And There Were Wolves

thirty two | but no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity

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XYRRA

It was evident that Ryker was keeping his distance from me. It was pretty obvious and such a contrast compared to the closeness we had while we were on the lake. During breakfast this morning, he had deliberately taken the furthest chair away from me and when I'd greeted him, he murmured something in return without turning to look at me, let alone meeting my eyes. His entire attention was on the news he was reading and the bowl of cereal and muesli before him, with his silver eyes locked on. Later, on the stairs, I accidentally bumped into him, and he reacted as if I had burned him. At school today, I quickly completed the given assignment which was to decorate the indoor court so that I could not be distracted from analyzing what had happened this morning and yet I still couldn't figure it out. The whole morning had been really strange. He was never one to talk much, but today he seemed particularly quiet. As I headed to the hallway, my thoughts kept drifting back to him.

While walking with me from the locker room to here, Davina Park, one of my few female friends, seemed to notice my mood. "Hey Xy, everything alright with you??"

"Yeah." I offered an encouraging smile. "How about you? How's the, um, morning sickness and all that?"

Dav and I had talked about marriage and kids a couple of months ago when I told her about Brett's wish to get married as soon as we graduated. Neither of us had imagined that Dav would be the first to experience all of that. This pregnancy had taken everyone by surprise, but I was glad that Trey Cartwright — aka Cindy's ex who'd slept and gotten Davina pregnant — wasn't much of an arsehole as he was a cheater and had actually manned up. He advised Dav to consider keeping the baby, but ultimately left the decision up to her whether to put the child up for adoption, raise it, or have an abortion. Although she wasn't sure about being a mother at eighteen, my friend decided to keep it for now. She had a few more months before making a decision became necessary.

"It's okay now. No more puking, which is great. Though sometimes I have this crazy urge to eat a specific dish or snack. It's weird." Dav shook her head and let out a small sigh. "Life is going to be so much different for me once this bump is getting bigger."

I came to a stop and turned towards her. "Wait." One look at her face and I could tell what it was about. "You haven't told your parents, have you?"

Davina's face looked dejected as she confirmed, "No. I couldn't do it last night. Xy, you don't know how my dad looked at me last night. He was talking about me going to college in the States just like him and how I will be able to reach my dream to become a true artist." Dav wiped her face with one hand and briefly closed her eyes. When she reopened them, I could see sadness mixed with confusion and guilt. "I just couldn't say it to him. But I will try again tonight or tomorrow."

Holding her hand, I gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know you will. And I know that it's not easy, but it might be best for him to hear it directly from you than other people, Dav."

"I know." She put her arm around my shoulder and sighed again. "I'm a disappointment."

"That's not true. You're not." I held her gaze. "Everyone makes mistakes. Plus, who would've thought when the protection would actually fail to protect us?"

Her face brightened, and she laughed at my last sentence. "Right."

"Let's go shopping after we're done with this whole preparation for prom," I suggested, even though I wasn't in the mood for shopping right now. All I wanted was to drop back at Eros's place as soon as possible and asked him to hand me the key. "We can go to the dessert shop that you always enjoy."