#⇢task.thirteen

[goyourownwayx]

Rayna - Task Thirteen

Rayna admired the different hues of the falling leaves as she sat outside of her high school. Fall had been her favorite season ever since she was a little girl. There was something about the chilly bite in the morning air to the way that the weather warmed up by the end of the day that made the brunette happy. It always made her happy, which was why she sat on that bench, staring into space.

Her mind had been heavy ever since finding out that she was going to have a baby and she knew that she was withdrawing from everyone that she cared about. Even fall did not feel the same as it used to. Everything looked the same. The leaves were still changing colors. The fall scents were in the air. She was practicing for the annual homecoming game. The only thing different was her and she knew it.

Rayna placed her hand onto her stomach as she began to think about all of the ways that her life would change, if she kept the baby. It would change in so many ways, some of which the brunette did not yet realize. However, fall would still stay the same and so would the world around her.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she did not hear her best friend approach her. Rayna had known Ethan since she was a little girl. They had grown up together and been in the same class since kindergarten. Ethan was always there for her, even when she wasn’t there for him. 

“You ok? You’ve been really distant lately. Matilda noticed it too.” The words stung deep inside of her in a way that she didn’t think they would. How could she explain this to him? How could she tell her best friend that she had been hiding this massive secret from him? Rayna took a deep breath before letting it spill out like word vomit. 

“Ethan, I’m pregnant.” She closed her eyes and waited for the backlash of his reaction. When all that she heard was a simple ‘what’, Rayna knew that she had to continue. “I am pregnant. Abel and I, well, we’re having a baby.” 

The silence between the two became deafening. Rayna could not stand it. She wanted to scream. She wanted to shake Ethan and tell him to say something, anything. Instead, she continued. “I just feel like...I have this body, you know? And every day, it gets up and puts on clothes and gets me from point A to point B but it’s not like it’s mine anymore or something. It belongs to someone else now. It belongs to her.”

Rayna looked down at her stomach and placed her hand gently on it once again. “Her?” She shrugged before shaking her head and looking up at him. It was the first word that he said since she started her little rant. She looked up at him, begging for him to speak. “Are you going to keep her?” The brunette nodded as she looked up at him, her eyes pleading for him to say more. “Good,” was all that he said before they sat there in silence one again staring at the leaves falling from the trees.

[goyourownwayx]

MJ Task Thirteen

“MJ! You came!” The brunette heard the perky voice of her classmate as she walked up to the campfire. Truthfully, MJ didn’t think she would go either. When Emma invited her to the beach for a campfire, she initially said no. It wasn’t MJ’s thing. She knew what the town thought of her family and the last thing that she wanted was to be judged because of that. It was usually just easier to stay home and avoid all of it. If Emma didn’t constantly bug her about it, she definitely would not have been there.

“If I didn’t come, I figured you would just text me all night anyway,” she laughed, walking over towards the blonde. She sat down next to her and looked around at all of the people around the fire. She had seen a few of them before but never spoken to them. The only reason that she even knew Emma was because they had to work together on a project. 

She smiled as Emma handed her a bottle of vodka. MJ should have assumed that drinking would be involved. What else would they have done at a campfire on the beach in the middle of October? “You’re right. I would have. You should be here. Drink,” the blonde gleamed as she pushed the bottle towards MJ’s mouth.

MJ took the sip and pushed the bottle again as she coughed slightly. “That’s really gross. You like that stuff?” The blonde laughed as she saw her reaction. Taking the bottle back, she took a large sip herself and passed it along. Looking over at the fire, MJ smiled as the smell of campfire smoke began to fill the air. As much as she didn’t want to go, she had to admit that it was nice being around people her own age and not worrying about life for a minute.