baby ⇒ jeff atkins

11.

"wait, you mean it worked?" jeff says over the phone. i can't see his face, but i can just imagine his surprised face.

"yeah, she totally believed it," i sigh. i know i should be happy, and i know that i shouldn't care that jeff has to technically date vera, since we're not even dating, but i can't get rid of the sinking gut feeling in my stomach.

"oh, it worked," he groans, obviously feeling the same way as i am. it sounds mean, but at least he's feeling it too and i'm not the only one who's pissed off about this whole situation. "i actually have to date vera?"

"she's no-" i'm about to defend my 'best friend', and tell jeff that she's not that bad, but we both know that's a lie. we both know that she is that bad. "i'm sorry, jeff," i sigh, not knowing what else to say.

"what are you sorry for?" he chuckles lightly, which makes me want to melt. his laugh always has that effect on me. "it's not your fault vera's a bitch," he tries to cheer me up, but it's not really working.

"i should've been more careful," i mumble. i'm not even sure if jeff heard me, but i'm not just talking about vera finding out. i wouldn't even be in this situation if i had been careful in the first place.

"hey, i gotta go but i'll come see you later," he says quickly.

"wait, no you can't-" i try to explain but he has already ended the phone call. shit. i didn't even have time to tell him that he can't come to my house, my parents would kill me. and probably jeff too.

it's the end of the school day. i look down at my phone and realise i only have ten minutes until i need to be home. fuck. i forgot i was grounded, and i forgot i have to be home by 3:30. i've probably missed the bus, and it takes me twenty minutes to walk home.

i unlock my phone and pull up marcel's contact. my plan was to call him for a ride, but then i remembered he went back to college this morning. i don't even have flynn's number as he's never around anyway.

i sigh and start to walk home, thinking of as many excuses i could for when i got home.

♡

i ended up running home after i couldn't think of a valid excuse, which was a bad idea. by the time i got to the porch of my house, i was already out of breath and i was dehydrated. considering i'm pregnant and i was only discharged from the hospital yesterday, i am definitely not taking good care of myself.

i make a mental note in my head to chug a litre of water as soon as i'm done dealing with my parents. i check my phone for the time once more. five minutes late. maybe they'll let this slide?

"where have you been?" my father asks as soon as i step foot into the house. well, i guess i was wrong.

"nowhere, i missed the bus so i has to walk home," i shrug. i sound a lot more convincing, as i'm technically not lying.

"why did you miss the bus? were you with that jeff boy?" he continues, standing up and crossing his arms.

i ignore his question at first, as the only thing i can think about is chugging down a litre of water as my mouth becomes more and more dry. i walk into the kitchen, but that only pisses off my dad more.

"diana avery, don't you walk away from me," he raises his voice, but not too loud. he was friendlier than my mother, less intimidating and more sincere. but he still got angry from time to time.

"dad, i'm sorry ok? i got caught up at school, that's all that happened," i say, slightly impatient. i grab the largest glass i can find and start to fill it with water.