Third Time's a Charm

A week later, I was surprised to find Erin standing at my dorm room door. I looked at her, my eyes wide.

"Erin!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" I asked before I pulled her into a hug.

"What? I can't see my best friend?" she replied when she pulled away from me.

"See, when you say things like that, there's usually an ulterior motive there," I said. She rolled her eyes at me as she entered my room.

"Okay, you caught me," she said as she raised her hands up in defeat and shrugged. Her smile widened though when she looked back at me. "I'm just really excited. How far along are you? And why didn't you tell me?" she asked. I stared at her in confusion as Will left the kitchen and stood near me, a look of confusion on his face as well.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her as she placed her hands on my stomach.

"How far along are you?" she asked me again, even more excited than before.

"What...?" I started. I looked up at Will and he shrugged at me. "Seriously, Erin. What are you talking about?"

"The baby!" she exclaimed. I looked at her, my eyebrows furrowed even further in confusion.

"What baby?" I asked.

"Your baby!" she answered. I widened my eyes at her.

"Mine? What are you..." I looked at Will. "Ohh... No, no, no..." I swatted Erin's hands away from my stomach and stood closer to Will and away from Erin's grabby hands. "You can't possibly think that I'm... pregnant, do you?"

"Well, you are, aren't you?" she asked me with a confused expression on her face. Will burst out into laughter.

"And where the hell did you get that idea?!" I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I heard you felt sick and stuff. So you're really not pregnant?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "And why would that be a good thing for you to be so excited about? I'm still in high school!" I watched as she shrugged.

"I don't know," she replied. "I thought I was gonna be a godmother."

"Of course you're gonna be my kid's godmother," I started. "but not anytime soon," I finished and her bright smile deflated when she realized that I wasn't really pregnant right now. While I was saying this, Will continued to laugh. I turned towards him with a glare on my face. "Stop laughing," I ordered him.

"Sorry!" he said with another laugh. "It's just too funny! She actually thought you were pregnant! Ha!" I smacked him in the chest.

"If I really was pregnant, you know who the father would be, wouldn't you?" I asked him. "So you better shut up." He coughed to cover up his laughter and straightened his posture.

"Right..." he said as he calmed down.

"And you." I turned back to Erin. "Where did you hear this nonsense?"

"I... heard it somewhere..." she trailed off as she looked around the room, twirling a strand of her hair and avoiding eye contact with me.

"From where?" I asked, my hands on my hips.

"From people..."

"From people? What people? Don't tell me that this is going around the school?!" I asked her.

"Maybe..." Erin said as she looked away from me.

"You don't even go to this school though!" I exclaimed.

"Word travels fast amongst friends," she replied.

"Well, shit!" I yelled as I ran my fingers through my hair.

What a great way to start the new year. A pregnancy rumor to kick up some drama for the school. No wonder we had been getting more weird looks this past week. People actually thought I was pregnant. With Will's kid.

I glanced up at him and thought about that. While having his kid didn't sound so bad, the thought actually made me blush and embarrassed. We were still only in high school and the thought of having a kid with him was way beyond what we were capable of at the moment, and we were still taking our relationship step by step. I quickly shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking about having any of Will's kids right now. There were more pressing matters at the moment. Like how people actually thought I was pregnant!

"So you're really not pregnant?" Erin asked timidly.

"No! I'm not!" I said exasperatedly.

"Well, that's a shame," she muttered more to herself. I narrowed my eyes at her and she only shrugged at me.

"Now, shoo. I'm starting to have a headache," I said with a groan. She shrugged again before she left my room. How she managed to get onto the school campus without getting stopped was beyond me. When she was gone, I turned towards Will. "Did you know about this?" I asked him and he shrugged at me.

"This is the first I'm hearing about it," he replied. I groaned again.

"People actually think I'm pregnant?" I muttered to myself and he only shrugged again before he pulled me into his arms.

"Well, you're not, are you?" I pushed myself away from him to glare at him. When I saw a small glint of fear cross his features though, I instantly softened my look.

"Of course I'm not," I replied. I saw relief flash upon his face before he replied.

"Then there's nothing to worry about." He kissed the tip of my head as I leaned further in him, wrapping my arms around his waist.



Three more days passed before the pregnancy rumors took a huge turn.

I was in second period, writing something down from the board, when the intercom turned on.

"Twelfth years, William Harper and Nicole Greene, please go to the headmaster's office immediately," the familiar voice of the secretary said before it went silent. I glanced over at Will in confusion, but he just shrugged his shoulders as he started to pack up his things. I followed his lead and we both left the classroom, a few murmurs being passed around as we left.

As soon as we were alone in the hallway and headed towards the headmaster's office, I turned to Will.

"What do you think it's about?" I asked as we walked.

"I don't know," he said as he readjusted his bag on his shoulder. "Did you punch someone in the face again and break their nose? Because I know I didn't." I let out a laugh as I playfully pushed him.

"Last I checked, there weren't any bitches I needed to punch," I said with a laugh. "So, no. I didn't punch anyone." He let out a chuckle as he draped his arm over my shoulders.

When we got to the office, the secretary led us straight to the headmaster's office. We entered the office and found Headmaster Kingston in his chair at his desk.

"Mr. Harper, Ms. Greene, please take a seat," he said as he gestured towards the seats in front of his desk. Both Will and I took a seat before he spoke again. "There's been rumours going around," he started and I tensed up.

Please don't tell me we're here because of those stupid rumors.

"And what rumors are those?" I asked cautiously to be sure. He coughed before he spoke again.

"There are rumours going around that you are... with child," he said as he tried to find the right words. I almost giggled at this choice of words, but at the moment, I obviously couldn't.

"You mean that I'm pregnant?" I asked bluntly. There was no need to beat around the bush. He cleared his throat nervously, but nodded nonetheless.

"This school has a reputation to uphold and if it's true that there's a... pregnant student enrolled here then..." he trailed off. I held up my hand to stop him.

"Sir, I completely understand where you're coming from," I said. "But rest assured, I'm not pregnant," I finished.

"Are you sure?" he asked before he continued. "I know students on this campus have sex and I can't stop them from doing so. That's why we sell condoms in the vending machines to practice safe sex," Headmaster Kingston said. So he could easily say the word sex, but he got awkward when it came to pregnancy?

"Sir, really, I assure you I'm not pregna-" I stopped speaking as I thought about what he just said. "They sell condoms in the vending machines?" I asked in surprise. Will was silent this whole time and only then did he finally speak up.

"Are you serious? How did you not notice them? You're always at the vending machines!"

"Yeah, for the food!" I defended myself.

"You have to pay more attention," he chided me. I waved him off with a hand before I turned back to the headmaster.

"Anyways, sir, I'm really not pregnant."

"Can you prove it?" Headmaster Kingston asked.

"Well, yeah, I can. But-" I started.

"Then please prove it to me," he said. I glanced at Will and he gave me a look as if to say that I was on my own on this one.

"Can't you just take my word for it?" I asked.

"I can't take that chance. If you're lying to me and you really are pregnant and it gets out, there'd be a lot of trouble for the school and I, and then I'd be forced to ask you to leave the school," he explained.

"Sir, I don't want to say out loud my proof that I'm not pregnant," I said. "It's embarrassing." I glanced over at Will and he had his hand over his mouth as he tried to cover up his laughter.

"Please, just tell me," Headmaster Kingston pushed. I sighed before I spoke up.

"I'm on my period, sir..." I answered quietly as I looked down at my lap. I felt my cheeks go warm. I had started it just yesterday. I heard Will finally let out a chuckle and I smacked him on his knee to shut him up. He coughed to cover up his laughter, but it didn't work.

"You're on your peri-oh!" he said in realization. "If that's the case, then you are both excused," Headmaster Kingston said quickly. I awkwardly stood up, Will following suit. "Oh, and please be sure to practice safe sex!" he said right before we closed the door behind us. I felt my face flush even more. Will on the other hand just burst into laughter.

"I can't believe that just happened..." I muttered in disbelief as we made our way back to class. "I'd rather get in trouble for punching someone in the face than have that kind of conversation again."

"Oh, come on! It was funny!" he argued.

"No, it was humiliating!" I said as I ran my hands over my face.

"Love, you're fine," he said as he wrapped his arm over my shoulders and brought me closer to him. "Just think of it like this, since you proved to the headmaster that you're not pregnant, maybe then all those stupid rumours will finally die down," he explained.

"I guess," I replied with a shrug. "It's still embarrassing though." I pressed my face into his chest as we walked, trying to cover my red cheeks from Will. He only laughed again though as I snuggled closer to him.

As we neared the door to our class, the bell rang, signaling that class was over. Will and I turned on our heels and walked towards our lockers and then to our third period instead.