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The final bell rang, releasing Zane and his fellow students from history class. He hastily shoved his folder back into his backpack and hopped out of his desk, clapping one of his friends on the back as they headed out the door before heading down the hallway toward his locker.

"Oh, Zane, could you hold up a moment?"

The Electrike spun on his feet, tuning around to see his history teacher standing in the classroom doorway.

"Uh.... yeah...? Is there.... something wrong?"

The Stantler looked surprised for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, no, of course not Zane, sorry to make it sound like that. You've been doing really well. No, I was wondering if you might be interested in joining the school's history bowl team."

"Wait... the history bowl team? I thought that was only for eighth graders."

"Normally those are the only students we send, yes, but officially the division is open for all middle schoolers. For the past two or three years, we've only had two or three eighth graders interested instead of the eight or so we're used to, so Mr. Barretto decided to open it up to seventh graders this year. You were the first student I thought of when I got his e-mail. So would you like to try it out?"

"I - definitely, yeah!"

He got information from the Stantler about the bowl team and then headed to his locker for real; if he was any lighter on his feet, he would've skipped there. The halls were already relatively empty, students already gone in the time he had been talking with his history teacher. As he was collecting his lunchbox and trading out folders between his backpack and locker, he noticed a gold figure approach from his right. "Oh hi, Kira!" he said brightly, finishing up and ziping up his backpack again.

There was no answer, though the person was still there.

He closed his locker and saw that it in fact was Kira standing there; his own smile vanished instantly when he saw the look on her face. It was caught somewhere between pure desperation and like if she had seen a ghost.

"...Babe, what's wrong?" he asked quietly, concern and worry clear in his voice. He wasn't sure if he wanted to pat her on the shoulder or wrap his arm around her, but started reaching for her anyway. She made the decision for him by suddenly lurching forward and wrapping her arms around his chest and back with a grip that surprised him - then started sobbing immediately. After a moment of shock, he embraced her, but he still was only able to stammer a bit before deciding to just let her cry for a moment, realizing she probably wouldn't be able to answer for a little bit anyway.

They drew some stares from the students still straggling through the halls, but Kira completely didn't notice and Zane didn't care in the slightest; most of the passerby simply saw a messy situation they didn't want to get involved in, and even when some of Kira's friends wandered by, they assumed there must've been a reason she didn't come to them first and continued on, though they did try to catch Zane's attention just for his recognition, to no avail.

Finally, when the two of them were literally the only ones left in the hall, he said "Talk to me, Kira..."

A minute or so later, she was able to choke out between gasps "Chris-s... I'm-m s-scared..." He just squeezed her closer, giving (what he hoped was) a comforting murmur, nothing that forced her to continue talking... Eventually she did anyway, though, adding "...Th-the p-pills... They... Th-they didn't w-work..."

"The... pills...?" It took him a moment for him to realize what she meant. A heavy chill started behind his ears and sank down to his feet as he dreaded what she was going to say next.

"I - I'm pregnant..."

---

_Kira opened the door to the drugstore and edged her way in as unobtrusively as possible. It seemed like there weren't any other customers in the store at the moment, for which she was thankful. She glanced up to the signs over the aisles to see where she wanted to go; she didn't immediately see what she was looking for, so she just headed in the direction of all the personal care stuffs. She was browsing down one of the rows when...

"Kira?"

She yipped in surprise, dropping her purse and sending her cell phone clattering across the floor.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school now?"

She sighed, dejectedly picking up her purse and phone before starting to walk over. "Yes, Uncle Kasbah..."

Behind the pharmacy counter at the back of the store was a friendly-(but currently confused-)looking Jolteon with a nose ring and thick-rimmed glasses in scrubs.

"I... I thought you worked in one of the branches on the north side of Hassenburg..."

"They moved me," he said simply. "Now, what are you doing out of class?"_

"It's... not class time right now, we're on lunch. ...I snuck out."

"And whhyyy?" Kasbah asked with a smile, leaning on the counter between them. He liked the idea of one of his brother's kids actually breaking rules - but then he noticed how nervous and uncomfortable the golden Vulpix was.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, then shook her head, deciding against whatever she had first thought. "It's... nothing. I should probably head back to school now anyway..." she said, turning to leave.

"Now hold it right there, little miss," Kasbah said, reaching over the counter and laying a paw gently on her shoulder, stopping her. "I know the middle school isn't exactly next door to here, you didn't come here for 'nothing'. What are you doing here, Kira? You know you can always talk to me, we're family."

"That's... actually not..."

He recalled how he scared her earlier and started putting things together (or at least guessing). "...Is there something you don't want you dad to know?"

"I - I... I don't know..." she mumbled out.

"You... don't know?"

She debated about how much to say; it would've been so much easier to talk to someone who didn't know her and probably wouldn't recognize her in the future... not to mention the whole 'father' thing... It was Uncle Kasbah, though, he was always pretty chill...

"I... My..." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm over two weeks late on my period. I know your cycle can vary naturally anways, but I already... added in a week to try accounting for that..." she trailed off.

Kasbah jast stared for a moment. "Oh, well... so, what, are you worried you're knocked up or something? You know that doesn't work when you haven't had sex yet, right?"

Kira seemed to shrink a bit, quietly replying "I... have had sex already..."

"Oh." Pause. "And Zane didn't use a condom??"

There wasn't even a question as to who the guy was. "I mean, yes and no... He did the third time, after I ran out of pills."

"Pills."

"Yeah, I... one of my friends has an older sister who uses them, so she swiped some of her sister's pills and gave them to me."

"Okay... how did you use them?"

"What? Uh... once a day?"

"Right - for how many days?"

"...Well, I had four pills, so Wednesday through Saturday, with Firday's and Saturday's both immediately before... we..." She trailed off, both because it felt awkward to say out loud, and because the Jolteon had started rubbing his forehead.

"Kira, hon..." Kasbah said as kindly as possible, "you have to be on the pill for a week before it's fully effective..."

Kira's shoulders and mouth dropped in terrorized realization, her eyes going wide - Kasbah felt like he might as well have been a judge handing out a death sentence. He sighed and started rummaging around behind his counter. "I assume you came here looking for a pregnancy test... We keep them behind the counter here because they got stolen often before." He pulled a small package out and held it forward in front of his niece. "Here. I'll cover for it. You know how to use one of these?"

Kira just slowly accepted the box and turned it over to read the back.

Kasbah waited a moment before saying "We don't have a public bathroom in here, but the gas station next door-"

"I think I need to get back to school..." Kira cut him off, voice flat. "My last period, Home Ec., always is let out five or so minutes early, so I can try it then, and just... go home..."

The Jolteon stayed silent for a moment, thinking, then said "Well... I guess that sounds like a good plan..."

When that seemed like it, the golden Vulpix defeatedly slipped the still-boxed test into her purse and turned to leave.

"I'm sure everything's going to ultimately be alright, Kira..."

And she slipped out of the store's front door. The Jolteon just stared after her for a minute or two before sighing and shaking his head, trying to draw himself back to his job. He considered calling his brother and relaying the conversation he just had, but ultimately decided against it. Scared as she might have been, Kira was a responsible girl - even if she didn't directly tell her father this evening like she implied, Kasbah was sure she would tell someone, and that would probably be enough for now. He would call Howard in a few days, assuming the Espeon didn't call him first.

Of course, that was assuming Kira was in fact pregnant. Everything seemed to suggest it, but there was still a chance...

---

He hugged her tighter as that was the only response his brain had room to process at the moment. The rest of it was as blank as his stare was, trying to come to terms with the news she had just dropped on him. She was sobbing into his shoulder again, soon both leaning and hanging on to him as her legs stopped supporting her, pressing him back against his locker. His legs slowly started giving as well, causing the two of them to slide down the locker to the floor, Kira laying in Zane's lap as she cried.

He finally "came to" enough to not just sit there holding her; he began rubbing her back a bit, murmuring comforting words to her, though almost trying to convince himself even more than her that everything was going to be okay. He was still staring out into space as he spoke, though, instead of addressing her directly - not that she noticed at all, face still smushed up against his chest, making his shirt rather wet with tears and sniffles.

A Nidoking - male, older, obviously a teacher - rounded the corner at one end of the hallway and almost made it to Zane's history classroom before noticing the heap of distressed students just down the hall.

From inside the classroom, there came a bright "Hello, Alonso!" as the teacher inside noticed the Nidoking standing just outside the doorway - then noticed the other teacher's gaze and body language. "...Is there... something wrong?" The Stantler appeared in the doorway, then followed Alonso's gaze down the hall to young couple. "...Oh, dear, that doesn't look good..."

"Doesn't look like normal couple trouble, either..."

A sporty-looking Mightyena, the middle school's gym teacher and battle coach, at the other end of the hallway had now noticed too; the three educators made brief eye contact before, by unspoken agreement, they converged on the obviously distressed pair. It was the coach who first knelt down and reached out to Zane's shoulder.

"Hey there, sport..." he said softly, "can you tell us what's wrong? Can we help?"

Zane was brought out of his trance slightly, glancing sideways to the Mightyena before his head bent downward, his eyes low as he looked over the still-crying Vulpix lying against his chest. Her sobs were getting quieter, but not smaller.

After a moment with the teachers tensely waiting, Zane finally murmured "We want to see counselor Ferber..."

The teachers to each other a bit as Zane hugged his girlfriend close, gathering her up a bit. The Mightyena then helped the Electrike up to his feet, pulling Kira up with him a bit. The Stantler tried to help steady the Vulpix, but she whimpered a bit, causing Zane to almost yank her away from his history teacher. He hugged Kira possessively, giving a depressed but serious glare that clearly said " No-one touches her right now, alright?" The Stantler didn't try again.

So they walked - a bit awkwardly, considering Kira's legs weren't entirely working, leaving her boyfriend to hold her up in front of him as both a Mightyena paw and Nidoking hand stayed at his back.

---

"Hi, dad!"

The door opened in front of the Espon, revealing a young Vulpix boy.

"Well hi there, Keith," Mr. Sune said, walking inside after his son. "Was the bus ride home okay? My client meeting was."

"Yeah, it was fine," Keith said offhandedly, already heading back down the hall to his room. After dropping his portfolio on the coffee table, Mr. Sune followed his son into the hall. "Hi, Kira!" he called out.

Keith stopped at the entrance to his room before looking back to his father, who was instantly unsettled by the confused look on his son's face.

"I... She's still at school, as far as I know," Keith said slowly. "Is she... not supposed to be? She didn't call you or anything?"

"What? No! She didn't get on the bus?"

"No, I tried texting her before the bus left, but she never responded... Dad?"

The Espeon had turned on the spot and was hurrying off to the kitchen and the phone there, quickly dialing up the school. In his head, he was cursing the fact that he hadn't been able to pick the kids up himself like he did 80% of the time anyway... The other end couldn't get picked up quickly enough.

"Hello, Hassenburg South Middle School front office, my name is Clarice, how may I help you?"

He tried to not rush his speaking. "Hi, my name is Howard Sune, my daughter Kira apparently didn't get on the bus this afternoon, do you know where she is?"

"Didn't get...? Oh, dear, that certainly doesn't sound good. Okay, let me see what I can do... I'll check attendance first..." There was a slight pause before Mr. Sune heard her mutter "Sune... Sune..." Keith shuffled into the kitchen watching his father intently as the secretary said "Okay, Kira Sune, here we go... Well, it says here that she was in each of her classes, down to eighth period..."

Mr. Sune pulled the phone away from his head for a moment, quickly telling Keith "Call Zane," before he heard the secretary continue.

"Alright, um, let me call for her over the PA. Hold on a moment..."

Hold music came in to Mr. Sune's ear then, causing him to huff in a mix of impatience and worry as he started tapping his feet, watching Keith get on his cell phone out of the corner of his eye.

It seemed to take several agonizing minutes, but the hold music flipped off after only a few seconds. "Okay, I've asked for her over the speaker system to come to the front office. Either she'll show up in a minute (or several), or someone will call me with inf- oh, I've got a line lighting up right now. Hold on one more second, Mr. Sune." And then the music was back.

Mr. Sune looked back to his son, who was dejectedly closing his cell phone. He shook his head - Zane wasn't picking up, either. Now that was weird. Maybe the two of them were together? That made the Espeon feel somewhat better, though not much... At least someone at the school had responded to Clarice almost immediately, so maybe...

"Hello, Mr. Sune. Kira and a friend have been in the counselors' office for the past half hour or so. So she's here and accounted for, don't worry."

Mr. Sune breathed out a huge sigh of relief, slumping against the refrigerator. "Okay... Thank you. So I guess I should come up to the school and be ready for whenever they're done?"

"I think that would be a good idea, yes."

"Okay." He thought for a moment. "...Out of interest, what 'friend' is with her?"

"Mrs. Ferber's secretary didn't give me any details; confidentiatlity. I don't know who the other student is or what the two of them are talking with Mrs. Ferber about, I was just told that Kira's there."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you again."

"You're welcome." And with that, she hung up.

Mr. Sune sighed again and hung up as well. "Kira's in the counselor's office at school," he announced so that Keith would be brought up to speed. "I'm going to drive up there and wait for when they're done."

"I'm coming, too," Keith answered without dropping a beat; this was his twin sister, after all. A moment later and the two of them were on their way back up to HSMS.