Page 46 of Jain

“End of year dance, it’s compulsory you all attend,” Heather Rollins drawled as she handed out leaflets in the hallway.

Beside me, Kate stiffened. My eyes fell to her stomach as she forced a smile.

“Great. Just what I need. Maternity dresses.”

Sarah sighed beside me and reached out to hug her.

“It’s fine. You can barely tell. You can get away with any sexy dress—”

“I don’t feel sexy, Sarah. I feel like a mountain of dog shit,” Kate admitted, her eyes filling with tears. “Now I’m crying because I’ve finally admitted it!”

Kate wasn’t remotely like a pile of dog shit and couldn’t be if she tried. But the pregnancy news had hit her hard. Her parents had gone ballistic, especially when she told them she didn’t know who the father was. Naturally, I highly suspected Arden, and predictably he had been nowhere to be seen since word got out.

“But you’re growing a human in there, and that’s amazing,” I soothed, joining in with the group hug.

“I’m going to be fat and stupid. Because there’s no way, I’ll pass my exams when all I want to do is sleep and be sick.”

I grimaced in sympathy when Harley turned up, beaming at us.

His face slightly fell when he saw Kate’s tear-stained face, and he pulled her in for a hug.

“Come on, Kate. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Oh yeah? So why can’t I stop crying?” Kate wailed whilst Harley sent me a desperate look.

“Get the girl some chocolate,” I commanded, and Sarah nodded, linking arms with Kate as they headed towards the canteen.

“Yes! Let’s go and get a huge Dairy Milk...” Sarah’s voice trailed off as Harley turned back to look at me, his eyes filling with concern.

“So, Kate’s keeping the baby.” Harley whistled, gazing after her admirably.

“Yep. But she doesn’t know for sure who the father is. I think it’s Arden—”

“They fuckedonce. Kate had been with Andrew more times than that, don’t forget that college dude.”

“Shh. Not our business.”

Harley shuffled in front of me, and I narrowed my eyes. He seemed nervous, and I didn’t want him doing anything stupid like—

“So, you know the end of year—”

This.

“I’m not going,” I said quickly, fixing an apologetic smile on my face. “But why don’t you ask Kate-”

“Because she would know it was a sympathy date, and she’d decline. Why aren’t you going?” Harley frowned, his eyes boring into mine with mild interest.

I could hardly explain why.

“Um...”

“Because you feel pressured? You know I’ve been nothing but a friend to you since you split with Arden. It’s been a long time now, so I thought, well, we could start back at the beginning.”

I groaned inwardly. “I just—”

“Please?” Harley begged, his eyes pleading with me when I caught sight of Evan walking down the corridor, his eyes narrowing as he took in the scene before him.

My heart flipped about a thousand times, my stomach tingling with longing.