The morning of my birthday arrived. I headed to athletics as usual when Tyler dropped me off.

I was one of the first ones there today. I heard what sounded like puking in the stalls.

What the fuck?

The sound made me want to gag. I went back outside the gym. Whoever it was, didn't need an audience.

Ari walked up with Jensen in tow. They were holding hands and smiling.

Ari looked at me, "Happy Birthday Alex."

Jensen echoed, "Happy birthday, any plans this year?"

I shook my head. "I told everyone I just wanted dinner and a movie with Tyler. I had the big fancy party last year. Seventeen isn't anything to really celebrate. Come see me when I'm eighteen."

"Agreed, eighteen is a whole lot more fun. I am just ready for nineteen already."

"How did you end up still in high school at nineteen?"

Ari shrugged, "I failed pre-elementary."

I looked at Ari, "Is that like Pre-K? Pre-kindergarten."

Jensen answered, "No, it's Kindergarten for us. Ari how the fuck do you fail pre-elementary?"

He laughed, "They said I wasn't mature enough yet."

"Okay but if Tyler was mature enough to pass, then your teacher was wrong." I quipped.

That made us all laugh. Of the two, Ari was definitely the serious one. Tyler was the life of the party. I had somehow been with both ends of the spectrum and I loved them both. I was just in love with one.

I looked at Ari then for a moment.

Yeah, I could have loved you like that too.

If things had been different. But as they stood, Ari and Jensen were making quite the pair. I wondered if they had taken it to the next step and started dating exclusively. I didn't want to pry with that though.

Cassie walked up with James then, "Happy Birthday Alex!" Cassie smiled and hugged me.

James went in for a bear hug. "Happy birthday Cuz."

"Thank y'all."

I got another round of hugs and birthday wishes before Cassie, Jensen, and I headed inside the gym. Coach Spencer was waiting outside the locker room. She looked very uncomfortable.

"What's up coach?"

She rubbed her face with her hand, "I have a very sensitive question to ask you three ladies."

We looked at each other, "What's up?" I repeated.

"The janitor found a test when she was taking the trash out last night. A pregnancy test."

"Not me!" We all said simultaneously. Coach Spencer looked relieved.

Something hit me then, "I was in here earlier. Someone was puking. I didn't stay long enough to find out who it was. You might check the cameras to see who came into the locker room. Might save you from having to ask the rest of the team the same question."

Coach Spencer's eyes lit up, "Thank you Harrison, you're a life saver."

She left us three then.

Cassie's jaw dropped, "Holy shit, who do you think it is?"

I shuttered, "The only girls I know for sure have had sex on this team are sophomores. And we know exactly who those two are."

"No! Not Miri, or..." Cassie gagged, "Darcy. Holy shit, who would the dad be?"

Jensen looked like she was about to gag and cry at the same time.

"I have to go." She muttered before heading out of the gym.

I looked at Cassie, "It'd either be Jensen's ex or the guy she's currently talking to."

God, Cass was such a dipshit sometimes.

She looked shocked, "Oh shit, you're right."

No shit, Sherlock.

I grabbed my phone and called Tyler.

"Everything okay, Baby?"

"You need to talk to Miri. They found a positive test here in the locker room and they are trying to figure out whose it is."

Tyler was quiet for a moment. Then I heard him yell across the parking lot, "Flores, get your ass the fuck over here!" He then said to me, "I'll call you back, Baby."

He had hung up.

I looked at Cass, "Fuck. He's talking to Danny in the parking lot."

Her eyes got big, "Oh this is going to be all over school by the end of first period."

Cassie was right. News like this did not stay quiet long. There were rumors swirling about who could be knocked up. Coach Spencer was in hot water for even talking to us. She was a young coach, an assistant. I knew she had meant well.

By eighth period the entire Cross Country team had been to see the nurse. The school counselor Ms. Griffin was there too. They gave us pamphlets about safe sex and let us know they were here if we needed to talk. I walked out with a hand full of condoms.

This would have never happened in "Abstinence Only" Texas.

I asked Elle and Jensen over to have dinner. We needed to gossip and been teenage girls for a while.

There was an unfamiliar bright blue car outside my house next to my dad's car. I walked in with the girls and called out his name.

Dad appeared with a smile on his face, "Happy Birthday baby girl!"

He gave me a hug and I said, "Whose car is out front?"

Dad smirked, "Yours."

All three of us girls shrieked as Dad handed me the keys. We ran outside to explore the little Corolla. It was perfect. She was perfect.

"Thank you Daddy!"

I hugged his neck.

He smiled, "Now this is the good news. The bad news is you still can't drive it alone until you get your G2."

I nodded, "I know. I promise."

Dad looked uncomfortable now, "So Ms. Stone called."

Oh shit, he knew.

"I'm not pregnant." Was the first thing I could think to say.

Dad laughed, "I know. You'd have told me or Elyse or Jordan by now if you were. I trust you there Kiddo."

That was a relief.

"So what did she want?"

She wants all of us over at her house, pronto. You better come too Jensen."

Well this was going to suck.

We all piled into my Corolla. Dad let me drive the seven streets over to the Stones. We rang the doorbell and Ms. Stone greeted us.

We headed inside and saw almost all the members of the families in here. Declan looked like a ghost. His eyes were bloodshot like he had been crying or hadn't slept. Next to him sat Ari who surprisingly looked the same.

I looked at Jensen, "Do you know why they look like they've been shot?"

She looked sheepish, "I was going to tell you tonight about it."

"You held this in all day?"

"I didn't want you freaking out at school. I was doing it enough for the both of us."

So it was Darcy. Their faces said enough.

Mrs. Stone got everyone's attention, "As most of you know, there is a rumor going around school that one of our students is with child."

There was a murmur of yes.

"I cannot reveal anything on that matter. What I can say is that there are going to be some changes in the Stone household and I think it would benefit all of our houses to follow."

Aunt Claire added, "I for one will no longer allow sleepovers at my house without explicit permission from the other parent."

Ms. Stone nodded, "The same goes for my house. Kids, we have let you all run around together since you were little. You're not little anymore. There are consequences for your actions. Adult consequences. Some of you are having to learn that now."

She wiped a tear from her eyes.

The parents proceeded to discuss rules why all of the kids sat there looking like our worlds were coming to an end.

Some wanted curfews, no more texting telling them where we were sleeping, and other rules that would ensure none of us could fuck in peace.

I mean, I got it.

The overwhelming majority of us in the room right now were sexually active with another person in the room. It was a miracle that none of us had been knocked up or gotten a disease at this point.

That didn't mean I liked it.

Happy Birthday to me.

When we got done, Elle asked permission to come back to my house. That was an easy yes. I was a safe zone. No boys lived at my house other than my old man.

I wanted to talk to Ari but I knew it wasn't the time. I saw Tyler brooding in the corner. I walked over to check in on him.

"Hey."

"This is bullshit. This better not affect me and Brenna practicing together or playing gigs together."

I cocked an eyebrow, "That's what you're worried about?"

Tyler smirked, "Baby, teenagers will find ways to fuck. No matter how many rules they try to put on us. If we want to fuck, we will find a way to fuck. That's been going on as long as there's been teenagers. Hell, my mom had my brother at eighteen. Me at nineteen. Aaron at twenty and Miri at twenty-two. She was already a mom at my age."

"I didn't realize your mom was that young."

Tyler nodded, "Either Munro or Declan fucked up. We all know it was them. I scared the shit out of Danny this morning, asking about Miri. First time he admitted they haven't gone that far yet."

My eyes bugged out a little, "Really? They've been together over a year."

Tyler smirked, "You're telling me. Apparently it's his Catholic guilt."

That made me laugh. "And yet Miri became best friends with Darcy."

Tyler snorted then, "Opposites attract I guess."

"Ew" I laughed.

Tyler wrapped an arm around me, "I'm sorry this fucked with your birthday today. We'll still go out this weekend."

I nodded and headed out with Jensen, Elle, and my dad.

Dad had been silent until we were away from everyone, "Well that was a waste of an hour."

I smiled, "You think so?"

Dad shrugged, "I have known Jack and Callie Mason since high school, and Cheryl Stone since college. Your Uncle Jim met your Aunt Claire in college too and you know what they all have in common?"

"What?" was the collective response from the car.

"All of them have partied and... banged, since they were teenagers."

We started laughing.

"Okay was not expecting that one from you Dad."

Dad shrugged, "I mean seriously, Callie was knocked up at seventeen. Our senior year of high school. Notice she kept her mouth shut? She knows. Either kids will make good choices or they won't. We as parents should be teaching you to make smart choices and wrap it up not be afraid of the opposite sex. Fuck what about the youngest Stone kid? Isn't he dating one of the Flores kids? Is Cheryl going to not allow her son to have him over? Or just couples who can reproduce?"

He had a point there.

I looked at my dad, "I promise I won't get pregnant in high school."

He smirked, "Still, talk to Aunt Claire and find out who her lady doctor is. If you want on birth control, fine by me."

"What makes you think I need it?"

"You date an eighteen year old guitarist in a band that plays all over town. I'm not stupid Alexandra."

Again, he had me there. Still I appreciated the candor.

"Thanks for not freaking out, Dad."

"Just be safe Alex. That's all I can ask of you."

I nodded. We got back inside my house and us girls went upstairs.

Ellie plopped on my bed, "If my dad had been at that meeting, all hell would have broken loose. He is all about young women having rights and not being afraid to be sexual beings."

Jensen shuttered, "For once I am happy I am not a part of this super clique by blood."

I nodded, "You heard my dad, he's not dumb. Tyler pointed out the obvious to me, all those rules are going to do is encourage us to sneak around."

Jensen countered, "At the same time, they have to do something. Darcy was able to go around fucking anything with a pulse and it was at their houses. She got caught with Ari at his house and Declan at his step-siblings parties. I mean, it was getting out of hand."

"The girls in these families aren't Darcy. Declan is the only one that's been a skank ass here lately."

"Facts." Elle reiterated.

I looked at Jensen, "So does Darcy know whose it is?"

Jensen shook her head, "She's going in for an ultrasound to see how far along she is. She had just found out she was pregnant this weekend."

"What's the chance that it's Ari's?"

Jensen shrugged, "Slim. I think. She was screwing Declan for the last couple of months. She had hooked up with Ari right before they split and a week or so after they split. If that baby is under eight weeks along, it's Declan's for sure."

Baby. Darcy was going to have a baby.

"Do you think she'll keep it?" Elle added.

I hadn't thought of that.

"You think she'll abort it?"

Elle shrugged, "I wouldn't put it past her."

That made me uncomfortable. I was done with this conversation. We shifted over to brighter topics and enjoyed our ladies night.