More Than Friends.

Wolfie sighed and stood up from her seat as the bell rang. She knocked the spit wads from her hair and walked out of the classroom, ignoring her teachers pitying glance. She self-consciously smoothed her large t-shirt over her stomach before walking out the door into the hallway.

She made her way to her locker and cringed when she saw all the people pointing at her and laughing.

Six months ago, Wolfie O’Delle had been raped by her brother. She became pregnant, and now here she was.

Pregnant and alone.

Though it didn’t make since, her older brother didn’t get caught. He was living his life the exact same way he was before, but now he looked at Wolfie with those sneering looks. His eyes filled with lust made her cringe. He made her skin crawl and sometimes she felt the vomit rising in her throat. She was disgusted by him and what he had done, but no innocent child could be blamed for their parent’s actions. So, in about three months, Wolfie would give birth to her brother’s son.

Looking down at the ground, she made her way to her locker and sighed when she noticed it had been vandalized again. The words ‘slut’, ‘whore’, and ‘incest’ where written in messy scrawl across her locker in red spray paint. Though this wasn’t the first time it happened, it
made her eyes sting with tears. They didn’t understand. They thought she had asked for this, but she hadn’t. She looked at the scars on her wrist in disdain.

No, she hadn’t asked for this at all.

Huffing, she opened her locker, disregarding the snickers and laughs that came from behind her. She grabbed her economics book and moved to close it.

Her eyes snapped up when she caught the only friendly face around these days, smiling t her.

“Hey Ashton.” She said, smiling up at him.

Ashton Gregory was in her grade, and he was a sweetheart. He was in all the school plays and music productions. She knew he loved Drama and music, and that made her happy.

He was pursuing something that he loved without letting others get him down.

“Hey Wolf,” He said, smiling down at her. “How’s the bun?” He asked, laughing when she scrunched her nose.

He had given the baby a nick name when all hell had broken loose. The whole school was blaming her for getting raped, and Ashton was giving the product of said rape a nickname.

“He’s going crazy in there.” She said, smiling down at her swollen stomach. Though no one had ever asked, she was okay with the baby. Though the circumstances were strange and disgusting, she could never kill a baby. She loved him too much to even think about it.

Ashton smiled and laid his hand on her stomach. The baby happily kicked his hand and made him laugh as he rubbed her protruding tummy.

All around them, they could hear girls gasping in mock outrage as they viewed Ashton’s hand on her stomach. It broke her heart that people judged him because he was her friend, but she knew without him, she would break down. He was her rock, standing still and firm.

She needed him more than she could admit to.

“Want skip out? I have play practice tonight, but I can always lie and say something came
up. What’s one practice going to do?” He asked, glancing at the cruel words on her locker.

Wolfie nodded and opened the locker quickly, throwing the book back inside.

“I’d like that.” She said, smiling and taking his outstretched hand. He led her to the front school door and walked out without a backward glance. Their school was huge and no one had been caught leaving yet.

Ashton led her to a park that wasn’t far from the school, but far enough that no one would look for them there if they happened to get caught. He held a hand out to her as he sat on the ground. She gladly accepted the hand and slowly sat beside him, placing her bag beside her and crossing her legs.

“Do you ever want to kill him?” He asked, not looking at her.

Wolfie glanced up at him and furrowed her brow.

“Who?” She asked, not clear on what he was talking about.

“Your brother. Do you ever want to kill him for what he did to you?” He asked again, finally looking at her.

Unlike every other kid in their school, Ashton actually knew the truth about her baby. He was the only one that had asked for an explanation and she was all too happy to give him one.

He hadn’t judged her, and for that she was grateful.

Wolfie pondered on what he had asked her. Then she slowly nodded her head.

“Sometimes. I mean at first, I wanted him to die every day. Because, I mean, who does that to their baby sister? Big brothers are there to protect them, but he didn’t. He was the one to hurt me. But now, I’m not a hostile. I love my baby, and if he didn’t do what he did, I wouldn’t have this little piece of sunshine.” She said, rubbing her hand across her baby bump.

Ashton looked at her, really looked. She was beautiful, and she didn’t even know it. She was so strong, so much stronger than anyone else he knew, and for that he was glad. She would make it through this, and she would survive. She wouldn’t let this stop her from achieving her goals, it was just a small bump in the road.

“I admire you. You are pretty fearless.” He said, taking her free hand in his and playing with her fingers. She smiled at the action and looked at him.

“Thank you.” She said, whispering. “For being my friend, and not judging me.”

Ashton shook his head and smiled. Leaning over, he gently placed his lips on hers before intertwining their fingers and holding them tight.

“What are friends for?”