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Shannen’s party and now this … I don’t know why you don’t hate me.”
    Ally cleared her throat. She shifted on her stool and rubbed her palms together between her legs. “Don’t worry about it.” She cleared her throat again. “If you ever need anything …”
    She trailed off and let the thought die. I wasn’t sure any of us believed it anyway.
    Chloe looked at the floor. “Thanks. I’ll see you guys at school.”
    Then she practically ran out. It took a second for me to start breathing again. The sophomores in the corner laughed suddenly and loudly, and I wanted to fling my tongs at their heads.
    “That was cool of you,” Ally said. “Saying you’ll go with her.”
    “Yeah,” I said, placing the tongs down on the counter. I leaned forward, my elbows on the marble, and put my hands over hers. “I can’t believe you were so nice to her.”
    Ally’s eyebrows shot up. “I was? I totally froze.”
    “No, really. You’re amazing,” I said, hanging my head. “And I suck.”
    “You don’t suck,” she said lightly. She took one of her hands out and put it on top of mine. “This whole thing sucks.”
    I nodded, and stared down at the mound of our tangled-up fingers. I was going to the doctor on Friday. The lady doctor. With the girl who was going to have my baby. I held on to Ally so tightly I was surprised she didn’t squirm. We just sat there like that for the longest time. Me clinging to her, her letting me, until the line at the register got too long to ignore, and I had to let go.
ally
    Life’s just weird. One second there’s tons of stuff that matters so much it’s stressing you out like crazy. Like getting my recruitment website just right. Making lists of coaches and scouts to call once the season started. Figuring out which schools to apply to and whether I wanted to be close to home or far away. Last week, it was life-consuming.
    But I hadn’t thought about any of it since Tuesday night. Not once.
    On Friday morning, I sat at the huge island in the center of Gray’s kitchen, my Frosted Flakes getting soggier and soggier as I stared at the babycenter.com website on my computer. I’d gone there thinking I could maybe figure out what Chloe’s options were, and the first thing I’d seen was a due-date predictor. They wanted you to put in the date of your last period, and then they’d tell you when the baby was due. Of course, I had no idea when Chloe’s last period had been. When had they had sex? June? July? August? How pregnant was she, exactly? Did her baby look like a cell sac, or was it already the size of a walnut, like the picture in front of me?
    Down in the corner there was a special section to click on for daddys-to-be. That was Jake. That was my boyfriend. I tried to picture him holding a baby, and when I did, he looked completely freaked out. But he might have to do it soon. He might have to actually take care of a human being. Him and Chloe. How were they supposed to do that? And wouldn’t they have to be … together to do it? My heart felt like it was gulping for air all of a sudden. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out where I fit in that lovely domestic scenario.
    “Hi, hon! Whatcha looking at?”
    My mom breezed into the kitchen with a huge smile on, reaching back to tuck her hair up into a bun. I slapped my computer closed and almost took my fingertip off. My mother froze, suspicious.
    “Ally?”
    “I was just … looking for wedding presents,” I improvised.
    Gray and Quinn strolled into the kitchen right behind her. He was all coiffed in a gray pinstriped suit that probably cost more than Jake’s Jeep. She was decked out in a cute tweed skirt, tall boots, and a high-collared shirt, her blond hair perfect and her makeup carefully applied. Honestly, I think Quinn actually believed a Hollywood talent scout was going to descend on Orchard Hill High out of nowhere and discover her on the FroYo line. I mean, who dressed like that for school?
    “Oh.