Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Where are you?” I ask, getting straight to the point.
“Getting breakfast with Dale.”
“Can you come over? I need to talk to you.”
“Everything okay?”
“No, Richie and I hooked up last night, but I can barely remember it, and what I do remember, I thought… well, I thought I was hooking up with Landon.” It felt so real. Like he was with me. Kissing me and making love to me. But as I think back, I knew deep down it wasn’t him. But it was as if my mind made me believe it really was. “Melissa, I think maybe I was drugged.”
Melissa is quiet for a moment before she says, “I’ll be right there.”
We hang up, and a few minutes later, she’s knocking on my door. I swing it open, flinching at the bright sunlight.
“Thanks for coming over.” We go straight into my room, and even though my mom isn’t home, I close the door.
“Melissa, if you know something, you have to tell me. Richie said you were on something last night. Did you slip me something?”
“It was just supposed to help you relax,” she says flippantly, and the tiny hairs on my nape rise.
“What?” Richie was right. She drugged me!
“I slipped half a pill into your drink, so you would loosen up.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Melissa!” I screech. “What the hell were you thinking?” I stand, but when I feel like I’m going to throw up, I sit back down.
“Chill out. Angela was on it too.”
“She knew what you were doing?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I didn’t know you were going to hook up with Richie.”
“I thought he was Landon!” I knew something was wrong. The way my body felt hot and tingly. I chalked it up to drinking, but I knew deep down I hadn’t had that much to drink. I can’t believe she would do this to me. I’ve seen Melissa do a lot of shady shit over the years, but this is a new low, even for her.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I really didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. Half the people at the party were on something.”
“You never should’ve done that,” I say, standing again. “You need to leave now.”
She scoffs. “I said I was sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix what you did. And we both know you’re not really sorry. You’re just saying it to shut me up. I could’ve overdosed and died.”
“It was half a pill!” she argues. “Don’t be fucking dramatic.”
“I had sex with a guy and I barely even remember it!” I shout. “Get out of my house! I never want to speak to you again.”
I rush over to the door and swing it open. “Leave now!”
Melissa glares at me. “You’re being ridiculous, Harper. You don’t want me as an enemy.”
“Well, I don’t want you as a friend either. Now leave.”
After I slam the door behind her, I spend the rest of the weekend crying in my room. When my mom comes home, I tell her I’m not feeling well and thankfully, she leaves me alone.
Richie texts a couple times then calls, but I ignore him. I know it’s not his fault. He didn’t know what Melissa did, but it doesn’t change what happened. It doesn’t change the fact that not even a month after Landon and I broke up, I had sex with another guy. And not just any guy… my ex-boyfriend.
Ten
Harper
“The test is positive, honey,” Mom says softly. I shake my head, not wanting to believe it. It’s been two months since Richie and I slept together. The first month I missed my period, I knew something was wrong. Then the morning sickness began. But I lived another four weeks in denial, not wanting to admit what I already knew was true. I’m pregnant with Richie’s baby.
Landon has gone against what we agreed to and has called me several times over the last couple weeks, probably because of the holidays, but I can’t face him, even if it’s only over the phone. I know if I hear his voice or see his face over the screen, I’ll lose it. It doesn’t matter that we’re broken up. It still feels wrong. So, every voicemail and text he’s left and sent, I’ve deleted without reading.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but your life doesn’t have to be over,” Mom says. “You have options.”
Options… Yeah, do I keep the baby, give it up for adoption, or have an abortion? Unfortunately, none of those options include going back to the night of the Halloween party and making the right choice not to drink. If I hadn’t drunk that night, I wouldn’t have been drugged by my ex-best friend, and I wouldn’t be sitting here in the bathroom with my mom having this conversation.