°○°○°○°

I burst into the bathroom, rushing to the toilet and threw up.

"Honey, are you okay?" I heard Gran call from the other room.

"I'm fine." I called back, proceeding to throw up again.

"Like hell you are, young lady. This is the tenth time you've thrown up this week – right after breakfast to make it worse."

"It's probably nothing. A stomach virus or something."

"That's anything but nothing, Beverley. We should take you to see a doctor immediately."

"I think the heck not. I ain't going to no doctor after last time."

"It was only a butt shot."

"I felt exposed, Gran."

"Be glad the nurse who gave you that shot was a woman or it would have been way more awkward for you. And God forbid if I let a man look at my granddaughter's naked before marriage."

Surprise! A man has already seen me naked – twice. Not to forget we already skipped all the steps of dating and went straight into doing the deed – twice. 

I rolled my yes and flushed the toilet. I walked over to the sink and opened the mouthwash. "Whatever, Gran. I still can't go to the doctor anyway 'cause I have a group discussion in about an hour or so." I informed her, pouring the mouthwash into my mouth.

"Are you sure you about going out while you're sick?" she asked.

"First off," I said after spitting the mouthwash. " I ain't sick. Second, I'm a strong girl. I wrote my end of module assessments while I had a fever and a flu and still got my distinctions. I'll be fine."

"Yes and I applaud you for that, Bee. But you're human – not a god."

"I said I'll be fine! Gosh!" I snapped impatiently.

"You better watch how you speak to me, young lady. Just because you're sick doesn't mean you can disrespect me and speak however you want.

"For the last time; I ain't sick!"

"If you say so, but take your medical card with you in case it gets serious."

°○°○°○°

I wasn't paying much attention to the discussion because I was zoning in and out of the conversion with how tired and drowsy I was. I didn't realise that I dosed off when I heard someone yell my name.

"I'm awake!"

"You okay, girl?" Tarry asked.

"I'm fine." I said rubbing my face, feeling the strain in my eyes and the fatigue run me over like a train. "What were you guys saying?"

"The question was if the mermaid kept her voice, would she have gotten married to the prince and gotten her own soul." Maddy said.

"And I answered by saying that she would have 'cause she not would have had been able to properly interact with the prince, she would have told him about what really happened the night of the shipwreck. Plus she had a beautiful voice to seduce him." Tarry replied.

"But I interjected by saying that the outcome would have been the same regardless because she couldn't read or write nor did she have a clue on how the human world worked despite the little to textbook knowledge she had from her sisters and her grandmother." Remi said.

"Bullshit! How could understand what him if she couldn't read or write?"

"Speech and literacy are two different things." I pointed out. "It is very much possible for a person to be able to speech and understand a language but have trouble reading and writing."

"We also have to remember the cultural differences between mer-people and humans." Maddy added.

"Okay, but she still would have had the advantage to tell what really happened."

"Bitch, what makes you think the prince was going to believe a young woman who he's never seen in his life and has no idea where she came from saved his life. She'd be dead way before she even got her own soul." Remi said.

"He was unconscious throughout the whole shipwreck so we can't really expect him to remember anything beyond that point." I agreed. "Obviously, he was going to believe that he was saved by the priestess-princess over a woman he found unconscious ashore who claims saved his life."

"And with the cherry on top, he already saw what the priestess-princess looked like so it was a done deal." Remi added.

"Not to forget it wasn't confirmed if the humans in the story knew of the existence of mer-people. So for all we know their existence was kept a myth and that being said the prince wouldn't have believed her if she told him about her people." Maddy said.

"Okay, but he did mention that he would marry her over being arranged to marry someone else." Tarry said.

"Well look how that turned out when the priestess-princess showed up." Maddy mumbled, sipping her bottle of water.

"Boom." Remi smirked, gesticulating that she 'dropped the mic' which made Ci-Ci pout.

"No fair. Y'all ganged up on me."

"No, we just supported our argument with facts."

"Bev are you okay?" Maddy asked. "You haven't been yourself lately."

"I'm fine. I must have caught a stomach virus. I've been throwing up and having fevers for no reason." I said.

"Nah fam. It think it's from all that weird food combo you've been eating the past few weeks." Tarry said. "Like girl, whipped cream does not go well with a ham sandwich."

I bit my lip, furrowing my eyebrows. It was true that my development the past few weeks did raise some concerns. I started getting nauseated and vomited after every three hours or so after eating. I became more fatigued and started having dizzy spells even though I y did much physical activity that required me to exert that much energy. 

I started having abnormal cravings and ate more than I usually did. I also experienced headaches even though I made sure I stayed hydrated. My moods were shifting for no reasons. My breasts started swelling and hurting as hell. I was pretty sure that I missed my period.

"It's probably just stress." I said dismissively, packing my things into my bag. "It has been a hectic few weeks with school and assignments so I'm trying to manage the workload and get everything done."

"Dang, girl. I know you wanna keep them grade up but you're a human and not a machine. Take a break." Tarry frowned.

"Maybe until the semester is done. So for now, school comes first." I slung my bag over my shoulder. "Same time next week?"

"Yep." Maddy said.

"You know it." Tarry winked.

"I won't be able to make it. Family thing." Remi informed.

"That's fine. We'll fill you in the week after when you're able to come."

"My G."

"Alright! So I'll you guys next week." I replied.

As soon as I stood up from my seat, everything started spinning and I felt lightheaded. I tried to shake of the feeling and keep steady but the next thing I knew, everything went black.

°○°○°○°

I started registering indistinct chatter as I was slowly regaining consciousness. The smell of disinfectant filled my nostrils. My eyes fluttered open before closing them as I released a groan from my throat and stirred.

"Guys, I think she's waking up."

"Girl, are you okay?"

I opened my eyes and was greeted by a white ceiling, Tarry, Remi and Maddy staring down at me. 

"What the fuck..." I said, turning to my side to see my sleeve rolled up and an IV tube inserted in my arm. "Where am I?"

"The clinic on campus." Maddy informed.

"Right after you passed out we called for help and brought you here." Remi explained.

I tried sitting up straight.

"Whoa! Easy." Tarry cautioned, helping me.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"About an hour or two." Remi told me. "The nurse took some of your blood for testing to see what could have caused you to pass out, otherwise she asserted that it must be because you're tired, not eating well or being overwhelmed with stress."

"Did she say when to expect the results?"

"A couple of days to a week from now." Maddy answered.

"How are you feeling?" Remi asked.

I didn't feel as dizzy as I did prior to when I passed out but I was still overwhelmingly tired and exhausted, nonetheless. "I feel like knocking myself out into a coma and hibernate until the end of the hibernation season."

"Well if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're pregnant." Maddy commented

I froze and felt unpleasant chills fall down my spine the moment I heard those words.

"I don't know about that. She may be showing signs suggesting that she is but that don't really mean she actually is pregnant." Tarry disagreed.

"Well her silence and the frozen pale look on her face is kinda suggesting that possibility."

They all turned to me and I suddenly felt like a kid being scolded by her parents and teacher. 

"Bev, have you been sexually active with anyone as of late – if you don't mind me asking that is." Remi asked.

"Well..." I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence.

"Was it that guy you told me about?" Maddy asked.

"What guy?" Tarry asked.

"She slept with her best friend's mentor during summer break. The rest of what happened is too personal for me to disclose."

"Well shit! I missed out on some tea."

"Is it him?" Maddy asked again.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "...yes."

There was no way I was pregnant.

Me?

Pregnant at twenty one while being a sophomore in university?

Impossible.

I knew having sex with Matthew was a risk but we were careful. I was sure of it. There was no way. I refused to believe it.

"Why can't we wait until the results come out just to be sure. I could be wrong." Maddy said.

I sure as hell hope you're wrong.