Artificial Insemination

Chapter Four

After another bout of gut-wrenching morning sickness, Layla peeled herself away from the toilet for long enough to get ready for college.

She bustled around the house as quietly as possible, shoving the things she'd need for the day inside her backpack and searching through the cupboard for her good shoes.

Her dad had left for work about an hour ago but her mum was sleeping, so after rustling together some semblance of breakfast, she was leaving through the front door without so much as a goodbye.

As usual, she walked to the bus stop down the road and pushed headphones into her ears while waiting for the transport to arrive. Only, unlike other days, she couldn't help put pay an absurd amount of attention to the other shifters around her, barely hearing the music blaring in her ears as her eyes flitted around.

She'd never paid much mind to it before, but it was almost uncanny how the shifters seemed to bunch together at the back of the bus like there was some unspoken rule Layla wasn't privy to.

She noticed the small smiles they gave to each other, the pointed eye contact between them, the synchronised way that they moved around, not one of them accidentally bumping into the other or mistakenly going for the same seat.

She also noticed how the humans made a blatant effort to ignore them, pushing past them in an attempt to pay for the bus fare first and not even turning around to apologise.

As she observed her surroundings, she could almost see a scene twelve years in the future- her child being pushed to the back of the bus, being ignored and treated like a second class citizen for the simple fact that they existed.

Shaking the image away, she looked out of the window instead, disturbed with what she had witnessed.

The picture had seemed too real.

It was too early to think about such things, she reminded herself sternly. She had to take this journey one day at a time.

Sinking down in her seat, her thoughts turned to Dale.

He hadn't responded to her message.

She couldn't lie to herself and say that it didn't hurt. It was possible that it was the hormones that were making her emotional, but also, she assumed that he would have seen the message by now and thought he cared enough to reply.

There was no other option but to brush it off.

She was going to be strong for the baby.

And her sanity.

Jen met her in Economics, their first class of the day, and rubbed a hand across her shoulder blades as she sat down. "How are you feeling today?" The girl asked, lowering her voice as the teacher started speaking. "Morning sickness kicking your ass?"

"You bet it is." Layla complained. "I don't think I can take another morning of that crap."

Jen gave her a look that said, 'I'd rather you than me.'

Much to Layla's surprise, at the end of the day as she was walking off the college premises and back to the bus stop, she was stopped by the beeping of a car horn.

Looking over her shoulder, she noticed her mum waving her over through the window and made her way toward the vehicle.

"Hey," she opened the door and jumped into the passenger seat. "What are you doing here?"

Her mum didn't normally pick her up. To the contrary, Layla couldn't remember the last time the woman drove her home from college.

At least not willingly.