Alma wished she'd been in the right mind, not drunk, when she lost her virginity to Elliot Bryant.

Because now, three weeks later, she'd realized that something was wrong. No, not wrong, completely messed up. He wore a condom, she saw him put it on, she knew he did. So why, staring back at her, was a positive pregnancy test.

"Holy shit." Ethan's eyes widened as they looked down at it together, "Holy shit, holy shit."

Alma didn't want to cry infront of him but she did, throwing her hands over her face as she tried to clear her head, "My moms gonna kill me."

"Alma being more scared of her mom then the fact that she is growing a kid in her womb and somehow still got pregnant, when Elliot wore a condom, is the first flaw in her life."

Ethan wrapped a arm around Alma tightly as he hugged her, hand pressing into the back of her head as he rubbed her back, "It's gonna be fine, okay? I'll go with you."

Alma exhaled as she shook her head, "She's gonna go absolutely insane, she'll probably make me keep it or something."

Ethan hesitated, "Hang on, just stay here."

"Where are you going?" Alma called, but Ethan was running through the house quickly. Alma looked down at the pregnancy test again, pulling out her phone to send Elliot another text, despite him ignoring the ten she'd sent over the past three weeks.

Alma: Call me. It's important.

Ethan hurried back in, a girl with auburn hair behind him. Alma had met his sister before, Mallory, they'd talked a little but never enough. Her eyes fell to the test, "Oh shit."

"You have to do something. She can't tell her mom." Ethan begged her slightly, "Mal, seriously, i'll never ask you for anything ever again."

Mallory looked at Almas watery eyes, "You're seventeen?"

Alma nodded her head. Mallory exhaled with a nod, "How cool do you think your mom would be to take a little road trip?"

"The fucked up thing about East Highland is that if you're under eighteen, you have absolutely no control over your body. If your parent isn't with you to suck out a thing of cells, then you're turned away and stuck in a pregnancy that you didn't want for nine fucking months. Mallory had her own pregnancy scare back as a teenager, she'd known just the place."

"Did you get a hold of him?" Ethan asked Alma, he'd been driving while she sat in the passengers seat.

"He won't answer me." Alma sighed as she messed with her fingers, "I'm so stupid."

"You aren't stupid." he shook his head at her.

"I am stupid. Who sleeps with someone they don't even fucking know?" Alma asked in disbelief, one of her knees up at her chest, "I'm just stupid."

"You aren't stupid, stop saying that." Ethan cut in quickly with a look her way as they came to a stop infront of the red light, "All you should be worried about is how you're pregnant. You said he put on a condom."

"I saw him." Alma nodded her head.

"Okay, then what?" Ethan asked her, getting a look of disbelief, "I'm not being pervy, i'm just wondering how this happened."

"Then I turned around." Alma cringed as she told Ethan the story, "That's all that really happened."

Ethan took a turn, "Did he pinch the tip?"

"Yeah." Alma nodded her head.

"Okay, are you sure, since you were turned around, that he had it on?" Ethan asked her, "He might have taken it off before."

Alma stopped as she though a second, "There was one seconds. He pulled out because he said he was too close. It was only, like, twenty seconds in but I know some guys can't last as long."

Ethan took a double take at her, "So he could have taken it off then?"

Alma shrugged, "I mean, I guess. God, i'm so stupid!"

"You aren't stupid!" Ethan gave her a stern look, "It's not your fault. We're gonna figure it out, I swear."

Alma sighed as they pulled up at the clinic, "Hang on."

Ethan watched as she started to send a text on her phone, shutting it off a second later as her eyes went to the clinic again. Ethan reached for her hand, "I'll go in with you."

Alma shook her head, "Could you just make sure no one yells at me?"

"I'll run them over if they do." Ethan gave her a small smile, "You're gonna be okay. I'll be right out here."

Alma reached across the car to hug him, "Thanks for coming with me."

Ethan rubbed her back as Alma got out of the car, giving a small wave.

Ethan sighed as he watch her leave, seeing as though she's left her phone. He grabbed it, going to roll down the window before stopping when it buzzed. Looking down, be gapped when he saw a instagram notification. Alma had told him the only social media she had was Twitter to keep up with politics. He shouldn't have done it, he knew he shouldn't, but his thumb hit the notification button.

Staring back at him was the 'edit profile' page of EastHighlandsDirtySecrets.

•

kylie speaks

i don't know if you
know this, but taking
the condom off without
the person you are having
sex with knowing IS a form
of rape. it isn't spoken about
enough and so many guys do
this to their partners. it's fucked
up and it's a big reason why i
started this book in the first place to talk about how series
it is AND, next chapter, how the
police system doesn't take it
seriously either. if this had
happened to you, or someone
you know, reach out to someone
as soon as possible. i know that
so many justice systems do not
take forms of sexual assault
seriously, most of the time it's
brushed under the rug, but there will be someone out there
who will tell your story, help
you more then keeping it locked
in.