*Bianca*
Waking up with a full bladder is definitely not my favorite way to greet the morning. I winced as I shifted, causing the urge to urinate to skyrocket. I stumbled out of bed and had to catch myself on the bed fra before I darted as quickly as I could to the bathroom.
I couldn’t wait to have this baby. Every small movent was complete agony. Even wiping was difficult. I sighed and stroked my swollen tummy, excited to et this angel that we were going to be graced with.
I waddled back into the bedroom, finally able to fully process that it was early and that Leo was already gone. My legs felt heavy and swollen so I lowered myself back onto the bed before catching a glimpse of a note on my nightstand.
I picked it up, easily recognizing Leo’s bold and slightly ssy handwriting.
“You were sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t bring myself to wake you to say goodbye,” it read. “I had to leave early to handle sothing urgent that ca up. Please know that I am extrely proud of you. You are a brilliantly smart and talented woman. This one bad mark does not define you. Be safe today. I’ll see you tonight. Love, Leo.”
My heart ward at the note and I held the small piece of paper to my chest for a mont, smiling softly as I imagined Leo writing it while I was sleeping peacefully beside him. Despite all the craziness that was still surrounding and my unborn child, we were insanely lucky to have Leo. He was gruff but still extrely caring, always looking out for above all else.
I reread the note a couple of tis, almost feeling his warm arms around as I did so but then my brain chose to focus on the “bad mark” and that imdiately sent my mood spiraling downward.
I felt my whole body slump as I rembered reading the grade and how much of a failure I felt like. I tried to take Leo’s advice and not let it define but it was difficult not to feel that way. Maybe it was partially due to the pregnancy hormones but I suddenly felt like giving up and succumbing to the fear that I wasn’t adequate enough.
I bit my lip, feeling tears start to prick the backs of my eyes but I swallowed them back. I wasn’t going to cry anymore. I could let myself be sad but I wasn’t going to break down again.
I felt a twinge of guilt as I rembered the way I had broken out in sobs the night before and how Leo had to console . I ducked my head. I really didn’t deserve him sotis.
“Bianca!”
I scread, falling backward on the bed just as Amara ca bursting through the bedroom door. I stared at her wide-eyed. She was grinning widely at my reaction, a bag from my favorite coffee shop in her hand.
“Don’t do that!” I scolded her, struggling to sit back up with my bulging belly.
Amara giggled and set the brown paper bag on the nightstand before grabbing my hands and heaving back into a sitting position.
“I called you several tis and you didn’t pick up,” she explained. “I was getting kind of sick with worry so I decided to co bring breakfast.”
I blinked several tis before snatching my phone off of the nightstand. To my shock, it was just past ten in the morning. This was the latest I’ve woken up in weeks. Along with the late ti were several missed calls and texts from Amara.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, shaking my head in dismay. Not only did I just fail a test for the first ti ever, I managed to sleep in and needlessly worry my best friend.
Amara blinked as she studied my crestfallen expression. “Bianca?” she said carefully. “It’s really okay. You don’t have to apologize. It’s completely natural for you to be exhausted. You’re pregnant. Won sleep deeply during pregnancies all the ti. You technically need more rest now.”
I appreciated her trying to comfort and I could tell that she really ant it too. Still, sothing about the way she consoled made want to cry even more.
Before I knew it, I was pouring my heart out to Amara, telling her all about the bad grade and how awful I was feeling about myself.
Amara stayed quiet through the whole thing and I was afraid to look up at her face, fearing that I would see judgnt in her eyes.
“Bianca,” Amara said once I was done. “What you need is a day out. Get dressed. I’m bringing you for a day in town.”
My head snapped up and I stared at my friend, astonished to find compassion and determination in her eyes.
About an hour later, we were at the mall, Amara dragging into various shops to find things for the baby shower. Amara was pointing out all the cute decor and things that we could potentially add to the nursery. Although the nursery was all done, she forced to add things to a registry.
While looking at all of the adorable rchandise, I actually found myself starting to cheer up. Before I knew it, I was smiling and giggling with Amara as we walked arm-in-arm through the colorful mall.
I was enjoying myself imnsely that even as my body was starting to slow down, I kept up pace with Amara, not wanting to risk letting go of this much-needed distraction. If I stopped for even a mont, I feared breaking down again.
Amara, being my best friend and an extrely observant one at that, noticed that I was starting to get tired. “Let’s stop for lunch at that diner over there,” she suggested, gently leading that way.
I smiled gratefully at her, realizing imdiately what she was trying to do. She knew this diner was another one of my favorites. She really was doing everything in her power to cheer up and I appreciated her for it.
It made wish that it was working a bit more.
Just as I feared, as soon as we settled into our booth and the waiter left to fulfill our order, the gloom started to settle in again.
I tried to make small talk with Amara and forced a smile onto my face at the appropriate tis. Once again though, it was clear that I wasn’t fooling her. She narrowed her eyes at and then after a long mont of silence, pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through it before making a call and putting the device on speaker.
My eyes widened when I saw who she was calling. “Don’t bother Taylor!” I scolded her. “He’s really busy right now helping Leo and Darion. He probably won’t even pick up-” I stopped when the ringing stopped as Taylor answered the call.
“Hey Amara,” Taylor said but his voice was tight with concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Hi Taylor,” Amara said, her eyes on mine. She was practically glaring at from across the table. “I’m here with Bianca. Please tell her that everyone fails tests and that it’s really not a big deal.”
“Amara!” I protested. I didn’t bother correcting her. I’m sure not everyone fails tests. I had never up until this point.
Taylor’s shock made the whole thing worse sohow. “Bianca failed a test?” he asked in bewildernt.
My face colored with sha.
“Yes,” Amara confird. “But from what she told , it wasn’t her fault. Her professor sounds like a complete jerk.”
Taylor was quiet for a full second. “Is it Professor Krar?” he asked in a low, knowing voice.
Amara and I exchanged wide-eyed looks. “Yes,” I said, my voice dropping to a wary one now. “Why do you know that?”
“Darion and I took that bastard’s class,” Taylor said. “You’re taking it online, Bianca, so it’s probably not as apparent to you but he has sothing against won. He was constantly putting girls down and was just generally a jerk to everyone. Our theory is that he never wanted to teach but was forced into it because funding for his research was revoked or sothing.”
I sat there, digesting that information. That didn’t exactly make feel better if that was true, and I knew it was. Taylor was a good source for this kind of thing.
“But sothing like grading a test like this is so objective,” I said through unmoving lips. “Are you saying that I might have actually passed but he made it look like I failed?”
Taylor humd thoughtfully for a mont. “Can you list the basic principles of business from the textbook?” he asked.
I blinked but gave him the answers to the questions he was asking. He gave a few more exercises over the phone, telling to recite definitions for business vocabulary. I rattled them off, having had morized these to the point where I was probably mumbling them in my sleep at this point.
“There’s no way you completely bombed that first test,” he said finally. “You clearly know your stuff. Sothing shady is going on here.”
Amara and I shared another wide-eyed look. My heart leaped slightly at the thought that this could all be a mistake and that I hadn’t screwed up.
Amara’s eyes narrowed. “So that asshole failed her on purpose just to single her out?” she asked dangerously.
“It’s soundling like it,” Taylor said, a definite growl in his voice. “Would you like to go down to the school tomorrow and take care of it for you?”
I flinched. Taylor’s voice was dangerously murderous. I could feel a bead of sweat appearing on my hairline as I wondered what he ant by “taking care of it”. Would he simply talk to the professor and threaten him? Or would be do sothing more drastic?
I wasn’t willing to find out. “No,” I said. “I really appreciate it, Taylor but this is my battle to fight. You’ve done your share of fighting for .” I left out that that was very much in the literal, physical sense.
It took so convincing, but we were finally able to make Taylor promise not to take action. We thanked him before hanging up.
Amara started to rant about my professor, sounding as if she was going to march down there that second to intervene but I quickly shot the idea down, thanking her just like I had Taylor.
I was feeling much better now. Even though this professor humiliated and was cheating , I was relieved to learn that this likely wasn’t my own fault.
My confidence was back. I was going to prove to everybody that I could handle this on my own.
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