"Are you?" Troy said to his wife who was still crouched beside the toilet, not looking him in the eye.
"No." One word made Troy's smile quickly turn into a frown as he searched desperately for signs on Gabriella's face that she was kidding.
"You're not pregnant? But why are you being sick then?" Troy asked, stuttering on his words.
"Now, don't get mad at me, Troy, but I'm – I," Gabriella hesitated, trying to find the words, "bulimic."
"Bulimic? As in you make yourself sick just because you feel like it?! All this time I thought you were pregnant, I was proud of you that you didn't have a secret abortion, but no, you were just chucking up. How are you supposed to be a role model to Kelly if you show her that it's OK to starve yourself?! I can't believe you Gabriella," Troy said before storming up the stairs to their bedroom and slamming the door.
-
The next day, breakfast was awkward. All of the kids were gathered around the end of the table, talking quietly amongst themselves as if they had a secret they didn't want their parents to know.
"Mom?" Jack stood up from the table and walked over to where his mother was sitting, his siblings following.
"Yes, Jack?" Gabriella responded uneasily.
"Are you pregnant?" Jack asked quietly, unsure on how to approach the subject.
"No, honey, where would you get that idea?"
"I heard you and Dad talking last night, about you being sick. I heard the word 'pregnant' mentioned a few times."
"Well, I guess I should be straight with you guys, especially you Kelly," Gabriella responded, looking guiltily at her 15 year old daughter.
"OK, here goes. About a month ago, Kelly started getting thinner, which I'm sure you all saw; I noticed too. It got me really depressed and I started not eating. I knew that I was doing the same thing that was making me sad, but I couldn't stop. After a few weeks, I stopped. I forced myself to, for everyone's sake, especially Kelly's. But, even though I started eating, I still wasn't happy. It wasn't long before I became bulimic." All of the Bolton kids stood with their mouths hung open as Gabriella finished her story.
"Is that why you were being sick last night – because you're bulimic?" Jaime asked in a small voice, her hand stroking her small bump.
"Yes, Jaime, that's why," Gabriella finished, rising from her chair slowly, all eyes on her.
"Well, umm, we better get to school. Kyle, I'll give you a lift today, seeing as the limo isn't here yet," Jack said quickly, ushering his brother out of the room.
"Yeah, Kelly, I'll give you a lift today. Do you guys want a ride too or do you want to wait?" Jaime spoke to her two younger sisters, Alexz and Maddison.
"Thanks, Jaime, we'd love a ride," Alexz said, hastily leaving the awkward room, Gabriella still stood by her chair.
"Bye, Mom." The Bolton left simultaneously, leaving Gabriella on her own in the large dining room.
"Where'd everyone go?" Troy said, walking into the room in a suit that still had the price tag attached to the label.
"They all ran after I told them about my condition. They think I'm Satan or something," Gabriella said quietly, making her way into the hallway.
"Oh, honey, you're not Satan, and the kids don't think that. They're just in shock, it'll all blow over tomorrow, I bet," Troy said, hugging his wife tightly to his chest.
-
Jaime pulled up outside West Beverly with Kelly in the passenger seat. Alexz and Maddison didn't seem to mind being dropped off early, running off to a group of girls before Jaime could even say goodbye.
Everyone looked around when Kelly made her way up to the school building, muttering to each other as she passed them.
"Don't worry about it, baby, I'm sure half the girls here are going through the same thing," Jaime said, hugging her younger sister tightly before leaving to go to her own homeroom.
At that moment, Josh Montana walked nonchalantly up to Kelly, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before driving his lips onto her, wrapping his arms around her thin neck.
"Hey, Josh, how've you been? You haven't returned my calls for about 2 weeks now," Kelly said between kisses, feeling everyone's eyes on her.
"I've been busy, sorry. Listen," he said, pulling away from her, but not loosening his grip around her neck, "don't listen to what people are saying, they don't know what they're on about, you're not too skinny."
"Josh, I'm anorexic, and everyone knows that. I understand that I need help and I'm getting it, the least you could do is acknowledge my illness and support me," Kelly said, pulling away from him.
"Sorry, I didn't know you were so open about it. How about we skip first period and go and have a full English breakfast, my treat?" Josh probed, stroking Kelly's cheek lightly.
"JOSH, I can't go out and EAT! Don't you know what ANOREXIA does to you? Oh my Lord, get away from me!" Kelly said, pushing away from him and storming into her homeroom.
-
Jaime sat at the back of the class, sitting with her back to the people staring at her, whispering about Kelly. She sat still, stroking her bump instinctively.
"Hey, baby!" Andy called out to his girlfriend from the doorway. He walked across the room, all eyes on him as he bent down to peck his girlfriend's lips.
"Hey, can I talk to – privately?" Jaime said quietly, not looking at her boyfriend.
"Sure, let's cut and we can go for a drive, yeah?" Andy said, collecting Jaime's books from the desk.
"Thanks."
-
"So, what's up?" Andy said as he pulled out of the school parking lot in his red Mercedes.
"Can you pull over? I want you to be focused when I tell you this," Jaime asked as they veered into a quiet parking lot.
"Jaime, what's wrong? Why won't you tell me, I'm really worried," Andy said, playing with her hair as she fidgeted in the leather seat.
"OK. Here goes," she said quietly, hesitating before once again speaking, "I'm pregnant."
Andy stayed still, staring at the dashboard, not once blinking.
"Andy? Please speak, I need to know how you feel about this," Jaime pleaded looking into his glazed eyes.
He continued to stare into space, but extended his hand and grasped Jaime's, pulling it to his lips and pressing a light kiss on the ring finger.
"What was that for? Andy, are you OK?" Jaime asked uneasily, not attempting to remove her hand from his trembling grasp.
"I love you." With those words, Andy leant over and planted a kiss on Jaime's small stomach, rubbing it affectionately.
"Are you serious?"
"Jaime, this baby is mine as much as it's yours, so of course I'll help you. Have you told your folks yet?" Andy asked, not moving his hand from her stomach.
"Yeah, but when it gets out the paparazzi will be all over them, so I'm scared for them."
"They'll do whatever's best for you, baby. And you, too, baby." He looked down to her stomach as he spoke.
"Thank you, Andy, for being so good about this," Jaime said quietly, kissing him on the cheek.
"Don't worry about it. We can talk details later. Should I come over to your house so we can talk with your parents?"
"That'd be good, I'll let them know. We should really get back to school," Jaime answered.
"What's the rush? I like this," Andy spoke, getting out of the car and walking around to Jaime's door, opening it and lifting her out.
"Where are you taking my, Andy?" Jaime asked as he led them from the parking lot.
"Somewhere we can just be together."
Hope you guys liked it! Sorry it's been a while but I had a serious case of writer's block.