Secrets Don't Make Friends

Jack

"I'm going to leave my desk as soon as I clock out and then I'll be here to get you." My mom promised as she stopped in front of my school to let me out.

"You don't have to rush, mom. I'll be fine." I told her.

"Have a good day." She said, brushing off what I said.

"Thanks, you too."

I got out of her car and watched her drive off. I looked out to the student parking lot to see if I could see Zack's car. I was slightly hoping that he would skip school today to avoid me. I didn't want to see him, it was too embarrassing. I just had to get through this week and then we would be out for Christmas break. Then I could stay home for the next three weeks and not have to worry/stress about any of this.

I spotted Zack's car where it was normally parked and I sighed. Maybe I could just go out of my way to avoid him. We didn't have any classes together and the only time I saw him was during lunch.

I walked inside and walked quickly towards my first class. The less time I spent in the halls, the less chance I had of running into Zack. Plus I didn't like spending too much time in the hallways. I felt like the more people looked at me the more suspicious they became of my weight gain and I didn't want to be talked about any more. Everyone was finally over talking about Alex and my breakup which was a miracle. I sighed in relief when I made it to class without being stared at and without seeing Zack. I sat at my desk praying that the rest of my day could go like this.

Once my first class was over I went to my locker to get my Calculus book. I put the book in my backpack and started walking towards my math class. I was just about to turn on the math hall when I saw Zack down there talking to some guy. I quickly turned and grabbed the closest door handle and went inside of a room. I definitely wasn't in the right classroom because it was dark. I felt in the wall for a light switch and flipped it up. I wasn't in a classroom at all, I was in a janitor’s closet. I hit the palm of my hand against my forehead and groaned. Why wasn't I watching where I was going? I didn't want anyone to see me walk out of here. I was going to have to wait for the bell to ring before going to class so the halls would be empty. Luckily my next teacher was nice so she wouldn't give me detention for being late.

I sat my backpack down and went to take a seat on a chair in the room. Standing for long periods of times was starting to hurt my knees. I think it was the extra weight I put on. I heard someone knock on the closet door and my heart began racing. It was either Zack or a teacher but either way I was screwed.

"Jack, it's me, Alex." I heard Alex say through the door. I was sort of relieved to hear his voice, compared to the others it could have been. I opened it for him before he gave me away, and he stepped inside.

"Are you okay? I saw you run in here and I thought something was wrong." He said, slightly panicked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I assured him.

"Oh . . . well why are you in here?" He asked.

"I um am trying to avoid Zack."

"Why? Did he do something to you??" He said, angrily.

"No not him necessarily." I said and he looked at me, waiting on me to tell him more. "My mom and I had dinner with his parents over the weekend and it was horrible so I really don't want to see him right now." I said and the bell rang. I was supposed to leave now so I could go to class, but I didn't feel like it. So I just sat back down in the chair.

"Why were you and your mom meeting with his parents?"

"Because he told them that I’m pregnant."

"And I'm guessing they didn't take it well?"

"Not really. Plus his mom was being a jerk to me and my mom." I told him.

"That sucks."

"Mhmm." I hummed. "Have you told your parents yet?"

"Um no not yet. I was waiting for the right time." He mumbled.

"Like after I have the baby?" I said sarcastically.

"No Jack, just not right now." He sighed.

"It doesn't matter. You don't even have to tell them."

"What do you mean?"

"My mom and grandparents are going to help me so you don't even have to tell your parents anything or get involved and anything." I wasn't going to force Alex to be a part of the baby's life. That wouldn't work out in the long run.

"I didn't say I didn't want to help. I'm just waiting for the right time to tell my parents. I'm going to do everything that I can to be there for you and the baby." He told me and I nodded. I wasn't going to get my hopes up, just in case he backed out again.

"Okay. Good luck with telling them." I said and stood up. I'd rather go to class now than stay in this small space talking about this with Alex.

"Wait, before you go um do you think that we can maybe...hang out during the break?" He asked.

"I don't know about that, Alex." I said, unsurely. I didn't trust my emotions due to all of the mood swings I had lately. I missed Alex some days and I hated him other days so it was best we kept our distance until I found out how I really felt about him.

"It doesn't have to be a date or anything of course. I was thinking that maybe we could just meet up and talk. Or you can talk and I can listen or I can just take you to get ice cream and neither of us have to talk." He said desperately and I chuckled.

"You can't keep bribing me with ice cream, Alex." I joked and he laughed.

"Sorry, I just don't know what else to do. I'm new to this whole thing and I want to learn more about it so I can actually help you. I figured talking to you would be the first step."

I hated when Alex was all sweet and considerate, it made it harder for me to tell him no. "I'll think about it." I said and playfully rolled my eyes.

"That's good enough for me. Just text me anytime your free and I'll check my schedule to see if I'm free too." He told me.

"Oh wow you have a schedule now. You're so official." I said sarcastically and he chuckled.

"It's just a work schedule. I got a job."

"Oh, where?" I asked.

"At Target, I'm a cashier. I figured I should get a job to help buy baby stuff instead of having to ask my parents. They were probably going to make me start working anyways once they found out. So I'm just going to work there until our band career takes off."

"That's really responsible of you."

"Thanks. Just don't hesitate to ask for anything. Like rides, money, anything. I really want to help you, Jack." He told me.

"Okay. I won't."

"Okay. I should let you get to class now." He said and we both walked out of the janitor closet. My class was only a few feet away down this hall, but Alex walked me there anyways.

"Do you need a ride home today?" He asked when we stopped in front of my classroom. "I know Zack usually takes you home, but now you're not talking to him..."

"I was just going to wait for my mom." I said and he gave me a knowing look.

"I'll wait for you in the parking lot after school." He said. I did even argue with him, I knew we'd just spend more time outside of class going back and forth.

"Thanks." I said and he nodded.

"Bye, Jay." He told me and walked down the hall so he could go to his class. I bit my cheek to keep the small smile from forming on my face from that stupid nickname. I opened the classroom door and went inside to tell my teacher a lie about why I'm late to her class.

*****

Alex

All my prayers were answered when Jack told me that he and Zack weren't talking. Now I didn't have to compete with anyone for Jack. Hopefully we could spend time together over the break so we can rekindle our old friendship. Jack isn't ready to be in a relationship with me again just yet and I don't blame him. I think working our way back up would be best. We could take time to trust each other and re-plan our future since Jack's pregnancy has changed a lot.

I was really trying to show him that I've changed. I will never stop regretting the way I acted when Jack told me he was pregnant. I'll probably spend the rest of my life trying to make that up to him. First I needed a job so I could actually have money to buy stuff for the baby and Jack. Even if I'm not the father I'm still going to help him with the baby especially if Zack's family is treating him as horribly as he says they are. Everything I did now was for the purpose of helping Jack.

Now I was waiting for Jack outside of my car like I told him I would be. Rian was standing out with me because he had to wait for Cass too. During lunch I told him about the talk Jack and I had today in the closet. He was happy for me and he agreed that I should take baby steps with Jack.

"Here they come." Rian said, pointing to the front doors of the school. Jack and Cass were talking and walking out together. It was just like old times again, Jack would come out with Cass and we would all talk in the parking lot until we were ready to go home.

Jack looked at me and looked down and smiled. Cass said something to him that made him blush and roll his eyes. I smiled as I looked at his stomach; it had gotten a little bigger. Jack's stomach wasn't noticeable to other people yet, I only could tell because I already knew that he was pregnant.

Jack looked over to his left and he slowed down and slightly frowned. I looked over and saw Zack standing by the bottom on the stairs. He couldn't possibly be waiting on Jack. Zack walked over to Jack when he made it down the stairs. He began talking to Jack. I wish I would have known what they were talking about. They talked for a little while and then Jack shook his head and motioned towards me and Zack frowned. Zack began talking again and Cass cut him off. He rolled his eyes and kept talking. I was annoyed seeing Zack talk to them. He was probably trying to convince Jack to let him take him home. I walked in their direction and Rian quickly walked after me.

"Alex, don't go over there. It's going to start something." Rian tried to reason to me.

"I'm just going to talk. I don't want any trouble." I said. Rian continued behind me just in case.

"We both know he hasn't changed." I heard Zack say when I got close to them.

"Hey, is there a problem?" I asked, staring at Jack.

"No, we've got it under control." Zack answered quickly.

"I was talking to Jack." I stated.

"It doesn't matter, I already told you everything is fine so go away." He rebutted.

"Zack." Jack said trying to get him to stop.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked Jack, ignoring Zack.

"He already has a ride home." Zack cut in again.

"Zack, I already told you Alex is taking me home." Jack told him.

"Why would you even want to be around him?" Zack asked.

"It's just too weird between us right now. You..uh we need to spend some time alone after what happened on Saturday." Jack explained to him.

"It doesn't matter what my mom said. I'm the one that's helped you and wanted the baby with you from the beginning unlike him who's been too much of a little bitch to do anything actually helpful."

"Say that to my face." I told him and he stepped closer to me.

"Hey both of you cut it out." Rian warned trying to get in the middle of us.

"Hey both of you cut it out!" A school security guard yelled the same thing over to us. That caught the attention of a lot of students around.

"Can we please just go?" Jack sighed, crossing his hands over his stomach like he was trying to hide it.

"Yeah, let’s go." I told him while staring at Zack.

Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the direction of my car. I turned to face forward once we were farther away from Zack.

"I told you not to go over there." Rian scolded me when we made it back to our cars.

"I wasn't going to let him hassle Jack." I told him.

"It's fine, can we just go?" Jack said impatiently.

"Yeah, come on." I said and opened his door for him.

"I'll call you later." Cass told him and he nodded.

We all told each other bye and then I went to get in my car. Jack sat in the car staring, in the opposite direction of me, outside of the window. He sounded stressed which couldn't have been good for the baby.

"Do you want to stop for food?" I asked, trying to cheer him up.

"No, I just wanna go home." He said.

"You haven't eating since lunch. You should really eat something." I complained.

"No thanks." He mumbled.

"Jack-"

"-Oh my god, Alex drop it! I'm not in the mood to eat!" He yelled at me. I took a deep breath and nodded. I started the car and began driving in the direction of his house. I turned the radio up to get rid of the awkward silence as I drove.

"Your cologne smells good." He grumbled a few minutes later. I was so confused, he just finished yelled at me and now he was complementing me.

"T-thank you." I told him. I didn't know what was going on with him. Jack didn't say anything else for the rest of the drive.

Ten minutes later I was pulling into Jack's driveway. I didn't know what to say to him now. I didn't want to make him angrier.

Jack took off his seatbelt and sighed before getting out. "I'm sorry about yelling. I'm just...my mood swings can get bad sometimes." He apologized while looking down at his hands.

"It's okay. I didn't mean to annoy you, I just want to make sure you're both okay." I told him while pointing to his stomach and he nodded.

"Thanks for bringing me home again." Jack told me when I pulled into his driveway again.

"It's no problem." I shrugged. "I can take you home now. I don't go to work until four pm most days."

"Okay, I really appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow." He said and got out of the car.

"Bye, Jack."

I watched him walk to his front door and made sure he got in safely. Then I began driving home. I really did need to begin thinking of ways to tell my parents that Jack was pregnant. He was going to be four months in a couple of days and the longer I waited the angrier they would be.

Notes

They're slowly rebuilding their friendship now!

Title Credit: Take Cover by ATL