Surprisingly Perfect

This Can't Be Happening

I thought I was better than this. The two pregnancy tests in front of me said otherwise. The first one had a plus sign. The second one had two pink lines. There was no doubt about it. I was a junior in high school, and here I was: pregnant.

This couldn't be happening to me. It couldn't. I'd done everything perfectly my whole life. I stayed out of trouble, got good grades, and worked since I was thirteen to save money for college. Did a one-night mistake really cause my entire life to be turned on its head? 

All I wanted to do was sit in the bathroom and cry, but I had only a few more minutes to get ready for work. After grabbing a hair tie, I tossed my long curls into a ponytail, then quickly changed out of my sweat pants and into my skinny jeans, finishing off with a pair of black Converse before running out the door.

I hopped on my bike, because I was still a few hundred dollars away from a downpayment on a car. It was a three-mile ride to Manor Hill: the neighborhood with the biggest houses and richest families here in Oak Falls.

I pedaled uphill until I finally reached the largest home in the neighborhood: the Hetcher mansion. It was surrounded by a massive, wrought iron gate. I stopped at the buzzer and pressed the button.

"Hello? Can we help you?" asked the voice coming from the speaker.

"Hey, it's Chrys. I need to get let in," I said.

There was a long pause. "I'm sorry. Who are you?"

I groaned. The Hetchers always had so many people coming in and out. I've worked here for over a year and still had to repeat this same routine every time I came over for my shift. 

"My name is Chrysanthemum Everston. I'm one of the cleaning ladies."

"Oh, yes, I see that you're scheduled to be here today. One moment, please."

The gate opened and I rode in over the cobblestone driveway, then placed my bike next to the three-tiered fountain and rang the doorbell. The heavy oak door opened a few seconds later, and I smiled when I saw Henry, my favorite butler.

"Welcome back, Miss Everston," he said. He always liked to joke around and pretend I was someone as important as the Hetchers. "Thank you for joining us on this fine evening."

I laughed and gave him a little curtsey. "It's my pleasure, Mister Henry. I'll be upstairs, as usual."

I walked up the beautiful patterned carpet of the main spiral staircase and looked around once I reached the top. The hallway leading to the maids' supply closet was filled with paintings and framed movie posters.

I passed the trophy case, which proudly held a new Oscar. I stopped for just a second to admire it. It read "Best Actor" and had CHASE HETCHER carved into the bottom plaque. I pulled out my phone, took a quick picture, and sent it to my little sister, Poppy, as promised. 

"Hey, maid! We're not paying you to stand around and admire my brother's trophies! Get to work!"

I jumped and turned around to see the not-famous twin, Jace, leaning in the doorway of his bedroom that was probably bigger than my whole house. He was chomping on a piece of tobacco and had his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

As usual, his black-dyed hair was slicked back. Jace and Chase were identical twins, but for as long as I'd known Jace, he'd dyed his blonde hair black. I guess he thought it made him look edgy or something.

"Sorry, Mister Hetcher," I said.

It literally killed me to take orders from him. Not only because he was a complete tool, but mainly because he was still a sophomore. It just bugged me that someone a year younger than me was bossing me around.

"I don't need an apology," Jace said. "I just need you to work. Before you do anything else, I need you to change out my sheets. The bed smells like ass and I'm having a girl over tonight."

"Of course. I'll get to that right away," I said through grit teeth.

I walked into his room, which had a smell consisting of body odor, weed, and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. I covered my mouth to try and stifle a cough. This place was gross. Clothes were all over the floor, open bags of chips were on the bed, and unused condoms littered his desk.

I just cleaned this place three days ago. He's such an ungrateful slob!

Sometimes I felt like he left this place a mess just so I'd have to work harder to clean it up—and there was nothing I could do. He made it clear that if I said one word in protest, he'd have me fired.

There was no way I could go home to Mom and tell her my paychecks would stop coming in. Even with three jobs, she still needed my help to cover some of the bills. So, I had to suck it up and keep cleaning. 

Jace, as usual, followed me into the bedroom. I threw away the trash on his bed and bent down to start changing out the sheets. He stood near his desk and admired the view, like the creepy pervert he was.

Right as I pulled the sheets off the bed, there was a hard slap on my butt. I whipped around to see Jace standing there, still chomping on the tobacco with a smirk on his face.

"Not okay, Jace!" I said.

"That's Mister Hetcher, to you—and watch your tone," he said. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I don't know what you wanted me to do. I couldn't help myself. You have a nice ass."

I opened my mouth to speak, but caught myself. I was doing this for Mom and Poppy. I wasn't going to let this guy get the best of me. I had a job to do. Instead of entertaining him, I turned back around and kept working on the sheets, rolling them into a big ball so they'd fit into the hamper easier.

"Oh, I see, playing hard to get again," Jace said. I didn't answer. "Well, I'll be going out for a ride. You better have this room looking good by the time I get back. This girl I want to bang is a solid eight out of ten, so this place needs to be in good shape. Understood?" I didn't answer. He stepped closer to me. I could feel his breath on my neck. "Understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, Mister Hetcher."

He grabbed his motorcycle helmet from the walk-in closet, which was the size of the bedroom I shared with Poppy, and slammed the door before he left. He always got pissed off when I didn't give him attention. 

I kept my mind on cleaning. After putting the sheets into a hamper, I started working on the rest of the room. I picked up one of the condoms off his desk. They were all the cheap free ones we got from school. Something caught my eye right away: the date.

Oh no. These can't be the ones he's used. They can't.

"These condoms are expired," I said to myself.

I felt my stomach turning in knots. I wasn't a very emotional person, but I felt like I wanted to just run out of here and cry on my bed at home. I made sure we were safe and it still wasn't good enough. How could my luck be this bad?

I needed to get out of this room for a minute. I went down the hall to the maids' closet and grabbed a rolling cart that held all my cleaning supplies. I transferred all Jace's trash to my own garbage bin, cleaned the windows, and folded all his clean laundry.

Once that was all done, I carried the hamper with the nasty sheets to the laundry room. I held my breath while putting the sheets in. They smelled that bad. Once the detergent and fabric softener were added, I started the machine.

As the machine started filling up with water, I heard a rumbling from outside. I looked out the window and saw the gate parting as Jace rode back into the driveway on his motorcycle. My heart started to race.

I placed my hand on my stomach, which was still flat at this point. Everything was hitting me all at once. I sat down on the floor and curled up into a ball, unable to control my sobs. That stupid badboy was the father of my baby. What am I going to do?

*banner by ChelseaOsoego25