Angel in the Shadows, Book 1 by Lisa Grace (Angel Series) (22 page)

I ask, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I thought maybe I was coming down with a
cold on Thursday and I didn’t want to be sick, and maybe even miss
homecoming, so I got a Z-Pack of antibiotics. Today is my last day
on it. You know what the other one is,” Mandy winks at me.

It’s her birth control pill. I guess she
followed through with her plan with Alex. We eat some blueberries
for dessert. I put whip cream on mine. Mandy eats hers plain,
sticking to her healthy diet. After dinner, we head up to my
room.

I close the door, then we sit on my bed.

“Do you want to know how the rest of my evening
went?” Mandy asks with a twinkle in her eye.

I just have to ask, “Did you do it?” “Did you
and Alex, you know…”

Mandy plays with her necklace, “We went to the
hotel; I felt so grown up, you know? Alex went to the front desk
and got our room key. It was a really nice room looking out over
the gulf. There was a full moon shining on the water. We turned off
the lights; it was so beautiful. We opened the sliding glass doors
to the balcony and we could hear the waves breaking on the shore.
He gave me this necklace out on the balcony and asked me not to
break his heart. It was just like in a movie. We had a very
romantic time. It hurt a little at first. I’m glad we did it. I
love him and I trust him. I’m sure we’ll get married someday. We’re
just too young right now for marriage. We’re so perfect
together.”

I feel bad for Mandy but I don’t show it. Not
too young for sex, but too young for marriage? She gave away for
free a gift that her husband would have treasured. It’s so
backwards. I don’t want to fight with her. It’s not worth it and
besides, it’s too late now. She’s made her choice.

“Alex says next time it shouldn’t hurt. He’s
going to start coming to my house on weekends. You know my mom’s
always gone on her dates so she’s not there anyway. Alex’s parents
are okay with it as long as he gets his homework done and keeps his
grades up.”

“Do you think you’ll get engaged?” I ask.

“His parents want us to wait till he’s in
college next year.”

I can’t believe Farrah and Alex’s parents are so
cool about all this, I think to myself.

Mandy nods happily, “They know we’re mature
enough.”

My parents would totally freak and forbid me to
see any guy who wouldn’t want to wait until marriage. They would
see it as a huge sign of disrespect for me and for his own body.
Mandy thinks my ideas are old-fashioned and out-of-step, and she
knows I think her and Alex’s behavior is risky.

I must look worried because Mandy says, “Don’t
worry, I’m taking precautions; I’m on the pill.”

“What about Alex? Is he using condoms?” I
ask.

Mandy blushes, “No. He says they cut down on the
sensations.”

“Oh.”

We drop the discussion and start to talk about
cheerleading, other parties she’s been to, teachers and homework
instead. In two weeks on Halloween weekend she and Alex are going
to a private party being thrown by one of the cheerleaders. By the
time she leaves to go home; I realize Mandy didn’t ask one question
about Seth and me, how I spent my weekend, or the weeks before it.
I guess she thinks my life can’t possibly be interesting.

***

Over the next two weeks I keep an eye on Max. I
watch Jude, work hard to keep up my grades, and text Seth as much
as possible. Vania’s mom is healing and Johnny seems to have kept
any mischief Jude is involved in, to a minimum. Carrie has been
keeping in touch with Robby and he even sent her a hermit crab for
her birthday. Carrie got a big kick out of it. She even named him
Robby Jr. Carrie, Vania, Johnny, and I work the trunk-or-treat on
Halloween evening at our church. We have game booths set up and
even turn one of the school buses into one of the scarier Bible
stories. Everyone hands out candy from the trunks of their cars
along with a postcard that has the message about the gift of
salvation. It’s a lot of fun. Carrie and Johnny dress up like
clowns. Vania and I dress up like angels. We keep cracking up every
time we look at Johnny. I guess he doesn’t understand why we think
that’s so funny.

Monday, after Halloween weekend, Mandy searches
me out. She’s obviously upset.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Janie kept flirting all night long with Alex at
the Halloween party!”

“Janie’s the girl who threw the party right?” I
ask.

“Yeah. He kept talking to her. Every time I
would point out he was encouraging Janie by talking to her, he
would tell me I was being insecure and clingy, that it was
harmless. Later, when we went back to my place, I checked his
phone. Her phone number was in there so I deleted it. Now he’s mad
at me.”

“Oh Mandy, I’m sure he’ll get over it. He loves
you. I point at her necklace. Just leave him alone for a day or
two, give him time to miss you. I’m sure he’ll call before the
weekend.” I hope. I’m worried now that Mandy is no longer a
challenge; maybe he is looking for his next conquest. I remember
his reputation from last year.

Thursday morning Mandy comes up to me. Her eyes
are shining. “You were right, Alex called and apologized. We’re
getting together after the game. Thanks.”

***

The next morning I get a call from Mandy, she’s
upset.

“Alex just went home. I don’t know what to do.
Last night, when we went out after the game, Janie followed us!
She’s chasing Alex and he likes it. I don’t know what to do. I’m
afraid I’m going to lose him. She’s making it pretty clear she
would sleep with him too. I think he wants to. She keeps touching
him, and the way he looks at her breaks my heart. He used to look
at me that way,” Mandy starts crying, “I don’t know how to stop him
or her. What should I do? If I stop sleeping with him, he’ll just
do it with her. He might anyway.” Mandy keeps crying.

I don’t know what to tell her. If he’s going to
sleep around I don’t think there is any way to stop him. I just
continue to listen.

“There’s something else,” Mandy says through her
tears. “I should have gotten my period the weekend before
Halloween, but it hasn’t come. Megan, I think I might be
pregnant.”

I do some quick math. Mandy is two and a half
weeks late. It’s possible.

“Have you told Alex?”

“I told him this morning. He accused me of
trying to trap him. He stormed out of here mad. He told me not to
say anything to anyone, even if I find out I am.”

“Have you told your mom, Farrah?”

“No. She’s not answering her phone, which means
her hot date is going well,” Mandy sniffles and blows her nose.

“Okay, first we have to find out when the
earliest day is that you can take a pregnancy test. Mandy, maybe
you’re not. Maybe your body is just skipping a month from all the
stress you’re under.”

Mandy laughs sadly, “Megan I’ve always been
regular and I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life.
I thought Alex was the answer to my prayers,” Mandy blows her nose
again. “My dream is turning into a nightmare.”

“Hold on Mandy,” I go to my laptop and Google
“pregnancy test“. I pull up over ten thousand sites. I narrow the
search to date of ovulation to date pregnancy test can confirm.

I come up with the answer twenty-one days before
the hormone can be detected.

“Mandy it’s been seventeen days; you have to
wait till day twenty-one to be sure you don’t get a false
negative.”

“What, what does that mean?” I hear her
sniffling.

“If you are pregnant, it takes that long before
the hormone that shows you’re pregnant would show up in your urine.
It’s going to be Wednesday before we can have you take the
test.”

“How am I going to even buy a test? I don’t want
any rumors going around the school.”

“Wednesday, after class, we’ll drive out of town
and stop at one of the big chain pharmacies. We’ll do it together.
Whatever the answer is Mandy, you are not alone,” I hang up the
phone.

My worst fear for Mandy is coming true. I pray
it’s a false alarm. I’m mad at Farrah and at Alex’s parents for
being so casual about sex. I’m mad at all the TV shows where kids
have sex and it’s no big deal. Yet Seth and I are portrayed as the
kooks. I go downstairs to get a refill on my coffee. Then I go back
upstairs to pray for my friend.

***

When I get to school in the morning I find out
there was a break-in, and computers were stolen out of the computer
lab. I’m sure Jude was involved somehow. Mandy texts me she still
hasn’t had a visit from her friend.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I try not to think about
what is happening with Mandy. I almost forget about Jude. Except
for Jude purposely messing up one of our experiments in science
class, he has been strangely quiet. I certainly put him on the
backburner of my thoughts.

I worry about Mandy but I don’t dare tell
anyone. I know how these things can leak out and ruin someone’s
life. Alex is acting like Mandy’s caring boyfriend. Maybe he really
does love her and his flirting with Janie was just a game.

Mandy comes up to me during lunch in the
cafeteria, “We‘re still on for after school?”

“Sure,” I try to smile. My stomach is tied up in
knots. Alex comes over to retrieve Mandy. They certainly look happy
together. Maybe everything will be okay.

I talk to Johnny, Vania, and Carrie at lunch.
Everything has been quiet at school. I know Johnny’s been dealing
with Jude after hours. He never talks about it unless it concerns
us. I have a feeling a lot is going on behind the scenes. He
certainly doesn’t look happy most of the time.

“Johnny is there anything we can help with?” I
ask.

“You’re going to have your hands full soon
enough.”

With that ominous warning, I guess it’s best to
wait. I wonder if he’s alluding to Mandy, Max, or something I can’t
even imagine.

***

I meet Mandy out in front of the auditorium.

“What did you tell Alex?” I ask.

“I told him we were having a girl’s afternoon
out shopping since you and I haven’t had much time together.”

“So everything’s okay? Janie is leaving him
alone?”

Mandy says happily, “Well, Janie has started
dating Drew.”

I say, “Good, that’s one less problem for you.”
We start driving out of the parking lot, “Where are we heading?” I
ask.

“I’m thinking ten miles north, up to Pasco
County. What do you think?” Mandy asks.

“That sounds far enough.”

We avoid “the what if” discussion and just talk
about the upcoming Thanksgiving break.

“I think Seth and Robby might come down for a
three-day weekend.”

“I used to be so jealous when you talked about
Seth. I wanted someone to love me the way he loves you.” Mandy says
as she stops for a red light. She flips down the driver’s mirror to
check her makeup, a habit ingrained in her subconscious.

I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure about
Alex being committed to Mandy. In the next couple of hours Mandy’s
whole life might change. I don’t want to think about that yet.

“I hope Alex loves me enough to want to be with
me forever.”

“I hope so too, Mandy.” I take her hand and
squeeze it before she puts it back on the steering wheel. Mandy
pulls into the parking lot of one of those big twenty-four hour
corner pharmacies. We run in and get a pregnancy test kit. We get
two just in case.

As we go back to the car, I give Mandy a hug
because she looks like she’s about to cry. I remember how excited
the newlyweds, Aaron and Regina, from church were when they found
out Regina was pregnant. They were so excited to tell everyone in
church. The whole church and their family rejoiced with them. If
Mandy’s pregnant, I don’t think much rejoicing is going to happen.
It’s awful how the same event can have such different emotional
reactions.

We drive back to Mandy’s house mostly in
silence, each busy with our own thoughts. I’m here for moral
support. Mandy can trust me to keep her private life private. As we
pull into her driveway we silently give each other another hug.

We go in the house into the bathroom. Mandy
opens the box, “Here read this—I’m too nervous. I can’t be
pregnant. I started the pill over two months ago; I know this has
to be a false alarm.”

I read the insert, “You have to pee on the stick
for five seconds, no more, no less. The first line that comes up is
just a test line, that’s the first little round window. In the
second square window if two lines show up—you’re pregnant. The
second line indicates the pregnancy hormone is present.”

I hand Mandy the stick. She pulls the cap
off.

“Will you say a prayer with me?”

“Sure,” I take her hands in mine and we
pray.

I don’t know what to say. God can’t be happy
with Mandy. Since I’m sure that even if this is a false alarm, I
don’t think Mandy’s going to stop having sex with Alex. She’s too
afraid she’ll lose him if she stops.

She takes the strip out, sits down, and starts
to pee on the stick. We both count to five. Mandy puts the stick
down on the counter. Her hands are shaking.

“How long do we wait now?”

I look at the sheet, “One minute.”

We both stare at the stick, watching Mandy’s
future. The first line appears in the circle.

I remind her, “That’s just the test line.”

We both look at the square. One line
appears.

A second line slowly becomes visible.

Mandy looks at me, her eyes wide with fear,
“What does that mean?”

I show her the picture, “You are pregnant,
Mandy.” I’m excited but my heart sinks at the same time. Mandy
takes the paper put of my hand and looks at the picture and at the
stick, comparing the two. “Maybe it’s wrong,” she says.

“Mandy, you can’t have a false positive. Your
body is producing the pregnancy hormone.”

Mandy looks at me frantically, “I can’t be
pregnant. I took the pill! I followed the directions exactly.
That’s why I got on it. My mom even took me to get it.” Mandy takes
her pill pack out of the medicine cabinet and hands it to me.
“There is no way I’m pregnant! The test has to be wrong. Here read
this, you’ll see.”