Page 61 of Wicked Prince

The door opens, and another woman comes out on a pair of crutches. A moment later, the same nurse who led her back comes out and glances down at her clipboard.

"Amelia Donovan?"

I've never been so glad not to share my father's surname.

I keep looking around to make sure I don't recognize anyone, but that doesn't stop me from being paranoid someone here is connected to the school. Short of going to Long Island, though, there's really not much else I can do.

"Wish me luck," I mutter under my breath.

"Fingers crossed," Anthony says, holding up both hands with all four fingers tangled.

I smile, but as soon as I'm back in the hallway, dread washes over me.

"This way," says the nurse, leading me over to a small exam room. "Just hop up on the scale and I'll get your weight."

I do what she says, unpleasantly surprised it's five pounds higher than the last time. I tell myself it could just be stress, or water, or whatever. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm pregnant. There are a thousand reasons why it could be higher than usual.

The nurse motions for me to take a seat on the exam table and takes my blood pressure. She frowns a little. "A bit high. White coat syndrome?"

"Something like that," I mumble.

"Well, we'll take it again before you leave," she says, peeling the cuff off. "Now, what brings you in today?"

"Um. I'm actually hoping to get a pregnancy test," I say, wringing my hands until I realize what I'm doing and put them under my legs.

She seems surprised, but I guess that's to be expected, given my age. Nonetheless, the paranoid part of my brain is in overdrive, and I can't help but wonder if she knows my family somehow.

Get it together, Amelia.

"And when was the date of your last period?" she asks, pulling over a tall table with a laptop on it.

"About a month ago, actually."

She nods without looking up. "And have you taken a store-bought pregnancy test?"

"Yeah," I say, gulping. "Last night. It came back positive, but the second line was kind of faint, so I wasn't really sure."

She glances up for an instant, but doesn't say anything. "And are you on birth control of any kind?"

"No," I answer. "But depending on the results of the test, I'd like that to change."

She gives me a sympathetic smile and types something into her laptop. "Well, we can definitely find out for sure. I'll send these notes to the doctor, and I’ll be back in a moment to take a blood sample before he comes in."

I nod absently, but my mind is a thousand miles away as she leaves the room. She comes back what can't be more than ten or fifteen minutes later, but it still feels like eternity.

I look down at my phone when it buzzes and smile when I see a message from Anthony on the screen.

Are they torturing you in there?

Only emotionally,I reply.If you want to go get coffee or something, it's fine.

Nah, I'm just learning all of Hollywood's dirty secrets and counting the face tattoos on the guy across from me. I'm good.

I can’t help but laugh a little.

I quickly put my phone away as the door opens, feeling like a kid caught texting in class or something. The nurse comes back in with a needle, and I'd usually be nervous about that in and of itself, but now all I care about is the result.

"All right," she says once she's finished taking more of my blood than seems necessary. "The doctor will be in shortly."

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