tom and Ally’s we kind of umm-“ Matt began with a pained expression across his face.
“I’m pregnant.” I blurted out and Matt squeezed my hand in his. I looked at both of my parent’s, Mom had tears running down her face and Dad’s face was bright red, expressionless.
“This had better be a joke.” Dad growled after a few minutes of painful silence.
“It isn’t Sir.” Matt replied shaking his head. “We didn’t plan for anything to happen, I regret our decisions very much and I wish that I would have had better self-control over the situation.”
“What do you plan on doing about this?”
“Umm…We haven’t really discussed what’s going to happen.” Matt told him as I shifted nervously beside him.
“Get out.” Dad said emotionless. “Both of you, out.”
“Dad, I-”
“I don’t want to see you until you’ve got a band on your finger and a different last name.” He said not letting me speak. I knew better than to say anything to him, any moment now he was going to blow up.
“What is the church going to say about this?” Mom said quietly.
“They aren’t to know.” Dad growled. “As far as they’re concerned our daughter was married before this happened. They won’t know that she committed fornication.”
“Sir-” Matt began to say.
“I don’t want to hear a word from you.” Dad spat. “You’re a disgrace, the both of you. I don’t want to see either of your faces until you’ve made this right.”
“Come on Nessy, let’s go.” Matt said quietly from beside me and I nodded as tears fell from my eyes.
“We raised you better than this.” My father said as we stood from the couch and began to walk out of the living room. Stopping, I spun around to face him and glared, despite the tears flowing down my face.
“Fuck you.” I spat and didn’t expect it when he jumped from his seat and slapped me across the face.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch her like that again, you fucking bastard.” Matt yelled stepping towards him.
“Why don’t you just go and we’ll all talk calmly tomorrow.” Mom said in a soft voice her face streaked with tears as she placed her hand on Dad’s arm and pulled him backwards.
“Let’s go.” I whispered my eyes on the ground and tugged on Matt’s hand. Wrapping his arm around me, we walked out of the living room and out of the house.
“Are you okay?” Matt asked with a concerned frown across his face as we sat in the car.
“No,” I sobbed shaking my head as his fingers gently ran over my stinging cheek.
“It’ll be okay baby,” he soothed. “Let’s just get to the hotel and then you can lie down.”
Leaning my head back against the headrest, the tears kept on coming as my mind began to race. Why did this have to happen to me? Because you’re stupid, that’s why! I don’t want to get married, not to someone that I don’t love. And a baby, how am I going to look after a baby? I’m only seventeen. Married to my brother’s best friend and pregnant at seventeen, that’s just fucking great! It’s what I’ve always wanted to happen in my life.
“Vanessa, we’re here.” Matt said quietly as the car stopped moving and he shut it off. I nodded weakly and unbuckled my seatbelt, stepping out of the car.
I waited until Matt had grabbed his stuff from the car and when he was ready, I followed behind him into the hotel and waited until he got the key to his room. Walking in a daze, I ran into his back as he stopped by one of the doors and stumbled backwards, only for him to quickly reach out and grab my arms.
“Babe, you okay?” He asked frowning as he looked down at me, not letting me go. I could only nod, knowing that if I opened my mouth I’d start to sob.
Pulling me close, Matt easily lifted me in his arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Burying my face in his neck, I started to cry again and Matt quickly stepped forward, opening the door to the room. Walking inside, he moved over to the bed and laid me down. Brushing the hair from my face, he leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. Cradling my face in his big hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears as I closed my eyes.
“I’ve just got to grab my bag from the hall and make a quick phone call and I’ll be right back.” Matt said and after touching his lips to mine, he was gone.
I lay motionless on the bed as he opened the door to the hotel room, and closed it behind him. A couple minutes later, I could hear him talking in hushed tones in the hallway. I didn’t even want to know who he was talking to…Probably Karrie, the thought ran through my mind and I shook my head. His voice kept getting louder as he got angrier and I could only catch a few words here and there. Words like my name, fuck, pregnant, marriage and hit. Rolling onto my side, I curled into a ball and let the sobs take over my body.
Suddenly a wave of nausea hit me and I scrambled off the bed and into the washroom, leaning over the toilet. Throwing up everything that I could, I began to dry heave and nearly jumped out of my skin when a warm hand was placed on my lower back. Matt kneeled behind me, one hand pulling my hair from my face and the other rubbing my back.
“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.
“N-n-no,” I stuttered as I kept sobbing and dry heaving.
“Want me to run you a cool bath?”
“No, I-I just need to…to brush my teeth.” I told him trying to take deep breaths.
“You can use my toothbrush,” Matt said. “I’ll just buy another one later.”
Standing, he quickly left the bathroom and I heard him rustling through his stuff. A minute later, he was back beside me with a toothbrush and paste. Helping me to my feet, he held my hips as I stood at the sink and brushed my teeth. Once I was done, he led me back to the bed and I laid down. Walking to the other side of the bed, he gently laid down beside me and pulled me into his chest.
“I’m sorry.” He said quietly.
“It takes two.” I whispered back as my eyes shut and sleep washed over me.

Hours later, I was rudely awakened by a loud banging on the door and I groaned cuddling further into Matt’s side. The banging didn’t stop and Matt growled as we both opened our eyes. Sitting up, he leaned over and flicked on the night lamp that was placed above our heads on the headboard.
“Matthew Charles Sanders, you’d better open this fucking door right now!” Jason my very loud, very angry brother screamed from the hallway as he pounded on the door.
Quickly I sat up and stared, eyes wide at Matt. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair tiredly and stood, making his way to the door. Unlocking and unlatching the door, he slowly opened it and was immediately tackled by my big brother. Jason landed a good solid punch to his face before Matt realized what was happening and threw Jason off of him.
“Jason!” I yelled as he went after his friend again and Matt dodged him. “Stop it!”
“Jason, calm down.” Matt told him as he swung at him again.
“You want me to fucking calm down?” Jason yelled. “I’m not gonna fucking calm down Sanders, you knocked up my fucking baby sister!”
“Come on Jase, let’s just talk about it, alright? Someone’s going to call security if you don’t shut the hell up.”
“You couldn’t just keep it in your pants, could you Matt? It was just another chase to you, wasn’t it? Fuck you, I didn’t think you were a bastard enough to stoop this low, but what the fuck do I know? I can’t believe that I called you a friend, trusted you.” Jason turned to me. “And you, do you know what trouble you caused? Mom’s at home bawling and Dad’s beside himself. What the fuck were you thinking? Becky even warned you about him, and you still fell for it? I thought you were smarter than that, apparently not.”
Casting one final glare at Matt, Jason stormed out and slammed the door behind him.