Jim sent the basketball through the hoop in the empty gymnasium with ease, and used the hem of his practice jersey to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He retrieved the ball and sent it through the hoop again with a resounding swish and couldn’t help but grin. He could hear the sounds of his fellow students starting to get louder in the hallway, signaling the end of their lunch period, and Jim jogged towards the locker room to change back into his normal clothes.

“You know,” he heard a voice call to him, “if you keep skipping lunch, your gym shorts aren’t going to stay on anymore. They’ll fall right off your hips.”

“And you would have a problem with that?” he teased back when he turned to see his girlfriend standing at the door, arms crossed over her chest, a small smile on her face.

“I wouldn’t like my boyfriend’s business to be flashed in front of the whole school,” she answered quickly, “so yeah, I’d have a problem with it.”

Jim shrugged and walked up to her, placing a kiss on her lips, careful not to ruin her outfit with his sweat, “I brought you a coke and some chips,” she told him.

“Thanks babe,” he said as he took the offered lunch from her hands. “I’m going to change so we can get to class in time. Wait for me?”

“Yeah,” she said with another small smile, and Jim noticed something wasn’t right about her expression.

“What’s the matter?”

“Huh?” she questioned as she turned back towards him, a worn copy of Pride and Prejudice in her hands. Her forced smile didn’t reach her eyes, and Jim put a hand on her shoulder.

“You seem… off, or something. Like you’re trying too hard to be happy. You can tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she told him, and she twisted the class ring on her finger. It was a nervous tick that Jim had become well aware of over their nearly four-year friendship and two-year relationship. It cemented his belief that she was lying.

“Don’t lie to me Cassie,” he stated firmly, “I know you better than that. What’s wrong?”

“I’m not feeling well,” she answered honestly, and Jim sat down on the bleachers with her as she continued to twist the ring around her finger. “I haven’t been feeling completely well for a couple weeks now.”

“You’re sick?”

“I don’t know yet,” she answered quietly. “But… sick wouldn’t really be the right word.”

“Cassie,” Jim started pushing a lock of her long blonde hair from her face, “I’m not quite understanding this here. Please just tell me?”

Cassie nodded and wrung her hands together nervously. The empty gym was silent, save the sounds of their breathing, until the bell shook them from their thoughts.

“We’re going to be late,” Cassie said suddenly, moving to stand up. Jim grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving. “Jim…”

“I don’t care if we’re late,” he answered, and she reluctantly sat back down. “Now, will you please stop being so cryptic and just tell me what is going on?”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Cassie…”

There were a few moments of silence before Jim heard her quietly speak the last six words he’d ever expected to hear.

“I think I might be pregnant.”

He didn’t say anything, he wasn’t sure he could.

“What?”

“I just realized it this morning,” she told him, “I thought I was just stressed, but…”

“You…what?”

“I know we tried to be careful,” she said, “and I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I don’t know…I mean, I’m not sure if I actually am…”

“Pregnant?” Jim’s voice cracked as he asked the one-worded question. “But…we…I…oh god.”

“I know,” Cassie assured him, “trust me, I know. I’m going to be dead. DEAD. Oh god.”

“You said you didn’t know for sure yet,” Jim asked, and Cassie nodded. “You haven’t taken a test yet?”

“I haven’t had time,” she answered. “I only thought about it this morning before school. It didn’t really hit me until third period, and then you weren’t at lunch…”

“You have to take a test,” Jim said suddenly, “right away.”

“I don’t carry pregnancy tests around with me, Jim,” Cassie muttered, frustrated. “And I sure as hell am not asking the school nurse for one. Actually, I don’t know if she would even have any…”

“Let me change and we’ll drive over to Drexel Hill and get one there.”

“Right now? We’ve got class…”

“Cassie, we’ve already missed fourth period. So what if we miss two more? I don’t think I’ll be able to make it the rest of the day with this…looming over my head.”

“Looming?”

“God,” Jim apologized, “that isn’t what I meant…I just…what I meant was…we’re in high school Cassie. You’re going to Yale next fall. A baby…that’ll change everything…”

“I know that Jim,” Cassie assured him, “I am more than aware of that.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

They were both quiet for a minute, then Cassie spoke again.

“Even if I am…you know…I may not keep it.”

“You aren’t seriously saying that you’ll…”

“I don’t know Jim.”

“But…”

“I’m eighteen Jim and so are you. We aren’t ready to be parents.”

“I know.”

“You got that scholarship to Notre Dame you’re waiting to hear about, I’m heading to Yale. We don’t even know where we’ll be a couple in nine months…”

“How did this conversation maneuver to breaking up?”

“It’s not.”

“It sure sounded like it to me, Cass.”

“I really don’t want to fight with you Jim. Not today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” she said with a sniffle. “I’m just worried, and scared, and I don’t know what to do. I just don’t know.”

“I guess we should probably go.”

“How are we going to get out of here without being seen?”

“We’ll go out through the back hallway by the locker rooms. No one is ever back there and my car isn’t parked far from there. Besides, I’m the star basketball player; they wouldn’t put me in detention. It’ll keep me out of the playoffs this week.”

“So full of yourself.”

“Just speaking the truth. Wait here,” he told her, “I’m going to change and I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Jim stood up to jog across the gym and then paused, turned back, and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. She sank down into his embrace and his lips grazed over her ear.

“We’ll be okay Cassie,” he promised her, “no matter what, we’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” he assured her, “I love you Cassandra Jenkins, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make this okay.”

“Anything?”

“Yes,” he answered quickly. “Anything. Wait here.”

---

Jim bounced his leg up and down where he sat at his desk in his bedroom. The ride to Drexel Hill and back hadn’t taken very long, and he’d driven them to his house so that she could take the tests they’d bought. They hadn’t been sure on what type to get or how many, so he watched anxiously as Cassie grabbed three different tests.

“We want an odd number,” she’d told him. “Best two out of three I guess.”

He had nodded and paid for their purchases, neither of them able to look the cashier in the eye. The drive back to Overbrook seemed unbearably long and for a while they couldn’t move from the car once it was parked in the Halperts’ driveway.

“We should really head inside now,” he’d mentioned after a solid ten minutes of silence and Cassie nodded in agreement. “I think we’ll feel better when we know. Either way.”

“Yeah,” she had quietly agreed. “I guess the waiting isn’t doing us any good.”

Jim’s heart began beating faster when he heard the door to the bathroom open and close and the footsteps of his girlfriend came down the hall.

“Now we just have to wait,” he heard her say as she sat down on his bed. “They take about three minutes.”

“You took all of them?” Jim asked before he joined her on his plaid comforter.

“No,” she answered, “I took two of them. If they come back with different answers then I’ll take the third.”

“I guess that makes sense,” he said, and maneuvered himself back to lie on his pillow. Cassie’s head landed gently on his chest and he felt her breath against his chin.

“I…” Cassie started and then stopped. After a shaky breath, she started again, “I think that if I am, you know, I won’t be able to get rid of it. Maybe we could look into like adoption or something.”

“Okay.”

“I just…”

“It’s okay Cassie,” Jim assured her. “Whatever you decide, we’ll be fine.”

“Thanks Jim.”

Jim ran his fingers through her long hair, one of his favorite past times, as they lay there quietly. Cassie finally sat up about twenty minutes later and stretched her legs in front of her.

“I’m going to go and check on those now.”

“Do you want me to, um, come with you…?”

“No,” Cassie answered quickly, “I think I need to do this on my own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she answered, and placed a chaste kiss against his lips. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Jim nodded, “if you are sure.”

“I am,” she assured him. “I promise, this is the way I want it.”

“Alright.”

Jim focused his attention on the ceiling fan as Cassie left his room. In order to keep his mind off of whatever the results might be, he started counting backwards from one hundred. It was random, he knew, but he had to do something.

He was so focused on counting that he didn't hear Cassie re-enter his room. When she sat down on the corner of his bed, he pushed himself up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He could see the tears in her eyes and his stomach dropped.

“We don't need the third test,” she told him calmly. “Both tests came back negative. I'm not pregnant.”

“You're not.”

“Nope,” Cassie told him and let out a huge breath of air. “I'm going to go.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“I know,” she assured him. “But, I need to clear my head. I'll talk to you later.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Jim.”

Cassie grabbed her book bag off the floor and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Can we not tell anyone about this?”

“If you don't want to.”

“I don't,” Cassie told him, “at least not yet. Maybe someday, but...”

“I understand,” he told her, “see you tomorrow.”

---

Six Thousand, Six Hundred, and Fifty-Nine

Today was surely on hell of a day. I mean...I...I could have become a father today. That scares the shit out of me. I love Cassie, I do. I want to marry her someday. But we're still in high school and neither of us are even close to being ready for a child.

Is it wrong for me to feel relived? Because I do. Very much so. I mean...

God, I feel like a prick.

It would put my scholarship at risk and Cassie's future too. She wants to be a doctor and is well on her way...man. We got lucky...

Which is a poor choice of words actually. This is going to change things. I don't want it to, but it will. I just hope that Cassie doesn't completely freak out and pull away from me.

She loves me, I know she does...but this really does change things...

Our futures have changed...I guess we'll see what happens next.