My hands are still shaking when I finally wrap the stick in toilet paper, tucking it deep into my pocket.
“Okay,” I whisper as I stand up and stare at my reflection in the mirror, my voice barely holding. “Okay.”
But nothing feels okay at all.
“Go home,Evans. I don’t want you puking out there,” Coach Lawson says. “Get better, then come back stronger for the next one.”
He's tall and broad-shouldered, with light brown hair and a permanently irritated expression. He’s also the Saltwater Springs high school football coach—and the only person in town who’s been willing to step up and coach our surf team for the last four years.
“Thanks, Coach,” I mumble, turning away from the pre-competition team meeting and heading toward the path home.
My eyes catch on Maliah who gives me a worried look before glancing away. Zale notices the exchange and narrows his eyes suspiciously before refocusing on Coach Lawson.
It takes me twice as long to get home because I drag my feet the entire way. Luckily, my parents won’t be back until after the competition since they’ll be busy cheering Zale on, so I head straight to my room and curl up on my bed.
I cry for what feels like hours until I’m almost asleep, but a familiar tapping sound pulls me back. I sit up, holding my breath as I listen for the sound again, and another tap against my window causes me to jump out of bed and rush over to look outside where I find Gabriel standing below, a brown paper bag dangling from one hand.
“Meet me out front?” he asks quietly.
I manage a small smile, even as my heart pounds painfully in my chest, and nod.
I’m not ready to see him, but he leaves in the morning. This might be my last chance to tell him everything if I’m planning to do it in person.
I pull on a fleece sweater before heading downstairs and meeting him on the front porch steps.
“I went to watch you surf but heard you weren’t feeling well,” he says, patting the brown paper bag beside him. “ I brought some hangover soup.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, forcing a smile as I sit next to him.
He studies my face for a moment, brow creased. “Have you been crying?”
My smile breaks as my lip trembles, and within seconds I start sobbing, folding in on myself.
Gabriel pulls me close, one arm firm around my shoulders, rocking us gently as he murmurs, “Shh. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
But it isn’t. I’m about to change his entire life, and he doesn’t even know it yet.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out between sobs.
Gabriel goes completely still. The rocking stops and the soft reassurance cuts off like someone flipped a switch.
“What?” he croaks.
I can’t make myself say it again. Instead, I dig into the pocket of my shorts and pull out the pregnancy test, still wrapped in toilet paper, and hand it to him.
He lets me go and takes it, unrolling it slowly. I watch carefully as his face drains of colour while he stares down at the two lines, and I feel my heart break all over again.
“This is…real?” he asks hoarsely. “You’re not messing with me, right?”
“It’s real,” I whisper.
He sets the test down on the porch between us and finally looks up, running a hand through his hair. “I thought you were on birth control though.”
“I was. I am,” I say. “But it still happened.”
“Right,” he mutters, rubbing his face, dragging his hands over his eyes before pushing his hair back again. “Okay. What do you want to do?”
I swallow and shrug, and judging by the way his jaw tightens, that’s not the answer he was waiting for.
