Chapter Two

***LUCAS POV***

"Alright class the essay Is due next Monday Don't forget!" Professor Montgomery says as the class packs up. Finally two hours later my first class was over. My next class wasn't until noon. checking the clock I see that I have roughly two hours to kill before my next class, Chemistry, JOY. A girl from class saddles up to me, a blush on her cheeks. I mentally groan but plaster a smile on my face.

"Hello Jessica." I say putting my text book back in my bag. She blushes deeper.

"Hey Lucas, I was just wondering if you would like to get together tonight and Study for that test next week?" She says softly, and I could tell she was nervous. I mentally sigh. Jessica Porter had a crush on me that much I could tell. She was a fresh out of high school girl, probably eighteen or so and had instantly taken a liking to me on the first day of classes. I knew it was harmless but now she was trying to make a move. It was time to nip this in the butt. Old cruelty rears its head as a mean comment pops into my mind but I quickly push it back. NO! I would NOT be mean, I would let her down gently. I swing my bag onto my shoulder and shrug.

"Sure, I'll just have to run it by my Fiancée, We're suppose to be having dinner tonight with her family, they haven't seen our daughter in a while." I say smoothly, guilt chewing me up as I see the hope blowing up in her eyes. She hangs her head.

"Oh Um, Never mind, I would hate to take you away from your family." She says her voice sounding defeated. I felt bad for her. Maybe in my high school days I would have taken her up on the Clear offer she was trying to portray. But not now, I would NOT mess up the family life I had with Jeremi. She meant to much to me to cheat on. And Regan. The little angel depended on me and Jeremi. I would not Disappoint her!. I give Jessica a small smile.

"Sorry Jess. But hey I'll catch you later I got some errands to do before my next class." I say and quickly leave the class room, not wanting to see the sadness in her eyes. I say hi to a few guys from my next class and head to the parking lot, quickly jumping in and taking off toward the burger king down the road, my stomach growling. I park and jump out, locking up the car before heading inside. A voice stopping me.

"Well I'll be dammed Is that Lucas Carver?" I slowly turn around and face my old friend. Arnold smiles wide as he stubs out his cigarette and saunters up to me. I give him a smile.

"Holy Hell Man I haven't seen you since graduation How you been?" I say giving him a one arms hug. He shrugs.

"I've been around. What brings you to this neck of the woods eh?" He says, his breath smelling like smoke and beer.
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"I'm taking classes at the university up the road. Mechanical engineering." I say and shrug. "I was just going to get something to eat lets go in. My Treat." I say knowing that Arnold was broke. He was always broke, or at least the rumors said he was. After I broke my silence of my Father's abuse I stopped hanging out with Arnold, determined to become better, to stop the drinking and partying that we use to do. We lost touch and through the grape vine I had heard things about him. He had been kicked out of community college for threatening the Dean's daughter, he had been kicked out of his house and since then been sleeping from couch to couch. He had no job, unless you call selling illegal things on the streets a job. He had hit rock bottom. Some say he had a few kids out there But I didn't believe a word of that. He was always smart and protected himself before doing anything with a girl, even when he's black out drunk he remembers to use protection. We enter the fast food place and order ourselves two whoppers each before grabbing a seat. "SO man what you been up to?" I ask sipping my coke. Arnold just shrugs and takes a sip of his own drink.
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"Nothing much man just been around. Partying. Living the good life." He says. The person behind the counter calls our number and I grab the food before sitting back down. I hand him his food and we dig in before he speaks again. " I heard you Were with that Flint girl from high school. That freak's sister." He says, a sneer on his face. My anger rises in me and I want nothing more then to Bash his head against the table. I glare at him, making his sneer drop a little.

"Her name is Jeremi and Yes I am with her. We have a ten month old daughter Named Regan." I say, a little too harshly but I don't care. No one Insults my family. "And the 'Freaks' name is Oliver, get it right." I add. Arnold just stares at me, his eyes wide.

"Damn dude why'd you go and knock her up?" He says, completely Dismissing everything I had just said. My anger boils and I stand up abruptly. I snatch up my burgers and start walking away before I did anything. "Wait Lucas!" He calls after me.

"Hey tell your sister I said Hi and that I miss the brat!" I call knowing it was a low blow. If the rumors were correct He wasnt even allowed near Kelsey anymore due to his habits. But hey it was either rude comments breaking his nose. I chose the lesser of two evils. I rush out of there and hop in my car, peeling out of the parking lot making the tires squeal. I send my professor for my next class an email letting her know I wouldn't be able to make it to class today due to my daughter. I knew it was stupid but with the way my anger was right now I wouldn't be able to sit and concentrate without flipping out on someone. After sending her an email I press number four on my speed dial and put the phone up to my ear.

"Why if it isn't my baby brother sparing a moment to speak to lonely old me. Kathy Don't hurt your brother!" My sister Fiona says, yelling at her four year old twins. I roll my eyes. my niece and Nephew were Devil children, thanks to their deadbeat dad. "What's up bro?"

"Hey can you spare an hour or two? go to a movie or something?" I ask heading to her house. She lived about an hour away from my house meaning an hour and a half from the college.

" Yeah I can see if Ricky can watch the kids, Why what's wrong?" She says "Karter Don't push your sister!" She cries making me laugh.

"We can bring the brats if you want. I heard that new live action jungle book is out we can all go see it." I can practically hear her smile.

"That's great, Yeah come get us! KIDS Uncle Luke is coming to visit We're going to see the Jungle book!" I hear them cheering from a distance. "See you when you get here." she says and hangs up. I smile as I hook my phone up to the radio. Ever since My father and mother were sent to jail for child abuse Fiona and I had become close and I was grateful. I had missed my sister, we had been so close when I was younger, only growing distant when my father started to become violent toward me. I speed up and race to my sisters house.

***JEREMI POV***

I glare at the elderly woman who was giving me a disgusted look. my patience finally wearing thin.

"Excuse me ma'am is there a problem here?" I ask in a fake sweet voice. She just gives me another disgusted look.

"Teen parents now a days, god help that child." She says with a snobby tone. I sigh and roll my eyes. I was twenty-one but with how petite I am I looked like I was still in high school. Lady I have been out of high school for three years now thank you very much! I give her a small smile and laugh.

"Yeah I know right? Its so sad sometimes to see teen parents. Thank goodness I waited until I was at least twenty-one." I say and push my cart away from her, Laughing when I see her stunned and embarrassed look. That'll teach her to judge! I smooth down Regan's hair as she squirms in the cart. I knew she wanted out, to tottle around grabbing all the things off the lower shelves, but I wasn't going to let her. I had learned that lesson the hard way. I laugh when she gurgled out baby talk, a elderly gentleman smiling at her.

"She is just too precious, Your daughter?" He asks. I nod. "Babies are such a joy, enjoy this time while it lasts, next thing you know she'll be a teenage with boys running after her." We laugh.

"I'll have to restrain her father when that happens. He'll want to beat them all away with a stick." He laughs.

"That's better then me, I had a shotgun." He says winking. I shake my head.

"Thank goodness My fiancé doesn't have a shot gun." I say. He laughs again and wiggles his fingers at Regan before shuffling along on his way. I smile. See now that's the elderly type I like. The non judgmental type! I continue down the isles, grabbing the ingredients for tonight's cheesy chicken and broccoli dinner. Oliver's favorite. I stop in the wine isle and Debate whether or not I wanted to get some sangria for tonight. If I got it, it would just sit in my house for months untouched after tonight. Also If I got it people will look at me strange since Regan was in the cart. OH who cares? I knew I was a good mom and that's all that mattered to me. I grab the red bottle and placed it in the small seat, far from Regan's grabby hands. I check over my list and beam down at Regan. "That's it Princess, Lets go get your things now." I say making her gurgle baby talk at me. I lean down and kiss her head before heading over to the baby isle. I quickly grab some more diapers, baby wipes, a Sippy cup, and a new bottle. Regan giggles and wobbly stands up reaching for a soft stuffed animal rattle. I roll my eyes and pluck the toy off the shelf, taking the tag off of it before handing it to her making her squeal and plop back down, the toy instantly going into her mouth. "No No Regan, that's not for chewing!" I say and remove it from her mouth. She starts to whimper but I shake the joy, her tears instantly drying as a look of pure joy washes over her face. I hand her back the toy and she shakes it violently laughing at the noises it makes. I shake my head at her and leave the isle after grabbing some baby cereal for her. I make my way to the check out line and groan when I see that the shortest one had the rude women in it. She looks over at me and makes a disgusted face again, whispering something to her husband. She wasn't quiet enough.

"Look at that Herald! The teen mother has Booze in her cart! Such an unfit mother!" She hisses. I ground my teeth. The man looks over to me and I notice its the elderly man I had spoken to earlier. He smiles at me and looks at his wife.

"Marge knock it off, Obviously she isn't a teen mother is she is buying Wine. Plus I spoke with her earlier, she is a very bright young woman." He looks at me and smiles again. " I apologize for my wife's outburst." He says. I just wave it off.

"Its fine sir. I'm short and petite, lots of people mistaken me as a teenager. I'm use to it." I say. Regan looks up and giggles at the man, holding out her toy for him. I laugh. "Regan, the nice man doesn't want your toy silly girl." She just gurgles baby talk and goes back to chewing on her toy. The woman makes a rude noise and leaves the isle with their things. I shake my head. Some people. I load my things onto the belt and the woman rings me up, giving me a sympathetic look. She looked to be about eighteen years old.

"I am a teen mother and I get that kind of thing all the time." She says. I smile and hand her my Id for the wine before loading the cart. I take Regan out of the actual cart and put her in the seat so I can have room to put the bags. Her toy firmly in her mouth.

"OH I need to pay for this too!" I say and take the tag out of my pocket. She takes it and rings it up. I pay for my things and leave the store. I unload my groceries into the trunk before walking over to the cart section and taking Regan out of the cart. She kicks her legs and squirms, trying to get out of my arms. "I know baby I know you want to move, we can head to the park after mommy brings home the groceries." I say getting to the car and strapping her in. She gurgles happily and I start the car, heading home.

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"Holy Hell Allen What are you doing here?" I cry as I get out of the car. Allen was my twin brother's Husband's younger brother. I know tongue twister right? Allen looks up from his phone and gives me a huge smile. I Study the teen. The first time I met him he was a wide eyeD frightened Twelve year old who glued himself to his older brother Rolland's side. Now he was a sixteen year old young man. He had his brother's longish blonde hair but didn't dye the tips purple like his brother. His eyes were a light grey where as Rolland had Dark grey almost black eyes. Allen had grown from his shyness and from what I heard he was becoming quite the player at his school. He gets up and stuffs his phone in his pocket before sauntering up to me.

"Hey Jeremi, I'm ditching the last two periods, I was wondering if I could chill here until school let out." He says stretching before offering to help. I nod at Regan and he goes over to unclip her from her seat. He takes her and grabs the Diaper bag and my house key before going into the house. It takes two trips to get all the food out of the car and I place them in the kitchen before answering his question.

"Sure you can chill here, Regan and I were actually going to go to the park if you want to join us." I say smiling when he puts her in her playpen. He comes over and we quickly put away the food. It wasn't uncommon to see Allen on our doorstep asking if it was ok to chill here while he skipped school. Sometimes he would have a friend or a girl, sometimes alone. And he was always kind and sweet with Regan. We finish putting the stuff away and I go change the baby into some play clothes before the three of us pile into the car with a picnic and head to the Park. Once there we get out and spread a blanket out on the ground under a tree for shade. I watch as Allen takes Regan to the small pound, letting her stick her feet in the water. I heard her shrieking laughter from here. All in all it was a good day. I just couldn't wait to see Oliver and Rolland later tonight.