Chapter Two

Kylie sighed and rolled her eyes in boredom as her father contemplated his next move.

"Hmm...if I move my pawn, her knight will oust my bishop. But if I move my Queen, her rook will squash my knight. And we can't forget I need to defend the King. What do you think Kyles?"

What do I think? What do I think? Me thinketh you should just move a stupid piece and let us all go on with our lives! You've been staring at the board for the past fifteen minutes!

Of course, she didn't say that out loud.

"I think you should move the pawn Daddy," she said sweetly. "Even if Mom's knight gets your bishop, her King will be susceptible to attack. And I doubt she'll notice."

He ruffled my hair.

"That's my intelligent little girl, he said, pride emanating from his voice as he turned back to face his opponent.

He may not be proud for too long, a sing song voice in her head reminded her.

Go away, she thought bitterly, and she turned her mind back to the match at hand. Her mother, Sheila was frowning at the chessboard. Fred, her dad, was grinning widely as the thought of winning the chess game filled his mind. He hadn't won anything in a long time, at least, not when it came to his wife.

"Come on, come on, come on!" he muttered as he stared at the board, willing it to somehow do his bidding and make him win. Sheila finally sighed and made a move which left her King wide open, causing Fred to shout as he delivered the final blow.

"Check and mate!" he cried, as he danced around the room in sheer ecstasy.

"I finally won, and you lost!" he sang. "In your face, losers! Yeah I'm talking to you punks!"

He pointed at Sheila and Kayla, Kylie's elder sister, who was home for a few days.

"He does know we let him win, right?" Kayla whispered into her mother's ear.

"Ah, let him have this one. It's his first victory- and probably his last one."

"Get up and let us celebrate our victory, Kyles!"

He picked Kylie up and twirled her to the point of nausea. She swallowed back the vomit as he finally put her back on solid ground. His glasses lay askew on the bridge of his nose, and he grinned widely, showing his perfect naturally white teeth. This was a change from the Fred that existed any other time of the year.

It was eight o'clock on a Friday night, and the whole family was home, which could only mean one thing-Family Game Night. This was a night Sheila had organised when Kylie was seven and Kayla ten. She had insisted that the family come together once a week to play games and generally reconnect as a family.

Reluctantly, each member of the Jackson family had co-operated week after week until they'd finally begun to enjoy it. Kylie had, at least until Kayla left for college. All of a sudden, the spotlight had been cast onto her. At fifteen, every move she made was carefully observed by her parents, who were never short of criticism to give her. Family Game Night soon became torture as her mother constantly picked fault with whatever she did, and although her father tentatively tried to defend her at first, he resorted to agreeing with Sheila, making it painfully clear who the real head of the household was.

After a while, the tradition had been discontinued, simply because no one was interested anymore, but whenever Kayla came home-which was once in a pink moon (because let's face it, blue moons are so overrated) her mother forced everyone to participate for old times' sake. Now, two years later, little had changed.

Fred looked quizzically at his daughter. "Are you okay, Kyles?" he asked, frowning. At the age of fifty five, he had somehow managed to retain most of his youthful good looks. With the exception of his receding hairline, salt and pepper buzz cut and slightly creased face, he could easily have passed for a forty year old. His dark brown skin was evidence of his African-American heritage.

He looked into his daughter's eyes and saw himself at a younger age. Confused, frightened. But he didn't tell her what he saw. He just observed.

"I'm fine Dad," she muttered. "I'm completely fine."

"If there's anything wrong, you know your mum and I are always there for you, right?"

"I know, Dad. Don't worry about me."

But that was exactly the problem. Fred did worry about Kylie. He worried that he was losing her. Of late, she had been hanging out with the wrong crowd, making the wrong friends. Sheila had spoken to her, but it didn't seem to have made a difference.

"Honestly Daddy, I'm alright," she tittered. Fred raised a quizzical eyebrow. It wasn't for nothing he was a big man in the business world. His eyes stared into the depths of her chocolate brown ones, as if he could figure out the truth from them.

"Fred stop interrogating the child, you're not a cop. Let's have a rematch; just you and me this time round," called Sheila. "We all know that it was because of Kylie that you won."

He ignored his wife, looking at his daughter for a few more seconds.

"Be careful, Kyles," he whispered, before turning back to Sheila and causing Kylie to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm just going to the washroom," said Kylie, to no one in particular.

"Sure kiddo," responded Fred, who was already deeply engrossed in the chess game.

This is it, said the voice in her head.

"Go away," she said out loud. Then, in a quieter tone, she added, "It's negative, I'm sure of it."

She headed to the bathroom, where she had hidden the test which would more or less determine her fate, and locked the door behind her.

This seems so dramatic, she thought. Although she'd entertained the thought of hiding it in her bedroom initially, she'd quickly dismissed the thought, seeing how many times she had gone there to find her sister rummaging through her things, ostensibly looking for some item she had misplaced. Yet Sheila had ignored her when she had gone to speak to her about it.

It's amazing how Mom always takes her side, thought Kylie bitterly.

It was an open secret that Sheila loved Kayla more than Kylie. Kayla was at Yale, on a scholarship her father's alma mater, and making her family proud. Kylie was barely scraping through high school, and had no plans of going to college.

Mother and daughter were always at loggerheads, more so since Kayla had left, and Fred, a peacemaker at heart, always slunk away whenever he felt one of their arguments heating up.

Kylie opened the medicine cupboard and felt around till her fingers wrapped around the tiny object that held the power to change her life. She pulled it out slowly, trying to postpone what was inevitable, then looked at the test in her hand, dropping it immediately she set her eyes on it.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no."

She fell on her knees, eyes blank and unfocused. She couldn't even find it in her to cry. Somehow, she had known it was coming, but had refused to believe it. Until now.

"I was so careful. It's not possible."

Her heart stuttered to a stop. She shook her head to clear her foggy mind, now fully comprehending the results of the test.

"I'm...pregnant."

The words reverberated in her head, resounding louder and louder until it felt like a large drum was beating in her head. She rubbed her forehead, trying to reduce the intensity of her headache.

"Why me?"

She slumped against the wall, racking her brain for signs of the unexpected, not to mention unwanted pregnancy.

The morning sickness...

The fatigue...

The crazy cravings...

The signs were all there. How could I have been so blind?

It seemed that the dam in her heart broke at last, and her eyes shimmered with unshod tears as her brain went into overdrive trying to figure out the implications of the revelation.

What will Valerie and the others say? Kayla will laugh at me, that's a given. She has no heart. But Mum and Dad...

She wiped away her tears furiously and stood up.

I won't think about that. I'll—

"Kylie, you've been in there forever!" screeched Kayla as she banged on the door.

Flustered, Kylie tore some tissue off the roll and wiped her eyes, before vigorously washing her face with water.

"I'm almost done!" she cried, looking at her face in the mirror. Her eyes were red and bloated, and her soft, thick, curly hair was a crow's nest. She sighed, giving up on her unkempt appearance. Unconsciously though, she smooth back her hair, and blew out a breath.

Kylie opened the door and saw Kayla leaning against the wall, a scowl adorning her pretty features.

"Took you long enough," she said, pushing Kylie aside as she entered the bathroom. The latter murmured some very distasteful words under her breath as she entered the washroom. She walked to her bedroom, and lay on her bed, her hands crossed behind her head. She didn't have the strength to face her parents just yet. Looking up at the ceiling, she thought of Nick.

Ah, Nick. Her face lit up at the mention of her boyfriend's name, albeit mentally.

He's just so—

"Kylie!" The voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she rolled her eyes as she got of her bed.

Again? Seriously?

"What's your problem, Kayla?" she asked.

"Please come out here. Now!"

Kylie froze in fear. Although she hadn't exactly been polite, Kayla never said please to her, not unless she needed a really big favour or unless she had a major victory to lord over her.

She opened the door and instantly became slack jawed. Because standing at the door was Kayla, with a smug smile on her face. But that wasn't what scared her. What scared her was what Kayla held in her gloved hand.

The pregnancy test.