James POV -
I don't mention that this is purely because of who we are, the college always saves a spot every year for a witch from our coven. Witches from our coven saved them years ago during the wars of the wolves and vampires, as a thank-you, they keep one spot open every year for a witch, with an apartment, off campus, completely rent free. We would only need money for shopping, which I know I could get some work on the side, Carly could too until she became too tired from the pregnancy to work, and I am sure the coven would give us a stipend as well, they have funds put aside for these things. Witches need an income as well, which means they need at least some educated people in their ranks. My degree would be in business, what I would bring to the coven once I finished my studies would more than make up for the costs of providing for Carly and I for 4 years… and by then Carly will be able to work again while I do my graduate degree. It's perfect, and it gets her away from the verbal abuse she has had to put up with for so long.
"What about school?" she asks, lips trembling, "And my friends? Our friends."
"We can't think about that now, we will come back, we won't be gone forever, and when we do return those that really matter will still be here for us, we can have them come visit if you want?" I can't believe I didn't think of this before. It is perfect, we get to be together, Carly gets to be free from her family, and I get a world class education that will set us up for life.
Carly POV -
The initial shock was beginning to wear off for me now, the terror of having to tell my Aunt and Uncle was still pounding in my chest, but as I watched James closely, his reaction was perfect, I couldn't help but let a slither of joy in, this stick of doom was proof of our love, of the love that had consumed us.
One time, it had taken just one time, one moment where I had given James the gift of my virginity as he had given me his, one moment where we had succumbed to the desire that flowed so smoothly between us. It had been on James' birthday, we had been out to dinner with his family to celebrate and on the way home James and I had stopped at the edge of the forest, we had watched the stars streaking across the sky and we had kissed. We had agreed to wait, we had decided to wait for his graduation, but the passion that built in us that night was almost magical, it was uncontainable and things had escalated quickly. It had been a bit sloppy, neither of us having done it before, but even as we fumbled around, all I had felt in that moment was love, love and passion and desire.
I had not regretted it for a second and even now, even now a child had been created from our love, I was happy, yes we were young, yes this would change things, but how could I feel anything but love for the child I was growing inside me, a child that was half me and half James?
The joy was tempered though, there were so many things that could go wrong, my Aunt and Uncle's reaction for one, James' parents' reaction, the obstacles that were going to come our way, our ages, our education, our finances. So many things that help chip away at the joy. I know we aren't prepared, but I know if we work together, we can get through anything, and this was such an amazing 'anything'… I think… maybe…we might be able to do this. James seems so sure, so confident and so happy that I can't help but let some of the joy in.
My emotions are all over the place, so out of control I can barely function, but it is far too soon to blame that on hormones, so instead, in a hope of getting and maintaining control, I have decided to break them all down, each individual emotion I can identify, so I can process them one at a time…maybe then I will be able to focus on making actual plans with James, making decisions, contribute some actual ideas about how we move forward into our future rather than simply following James' lead.
The first emotion is joy, I am feeling so very happy. James has been amazing, I expected little else to be honest, and he is being supportive, and is full of plans. The second emotion I feel is that I am excited, this child is a blessing, just like every child born of love is. Third, this is probably my strongest emotion so far, but I wanted to start with some positives, I am feeling very anxious. The future seems so daunting right now, how am I supposed to cope with a baby at the age of 17?? The fourth emotion I can identify is that I am feeling incredibly nervous, having a baby is no easy feat, not even for fully grown adults who have their lives together, what if I screw up our child simply because I am so young?. Next I think I am a little sad, sad that I have to leave my friends behind, sad that I am not simply happy about this baby. Sixth, disappointed, I am disappointed with myself that we allowed ourselves to be in this situation, I am disappointed that I am going to be a high school dropout, it is such a cliché that I can't help but cringe. Seventh, determined, I am determined to show all of those who will look down their noses at me, 18 and pregnant, I am determined to show them what I am capable of, I will have this baby, James will study and graduate, I will get my GEDs online before the baby is born, I will go to night school to get qualified in something, I don't know what, but I will do it. I swear that I am going to make something of myself in the next 4 years, with a baby on my hip, and god willing, I will do this and I will do it well.
Those seem to be my strongest emotions right now, though I don't think that is all of them, not by a long shot. But thankfully, singling them out and identifying them individually has helped to calm my nerves.
Right now I am up in my room, sitting at my desk looking up the biggest college James got a scholarship to, I knew about James submitting his application, I know it was one of many schools that accepted him. James has worked out the basics, where we will go, how we will survive, but we don't know exactly what money will be available to us, we don't know if we will need to work. I only know a little bit about the school, but I want to know what is nearby, where it would be good to shop frugally, where it is safe, where it isn't, that kind of thing. I also spent the last hour looking up the requirements for me to graduate from high school online ahead of time. It looks like it will take a fair bit of studying. I need some letters from teachers, to prove I am ahead for my age and ready for the exams I guess, but luckily for me, my teachers all like me, I've never been in trouble and I have always done well in school. Not as well as James who is graduating a year early, but I was on track to do the same thing, now I hope to do it in say, 18 months early… I'm sure that now I have all the information, I can make it work, the only downside is that I will have to tell my teachers why I am requesting to continue online and I don't want them looking down on me.
James and I had skipped the rest of the day's classes earlier, something we have never done before, just to talk. We talked, we made plans, we speculated, we laughed, which I didn't think was possible when I saw those lines on that stick. I honestly didn't think I would ever laugh again, but now that we have a rough plan of what we are going to do, and I Know James is with me, everything seems a little bit brighter than it did before and I am hopeful that things will work out for us, how can they not when James is so confident in our plan?
It is a little after 5pm right now and I told James I would come to his house at 6pm, so I cleared my browser history, just in case someone decides to snoop, it wouldn't be the first time, shut down my laptop and hopped in the shower before heading over there. While I am in the shower, I go over the plan again, repeating it seems to help keep my nerves at bay. We are going to keep the pregnancy a secret from everyone at my home, I am only going to tell a couple of teachers closer in a week or two, just so I can get the letters of recommendation, but we are going to tell James' family tonight, James swears they will be thrilled for us, he is absolutely sure that his mum and dad will be thrilled, shocked but overall happy about the baby. Then, as soon as James graduates, we are going to leave town, hopefully the school will have accommodations ready for us, but if they don't James has some money put aside that we will use to stay in a cheap hotel/motel while we wait, we want to leave that very night, clean slate, drop everything and go. The college should already have a room waiting by then, ready for James to move right in. James is positive that his family will help us. I'm a little sceptical, I mean, they always seemed to like me, but now I will be taking their pride and joy away from them, and having a baby to boot… I'm not convinced they will be happy. But I trust James and I choose to trust in his belief that they will be supportive, and I trust his family, a lot more than I trust my own.
Jumping out of the shower, I towel dry my hair quickly, throw it into a messy bun on top of my head and drag on some clean clothes, nothing fancy, just my joggers and a large shirt I stole from James a while back, it brings me comfort. My family won't miss me, they actually prefer it when I am not around, so I don't bother saying goodbye as I head out to see James and tell his family our news.
Thankfully I am able to take my time, I am not running late, so I enjoy a calm walk to James' house, walking by the small children's park and the late night convenience shop whose windows glow brightly in the dimming afternoon. I turn onto their street and make my way up their garden path past all of the beautiful flowers in bloom, filling the air with their sweetness. Since James will have told them I am coming over, they know I am coming, so I don't bother knocking, I just let myself in the front door as per usual and walk right into their kitchen since I know this is where they will be. As I expected his mum, Jackie, is at the stove, brewing up something that smells delicious for dinner, his dad, Chris, is sitting at the breakfast bar with a book open face down on the surface where he had put it after being distracted from the words on the paper by the words of his wife, I have seen it a hundred times.