Summary: What would have happened had Bridget ended up pregnant after what happened between her and Eric at the end of the first summer?

Hi, my name is Helen. I'm 14 years old and I live in the US. I love writing, reading, YouTube (it's just so dang addicting!), and chocolate. I hope you enjoy my story, please don't forget to comment.

Mistakes Already Made

"Bee," Carmen sobbed into Bridget's shoulder. There was nothing like sympathy, Bridget thought. It had the power to make you feel better and worse at the same time. Because maybe, if no one had sympathy for her, there really wasn't a problem. But now she had Lena, Carmen, and Tibby – even Tibby, for Pete's sake – on her bed, eating Bugles and crying for her. So apparently, there really was a problem. That scared Bridget.

Ever since she'd come out of the bathroom that morning in September, things had been different – way different. It was the day before school started, the last day of summer, and Bridget really just wanted to be asleep. But now, her friends were here, and she'd told them what she and they had already known, and she wouldn't get to sleep that morning. Bee sighed. She really liked sleeping…

"It'll be okay," Tibby said. "We can figure something out. We'll…we'll…Oh, goodness. I don't know."

Bridget was beginning to feel a little scared.

"The baby will be perfectly fine, of course. It won't have any problems – it can't. Except we don't know Eric's history. Maybe he's the only normal one in his family. Maybe he has some sort of weird disease you can't see from the outside. Maybe…" Carmen would have gone on all day had Bridget not shut her up with a wave of her hand.

"Okay. What about Eric?" Lena asked sensibly from where she sat perched on top of the headboard, quietly shedding tears.

"What about him?" Bee asked. They were the first words she'd said – no, mumbled – since she'd told her friends she was pregnant.

"Don't you think he has a right to know?" Lena asked, daring Bee to say no.

"No," Bridget responded. "I don't. I think he'd be better off if he didn't know. So he couldn't feel guilty."

Eric. Bee wanted to talk to him so badly, though, she ached. She wanted to tell him. She wanted him to know what she was going through. She wanted him to be able to help, to magically make it not so. But she also knew that was impossible. So why involve him at all? Why make it like one of those teen pregnancy shows with the dad being around all the time. Or, heaven forbid…What if he didn't care?

So it was better that he not know.

"He's going to find out," Tibby said quietly from behind the bag of Bugles.

"What?" Bridget rounded on her. "No. No, he is not going to find out. Of course he won't. You won't tell him, no one will tell him."

"Bee…" Carmen hummed softly. "We know you're upset, and we'll drop the Eric subject for now, but I think you might need him later. You know."

No, Bridget didn't know. She didn't want to know. She was happier not knowing when she would need Eric. She wouldn't need anyone. She could do this alone, with just her friends to help her.

"What about school?" Lena asked practically.

"Well, I'll go until I can't anymore, and then I'll just have to take summer school," Bee said.

"When will you not be able to go anymore?" Lena asked.

"When people get too unbearable about it. When I really start showing. You know." Bridget wondered how she had a clear mind right now.

"You'll tell the school though, right?" Lena asked.

"Of course I'll tell them. I'll tell them tomorrow." Bridget knew she was probably the only girl in the entire school who could walk into the office full of school administrators and announce that she was pregnant.

"Hey, Bee?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah?"

"It'll be okay, okay? You know that. We'll all help. Your dad will help-"

"Oh, no. My dad!" Bee moaned. "How will I tell him?"

"We'll help. We'll be there," Tibby said, even though it looked like she really didn't want to be there at all.

"Okay," Bridget said, wiping the first tear she'd had from her eye. "Okay." Then she broke down.

Chapter 2

The next morning, school was as awkward as could be. Word had gotten out because some loudmouth kid had been in the office with Bridget as she'd explained the situation. And that same loudmouth kid spread it around. So Tib, Bee, Carmen, and Lena were on their own to fend off annoying people. Bridget had Lena in her English class, Tibby in her math class, Carmen in her history class, and all of them were in her gym. She was only alone for art class and study hall. So that's when people chose to attack.

"So who was it?" a girl named Carley asked as Bridget painted a picture of a soccer ball.

"Oh. Um. Just a guy I met at summer camp," Bridget explained. Wait. Did that sound bad? Was it bad?

Yeah. She guessed it was.

"Ooh. What's he look like? Where does he live?" Carley asked.

"He lives in England. He's tall, dark, and handsome," Bridget said, only lying about the England part.

"Ohh. So are you two going out now?" Carley wanted to know.

"No. It was really just a summer fling…" Bridget trailed off. Was it a fling? Or was it Bee, seducing poor Eric?

"What's his name?" Carley asked.

"His name is…Justin," Bee answered, giggling to herself.

"Hot name," Carley remarked.

How could a name be hot?

Then of course there was the group of guys at study hall.

"What are you gonna name your baby, Bridget?" they'd taunted. I thought about it for a minute, but, coming up blank, all I could say was "Go away."

"How about you name it…Eric?" they'd said.

Eric? How had they known? The only people in the school who knew were Tibby, Carmen, and Lena, and they wouldn't have told. Unless we'd been overheard. If we had, I didn't know what I'd do. If they'd heard about Eric, they'd heard more than that. About how I still had to tell my dad, and Perry would have found out in school…

There were so many things to think about, my head almost exploded. What if people at school knew it was a boy named Eric? How would I tell my dad? How would I explain this to Perry?

As I was thinking about Perry, he arrived behind me. The guys dispersed and Perry sat down next to me.

"Bridget, I think you need to explain," he said.