“You knew when you found out if you wanted to keep it?”Diya asked.
“Sorta,” she murmured.“But I was really scared.”
“Aren’t we all?”I said.
“How did Mr.Avery respond when he found out?”
“Overall, he was really”—another pause—“really, really happy.”
With a redness to her cheeks, Diya smiled.“That’s good.”
Sakura glanced between us, then turned toward Diya.“I’m not going to lie to you.It’s going to be really hard, especially in the beginning and once everyone at Redwood finds out.We’re almost in the middle of second semester, so it might not be too bad.You may be able to hide it.”
“Oh,” Diya said, stiffening and peering at me.“It’s Astrid …”
After moving closer, Sakura lowered her voice.“Yes, of course.Astrid’s pregnant.”
Except the look in her eyes made it obvious that she knew who really was the pregnant one out of the two of us.She wasn’t going to be named the valedictorian for nothing.Sakura was smart and could pick up on the smallest of things.
“If she needs anything throughout the pregnancy, I’m always here,” Sakura said to Diya.
Diya nodded softly, tears welling in her eyes.“Thank you.”
CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
CALIX
Redwood Academy buzzed with conversation,slamming lockers, and the occasional teacher screaming at a student at seven fucking thirty in the morning.I grumbled to myself and headed to my locker, half listening to Arch bitch about something.
My gaze scanned the crowd for Astrid.She had been acting weird these past few days.
First, it had been sending me half-assed messages.Then she started ignoring me completely.My sister had barely said anything to me whenever I asked about Astrid, keeping her mouth shut and acting like she didn’t know what I was talking about.
I balled my hand into a fist.I didn’t like it one bit.
Rush leaned against the lockers beside mine, arms crossed.Cairo stood beside him, backpack hunched up onto his back and his head buried into a textbook, studying before his exam in Physics today.
“Hey,” I said, interrupting Arch.“Has Astrid said anything to you?She’s been … weird.”
Cairo looked up from his book at the mention of Astrid.
“Gonna have to be more specific.She’s always fucking weird.”
Trying to seem less affected than I actually was, I shrugged.“I don’t know.She’s been ignoring me these past couple of days.I thought, maybe, something had happened at home with your parents or something …”
Rush peered over.“She messaged me last night.”
“She did?”I asked.
“Yeah, wanted to meet up later today.”
“Bullshit,” Arch said.“She doesn’t want to hang with you.”
“Swear,” Rush said.
“Well, ask her what’s up,” I said, attempting to not be a dickhead to him.
Yet my jealousy was bubbling up in my stomach.For Astrid, I would fight, but Rush could fucking obliterate me with a single punch.Still, my fist was twitching in envy.Rush and Astrid weren’t even close.Why did she want to hang out with him?
