"You have a choice to make," my mother says solemnly around a mouthful of pizza. She half-covers her mouth in an attempt to look more polite and then sets her cheesy slice down onto her paper plate. She swallows and looks to me pointedly. 

I sigh. 

"I know," I grumble under my breath and push at my slice of pizza absently. My gaze skirts over the packet of papers that sit between us, half hidden by a box of pizza. I pick the papers up and scan over them for the hundredth time. 

Amanda wipes some pizza grease from her mouth with a napkin. "I don't think that you should quit. I mean, this is your senior year. It's supposed to be special. I don't think that you should give that up just because you're having a baby. But it's really up to you." 

I nod. "I'm just worried about the work-load."

"And what about Miley?" Amanda asks. 

I press my lips into a firm line. The stress that Miley will most likely add to my load could possibly beak me. I'm not sure whether I can handle the bullying on top of school work. But at the same time, I'm not sure that I can't handle it either. Other's opinions have never really bothered me. 

"Who is that?" My mother asks, her brows crinkling with confusion. 

Amanda briefly explains while I contemplate the pros and cons. The bulling would have to eventually stop. My main focus should be my grades; dating Blue-Eyes proved disastrous for my GPA, and I won't be able to graduate unless I get them back up into the A-B range. I'm not sure that I could do that from home. I have tried online classes before, and I know that I definitely learn better in a classroom.  

"I think that I'll duke it out for a while longer," I say finally. Amanda takes a bite of her pizza and my mother arches her eyebrow. I explain, "I don't want to spend my senior year hiding out at home. And I honestly think that it will be beneficial for my grades, that I stay in a classroom setting. But I don't want to completely close that option off yet. My opinion might change in the next few months." 

My mother nods with understanding. She stands and starts toward her bedroom. "Then I'll go email the principal and let him know what we've decided so far. Hopefully the teachers will be able to keep an eye on that Miley girl and help out if necessary." 

Amanda snorts, but says nothing. My mother vanishes without another word and Amanda glances at me, her eyebrow arched. "Are you sure about this?"

I shake my head. "Nope. But I'm going to give it a shot anyways." 

She nods and shoots me a wide smile. "I'll be here no matter what."

That brings a smile to my face. "What did I ever do to deserve a best friend like you?" 

She closes one eye in a wink and takes another bite of her pizza.

The rest of the night passes pretty quickly for a Sunday night. Amanda decides to spend the night, much to my mother's delight, and we end up conked out on my bed by eleven. Neither of us are prepared for the alarm clock to scream the next morning. 

I shower first. I notice, as I stand naked beneath the stream of water, that I have a tiny bulge budding at the base of my stomach. It hardly extends further than an ant bite would. I touch it hesitantly and then shake my head. I can't get carried away. Amanda needs to shower. 

Amanda hops in when I finish with the bathroom, and I hastily try to get dressed. I grab the first thing that I can find, which happens to be more yoga-pants and an old Batman t-shirt. I dry my hair and pull it back as Amanda exits the bathroom. She squints at me. "What size are you?" 

I frown at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just wondering if I will be able to steal some of your clothes for the day," she explains, and then shakes her towel clad butt. "I'm not exactly a twig, you know." 

I roll my eyes at her and walk into the closet. I pull out several older, larger t-shirts and sweat pants. "As long as you don't mind looking like a bum," I say as I hold out her options. 

Amanda disappears back into the bathroom, and it isn't long before we're both dressed, fed, and ready for hell. 

She drives me to school, per usual, and I half-expect the entirety of the student body to erupt in a mass of gossip when I climb out of Amanda's van. I mean, word travels fast through the mouth of a hormonal teenager, and what happened to me last week wasn't exactly hush-hush. Amanda loops her arm through mine and we walk into the courtyard together. Thousands of eyes burn curious holes through my forehead. 

"Let's go chill with Ms. Henry," Amanda suggests quietly. 

Before I can object, she leads me toward the building said classroom is in. I sigh softly through my nose and pause when my gaze falls on Kylie. She stands a few feet away from the entrance to the building, sporting a similar outfit to mine, and an uncertain expression. Her gaze is on Amanda. I notice her cheeks burst with color when she realizes that I've caught her staring, and I smile at her. 

"Let's pick up Kylie," I say, dragging Amanda toward the blonde. 

Kylie straightens as we approach. She smiles hesitantly, her gaze shifting from me to Amanda. Amanda smiles kindly back at her. "We're going to go hang out with Ms. Henry," I say. "Want to come?"

The blonde nods. 

Moments later, we find ourselves sitting in Ms. Henry's classroom. Amanda and Kylie chatter lightly as I work on my packet, with Ms. Henry skimming through Pinterest at her desk. When I finish the packet, I bring it up to the teacher, with a good thirty minutes to spare before the first bell rings. She glances over it and, without really grading it, stamps a check-mark onto front of it. 

Then her gaze flickers up to meet mine. "I would like to speak with you in private, if that's alright?"

I glance back over my shoulder at Amanda and Kylie. They obviously had heard, and stand and walk toward the door cheerfully. "We'll see you outside," Amanda chirps as Kylie opens the door. Both smile at me reassuringly. 

When the door shuts, Ms Henry instructs me to pull up a seat. I comply and then shift around nervously in my seat. "What did you need?"

She smiles at me. It's a warm, motherly smile. "I just wanted to talk to you about what's happened recently. I know that you've been through a lot. The principal alerted all of your teachers to your situation." 

"Yeah," I say. I'm not completely sure what I should say. to that 

"I just thought that it might be beneficial for you to hear my story," Ms. Henry continues. "I know that you've probably heard the rumors." 

I press my lips into a firm line. I'd heard the rumors, and more. 

Her smile grows into something almost sardonic. She chuckles and nods. "I thought so. Would you like to know what really happened?" 

I nod. 

"Seth was a student of mine two years ago, back when I taught tenth grade math." She knots her fingers in front of her mouth. "He honestly hasn't changed much. He's still just as charismatic, just as immature. And that was part of why he was failing my class. He didn't care too much about his studies, just the girls around him. After mid-terms went out, and he realized that he wasn't going to pass the semester, he approached me one afternoon." 

Her gaze has clouded over now. My stomach churns with unease. 

"He propositioned me," she snorts and shakes her head. "He told me that he'd make me the happiest woman in the world, so long as he managed to get a B in the class. All he needed was a B."

I press my lips into a firm line. I can so see Blue-Eyes attempting something like that, even now that he's a senior. Ms. Henry rubs at her temples and sighs. "Naturally, I turned him down. I was new to teaching. I had never had anything like that happen to me before, so I was shocked to say the least. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even think to tell my husband at the time." 

"What did he do?" I ask. 

Her gaze flickers up to meet mine. Relief swims within her eyes. She cracks a thin smile. "He got insulted, of course. Threatened me. Tried everything in the book. He stormed out of the classroom and I honestly thought that that was it. I thought he'd be done with it, maybe even try to transfer out of my class. I never expected him to make such an accusation against me. The police got involved immediately, because of his parent's influence. It totally skipped an internal investigation through the principal. Naturally, they found nothing to use against me. The charges were dropped but the damage had been done. It took almost a year for everything to settle down." 

She rubs at the side of her face. "By then my husband didn't trust me. My marriage fell apart, and my reputation was crap. The only reason that I kept my job was because I've known the principal for years. He knew me enough to know that everything that Seth said was complete baloney." 

"That's awful," I say. My hand presses against my stomach again and I frown at her. "Looks like he screwed us both over." 

She laughs. 

"Is that why you tried to warn me away from him at the beginning of the year?" I ask, as the sudden realization hit me. She had been trying to protect me, not ruin my social life. 

Ms. Henry nods. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just saw the way that he looked at you, and I knew that he was interested." She sighs and smiles at me sadly. "Turns out I was right." 

"Thanks for telling me," I whisper. I shoot her a warm smile. "It really...helps." 

And it did. Not in the way that she had originally intended, I don't think. It more of gave me a reason to trust her, and confide in her. Ms. Henry has just elevated herself from the bottom of my favorite teacher's list to the top. Her support would help while I continued at school. 

The bell rang then. She reached over and patted my arm. "Come to me anytime you need anything. I'm also willing to help tutor you in other classes if you need it." 

"Thanks," I say as I stand and collect my stuff. "I really appreciate it." 

Author's Note: 

So I'm kind of laughing right now because I know that some of y'all will get even more angry with Seth, and like this isn't even the worst that he has done/will do. 

Also, this story might extend past sixty chapters, which is what I originally planned. Not far. Just I've packed A LOT into the next ten chapters, and I might end up splitting them in half. That's not like 100% decided though. I just figured I'd warn you in case we reach chapter sixty and we're no where near done xD 

Thanks for your patience and support <3