Honor Student - By Teresa Mummert Page 0,55

in a ball. I was exhausted and my lunch hadn’t set well with me, not to mention I didn’t get the chance to enjoy my dinner. William slipped in behind me and kissed me softly on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his lips against my skin. I nodded and bit my lip.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, pulling me back so he could see my face. He was so concerned, so caring.

“My stomach.” I sighed as I rubbed my hand over my belly. His eyebrows pulled together as he scanned my face.

“I’ll run to the store and get you something for it.” He kissed me on the forehead and left the room before I could protest.

“Emma” William whispered in my ear, jarring me from my dreams.

“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“Get up” His voice was low and commanding. I waved my hand at him and buried my face in the blanket.

“I’m not in the mood.” I whined. His hand grabbed my wrist and squeezed as he pulled me up.

“Get up now.” His voice was steady but low and I could tell he was not in a good mood. He pulled me towards the bathroom of the hotel and flicked on the light. It was insanely bright and I had to cover my eyes from the harsh intrusion. William set something down on the countertop. It made a loud slap as it hit the stone, causing me to jump. He didn’t look at me. I glanced over to the counter and back at him.

“What is that?” I whispered. I was beginning to get scared.

He rubbed his hands through his hair and over his mouth. “It’s a pregnancy test.” My stomach began doing summersaults.

“But I’m not…I mean…I can’t be” My memory was going thinking of all the encounters I had had with William. My heart sank as I realized we hadn’t always been safe when we got caught up in the heat of the moment and William was blaming me. I bit my lip and stared at him, unable to form words.

“Now” he hissed, his eyes darted to mine and back to the wall behind me. I jumped at his angry tone and grabbed for the stick on the counter. I was mortified. Pregnancy had never crossed my mind. I reluctantly took the test and sat it back on the countertop next to him. My eyes overflowed with tears as I pushed passed him with my shoulder. I began to frantically gather my things wanting desperately to get as far away from all of this as possible.

I glanced behind me towards the bathroom before dragging my things out the door. William didn’t try to stop me. I fumbled with my phone as I made my way to the sidewalk in front of the building. I was in a strange city thousands of miles from everyone I knew with no where to go. I hopped into the first cab that pulled up.

“Where to?”

“A hotel, something inexpensive…but safe” I choked out between sobs. The cabby nodded and pulled away from the curb. We drove for about ten minutes before pulling up outside of hotel.

“Thanks” I said, whipping my tears and handing him some money from my bag. I dragged my things into the hotel, paying with an emergancy credit card.

My phone never rang that night. The next day the I awoke feeling like I had been ran over by a truck. I flipped through the phone book and got the number for an airport to schedule my trip home. I could barely breath, barely think. My heart sank as my thoughts automatically went back to William. I needed to get out of this place before I lost my courage and went running back to him. I scheduled a flight for a few hours away and set off to wait at the aiport. The time flew by and before I knew it I was on my plane headed back to Florida. I slept away the entire trip after spending the night before awake and sobbing.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The plane landed and I stepped out in to the airport. I wrapped my arms around myself and waited for my bags as I stared off into nothing. I gathered my things and stepped out onto the sidewalk. I had nowhere to go. My aunt was not expecting me home for days. I grabbed my phone and looked the screen. I had no missed calls, no messages. I sighed as I scrolled through the small list of numbers on my phone.

Can