Chapter 15The Queen Bean Has a Change of Heart
On Monday morning, Luna put on yoga pants and a long-sleeved shirt and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She turned sideways, sucking her stomach in. It was no use. Her stomach was impossible to hide and . . . there was something else.
“Is!” she called out, turning to the other side, then side to side.
“What?”
“Come here.”
Issy walked into the bathroom, applying deodorant under her arms.
“Yeah?”
“My boobs are freakin’ huge! I look pregnant!” She turned sideways, the faced Issy directly.
“You are pregnant! And your boobs look amazing. I wish I had boobs like that.” She looked at herself in the mirror, and then shrugged. “We’re going to be late.” She turned to leave but Luna grabbed her arm.
“They’re all going to be talking about me. I can’t stand the thought of walking in and having people pointing and whispering, ‘Oh look . . . there’s the pregnant girl! Oh my god . . . she’s huge! She’s such a slut!’” Luna was whispering in an exaggerated shriek that made Issy giggle despite the fact that her sister was obviously freaking out.
“So let them talk. Yeah, they’ll probably talk. But so what? This week it’s the fact that you’re pregnant. Next week it’ll be something else. That’s high school.”
“Yeah, well . . . it’s not that easy to ignore when it’s about you.” Luna picked an oversized sweater off the counter and pulled it on to hide her shape and headed out of the bathroom. Issy grabbed her arm to stop her.
“I know. I’m sorry. But they don’t matter, Luna.”
Luna nodded and gave her a half-smile, pulling her toward the door.
“Come on. Let’s just get this over with.”
They walked to school with Luna pulling at her sweater constantly, trying to find the best way to make it fall so it hid as much of her as possible. Issy kept up a steady chatter of gossip she had heard from her friends just to fill the silence.
“So I heard Cameron dumped Raj and is going out with JJ now!” she said, jumping up and down in front of Luna.
Despite her grey mood, Luna found herself suddenly interested in her sister’s gossip.
“Really? I thought JJ was dating whatshername. The skinny one with the weird facial piercing.”
“Nicole. And no. That’s his twin, Joel.”
They got to school with Issy still jumping around and Luna’s heart feeling like it was beating out of her chest. She followed Issy into the school and started down the hall toward her locker, keeping her head down and wishing in vain that she was invisible.
For a minute she felt like she was invisible. No one was talking. No one even seemed to notice her. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe they had spent last week talking about her, and now they had moved on to Marni Thompson’s nose job or the Gym teacher who was sleeping with one of the women who worked in the cafeteria. A smile teased the corners of her mouth and she got to her locker without hearing any snide comments or whispers directed at her.
Issy leaned against the lockers while Luna spun her lock and opened the door, breathing a sigh of relief. She was about to comment about it to Issy when she saw Ashleigh Bean walking toward her with her coven gathered around her. Brittani saw Luna and turned to Ashleigh, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
“Oh my god . . . I know they have to let her back in . . . but I can’t believe she had the nerve to show her face here.”
Luna heard the giggles, titters, and cackles bouncing off the walls around her, which suddenly felt like they were closing in. Her face was on fire and she couldn’t swallow. Issy grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“I know, right?” another voice broke in. “And who does she think she’s fooling with that giant sweater? Umm . . . hello, Teen Mom? We can see your preggo belly!”
More laughter. More people turning to look and straining to hear what was going on. Luna’s free hand automatically moved protectively over her stomach.
“If she was smart, she would have stayed home instead of showing off what a filthy little Indian whore she is,” Brittani cackled.
The colour drained out of Luna’s face. Issy dropped her backpack, opening her mouth to confront the girls. But before she could, Ashleigh Bean stopped dead in the middle of the hall and turned on her heel. She glared at her friends, hands on her tiny hips.
“Hey! Shut your mouth, Brittani. I mean it. That goes for all of you. She belongs here just as much as any of us. Just leave her alone or you can find somewhere else to sit for lunch today.”
Her friends were gobsmacked. Every one of them was shocked into silence. But no one was more shocked than Luna and Issy. They looked at each other, mouths open.
“Did she just . . . ?” Issy trailed off.
Luna nodded, too stunned to speak. Ashleigh tossed her hair and turned her back on her minions, resuming her walk down the hall to her class. She passed Luna and Issy and nodded at them slightly. Luna looked at Issy and raised her eyebrows. Issy shook her head, utterly speechless.
***
Luna was on her fourth bathroom break of the day. She felt like she couldn’t get through one class without running to pee. Her teachers were sympathetic and allowed her to leave without making a big deal out of it. She flushed and walked out of the stall, smoothing her sweater. She leaned against the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked exhausted but the stress lines in her forehead had eased since that morning. As she turned on the water, the bathroom door opened to her right. She looked up and came face to face with Ashleigh Bean. She looked away quickly and turned off the faucet, shaking the water from her hands. To her surprise, Ashleigh handed her a paper towel.
“Umm . . . thanks?” She took it and dried her hands.
Ashleigh stood in front of her, not moving. She cleared her throat.
“So hey . . . listen . . . I just wanted to say that I think it’s really brave of you to come back like this . . . after what happened to you . . . at the party.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “You must have known people would talk. That can’t be easy.”
Luna felt like someone could, quite literally, knock her over with a feather.
“Yes! I mean, no. It was hard. I thought I was in the clear but then . . .”
“Yeah . . . then. They won’t bother you again.”
“Thanks for that. I don’t know what to say . . . but thanks.”
Ashleigh nodded.
Luna went to move around her to the door, but stopped and looked at her again. “But why? I thought you hated me. Why would you stick up for me?”
Ashleigh opened her mouth, then closed it. It was the first time that Luna had ever seen her look unsure of herself and she had a sudden urge to bail her out.
“Hey . . . it’s okay. You don’t have to answer. I just appreciate that you did that.” She smiled and turned back to the door.
“I had an abortion last year!” Ashleigh blurted out.
Luna turned around and stared at her, mouth open.
“No one knows,” she warned. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
“I swear . . . I won’t say anything. You can trust me.”
Ashleigh nodded, smiling slightly.
“If I had kept it, they would have been saying those things about me. So . . . I know how you must feel.”
“Well . . . thanks. I appreciate it. I do appreciate it.”
Ashleigh nodded. “And . . . if you ever need to talk about it . . . with someone who knows how you feel . . .” She scribbled on a paper towel. “You can text me. If you want to.” She handed it to Luna, who took it and shoved it into her pocket.
“I . . . okay . . . thanks. I mean it. Thank you.”
Ashleigh nodded and smiled. The first real, genuine smile she had ever smiled at Luna.
“You’ll be okay, Luna.”
Luna smiled widely back at her, then Ashleigh left the washroom. As Luna looked at herself in the mirror, she felt the baby move inside her. The first real movement she had felt. She smiled and rubbed her stomach. Suddenly, she didn’t feel quite so alone in all of this.