Chapter 3

The ambulance lights turned the school hallway red and white.

Mia would not let go of my hand.

Even when the paramedics lifted her onto the stretcher.

Even when Ethan stood six feet away, pale and useless.

Even when his mother said, “Maybe Ava shouldn’t go. This is already emotional enough.”

Mia grabbed me harder.

“No,” she cried. “Please.”

I looked at my father.

He understood before I spoke.

“I’ll follow behind,” he said.

So I climbed into the ambulance beside the girl who had destroyed me.

Her hand was cold.

Her mascara had dried in dark tracks down her face.

“I’m sorry,” she kept whispering.

I stared at the floor.

“Stop saying that right now.”

She flinched.

“I mean it.”

“If you mean it, stay calm and let them help you.”

Her lips trembled.

The paramedic checked her blood pressure.

“How far along?”

Mia squeezed her eyes shut.

“About eight weeks.”

The number hit me again.

Eight weeks.

I tried not to think about where I had been eight weeks ago.

Studying for finals.

Shopping for graduation shoes with Mia.

Taking pictures with Ethan by the lake.

He had kissed me that day too.

I wondered if he had kissed her before or after.

My stomach turned.

At the hospital, they took Mia into an exam room.

A nurse told me only family could stay.

Mia panicked.

“She is my family,” she cried.

The nurse looked at me.

I did not know what to say.

My father appeared behind me.

“She has no one else here right now,” he said quietly.

That was not true.

Ethan was in the waiting room.

Her mother was being called.

But somehow it was true in every way that mattered.

The nurse let me stay.

The doctor ordered tests.

An ultrasound.

Blood work.

Mia shook so badly the paper on the exam bed crinkled beneath her.

“Am I losing it?” she whispered.

I looked away.

I did not know what I wanted.

That realization made me feel like a terrible person.

I did not want a baby connected to Ethan.

I did not want Mia tied to him forever.

I did not want any of this.

But I also did not want her to bleed and cry while adults looked at her like a problem.

The doctor returned after what felt like hours.

Mia sat up too fast.

“The pregnancy is still there,” he said gently. “There is a heartbeat.”

Mia covered her mouth.

I gripped the chair.

A heartbeat.

A real life now.

Not just betrayal.

Not just proof.

The doctor explained threatened miscarriage, rest, follow-up appointments, stress.

Stress.

The word almost made me laugh.

Ethan finally came in after the doctor left.

His parents stayed outside.

He stood near the door.

“Mia,” he said.

She looked at him like he was the only person in the room.

For one second, I felt the old jealousy burn through me.

Then he spoke.

“You need to tell them this might not be mine.”

The room went silent.

Mia stared at him.

“What?”

His eyes flicked toward me, then back to her.

“We don’t know.”

Her face collapsed.

“Yes, we do.”

“No,” he said quickly. “You said you were late before.”

“I said my period was irregular.”

“That’s not the same thing as knowing.”

I stood.

He looked at me.

“Ava, stay out of this.”

I almost smiled.

“You brought me into it.”

He turned red.

“I’m trying to be responsible.”

“No,” I said. “You’re trying to escape.”

Mia started crying again.

Ethan stepped closer to her bed.

“Think about what you’re saying. My parents will want proof.”

Mia whispered, “I loved you.”

He froze.

I felt the room shift.

Loved.

Not just one mistake.

Not just one night.

My throat tightened.

Ethan glared at her.

“Don’t make it sound like that.”

“Like what?” I asked.

He snapped, “Like I promised her something.”

Mia looked at me.

Her face told me he had.

I sat down because my legs felt weak.

“How long?” I asked.

Ethan groaned.

“Ava.”

I ignored him.

“Mia, how long?”

She wiped her tears.

“Since January.”

January.

Not two months.

Five.

Five months.

Prom.

Valentine’s Day.

My birthday.

The necklace Ethan gave me with shaking hands while Mia filmed us and cried happy tears.

I turned to him slowly.

“You bought me a birthday necklace while sleeping with my best friend?”

His face hardened.

“You don’t understand what it was like.”

“What was it like, Ethan?”

He looked cornered now.

“She needed me.”

Those three words almost made me laugh.

Because I had needed him too.

But I had only been his girlfriend.

Apparently that mattered less.

My father appeared in the doorway.

He had heard enough.

“Leave,” he said.

Ethan tried to protest.

Dad stepped inside.

“Now.”

Ethan looked at Mia.

She turned her face away.

He left.

When the door closed, Mia whispered, “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him.”

I stared at her.

“I don’t care what you meant.”

She cried silently.

I stood.

“I stayed because you were scared and bleeding. Not because we are okay.”

She nodded, devastated.

“I know.”

But she didn’t.

Not yet.

None of us did.

May you like

My mother grabbed the front of my black hoodie so hard that I stumbled a...

My dad swore that woman would never come back—then her face appeared on...

The wooden jewelry box hit the marble floor so hard that I heard it brea...

Because the next morning, Ethan’s mother posted online that I had attacked a pregnant girl at graduation.

And by noon, the whole town was calling me the reason Mia almost lost the baby.