Free Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala Page A

are going to stay in school until you have it. After that, we’ll decide what to do.”
    “Um, okay,” I said.
    “But don’t be surprised if we decide to move after the baby is born. In fact”—she looked down at my stomach—“you might think about starting to pack now.” With that, she spun around and left me standing in the hallway with a slam.
    She still had me caught by the hair, her hands straining to keep control.
    What would Xanda do? That wasn’t hard.
    She would cut the hair off.

Fourteen
    More and more, I spent my free time either in the art room or in the computer lab. Mrs. Crooker had pulled me aside after class one day and said, “Whatever happens, you finish school .” Even the lab tech must have heard by now, but he still only nodded sympathetically when I told him I was researching teen pregnancy for a class project. Which meant I could spend as much time as I wanted reading the BabyCenter boards.
    According to the profile I submitted (code name XandasAngel), I lived in Seattle with my husband, was twenty-one years old and finishing my fine arts degree. Most of the other mommies had ultrasounds by now, and for all they knew, I was no different.
    The morning after my parents’ argument, I found a piece of paper slipped under my door in my dad’s handwriting. “You’ll probably need this to make a doctor’s appointment. Love, Dad.” The note was wrapped around an insurance card. The hormones raging through me now made it impossible to hold back tears. It would have been even better if he’d offered to go with me. The last thing I wanted was to go with Mom.
    Hard to explain, but when I visited the board, all the stuff that sucked in my life seemed to go away. Kamran and I were happy together, Delaney was a loyal friend, I was following my dreams, and we were excited about the baby on the way.
    When I posted, I introduced myself, my new life, and my most pressing pregnancy complaints: namely, weird cravings and the dreaded fat stage. Nik, “FemmeNikita,” said, “Don’t worry, honey, relief is only a few weeks away. You’ll be doing the happy dance before you know it.” I didn’t see myself dancing any time soon. Besides, dancing made me think of Kamran and Delaney. I wished I could tell the other mommies about it, or at least Nik. For some reason I thought she would understand.
    The tech was out and the lab closed, so I headed for the library to catch up with my new circle of friends. Nik was telling everyone about feeling the first kick, since none of the rest of us had experienced it.
    Reading about Nik’s baby made it even more obvious: I needed to tell the other moms the truth. I opened a new window and began to type the whole story—Xanda, Kamran,Delaney. I was just about to send it when I heard a familiar giggle around the corner.
    “That was a pretty harsh way for you to dump her,” said the voice. Delaney. “I feel kind of sorry for her.”
    “I wasn’t trying to be harsh.” Kamran. I should have known he would be here, in between studying for the latest practice test, AP exams, and interviews. But I hadn’t expected Delaney.
    “You should have heard her, though, talking about you guys planning to get married right after school. I mean, for all you know, it’s not even your baby. Did you actually do it with her?”
    Kamran was silent.
    “Oh, no , you didn’t . Last summer? At my cabin ?”
    More silence. I could imagine him nodding gravely, maybe even with his head in his hands.
    “But there were other guys, right? I mean, was she just trying to trap you? I would, if I had that family. Have you ever met them?”
    Kamran spoke. “She’s gotta deal with her stuff. I was always telling her.”
    Is that what he thought of everything I’d shared with him about Xanda? Stuff I had to deal with?
    “I know, right?” Delaney agreed. “For the longest time all she talked about was her dead sister.” One of them took a bite of something and the faint scent of