Page 92 of The Forever After Bet

Hannah glances at me, an eyebrow arched.

“IHe was worried about you and wanted to make sure we were safe.”

“Thanks for caring about me, Jack. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” Hannah asks.

“Yeah, we have, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, except this baby,” Jack says. “It’s just so crazy. How could she be four months pregnant and not know it.”

“She thought it was menopause. My dad did to. So did her doctor. And four months is only a guess. It could be less,” Hannah tells Jack.

“It could also be more. The baby could be here before school ends.” Jack rubs his forehead.

Hannah doesn’t say anything. It will probably take a while for it to settle in that their parents are having a baby, but I’m sure they’ll come around.

“I love our group of friends.” Ty wraps his arm around Jack’s neck, hugging him.

“Best group of friends I could ever ask for,” I say.

“Ahem to that, brother.” Jack nods.

35. Winter Break

We spend the rest of the night hanging out in Leah’s basement, talking about the dance, and what everyone is doing over Christmas break. June and I are the only ones who had to apply to college. All the guys have football scholarships, and Leah and Aubrey are juniors. I can tell June doesn’t really want to talk about our plans after high school. If I had to guess, I think she will say yes to Wichita State because that’s where her mom wants her to go. I want June to be happy, and I’m not sure Wichita is where that will happen.

“So, where did you apply, Hannah?” Cameron asks.

“I applied to Stanford, Sutherland, and Gonzaga.” I shrug.

“Wow! That’s awesome. Are you still in the lead for valedictorian?” Cam asks.

“The last time I checked.” I glance up at Ford.

“I don’t think I’ve checked the standings once this year.” He laughs. “I don’t want it.”

“That’s because you want me to have it.” I playfully elbow his ribs.

“Maybe, I mean, if for some reason you moved into second, I wouldn’t purposely do something to sabotage myself.” Ford shrugs.

“You better not,” I say.

“I’m also not worried about surpassing Hannah; she’d have to do something bad to get knocked out of first place. Landon is trying hard to take the second-place spot, but I get all the sports points, and he doesn’t have any.”

“I don’t have any sports points,” I say.

“No, but you have all those achievement awards from freshman and sophomore year, which count for a lot. You got sports points this year from cheerleading.” Ford points out.

“That’s true. I also think Landon has an A-minus on his transcript. He told me which class it was once, but I don’t remember.” I shrug.

Everyone heads home around nine. It’s been a long weekend with the fundraiser and school dance.

I have two finals this week, in economics and history, so I need to study. I also get the rough draft of my thesis back this week. The next version isn’t due until the end of January, but if I can work on it during the break, it will be one less thing to worry about when school starts back up.

The week passes with no major incidents. Ford got a text from Bree on Monday morning telling him her family was going to Europe for the holidays, and she was missing the last week of school before the break. It’s hard to believe her family has the money to go to Europe. Her dad is a county sheriff, and her mom is an esthetician. I think they make good money but not ‘fly to Paris on a whim’ money.

I don’t care how they can afford it; having an entire week free of worrying about Bree is lurking nearby is heaven. Several times during the week, Ford and I forget ourselves and hold hands in the hall. Nobody cares. Everyone is ready for Christmas and a break from school.

At the doctor’s appointment, Beth finds out she is seventeen weeks pregnant and due the first week of May. She has an ultrasound scheduled for the end of December.

They decided to let us vote as a family on whether we find out the gender of the baby or have it be a surprise at birth. Beth and Scottie were the only ones who voted to find out the gender. The only reason I think Scottie voted with Beth is because no one else did. Everyone is struggling with this baby news in their own way. It’s been rough, but I think it’s also bringing us closer together as a family. Beth has been nicer to me, but it’s only been a week. I’m not ready to say things are back to normal.

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