A month later, the exhaustion set in. She was sick every morning, her appetite gone. And then, the missed periods.
Riley is the one who brought the pregnancy test, sliding it into her bag discreetly, her face pale with worry.
The result was instant. Positive.
Her foster mom was gentle, supportive, even loving in a way Clara hadn't expected. But none of it changed the truth.
Her dreams of law school, the career she'd been working toward for years was shattered in the span of a few seconds staring at a plastic stick.
She tried to call Ethan. Again. And again. His number was disconnected.
She waited for him to show up. He didn't.
By the time she was six months pregnant, she knew she would have to take a gap year before college. She gave birth quietly, far from the world she'd once imagined for herself, piecing together a new life from the scraps left.
Clara sat in the dim quiet of her bedroom, the shadows stretching long across the floor. Her mind refused to stop racing, replaying the memories Ethan's visit had stirred up, memories she had been trying to bury deep.
A soft knock pulled her from the spiraling thoughts.