[chloe]

"Marriage? I don't think—"

"Thinking never has been your strong point, John. I guess that's why I am the boss and you do as I tell you to do." My father could be a real asshole when he wanted to be and, while it was something which I was now accustomed to, it was a shock to hear him speak to his friend in such a manner. He had never used such a tone with John before, not even when he wanted to correct the many mistakes he had made, so that's how I knew that my father was pissed.

"Marriage isn't the right solution. If anything, it will only aggravate the situation further," John sighed. I was grateful that he understood what was going through my mind and that he could speak the words which I couldn't form, not when I was still realising that my father was actually considering throwing me into a marriage with Matthew.

I couldn't even stomach the thought of being in the same room as him right now. So I didn't even want to think about the prospect of spending the rest of my life with him in some loveless marriage which was only done for the sake of our child. It would only make things worse than they already were, and I didn't give a shit what my father said.

I wasn't going to marry Matthew Jenkins. I was only seventeen and I had my entire life ahead of me. I wasn't about to marry someone I would only grow to resent for the rest of my life. I didn't give a damn that he was the father of my child nor that John wanted to speak with Matthew beforehand, I only cared about what would happen to me if I was to go ahead with this ludicrous plan and entered into a marriage at the age of seventeen.

I would never have the chance to actually live my life. I would never have the chance to meet someone who could really be the one for me and to actually fall in love with someone. I would never have the chance to, just for once, be happy with my life and the people I had around me. Instead, I would have to commit myself to someone who didn't give a shit about me or the baby I was carrying, and I would have to pretend that I didn't want to stab his eyes out whenever we had company.

"Dad—"

"No, Chloe. Don't bother arguing with me because there is nothing to say." My father silenced me before I could even beg for him not to do this to me. Of all the things which he had done to me in the past, this is the one thing which I would never forgive him for, and this is the one thing which would make me walk away from both of my parents—I didn't need to tell my mother to know that she would agree with everything my father was saying and that she would be all for this wedding.

"There are laws against this. You can't force me into a marriage." I punched the back of my father's headrest, which wasn't the smartest thing I had ever done considering he was driving, but I was pissed off and he was being an even bigger asshole than usual. I was also a hormonal, pregnant teenager and agitating me wasn't the best plan my father had ever come up with. "I am not going to marry Matthew, just because he is the father of this baby."

"No one is going to stop this from happening. You know the power I have."

"Pete—"

"No. If your son will stick it where it doesn't belong, then he is going to have to live with the consequences of his actions." I couldn't actually remember the last time I had seen my father as angry as he was right now. But, if the anger is anything like the time Jason and I broke some vintage vase he brought back from America for our mother, then I knew that it was going to be explosive and it was best to run in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

"Your daughter isn't totally blameless here. After all, it does take two to tango, and she had to give permission for it to have happened," John retorted.

"I warned him. I fucking warned your son to stay the hell away from my daughter, and I even told him what would happen if he was to touch her again."

"Huh?" I stared blankly at my father, wondering just what the hell he was talking about, and why he had just said that he told Matthew to stay away from me. He had been staying away from me since the day he became popular and, until the night we had drunken sex on the stairs, he had done a damn good job of staying the hell away from me.

"Oh. I guess you never told your daughter the real reason Matthew started treating her like shit." John threw his head back in laughter and almost looked as though he wanted to punch my father for something which I was totally clueless about. "Did you really just leave her to think that my son was a complete ass who never even cared about her?"

"What are you talking about? Matthew stopped talking to me because he got popular and I wasn't good enough to be his friend anymore," I muttered, my heart clenching slightly as I remembered the words which he had used the day he told me that he didn't want to be my friend anymore, because it was the same day he made me feel like a complete and utter joke in front of most of the school. "He told me himself that he could never be friends with someone as worthless and pathetic as myself."

"Matthew might be selfish and cruel at times. But you should know that he would never actually say those things and mean them. You were his best friend, Chloe, and the only person he trusted with anything." John turned so that he was facing me and there was something in his eyes which showed just how hurt he was that I would believe those things about his son. "Your father is the actual reason he turned out the way that he did and your father is the reason that you lost your best friend."

"He was only going to hurt you. He was sixteen and I had seen the way he was with girls; I was only protecting you from that."

"And how could he possibly have hurt me?" I knew what Matthew was like. Even at sixteen he had no shame when it came to females and he didn't know how to keep it in his pants, not once he had used it and knew what he was supposed to do with it.

But I wasn't interested in him sexually. I was only fifteen myself and having sex with my best friend was the last thing on my mind; mostly because I didn't really understand what the fascination was with losing your virginity at such a young age but also because I didn't really want to sleep with the guy who had been my friend since the beginning.

"He was becoming popular and he was forgetting all about you. He would have treated you differently because you had the brains and he didn't have—"

"Don't even finish that sentence." My father had never given a shit about me nor what happened to me, so I don't even know why he was pretending that he would have given a damn if he had turned out to be right and Matthew had hurt me in the end. He would have laughed and simply said that he told me so, because that's the sort of father that he was to me, and there no need to pretend otherwise. "Matthew might be a lot of things but stupid definitely isn't one of them. He has always been the more intelligent of the two of us."

"Who's the one getting the grades and actually going places?"

"Matthew," I muttered under my breath. I may have upped all my grades and actually gotten an offer from one of the medical colleges which I had applied to, but it was Matthew who had helped me do that and it was Matthew who had ensured that I could keep up with all the work we had been doing. He was the reason that I was actually still in school and he was even part of the reason that I was still achieving as highly as I was in almost all of my subjects.

"My son is getting the grades and has been offered a place at Northwood College. He might not be perfect and he might not be the most sensible male to have ever walked this planet, but I assure you now that he is anything but an idiot, and I couldn't be more proud of him if I tried." I had never realised that this is what it was to have a parent actually love you and to defend you, regardless of the many faults which you had.

My biggest fault is that I was born. I am, apparently, the reason that my mother and father are no longer happy with each other. I am the reason that my father feels the need to sleep with women more than half his age and my mother sneaks around with the gardener when she thinks that no one is looking. I didn't really know what it was to have the love of your parents because I had only ever had the bitterness and disappointment.

My life had always been dictated to me, and I was always told what it was that I could or couldn't do. It was my parent's dream for me to go to college and to study medicine so that I could be exactly like my father—I had thought that, if I excelled at school and lived the life which they expected of me, then they would finally be proud and they would finally tell me that they actually loved me. It was foolish of me to think that anything would change just because I was living my life as they wanted me to live my life.

But now that I was pregnant, going to college wasn't on the list of things which I wanted to do. I knew that I would probably end up in some dead-end job by this time next year, just so that I could support my child, but I didn't give a damn because I would actually be doing something for myself. I would be happy and I would be able to actually do something for myself, while providing for the life which was going to become my entire world as soon as they were born.

"Well, Chloe got an offer from Bridgeford. She is always going to be a better person than your son."

But, in reality, I wasn't a better person than Matthew. He might not have wanted anything to do with our child and he might have even wanted to keep his parentage a secret from everyone, but it wasn't anything which I didn't want either. I had wanted to abort the baby when I first found out that I was pregnant and I even went along with Matthew in keeping it a secret from people. I was just as bad Matthew, but I simply hid it better and made out that I was an amazing person.

"I'm not going to college. I don't want to go," I finally spoke.

"What? You have worked so—"

"I don't know if you noticed, but I am pregnant, so going to college isn't on my list of things right now. In fact, it never was on my list of things which I wanted to do when I was finished with school." I had already disappointed him so I didn't see the point in ending the trend of a lifetime. It was my life and I was going to start taking control, before it was too late and I spent the rest of my life being controlled by the people who called themselves my parents.

"You wanted this though."

"No, dad. This is what you and mum wanted for me, and I only went along with it because I thought that it would actually make you proud of me," I laughed humourlessly.

"But—"

"I am not a better person than Matthew. I am not more intelligent that he is. And I am not going to Bridgeford because I don't want to be a bloody doctor," I shouted and I was actually somewhat relieved when we finally pulled up outside our house. I was even relieved that Matthew was stood there because perhaps he could speak some sense into my father, and maybe even convince him that marriage definitely isn't the answer. "I am also not marrying Matthew."

"It is the only option, Chloe. The two of you need to be together because there is no way in hell that my grandchild is going to be born a bastard." I stepped out of the car and walked into the house, clenching my hands at my fists and grinding my teeth is anger, and I caught the slight look of concern on Matthew's face as he walked in beside me. "Chloe—"

"I am not getting married, and that's all there is to it."

"Married? Who are you getting married to?" Matthew's curiosity peeked at that moment.

"To you. My dad seems to think that marriage is the only way for us to actually be a family," I chuckled.

"What?"

"Yeah. That's what I thought when he told me it was happening." I didn't want to admit it, but I did actually miss Matthew's friendship and I missed the way things used to be between the two of us, and I did want there to be some sort of relationship between us for the sake of our child. He would, if he just accepted that this was real, be an amazing father and I only knew that because I had seen the way that he was with his cousin when we were younger.

"Clo to me that you are the father of the baby and, while I am disappointed in you and your actions towards this pregnancy, I still think that there is a chance for you to prove yourself." I inwardly cringed at the mention of Matthew's actions because I knew that John wasn't going to let it go just like that, and he was going to have more to say to Matthew when the two of them had left here. "But Pete here seems to think that you are the scum of the earth and that you need to be taught some sort of lesson."

"Scum of the earth? Ha," Matthew snorted sarcastically. "Before you interfered and told me to stay away from Chloe, I was the one keeping your daughter's grades up and I was the one who kept her on track at school. If I hadn't been there for her, then she would have been kicked out of school, but I guess you never even realised that. Did you?"

"What is he talking about?" My father finally asked as he looked between Matthew and I, trying to figure out whether there was a truth to his words, or whether he was simply trying to cause more problems in this family.

"You were either too busy to notice or you just didn't give a damn. I was almost kicked out of school more than once, but you were too busy blaming me for your fucked up life that you never realised, and it always fell to either John or Jason to deal with it." I turned my back on the three of them because I didn't want them to see the tears in my eyes. I didn't suddenly want my father to give a shit about me and I sure as hell didn't want his sympathy either, I just wanted him to understand what he had done to me and what he had driven me to. "Matthew kept me on track at school and he helped me sort my life out before I really did throw everything away. Not that any of that matters to you anyway."

"But you got an offer from the top medical school? You did that all on your own."

"Before Matthew kicked me out of his life—"

"Before your father made me kick you out of my life," Matthew corrected and, despite the hatred which I did harbour for him, I couldn't help the smile which betrayed my inner feelings. There was still part of the Matthew which I knew in there somewhere and he was still the person, other than Jason, who had been there for me when I needed someone. There were still remnants of the boy who had been my best friend for so long.

"—He was the reason my grades improved and he was the reason I stayed in school. When he walked away from me, something inside me snapped, and it wasn't about proving to you and mum that I could be something in life. Instead, I wanted to show Matthew that I didn't need him in my life to be something, and I wanted to be independent without the need for someone to anchor me down."

"Huh?—"

"I applied to Bridgeford because that's what you and mum wanted, and I actually thought that you would finally be proud of me. But I have now come to realise that I am never going to be enough. I am never going to be that perfect child you can brag to your friends about and that's what you hate. You hate that I am not what you wanted and you hate me even more now that I am pregnant."

I finally turned around to look at my father and I found myself actually feeling satisfied that my words had hurt. I had spent seventeen years being emotionally tormented by my parents and it was time that the boot was on the other foot, and that he could finally understand some of the pain which I had suffered at the hands of those who were meant to love me unconditionally.

"I think that Matthew and I should leave. It would seem that Chloe and yourself have a lot of talking to do," John broke the silence which had fallen but, even if he was to leave, there was nothing else to be said to my father. I had said that it was that I wanted to say and I wasn't in a hurry to apologise for what I had said.

"You will remain until we have agreed on something." My father didn't even give John the chance to begin moving before he had opened his mouth and made it clear that he wasn't going to be overruled on this decision. He was going to make this marriage happen and it didn't matter to him that it was against the law, nor that he would lose his daughter, just as long as he got what it was that he wanted.

"I don't want to marry Chloe and she doesn't want to marry me either. I don't think there is anything else to be discussed."

"I agree, Pete. Marriage really isn't the answer to this problem." I left my father and John to continue arguing over whether marriage was the right decision or not, and I moved into the other room where I sat down on the sofa and closed my eyes for a moment. I had been on my feet for most of the day and I had stressed myself out a little too much, and now all I really wanted to do was sleep because I was exhausted.

"Are you alright?" I felt the sofa dip beside me as Matthew sat down and, strangely, I could actually hear the worry in his voice when he asked the question. If it could be like this all the time between the two of us, then it would definitely make everything slightly easier to cope with, and I would also like to think that there was a chance for me to have my friend back.

"Yeah. Today has just been a hell of a day and I could do with sleeping for at least a week," I joked.

"You know, if you ever need somewhere to stay, then I have a place of my own. The spare room is always there if you want some time away from all of this."

"Is it wrong for me to say that, while I hate you for what you've put me through, I also miss my best friend?" I allowed my head to fall onto his shoulder and I actually enjoyed the comfort which it provided me with. When we were teenagers, I would always put my head on Matthew's shoulder whenever I was tired, and he would sling his arm around my shoulder, simply letting me fall asleep on him while he remained awake and only woke me when he thought that I was rested enough.

"Is it wrong for me to tell you that—"

"That baby needs a mother and a father. Marriage is the only logical thing," I heard my father shout from the other side of the door, cutting off whatever it was that Matthew was about to tell me. "I have preparations in place already. Matthew and Chloe are to be married at the end of the term."

"Wait? What?—" Matthew moved from the sofa and opened the door, coming face to face with both my father and John. I had no doubt that their friendship would never be the same after this and that it would never be repaired either.

"There is nothing else to be said, Matthew. You are going to marry my daughter and that's all there is to say." I didn't even have the opportunity to argue back before my father walked out of the house with his head held high, knowing that he had had the final word and that there was nothing which could be done to be able to stop him.

"I am sorry, son. I tried the best that I could," John sighed in defeat as he walked out of the room. He knew that there was nothing else to be said and he also knew that there was nothing which could be done because, once my father had a plan and an idea, he would do everything to ensure that it happened. He wasn't a man who didn't like to get what he wanted.

"I always knew that you would be a Jenkins." I knew that Matthew was only trying to lighten the situation and make a joke, but I simply wasn't in the mood for that right now and I wanted some time to myself. I walked out of the living room and headed for the stairs, knowing that my bedroom was the only safe haven which I had in this house right now. "Chloe?—"

I ignored Matthew's calls as the only thought which was going round my head was that I was going to be a married woman. In just under three months I was going to become Mrs Jenkins and, thanks to the man who called himself my father, there was nothing would could be done to prevent it from happening.

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