Chapter 7

Ricky was interrupted from getting ready to shower by a knock on his door, he sighed wondering if he'd ever get to relax again. He was surprised to see s sweaty, angry and crying Ashley at his door.

"What happened? Are you ok?" he asked as she hugged him and buried her face to his chest.

She just started sobbing louder so he pulled her in and closed the door, leading them to the couch he sat down awkwardly as she refused to let go of him. He stroked her hair "I take it your parents didn't take us dating to well…"

He was cut off "dating" she laughed bitterly "thanks to Amy they know I'm pregnant!"

He tensed but couldn't say anything as Ashley pulled back and glared at him through her tears "Why was she here! We are supposed to be together, you can't sleep with my sister just because I'm not around…"

"Whoa! What are you talking about now?" he interrupted "I haven't been with Amy since band camp!"

Ashley separated from him "don't lie to me Ricky she told me she was here!"

He looked at her as anger rose in him "she was here! But only so I could see John. Why do you think something happened?"

Ashley grit her teeth "she insinuated as much! Telling me she was here, blushing like she did something, yelling at me…"

"Oh for fuck sake" he sighed leaning back "you want to know what happened? She kissed me that's it… then she ran off home and apparently got you all riled up over what you think happened."

Ashley seemed to come up short, sure Amy kissing Ricky was still bad but not as bad as what she imagined. She blamed the hormones although she really didn't know enough about pregnancy to state that definitively. Clamping down on her feelings she fell back against the couch worn out and still sweaty from her power walk over to his apartment.

"So nothing happened?"

Ricky sighed and ran a hand through his hair giving her the truth, sort of… "Pretty much, she kissed me and then reminded me she was with Ben and ran off."

She curled into him "sorry" she muttered "but everything's going bad, my parent know everything because Amy and I got into a fight and she blurted out I was pregnant. I'm just so confused everything seemed so fine when we were in our own little bubble but my father wants me away from you he even threatened transferring me to another school… Amy is with Ben but I know she likes you, and is showing an interest now that I am too for some reason, and through all this I disappointed my mom."

Ricky closed his eyes "so what do we do?"

"I don't know" she claimed clutching a portion of his shirt in her tiny fist "I just want to be with you that's all I'm certain of anymore."

~Juergens' Household~

Amy sat quietly next to her mother feeling horrible about the fight for some reason and also apprehensive as she waited for her parents to speak.

"Amy? What happened? What is happening with you two?" Anne asked.

Her eldest daughter shrugged and looked at the table, wishing she was with John right now upstairs rather than here.

George stood up, opened his mouth, and then shut it. He stalked out of the room and out the back door. Anne watched him go then turned to Amy "please tell me what is going on you two used to never fight, maybe you didn't get along but you never really fought. Now you say your sister is pregnant by Ricky and you two are fighting over him please just explain to me what's going on honey."

Amy sighed "I really don't know. I caught Ashley and Ricky together and she told me she was pregnant… and I hate her, I don't know why but I do. And she just flaunts around her relationship with Ricky not caring about how it affects others or John. School was already bad for me it was just starting to get better now this happens… and I'm just so confused."

Anne sighed quietly "so she's really pregnant?"

"Well if she wasn't before she is now after what I walked in on…" she noticed her mother flinch "sorry… I mean I think so, she said she was, but until she goes to a doctor who knows."

"Amy if you need to talk about any of this, please come to me" she touched her daughters shoulder "no matter what I'm here for you and Ashley. Now I need to go find your father before he does something stupid."

She stood and left Amy to contemplate tonight's events, as she came to the backyard she noticed George with a beer in his hand as he stared blankly out at nothing.

"George…"

He didn't respond but looked at her from the corner of his eye and then returned to his drink.

"Are you ok?" she asked softly touching his arm.

He shuddered as if trying to keep himself in control from either crying or exploding in anger, with a deep breath he muttered "where did we go wrong?"

"George, we didn't go wrong."

"The hell we didn't!" he exclaimed "both daughters pregnant, both in their first year of high school and both by the same son of a bitch!"

Anne squeezed his arm "even so, no matter what happens or did happen we need to be there for them especially Ashley. It doesn't matter if we approve, we can't push her away… I know your angry so am I, and disappointed… but no matter how I feel about it she's still my little girl."

At that George let a few tears slip, it had always been obvious he favored Ashley over Amy although he tried to be equal to them. "My little girl…" he whispered through his tears and hung his head.

~Ricky's Apartment~

Not having eaten practically all day Ricky fed Ashley leftovers as the two talked about all their options; all the ifs, ands, and buts… Now they were desperately trying to get their minds off the subject. Ashley ate quietly her heart clenching at the thought of her father's anger and mother's disappointment.

"Can I stay here?"

Ricky looked up from his drink "will it be ok? Now that they know wont they come try and get you?"

She shrugged "I don't think they will, my dad won't ask Amy for your address. He hasn't called since I left and it's been over and hour so I'm pretty sure they don't care where I am."

"Or they assume you're already over here" he said softly.

"Please" she said softer "I need to be with you."

He nodded, no matter what he was playing at for the long run with Ashley and her sister he hated seeing the strong girl he knew cry "you can stay for as long as they'll let you, if your dad goes to the cops I can't stop them from taking you."

The rest of the evening was spent begrudgingly doing homework and then showering and going to bed without much more talk between the two. As he drifted off to sleep somewhat uncomfortably with the young girl using him as a pillow, he sighed and stared into the darkness really trying to understand what would happen and how bad the fallout was going to be.

~Grant High School~

Next Morning

Amy stood by her locker for once grateful Ben was dragged off by Henry as she watched impatiently for Ricky to show up. She wasn't sure what she wanted or what was going on in her life anymore but she knew she wanted Ricky to be in it, she squashed the feelings that she felt for her sister both anger and sadness. Adrian another of her worries made no attempt to hide that she was doing the same standing in the middle of the hallway her arms crossed under her bust as she glared at the doors.

It wasn't until the tardy bell was about to ring when Ashley walked in, not looking sad, mad or even happy. But maybe content… as if yesterday's events didn't happen.

"He's not at school today" Ashley said sticking her nose up at Adrian as she walked past, Adrian huffed and hurried off to class.

Amy looked to her sister and was met with a glare, Ashley walked up "Ricky told me what really happened… stay away from him, unless you want Ben to find out what's been going on!"

Amy gripped her books, she didn't care about Ashley's feelings as anger squashed everything down "keep your mouth shut" she hissed.

"Or what?" she said "you have nothing to threaten me with, just leave Ricky alone and I leave you alone."

Amy shut her locker "why don't you tell Ricky to leave me alone? Or are you so deluded you think I started kissing him?"

Ashley just glared for another moment and walked away from her looking for her friend but really wanting to be at home with Ricky safe from the outside world. And for the most part the rest of the world didn't care, it kept moving, the drama between the small groups of high school students didn't affect the hundreds of other students going about their life. Ashley was fine with it the less people took notice of her the better she wanted nothing but Ricky at the moment no matter how foolish it looked from others perspectives, or how much she knew she was going to have to fight to keep it the way it was. But she was ready to fight Adrian, Amy even her own parents because Ricky was her world now and she believed the others were at fault she couldn't and wouldn't believe that Ricky was betraying her.

A/N: Still don't have a computer so the chapter is short because I'm not spending all day at the library.