Chapter Text
Three Weeks Later
A thin dusting of overnight snow clung to the cars in the student parking lot and gathered along the edges of Smallville High's front steps. Inside, the halls buzzed beneath the warning hum of the morning bell and the barely controlled excitement of the school's holiday spirit week.
Red and gold garland had been wrapped around the railings and draped above classroom doors, matching Smallville High's colors while still giving the building a festive glow. Wreaths hung from the trophy cases, paper snowflakes covered the windows, and strings of warm white lights blinked above the lockers. Somewhere near the front office, a choir recording of "Jingle Bells" fought unsuccessfully against hundreds of students shouting over one another.
Near the center of the hallway, Whitney, Chloe, and Pete had claimed their usual stretch of lockers. After three weeks in town and a surprisingly quick enrollment at Smallville High, Lois had already claimed the space beside Chloe as though she had been part of the group all semester.
Pete leaned against the metal doors beside Chloe while Whitney stood across from them, half listening as Lois recounted an argument she had gotten into with someone in the parking lot.
"I'm just saying, if you're going to take up two spaces, at least own it. Don't look confused when somebody calls you out."
Whitney laughed. "Did you call him out or threaten to drive over his hood?"
"I presented options."
Chloe adjusted the strap of her bag. "That is not a denial."
Eddie and Chelsea appeared through the morning crowd a moment later, weaving around a cluster of football players wearing Santa hats over their letterman jackets.
"Hey, y'all," Chelsea called.
Greetings moved through the group as Eddie slapped hands with Pete and Whitney. Chelsea hugged Chloe before turning toward Lois.
"What's the tea?"
"Apparently Lois almost committed vehicular manslaughter before first period," Chloe informed her.
Lois lifted one shoulder. "Allegedly."
Pete glanced up and down the decorated hallway. "Where's Raven?"
"And Clark," Whitney added.
Chelsea's entire face tightened.
"Oh my God. Please do not talk them up."
Chloe frowned. "What's wrong now?"
"Nothing is wrong. They are just..."
"Annoying," Eddie finished for her. "I have never seen two people become so irritating so quickly."
Pete laughed. "They've only been together a few weeks."
"That is the problem. They are still in that stage where everything the other person does is adorable. Clark opens a door, Raven acts like he built the whole house. Raven breathes, Clark looks at her like she invented oxygen."
From what Lois had witnessed over the past few weeks, she could not entirely disagree.
"I think it's cute. Teenage love. The honeymoon phase. Let them enjoy it while it lasts."
Chelsea folded her arms. "Girl, let's hope it lasts. I cannot go through another month of Raven pretending she does not have feelings while destroying everybody else's peace."
"After everything they went through to reach this point, I hope it lasts too." Chloe glanced toward Pete. "No offense."
"None taken."
Pete draped an arm around Chloe's shoulders without hesitation. She settled lightly against his side, resting her head near his shoulder as though the position had become more familiar than either of them was willing to admit.
Every pair of eyes shifted toward them. Pete noticed the sudden attention but made no attempt to move his arm, and when Chloe realized everyone was staring a second later, she remained exactly where she was.
Whitney's eyebrows climbed. "Apparently Raven and Clark aren't the only lovebirds around here."
"We are not lovebirds," Chloe insisted.
"Sure," Chelsea replied.
A knowing smile tugged at Lois's mouth. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Pete opened his mouth to defend them, but two familiar voices carried from the far end of the hallway. The entire group turned as Raven and Clark rounded the corner together.
Chloe's mouth fell open.
"Holy Christmas tree."
Chelsea squinted through the morning crowd. "That looks like Raven."
Eddie leaned around Whitney for a clearer view. "I am more concerned about the person beside her."
Pete blinked. "Is that Clark?"
Raven moved through the hallway with her right arm linked proudly through Clark's, wearing the satisfied expression of someone unveiling her latest masterpiece. Her extravagant mass of long black faux locs and loose curls remained parted neatly down the center and gathered into two high, deliberately messy buns. Thick lengths cascaded from both sides nearly to her hips, while curled tendrils and several slim braids framed her face. A plush red Santa hat had been secured at a playful angle between the buns, its white pom-pom bouncing beside her curls with every step.
Her Mrs. Claus-inspired outfit looked less like a costume and more like something pulled from an expensive holiday fashion campaign. A fitted red velvet dress hugged her through the bodice before flaring into a short, structured skirt, with soft white faux fur trimming the neckline, cuffs, and hem. A wide black belt cinched her waist beneath an oversized gold buckle, while sheer black tights and tall black platform boots kept the look school appropriate without sacrificing any of Raven's usual drama. Matching red velvet gloves trimmed with white faux fur completed the ensemble.
Small gold hoops, layered necklaces, and a pair of glittering Christmas-tree earrings caught beneath her hair. Her makeup glowed warmly beneath the hallway lights, finished with glossy deep-red lips, softly smoked eyes, and a dusting of gold shimmer along her cheekbones. An oversized red velvet shoulder bag hung at her side, complete with white fur trim and a tiny gold bell dangling from the clasp.
Clark had been styled to coordinate with her, though Raven had transformed his Santa-inspired look into something far more polished than the inexpensive costume it had probably started as. A sharply tailored red velvet coat fit across his broad shoulders, trimmed at the collar and cuffs with thick white faux fur. The coat extended behind him with subtle gold embroidery along its edges, while a fitted black shirt sat beneath it, tucked into matching black trousers and secured by a wide leather belt with a brushed-gold buckle. Polished black boots replaced the costume shoes.
He had no beard, no sack, and absolutely no idea how to handle the attention.
Raven lifted her free hand as they approached.
"Ho, ho, ho. Merry almost-Christmas, girls and boys."
Nobody answered.
The entire group simply stood there, silently taking in the sight of Clark Kent dressed like the heir to Santa's entire North Pole operation while Raven beamed beside him like Christmas had personally appointed her its spokesperson.
Clark slowed beneath their stares. "Why is everybody looking at us?"
Lois gestured between them. "Because you look like you're about to lead a Christmas parade through downtown Smallville."
Pete nodded approvingly. "I like it."
Relief immediately softened Clark's expression. "Thank you."
Raven released his arm long enough to straighten the white fur along his collar. "You're welcome."
"I was thanking Pete."
"And who turned that bargain-bin costume into this?"
Chelsea slowly looked Clark up and down. "Raven, since the two of you got together, you have really been overhauling this boy's style."
Raven smiled proudly. "Well, thank you."
Clark frowned. "What do you mean, overhauling? I know how to dress."
Raven slowly turned toward him, one eyebrow climbing as her gaze traveled from the Santa hat down to the polished boots she had clearly selected herself.
"Clark, baby. If I had let you dress yourself, you would have shown up in red flannel. Flannel is for your daddy."
Whitney pressed his fist against his mouth, but the laugh still escaped through his nose.
Clark looked around the circle for support. Pete suddenly became interested in the wreath hanging above the lockers. Chloe adjusted her bag. Chelsea examined her nails, and even Whitney refused to meet his eyes.
Raven patted the front of his coat. "You are young. You need to dress like the young people. Festive. Fashionable. Jolly."
Chloe glanced at the amount of white fur surrounding him. "I think you may have overdone jolly."
"There is no such thing during Christmas."
Clark muttered something beneath his breath and tugged irritably at the edge of his Santa hat.
Raven's eyes narrowed. "What was that?"
"I said the hat keeps sliding."
"That is not what you said."
"It was the general idea."
Raven decided to let him live and turned back toward the others. "So, what were y'all talking about?"
"Nothing," Chelsea answered far too quickly.
"Absolutely nothing," Eddie added.
Raven narrowed her eyes. "I heard y'all loudmouths talking about us before we even turned the corner."
"That is because these hallways echo," Eddie defended.
"That is because you do not know how to whisper."
Chelsea threw up both hands. "Fine. We said y'all have been getting on our nerves."
"Do not hate because I got me a boo."
Raven hooked her arm through Clark's again and leaned comfortably against his side.
"A boo for me," she continued, pointing around the group, "and no boo for you, or you, or you, or you."
Her finger landed on Chelsea last, where it remained for an unnecessarily long moment.
Chelsea straightened. "Hold on. I could have a boo, thank you very much. I am simply not actively looking for one."
Raven's gaze slid toward Whitney before returning slowly to Chelsea.
"I don't know. You and Whitney were getting mighty cozy at my party."
Chelsea's face heated immediately. "Raven!"
Whitney scratched the back of his neck and stared so intently at the floor that anyone watching might have assumed he had lost something valuable.
Raven lifted one gloved hand in surrender. "My bad. I was only trying to help."
"You were trying to start mess."
"Sometimes mess helps people communicate."
"It does not."
"Agree to disagree."
As the laughter settled, Whitney studied Raven more closely.
"You have been glowing lately."
Raven's smile returned. "Thank you."
"No, seriously." Chloe tilted her head. "You look different."
"Happy," Pete added.
Raven leaned closer to Clark, resting one hand against the gold buckle at his waist. "That is because my life has been peaceful."
Eddie made such a violent choking sound that Pete instinctively reached over and slapped him between the shoulders.
"Peaceful?" Eddie repeated once he recovered. "Your birthday party ended with half the food gone, a broken lamp, and you and Clark missing for longer than seven minutes."
Raven's smile froze while the tips of Clark's ears turned nearly as red as his velvet coat. Lois's eyes moved from Raven to Clark, then back again, her expression shifting as understanding slowly struck.
"Oh."
Raven looked at her suspiciously. "Oh what?"
Lois pointed between her and Clark. "That type of glow usually shows up when somebody has been..."
"Lois," Chloe warned.
"No." Lois's grin widened. "Raven and Saint Nicholas over here, do not tell me you two have..."
The group erupted before she could finish.
Chelsea released a scream loud enough to startle several passing freshmen. Eddie grabbed Whitney's arm with both hands and nearly dragged him sideways, Chloe's eyes widened, and Pete turned toward Clark with an expression caught somewhere between surprise and barely contained amusement.
Clark looked ready to dig through the floor with his bare hands and bury himself beneath the school. Raven threw both hands into the air.
"Hold on! Wait a minute!"
Nobody listened. Questions collided with laughter while Chelsea demanded answers and Eddie began counting backward from the end of the party as though reconstructing a crime scene.
Raven raised her voice above all of them.
"This is not The View!"
The hallway fell silent.
She looked around the entire circle, deeply offended on behalf of both herself and the mortified Santa Claus standing beside her.
"What happens or does not happen between me and my boyfriend is not up for group discussion. Whether we have or have not done anything is none of y'all's business."
Raven pointed at them one at a time, her gloved finger moving around the circle like she was handing out assignments.
"Get y'all some."
Lois doubled over laughing, one hand pressed against her stomach as Chloe shook her head beside her.
Pete's mouth twitched. "That means two things."
The warning bell rang before anyone could interrogate them further, sending students breaking away from the lockers and rushing toward their classrooms. Raven caught Clark's hand before the crowd could separate them.
"Come on, Santa Farm Boy."
He allowed her to pull him through the hallway, though he sighed as the pom-pom on his hat bounced behind him. "You know you do not have to call me that."
"Yes, I do."
The others followed with their laughter trailing behind them, passing beneath glowing lights and red-and-gold garland as the final warning bell echoed through the decorated halls.
By second period, Raven's good mood had started to crack.
She sat near the middle of the classroom with her cheek propped against one hand, struggling to keep her eyes open while the teacher discussed an assignment written across the board. The words blurred together no matter how many times she blinked.
She had slept nearly nine hours, yet her body carried the exhaustion of someone who had slept for nine minutes.
Her lower back ached against the rigid chair, and a dull cramp tightened low in her stomach before gradually easing. Raven shifted, searching for a position that did not make some part of her uncomfortable. She had already used the restroom once during first period and again between classes, yet her bladder felt uncomfortably full all over again.
Behind her, a student began tapping a pencil against the desk.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Raven's jaw tightened as the sound drilled straight through her skull.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
She twisted around. "Could you stop doing that before I take that pencil and introduce it to a place the sun does not shine?"
The tapping stopped instantly, and every student in the row turned to stare at her.
Raven blinked, startled by the force of her own reaction. "I'm sorry. That came out hostile."
"It was hostile," the student whispered.
The teacher turned away from the board. "Raven, is there a problem?"
"No."
Another cramp rolled through her before she could turn around. Raven's fingers curled around the edge of her desk as she clenched her teeth and waited for the pressure to ease.
"Actually, may I use the restroom?"
The teacher glanced toward the clock. "You just went between classes."
"I know."
"Can it wait?"
Raven's temper flared again before she could stop it. "No, it cannot wait. That is why I asked."
Silence dropped over the classroom.
She closed her eyes for one brief moment, forcing herself to swallow the irritation burning at the back of her throat.
"Sorry," she added more quietly. "Please?"
The teacher gave a reluctant nod, and Raven was out of her chair before permission could be reconsidered.
She hurried down the hall with one hand pressed against her stomach. The Christmas lights above the lockers blurred together as she passed, and the cheerful holiday music drifting from a nearby classroom only made the pounding in her head worse.
By the time she reached the nearest girls' restroom, nausea struck with enough force to send her rushing into the first stall. She barely reached the toilet before vomiting, the harsh sound echoing against the tiled walls.
Raven remained hunched over for several seconds afterward, breathing through her mouth while another wave rolled through her. When her stomach finally settled, she flushed, moved to the sinks, and rinsed her mouth with cold water.
Her reflection stared back at her from beneath the slightly crooked Santa hat. The glow everyone had admired that morning had vanished beneath a faint sheen of sweat, leaving her face pale beneath the fluorescent lights.
"What is wrong with you?" she whispered.
The reflection offered nothing.
By lunch, Raven had abandoned the idea of eating.
She sat at the end of the cafeteria table with her chin resting in one hand while everyone else moved through the lunch line. An untouched tray waited in front of her. The smell of fries, pizza, and cafeteria meatloaf blended with the peppermint scent drifting from a nearby holiday display, turning her stomach all over again.
Chelsea returned with a drink and slid into the seat beside her. Her eyes moved from Raven's untouched food to Raven's drawn expression.
"You all right?"
"I don't know, Chels."
Chelsea's teasing disappeared. "What happened?"
"I got sick during class."
"Sick how?"
Raven lowered her voice. "I threw up."
Chelsea set her drink down. "Do you need to go home?"
"I've already made it this far. I only have a few classes left."
"Raven, if you're sick, you should not be sitting in a cafeteria full of people."
"I don't think it's contagious."
"How do you know?"
"Because this has been happening for the past several days."
Chelsea stared at her. "Several days?"
Raven nodded miserably.
"My back hurts. I'm tired all the time. Like, tired tired. I keep having to pee, and I've been cramping off and on. I barely want to eat, and every morning I wake up feeling like I'm gonna throw up."
Chelsea's expression shifted slowly. The concern remained, but a new possibility settled behind her eyes as Raven's symptoms began fitting together in a way neither of them wanted to consider. Raven caught the change immediately.
"What?"
Chelsea glanced around the cafeteria before leaning closer, lowering her voice until it barely carried across the space between them.
"Rae."
"If I didn't know any better, I would say you sound pregnant."
Raven stared at her for a long second before an incredulous laugh escaped.
"Chelsea, please."
"I'm serious."
"For me to be pregnant, I would have to have..."
The words died in Raven's mouth as the memory rushed back all at once: the darkness, the hanging coats brushing against her shoulders, Clark's hands settling at her waist, and the closet at her birthday party.
Chelsea's eyes widened as the humor drained from Raven's face.
"Raven?"
Raven swallowed, suddenly aware of every sound and movement surrounding them.
"Chels, what's today's date?"
"The twelfth. Why?"
The cafeteria noise seemed to fade beneath the pounding of Raven's heartbeat. She sat upright so quickly that the table shook.
"No."
"What?"
"No, no, no."
Chelsea caught her wrist. "What is it?"
Raven counted silently, her eyes moving as she worked backward through the weeks. Dates, symptoms, and memories collided inside her head until one unmistakable realization settled in her stomach like a stone.
"Chelsea."
"What?"
"I'm late."
Chelsea lowered her voice. "How late?"
"It was supposed to come over a week ago."
They stared at one another as the weight of that answer settled between them. Chelsea's grip tightened around Raven's wrist while Raven's free hand slowly moved toward her stomach.
"Raven?"
Raven barely managed to meet her eyes. "What?"
"When did you and Clark even..."
Raven looked around quickly. "Keep your voice down."
"At the party?"
Raven said nothing. Her silence answered the question more clearly than words ever could.
Chelsea's mouth fell open. "Raven!"
"Chelsea!"
"And you did not tell me?"
"That is not something you broadcast to everybody!"
"I am not everybody."
"I know, but it was not planned. The party was going good, we were having fun, and we were in that closet, and one thing led to another."
Chelsea continued staring at her with her lips parted, waiting for an explanation Raven did not know how to give.
"And then another thing led to another," Raven finished weakly.
"Do you think you could actually be pregnant?"
"I don't know."
"You have all the symptoms."
"Do not say that."
"I'm not trying to scare you."
"Well, you are doing an excellent job."
Raven looked down at her trembling hands. Her eyes began to burn as panic rose hard and fast through her chest, making each breath shallower than the last.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
Chelsea immediately moved closer until their shoulders pressed together. She placed one hand over Raven's, anchoring it against the table.
"First, we find out whether there is even something to panic about."
"How?"
Chelsea gave her a long, meaningful look.
Raven followed it, understood, and groaned as she dropped her forehead into her hands.
"A test."
"A test," Chelsea confirmed.
Raven pressed both palms over her face, muffling the sound of her next breath. "This cannot be happening."
"We do not know that it is."
"And we do not know that it isn't."
Chelsea squeezed her arm. "Then we make a trip after school."
Raven slowly lowered her hands, dread already gathering in her expression.
"To the pharmacy?"
"Yes."
"The only pharmacy in Smallville?"
Chelsea's reluctant nod made Raven's stomach sink even further.
"Where everybody knows everybody?"
"Unfortunately."
Raven stared ahead, already imagining half the town watching her carry a pregnancy test toward the register while Christmas music played overhead.
"No."
"Raven..."
"No. We need a plan."
Chelsea sighed and reached for her drink. "Of course we do."
After school, Main Street looked like it had been pulled from the front of a Christmas card. Garland and red bows wrapped the lampposts, wreaths hung above every storefront, and strands of white lights stretched across the road from one building to the next. The earlier snow had begun melting along the sidewalks, though small flakes still drifted through the cold afternoon air.
The pharmacy sat near the center of town, its wide front windows exposing nearly every aisle to the sidewalk outside. A painted Santa smiled from one window beside an advertisement for holiday candy, while a bell above the entrance jingled every time someone passed through the door.
Raven and Chelsea stood across the street, partially hidden behind a newspaper box while Raven watched customers move through the store.
"This is a disaster."
"It is a pharmacy, Raven."
"It is the only pharmacy in town. If either of us walks in there and buys a pregnancy test, the cashier will have told her cousin, her sister, the principal, and half the church choir before we make it back to the car."
Chelsea peered through the decorated window. "So what are we supposed to do?"
Raven opened her oversized red velvet shoulder bag and began digging beneath her gloves, wallet, and discarded Santa hat.
"There is one thing you should know about me by now."
"What?"
"I always keep emergency supplies."
She triumphantly pulled out a short black bob wig with blunt bangs.
Chelsea stared at it.
"Girl, you still have that thing?"
"You are the one who told me it would never come in handy."
"I am beginning to regret doubting you."
Raven held the wig toward her as though presenting the obvious solution.
Chelsea immediately stepped back. "Why are you giving it to me?"
"Because you are going inside."
"Why me?"
"Chelsea, I just got my hair done."
Raven gestured toward the two enormous buns and the long faux locs falling around her shoulders.
"You see these fresh locs? I am not smashing all this underneath a bob."
"So my hair can suffer?"
"Friendship requires sacrifice."
Chelsea snatched the wig from her. "If somebody recognizes me, I am telling them it was your test."
"If somebody recognizes you in that wig, we have bigger problems."
A few minutes later, Chelsea crossed the street wearing the blunt bob, oversized sunglasses, and a scarf Raven had also produced from the seemingly bottomless bag. Raven remained beside the newspaper box on the opposite curb, pretending to study the local headlines while watching Chelsea through the pharmacy's wide front windows.
Chelsea located the correct aisle and picked up one test. She paused, reconsidered, then grabbed two more from the shelf.
Raven's eyes widened. She waved frantically through the glass, but Chelsea ignored her and continued toward the register with all three boxes tucked against her chest.
A familiar voice sounded behind Raven.
"Planning a robbery?"
Raven jumped and spun around.
Lex stood several feet away, one hand tucked inside the pocket of his dark wool coat. Snowflakes had collected lightly across his shoulders, and his car waited near the curb behind him.
"Lex."
A faint smile touched his mouth. "Happy belated birthday."
Raven forced herself to relax. "Thank you."
"Cory mentioned it."
"That was nice of him."
Lex looked across the street toward the pharmacy window, but Raven quickly stepped sideways and blocked as much of the view as possible.
"How have you been?"
"Good. Great. Wonderful."
"You seem distracted."
"Do I?"
"Yes."
Raven risked another glance through the window. Chelsea had reached the register, and as the cashier lifted the first pregnancy test, the woman next in line glanced toward it with immediate interest.
Raven whipped back toward Lex.
"So, how are you?"
"Fine."
"Good."
Lex studied her. "I haven't seen you since the incident at the school."
"Yeah, it's been a whirlwind." Raven laughed far too loudly. "Recovery was slow, but I am finally starting to feel like myself again."
"That's good."
"It is."
"I heard you and Pete broke up."
Raven's smile tightened. "Small town."
"And now you're with Clark."
"Very small town."
Lex glanced toward the pharmacy again. "Strange turn of events."
"Life comes at you fast."
Inside the store, Chelsea hurriedly shoved the pharmacy bag beneath her coat and started toward the exit. Raven spotted her moving past the holiday display near the door.
"Well, Lex, I have to go."
"We just started talking."
"I know, but I have to see a lady about a test."
Lex's eyebrows lifted.
Raven froze as the words replayed inside her own head.
"A test?"
"A school test."
"After school?"
"Special tutoring."
"At the pharmacy?"
Raven began backing toward the curb. "Good seeing you."
Before Lex could respond, she hurried across the street. Chelsea stepped outside just as Raven reached the sidewalk, the bell above the door jingling loudly behind her.
"What took you so long?"
"The cashier wanted to discuss coupons."
"This is not a coupon emergency."
Chelsea pulled off the bob and shook her natural hair free. "You could have gone in yourself."
"And ruin my hairstyle? Absolutely not."
Across the street, Lex continued watching them. His gaze settled on the blunt black wig dangling from Chelsea's hand, and something about it tugged at a memory.
The Talon.
A strange French woman wearing that same blunt black bob, speaking in one of the worst accents he had ever heard and asking far too many questions. A woman who, in hindsight, had moved and reacted an awful lot like Raven Baxter.
Lex's eyes narrowed.
"No," he murmured.
It could not be.
Chelsea stuffed the wig into Raven's bag, and the two girls hurried toward the Baxter family's Explorer without once looking back. Lex remained beneath the falling snow, watching until the vehicle disappeared into the slow stream of Main Street traffic.
The Baxter house was empty when Raven and Chelsea returned, though the warm lights from the Christmas tree glowed through the front windows. Garland wrapped the staircase railing, stockings hung above the fireplace, and a half-finished holiday centerpiece of silver and red ornaments sat on the dining-room table.
Neither girl paid attention to any of it.
They rushed upstairs, locked themselves inside the bathroom, and placed the pharmacy bag on the counter between them. Chelsea emptied its contents, sending three pregnancy-test boxes tumbling beside the sink.
Raven stared at them. "Why did you buy three?"
"To be sure."
"You think I have enough urine for a medical study?"
"I panicked."
Raven picked up the first box and turned it over, squinting at the tiny instructions printed across the back. They looked far more complicated than she had expected.
"Why are there this many steps?"
"You pee on it."
"I understand the main event, Chelsea."
"Then what is the problem?"
Raven pointed at the diagrams. "Why are there arrows? Why is there a clock? Why does this feel like assembling furniture?"
Chelsea tore open the box, pulled out the test, and held it toward her by the plastic end as though presenting a weapon.
"Just do it."
Raven's gaze dropped to the stick, flicked toward Chelsea, then returned to it as though staring long enough might reveal an alternative she had not considered.
"You are staying in here?"
"I can turn around."
"That is not enough distance."
Chelsea released a dramatic sigh, turned on her heel, and stepped into the hallway. "Call me when the urination portion is complete."
Raven shut the door directly in her face and only allowed Chelsea back inside several minutes later.
The test rested flat on the counter beneath a folded hand towel that covered the result window, while a timer counted down on Chelsea's phone.
Raven paced between the bathtub and the sink, her long faux locs swinging behind her with every turn. Chelsea sat on the closed toilet lid, bouncing one knee so quickly that the heel of her boot struck the floor in a steady rhythm.
"What is taking so long?"
"Chels, I don't know. You think I pee on sticks on the regular?"
"It has been two minutes."
"It feels like two years."
Raven turned again, then stopped when another cramp tightened across her lower stomach. Her hand moved there automatically, pressing against the red velvet fabric as she waited for it to pass.
Chelsea noticed. "You okay?"
"Fine."
"You do not look fine."
Raven stared at the hidden test.
"I'm scared."
The honesty quieted the room. Chelsea stopped bouncing her knee, rose from the toilet lid, and crossed the small space between them.
"Whatever it says, you are not dealing with it alone."
Raven looked at her. "I haven't even told Clark I've been sick."
"You didn't know this was a possibility until today."
"What if it's positive?"
Chelsea hesitated, and Raven's eyes began to shine before either of them could say anything else.
"What am I supposed to tell my parents? What am I supposed to tell Clark? We have barely been together. We are still figuring out what we are, and now I might be..."
"Raven."
Chelsea caught both of her hands.
"Do not jump ten miles ahead before we know what the test says."
"That is easy for you to say."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
The words came out sharper than Raven intended, and Chelsea's face fell before she could hide it.
Raven immediately closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"No, it isn't. I have been snapping at everybody all day."
"You are stressed."
"I was snapping before I knew I had something to be stressed about."
Chelsea pulled her into a careful hug. Raven rested her forehead against Chelsea's shoulder and released a shaking breath, closing her eyes as her best friend held her.
The timer chimed, startling both girls apart, but neither moved toward the counter. Chelsea stared at the towel-covered test while Raven stared helplessly back at her.
"Well?" Chelsea whispered.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because it's your test."
"You are closer."
"I am not touching it."
Raven looked offended. "You more scared than I am."
"I bought it. My job is complete."
Raven slowly approached the counter. The test remained hidden beneath the folded towel beside the sink, waiting for her as though it had all the time in the world.
She reached toward it, stopped just short of touching the towel, then quickly pulled her hand back.
Chelsea groaned. "Raven."
"Do not rush me."
"You already peed on it. The hard part is over."
"That is debatable."
Raven took one steadying breath, pulled away the towel, and picked up the test.
For a moment, she said nothing.
Every trace of color slowly drained from her face as her eyes remained locked on the small result window.
Chelsea watched her expression change.
"Rae?"
Raven did not look up.
"Chels?"
"Yeah?"
"Come here for a second."
Chelsea approached cautiously, each step slower than the last. Raven turned the test toward her, and both girls stared at the tiny result window in complete silence. Whatever they saw left them frozen. When their eyes finally lifted, the same stunned expression was mirrored on both faces.
"Oh my God," they breathed together.
The test slipped from Raven's fingers. Her knees buckled a second later, and before Chelsea could catch her, Raven went limp and crumpled onto the bathroom floor.