Chapter 9

“What the FUCK are you talking about, Steve?” Gordon yelled, not believing what he had been told.

“Kelsey was a few months pregnant. I overheard it when I was in the office between classes. I guess her mom was screaming at Liam on the phone,” Steve said, shocked that his former friend didn’t know about this.

“Is she going to be alright?”

“Sounds like it. She lost a lot of blood, but she’ll be fine in a couple of days. She’ll stay at the hospital overnight, and then be sent home. You didn’t know? You didn’t see any signs or anything?

“No! She complained about being tired and sore a lot, but I figured it was because of schoolwork. The usual senior year grind of projects, homework, and future planning,” Gordon said, before asking, “Who knows about this? What are they going to do?”

“Well, the secretaries made the initial call when she didn’t show up to school, and Liam of course. It’ll make its way around the school soon though, I wasn’t the only one in the office. As for what they’ll do, I don’t know. Liam seemed pretty pissed off, and he hates dealing with yelling parents.”

“Do ... so they know who it was? The baby’s father, that is?” Gordon asked nervously.

“No, not yet.” Steve then went quiet for a moment. “I’m not going to ask if it was yours Gordon, because I don’t want to know.”

“Steve, I...” Gordon tried to respond but Steve just put his hand up and shook his head.

“I don’t want to hear it. Look, I’m just giving you a heads up. I know you were close with her, I don’t want to know how close. I guarantee if Liam asks the teachers in the staff room who Kelsey hangs out with, they’re throwing you under the bus. I just want you to be ready for it.”

“There’s no evidence I’ve done anything wrong. Why would they think that?”

“You’ve been different ever since that girl started here, Gordon. Everyone’s seen you change, year after year, the closer you two got. I tried to warn you and Debbie tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“I know you did,” Gordon said, looking at his former friend. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“I figured you would want to know. I should get going before my next class starts. Good luck, Gordon,” Steve said, pulling out of their handshake.

“Thanks, Steve. I’m sorry for letting our friendship slip away.” Gordon said, before Steve turned around and walked out the door. Gordon was left alone to contemplate everything he’d just been told. The weight of the situation falling on him like a ton of bricks. He knocked up Kelsey, a student, and someone he cared about deeply. There was no way she’d throw him under the bus, right? What was he going to do now?

Kelsey lay in the hospital bed, having only recently woken up from her unconscious state. She was confused at first, not fully aware of where she was or how she got there. A nurse stopped by to check on her, and that’s when she was told where she was and what had happened. Kelsey’s already pale complexion went even whiter hearing that she had been pregnant.

Kelsey didn’t remember much about what had happened. She had been working on an assignment in her room, trying to complete it before she could start the next one due a week later. She could feel the stress building in her, her stomach felt like it was in knots. Then her mom came in, accusing her of more made-up things. Kelsey just remembered feeling flushed and hot. Her stomach pain grew exponentially, and she went to the washroom. She didn’t remember much else, just the pain inside herself, and then the cold tile floor.

As the nurse left, her parents burst into the room, screaming and yelling at each other, and then at Kelsey. Her head was already hurting, and she just wished she could crawl under the sheets and die. She didn’t say anything to her parents and just let them yell, knowing there was no answer they would want to hear. The nurse returned shortly, hearing all the commotion and tried to quiet the couple down, to no avail. Security had to be called, and the two adults were escorted out of the hospital.

Kelsey just lay there staring at the ceiling. She didn’t know what she was going to do now. It was now impossible to hide what she had been doing. The best she could do was hide who she’d been doing it with, to protect Gordon as best as she could. She didn’t blame him. She must have forgotten a pill at some point before they got together at the Christmas concert. It wasn’t like she had planned to go over to his place that night, unlike Halloween. Shit, she could be so air headed sometimes and now she was paying the price.

Did Gordon know yet, she wondered? And would he be able to visit or would that be a bad idea? Thoughts swirled in her mind, terrifying her, like would he still want her after this? What if word got out to the school that she had been pregnant? She’d be the laughingstock of the school again. She just wished this was a horrible dream that she could wake up from.

The rest of Gordon’s day, after Steve left, was filled with anxiety and nerves. He was so visibly on edge, that even a couple of his students asked if he was doing ok. Gordon decided not to go to the hospital that night. He wanted to, desperately, but he knew it wouldn’t be wise for himself or for Kelsey. Knowing what Steve told him, he knew it was just a matter of time before he got a visit from the Principal, Liam Vernon. It didn’t take much time. The next day, after Gordon got in, Liam visited him in the music room before classes started.

“Hello Gordon, we need to talk,” Liam said stone-faced.

“Of course, what can I do for you, Liam?”

“We need to talk about your student, Kelsey Moore. Are you aware of what has happened?”

“Unfortunately so. I was told yesterday. Any word on how she’s doing?” Gordon asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

“She should make a full recovery, from what I’ve been told. Gordon, her parents demanded to know who she may have been with. Most people, me included, have noticed that you knew her the best. Do you have any idea on who she was seeing?” Liam asked.

“I don’t. I was just as shocked as I imagine everyone else was when I found out. She never mentioned anything about seeing anyone or anything like that. Her mom had been in contact with me previously, but I didn’t know anything then either,” Gordon replied, doing his best to stay calm.

“Alright, thanks,” Liam said, turning to leave. Gordon thought maybe his fellow teachers hadn’t accused him of any impropriety, but then, “Gordon, I don’t know how to ask this...” he paused. “A few teachers I talked to, I won’t say who, pointed the finger at you. You wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would you?” Liam asked, turning around and looking him square in the eyes.

“No, I don’t,” Gordon said firmly.

“Then why did your name come up?”

“It has been a rumor swirling around me for years. It got worse after the incident with Austin Tate, if you remember.”

“Oh yes, that was the same girl, wasn’t it?” Liam asked.

“It was. I took a lot of flack from the staff for stepping in on that, as well as a few other things. There’s been a spotlight on me, on her too, ever since,” Gordon explained.

“Wasn’t she also the student you gave a ride home to last year? It does feel like a few too many coincidences, don’t you think?”

“She was, yes. I know it seems bad but there’s no proof of anything. It’s just a few teachers with an axe to grind. I actually feel bad for Kelsey, she’s been dealing with this from the student population for years now. I can at least hide in here and avoid the staff room, if I like,” Gordon said, defending himself and Kelsey at the same time.

“I know, but unfortunately, I’ll have to keep looking into things. I may have to question a few of your students, Gordon.”

“I understand. As I said, there’s nothing to find.”

“Very well. For your sake, I hope you’re right,” Liam said before leaving the room. Gordon’s legs nearly collapsed out from under him shortly afterwards. He stumbled into a chair and sat down, wondering how he was going to get out of this mess. They had covered their tracks well, hadn’t they? There was nothing to find, unless they missed something.

Kelsey waited at the hospital entrance for her parents to pick her up. She hadn’t seen them since they were both kicked out for causing a disturbance and didn’t know what happened since. All she knew was that she was to be discharged that day, and someone was going to pick her up. She actually would have preferred to take a cab or an Uber home, avoiding her parents all together, but she didn’t have her phone or wallet with her.

Eventually, half an hour later, her father pulled up to the entrance and she got in. The drive home was dead silent, as neither spoke, nor was even the radio on. There was an air of tension, which she understood, but it was more painful than if she’d just gotten yelled at. As they pulled up to the house, Kelsey noticed there were no other cars in the driveway and the house was dark. As they walked up to the house, Kelsey finally spoke.

“Where’s mom?”

“She’s gone, Kelsey,” he said flatly, opening the door.

“Is she coming back?”

“Not likely. We’re filing for divorce. I’ll be living here at the house with you till your semester’s done, then it goes on the market.”

“What happened?” Kelsey asked, unsure what else to say.

“I think you know. Look, what’s done is done. Let’s just get through the next few months and then you’ll be in college and can move on with your life,” he answered without emotion. “By the way, you are only to leave this house for school and that’s it. Nothing else!”

“What about band or getting a job?” she wondered.

“Nothing else. You are done with band, and after school ends, I’ll get you a place near your college. There, you can do whatever you wish.”

“Dad I...” she tried to say but he silenced her.

“No more. You have homework to do. Goodnight,” he said before walking away. Kelsey ran up to her room and started crying. She couldn’t believe she was unwanted in her own home now. Her mom didn’t even seem to want anything to do with her, nor did her father. Now she wanted more than anything to get school over with and to move on with her life. She just hoped Gordon would still want to be with her. She had to talk to him when she returned to school the next day. She just hoped no one else at the school knew about what had happened to her.

When Kelsey arrived at school, she noticed a hushed silence when she walked by the other students. She’d been through this before, after Austin, and already knew ‘the cat was out of the bag’. There wasn’t much she could do about it now. She was the girl who got knocked up and then lost it. All she really wanted to do was talk to Gordon, tell him what happened, and that she still loved him. But she didn’t have music till this afternoon. She thought about stopping by the music room before her first class, but thought better of it. She wasn’t really sure what the rumors were. She had tried to listen in, pretending to listen to her ear buds, but they didn’t buy it.

Everyone just watched her pass, parting like the red sea, as she made her way to her first class. This was going to be a difficult day, on top of all the other difficult days she had experienced in her school life. Deep down, she wondered what life would have been like had she just done what her old friends Vicki and Stephanie had done, but it was too late to contemplate that. She just needed to survive the next couple of months. In truth, that’s all that needed to happen.

At least she had band. Sure, her father forbade her from continuing, but practices were at lunch too and she already knew her parts. She just needed to make sure to use her time at school wisely, before her father picked her up. He didn’t have to know about what happened while she was there. She didn’t even need his permission for ‘field trips’ to the competition, since she was eighteen and could sign the slips herself. This lunch would be her first unofficial band practice, which made her happy, at least for the moment.

Gordon had arrived at school that day, unsure if Kelsey would be back. He really wanted to talk to her, but didn’t know the best way to go about doing it. He knew everyone would be keeping their eyes on him, so there would be no way to pull her aside during class. He did have a lunchtime band practice scheduled, so that would be the first chance to see her, if she was in school.

He’d spent the night figuring out what he wanted to say. He even wrote it down in a letter, should something happen. It felt like he was on borrowed time. He didn’t really know why though, it was just a feeling in his gut. So, he had planned what to do should the worst happen.

When he entered the school that day, the looks and scowls on the faces of the teachers he passed were colder than they had been before. Gordon decided to put his emergency plan into motion, just in case. He thought about sliding the letter into Kelsey’s locker, but figured he’d be seen, and it would look obvious. What he decided to do instead was tape the enveloped letter under Kelsey’s chair in the music room, and hope she found it when she was getting ready for band or music class. It was a risk, but he couldn’t see another way, if something happened.

He managed to make it to the music room, grabbed some tape and put it just under the plastic chair. If she bent down to pick something up, likely she’d see it. When that was done, he proceeded to his biology class without incident. His students in that class were more chatty than usual, which was uncommon, since it was a senior-level class. He tried to keep them on topic, but he could see they were all gossiping about something, and he figured he knew what.