My phone blasted the song from Film Cow’s video “Ferrets” as I stood to leave my English class. Several of my classmates glanced my way, as did Ms. Aberwinth, my teacher. She frowned at me.

“What did I say about cell phones while in my class?”

“Sorry. I thought—” I removed the phone from my pants’ pocket. “I’d turned this off.”

I planned to ignore the call but couldn’t when I saw it was Maddy. She hadn’t talked to me in almost two weeks. I had to take it.

“Ms. Beish—”

“Sorry,” I repeated and gathered up my backpack before I raced out of the room. In the hallway, I answered my phone. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Are you done with classes for the day?”

“Yep.”

“Can I pick you up? Take you out for a late lunch?”

“Sure. Just let me tell Jade where I’m headed.”

“Okay. Meet me in the parking lot.”

***

I grabbed a curly fry from my cheesy shrimp basket and dredged it through mayo, then popped it into my mouth. The procedure didn’t go as smoothly as I’d planned thanks to my too-large sleeves. Luckily, they didn’t get covered in condiment gunk.

“It’s like ninety degrees out. Why are you wearing that?”

I kept my stare level. “I haven’t done laundry.”

Maddy accepted my answer without blinking. She smiled. “Gotten lazy?”

I shrugged. “Can’t help it. Jade spoils me.”

Maddy shook her head. “So, how has school been?”

“All right.” I ate another fry.

My sister picked up her burger. “That’s good.” She sniffed her food and paled.

“Still sick?”

My worry spiked. Maddy hardly ever got sick (unlike me), and when she did, it didn’t last longer than three days. Maybe it was worse than a cold. She had to go to the hospital.

“Sort of.”

“Maddy, I think you should—”

“Ra-Ra...I’m pregnant.”

My jaw almost hit the table. “Seriously?”

Maddy flashed a lopsided grin. “Yep; about two months. I’m due April second.”

“Oh, my god! I’m going to be an aunt!”

“Yeah.”

“Who have you told?”

“Uh...you.”

“Not even Leo?”

“I wanted to be sure everything was okay first. I’d hate to get his hopes up then tell him I was mistaken, or that—”

“Hey, no don’t think about that. Healthy baby, that’s what we’ll talk about. It is...healthy, right?”

“Oh, everything’s fine. I just got to cut out the coffee and cigarettes.”

I snorted. “Good luck.”

Maddy picked at her burger. “I’m definitely going to need it.”