"It'll be fine, I just need to explain to her why we're here today so she doesn't get the wrong idea," I assured Kat after thinking about it for a few seconds.

"Okay, if you say so," Kat said, drinking from her milkshake, smiling strangely.

"Yes I say so," I said, somewhat less convinced. "But enough of that, tell me, do you want to make music at some point?" I quickly changed the subject.

"Why would you say something like that?" Kat asked nervously, coughing a little as my question seemed to catch her off guard while she drank her milkshake.

"I don't know," I sarcastically replied, pretending to think of a reason. "Possibly because of how much you enjoy music?" I asked ironically, making Kat roll her eyes with annoyance.

"I don't know, I mean, I really like music, yes, but make my own music?" Kat seemed to be thinking about the idea with a troubled expression as she shook her head slowly.

"Why not?" I asked intrigued. "Gabe, my younger brother, is the only other person I know who enjoys music like you, and he loves playing his guitar," I explained, remembering my younger brother. "He's even taking classes," I continued before taking a sip of my milkshake.

"Do you have a brother besides Teddy?" Kat asked, changing the subject.

"Oh yeah, Gabe is nine. There's also one more on the way; Mom's pregnant," I happily said, not realizing Kat's subtle way of changing the conversation wait. "Hey!, don't change the subject," I reprimanded the teenager, pointing at her now somehow disappointed face.

"What's wrong with all of you not talking about dreams?" I asked, genuinely puzzled, first Regina and now Kat. "I'll tell you mine," I decisively said. "It's no secret that I'm studying really hard to become a doctor. My dream is to someday make a big difference in someone's life, and in my opinion, there's no greater difference than saving someone's life," I admitted shamelessly.

"Now it's your turn," I leaned back in my seat, sipping calmly from my milkshake, waiting for Kat to gain enough confidence.

Sighing with closed eyes, Kat nodded. "Okay, yes, I would like to make music," as if expecting a negative reaction, she closed her eyes tightly, shrugging her shoulders.

Surprised by her behavior, I continued sipping my milkshake; it really tasted good, I should come here more often. In the silence caused by Kat's anticipation of my reaction, only the sound of slurping was heard, at least at our table.

Opening her eyes, "You're not going to make fun of me?" she asked, seemingly genuinely intrigued.

"Why would I? I mean, thinking about it, what I said is much funnier, 'making a big difference in someone's life,' who do I think I am, a superhero?" I sarcastically said, making Kat laugh.

"At least you're doing something to pursue your dream, heck, even your brother is putting in more effort than I am," the teenager said sadly, stopping laughing.

"Everyone does things at their own pace; Gabe's might be taking classes to improve, maybe yours is learning on your own," I said, finishing my milkshake.

"Are you done with that?" surprised, Kat looked at the empty glass in the table. "It was really good," I defensively said, falsely offended by her judicious look.

"I can see that," Kat laughed, taking a sip of her milkshake. "I mean, I already know how to play the guitar, I guess I don't need classes for that, but right now, I'm just writing stuff, just ideas for the moment," she continued.

"I bet they're good ideas," seeing my empty glass, I debated internally whether to order another milkshake or not.

"Careful, I might take your word for it; your car is pretty cool," biting her straw lightly, Kat said playfully.

"I'm starting to get attached to 'Debbie,' and I couldn't bet her, I don't know what she would think of me," jokingly, I replied seriously, getting Kat to snort again, rolling her eyes. "But aside from 'Debbie,' I'm willing to bet anything else," I said confidently, pushing the empty glass in front of me; I was starting to improve my fitness, I couldn't start to backtrack.

"Anything?" raising one of her eyebrows, Kat asked seriously.

Crossing my arms over my chest, "wow Stratford, we're in public, control yourself," jokingly, I said, falsely embarrassed.

"What?" practically shouting as she forcefully placed her milkshake on the table, almost spilling it, "I didn't mean that, idiot," she quickly continued, embarrassed, lowering her voice volume, avoiding looking at the other people in the donut shop.

"Then what were you thinking? Pervert," amused by her reaction, I asked, squinting my eyes.

"I was thinking you'd do something embarrassing at school or something silly like that, I don't know," blushing, Kat quickly defended herself, "and don't call me that," she added belatedly, clearly uncomfortable for some reason.

"I'm sorry," seeing that my comment had affected Kat, I quickly apologized.

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize for thinking someone would want to do something perverted with you, I'm sure if you ask 'Debbie' nicely, she wouldn't mind," losing her seriousness with a big sarcastic smile, Kat said.

"She loves me," I defended myself again, falsely offended, eliminating the uncomfortable moment entirely.

Several minutes later, amidst pleasant conversation between friends, Kat and I exited the store once more to wait for the girls, as the three hours had ended. Fortunately, we quickly found them on their way to the mall entrance.

In my car, Kat selected one of the discs she had previously chosen for me. As I turned up the volume, I began to enjoy the music along with the three younger teenagers in the back seat.

I had to drop off all the teenage girls who were not blood-related to me at their own homes, and since Baja's house was the closest to the mall, that's where I headed first.

The journey was relatively short, or at least it felt that way. Like in the music store, Kat quickly became lost in the lyrics and rhythm of the music, infectiously captivating the girls in the back seat and somewhat myself, although I had to remain completely focused on the road, thus not as immersed in the songs.

Parking in front of Baja's house, I stepped out of the car to adjust my seat and allow the teenager to exit as well.

While waiting outside the car for the girls to bid farewell, my eyes intuitively searched for Alan's house. Surprisingly, he was in his front yard with his father, both wearing gloves on their hands as they exchanged blows. It seemed that while Alan attempted quick and, to my inexperienced eyes, hard punches, Mr. Treveiler effortlessly diverted them, swiftly striking my friend whenever he lost balance from his failed attempts, appearing more like a lesson than simple training.

"Thanks for taking me to the mall and bringing me back, PJ," Baja said with a slight embarrassed smile, probably thinking it was some kind of trouble.

"Oh, it's nothing, Baja. I was free, so it's no trouble," I reassured her.

"Well, thanks anyway. See you later," she quickly said, possibly still embarrassed, before briskly walking towards her house.

As I returned my gaze in search of my friend and his father, I found the front of their house completely empty. At some point during my short farewell with Baja, they must have gone back inside their house.

After readjusting my seat, I entered 'Debbie', waiting a few more seconds until Baja entered her house and closed the door before turning on the car again, causing the previously silenced music to resume playing through the speakers as we drove off the street shared by my friend Alan and Baja.

When we arrived at the Stratford's house, on the sidewalk in front of the house, a car that wasn't there before was parked. "Daddy's back," Bianca said from the back of 'Debbie', making Kat sigh lightly, missing me a bit.

Surely my confusion was visible on my face because Kat felt the need to explain, "He's just going to interrogate us about where we've been," she said with annoyance, nodding towards her sister, "you know, being one of those doctors," she continued, "an obstetrician," I reminded her of the specialty, "yeah, that's it. He deals with a lot of teenage mothers, and he's very concerned about anything related to us," she finished explaining as if it were an absurd topic.

"Well, the percentage of teenage mothers in the United States currently is twelve percent, which means that mathematically one out of every ten pregnant women your father treats are teenagers who obviously remind him of you, his teenage daughters," I explained, supporting Mr. Stratford's point, as I parked 'Debbie'.

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I noticed that, as usual, after I spoke, I caused an awkward silence. "What?" I asked at the strange look Kat was giving me, "you know the percentage of teenage pregnancies, and yet you didn't know, Queen," she said ironically.

"I read it in a book," I immediately said, "and come on, I mean, there's a student in our school who's pregnant. It's just healthy curiosity," I quickly continued, defending myself against the amused teenager.

Since Kat had also exited the car this time, I used the passenger seat to allow Bianca and Teddy to exit the back seat before quickly saying goodbye with a hug and parting ways, Teddy taking Kat's previously used seat and Bianca going home.

Closing the passenger door, Teddy once again symbolically and literally left the eldest Stratford and me in an awkward silence. "I had a lot of fun," I abruptly broke the silence, making Kat laugh lightly. "Yeah, me too," she said as she walked slowly towards her house, "we can do it again if you want," I said calmly, to which she snorted amusedly, "yeah, sure, better not," Kat ironically said, surprising me.

"What, why not?" I asked genuinely intrigued, receiving a furrowed brow, "oh come on, PJ," incredulous, Kat said, "for Regina? I've told you, I'll explain the misunderstanding, if there is one, on my own. There won't be any problem; it'll just be a normal outing with friends. I could even introduce you to my other friends; you'll like them," I assured her, "well, you will definitely like Alan immediately. Brock, David, and Georgie might be a bit harder for you to get along with," I continued, once again causing Kat to snort.

"It's not a big deal, it's just that they might initially try to flirt with you, but once you get past that, you'll understand that they're amazing people," I said, trying to defend my friends to Kat.

"I don't know, I don't think it'll be as easy as you make it out to be," Kat said, pressing her lips into a forced smile as she slightly raised her shoulders.

"At first, no, but when they forget they're hormonal teenagers, you'll like them," I said confidently, "I'm not talking about that, PJ. I highly doubt Regina would be thrilled about the idea," Kat explained, denying it amusingly.

Before I could debate her point, a shout startled us, "YOU? Stay away from my daughter!" from the door of the Stratford's house, a short, bulky man with a large bald patch on his head stood, surprised, staring at me with incredulity on his face, as if he recognized me from somewhere.

"Oh, come on, Walter, leave them alone," seemingly out of nowhere, Mrs. Stratford appeared beside her husband, pulling his arm as she gave me a big smile, winking one of her eyes and closing the door behind them.

"Well, that's new," I said, trying to prevent the awkward moment from affecting me too much.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Okay, that has to be a sign, see you later, PJ," embarrassed, Kat quickly closed the short distance to her front door, opening it and immediately closing it after entering.

A sign of what?

"Sure, see you later, Kat. Goodbye," I said to absolutely no one, once again somehow accustomed to people leaving me mid-conversation. I walked back to 'Debbie', where Teddy had been waiting for several seconds already.

I couldn't help but think about Kat's concern about Regina's reaction. I'm sure she would understand, right?

"Did you have fun?" once inside the car, I asked my sister, who was busy looking at the different discs Kat had made me buy.

"Yeah, the girls and I went to..." Teddy began narrating what they had done inside the mall, which would fill the whole journey home.

After parking 'Debbie' in front of the house, Teddy and I got out of the car, "thanks for taking us, PJ," Teddy quickly bumped her head into my chest, giving me a tight hug.

"You're welcome, kiddo," hugging my sister back, I replied.

"Finally you arrived" from the sidewalk on his bicycle Gabe appeared alongside a few kids.

"Hey Gabe, what are you doing here?" I asked the kid who was laughing with his friends.

"Mom dropped me off at the Sparks' house," Gabe replied, nodding towards the little chicken-boy beside him with his ever-present strange smile. "I'm Billy," he said cheerfully by way of introduction.

"I know Billy, we've been neighbors for over a month, I took care of you and your sister a few weeks ago," I replied to the strange kid, who furrowed his brow slightly as if trying to remember.

"Okay," I said, seeing the child getting lost in his memories, returning my attention to my brother, definitely, Billy Sparks needs a psychological check-up. "Go tell Mrs. Sparks that I'm here, and thank her by the way," shaking my younger brother's head, I indicated also nudging the chicken-like kid.

"That kid needs help," Teddy frowned, looking at the grup of kids walking towards the Sparks' house.

"Yeah," I said amused, completely agreeing with Teddy.

Teddy went inside the house on his own while I waited for Gabe and the long gang of kids following him.

"Now munchkins, let's play something," I said as the group of kids returned, making the children cheer happily. I recognized some of the faces of kids I had babysat during my grounding weeks and many others from the last time I had played with them.

Several minutes after playing various games, one by one the kids started reluctantly saying goodbye before heading home, and fortunately only Gabe and I were left, this time without an extra kid.

"I thought you got tired of me," Gabe said somewhat embarrassed as we walked home.

"What, why?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, you went out alone with Teddy, although you took her with her friends, I thought you'd want me to come too, you know, to do something," the little kid said, still embarrassed.

"Oh, gremlin," I shook my head, laughing, "you and I do lots of things together, look right now," pointing at the street, I referred to the whole gaming session we had with the neighborhood kids, "every morning you and I go jogging, and at night we lift weights with dad," I reminded the kid of everything we did together, "I think it's only fair that I also do things with Teddy occasionally, you should too, she's your sister too after all," I continued, squeezing the little kid's head in a sweaty hug.

Pushing my torso away, Gabe tried to break free from me, "you're right, but I don't know what I could do with her, she's a girl," managing to escape my grip, Gabe added as if it were an obstacle.

"Yes, she's a girl," imitating his tone, I nodded jokingly, "I'm pretty sure there's something you two enjoy doing, I'll tell you what, how about next weekend the three of us do something together without mom and dad?" it could be a good idea to give the adults a little breathing room.

"Like what?" interested, Gabe asked.

"I don't know, whatever you want, as long as Teddy agrees," opening the door to the house, I said as I gently pushed my brother inside, "go talk to Teddy, and no fighting or the deal's off," I continued, getting Gabe excited as he ran to Teddy's room.

"Knock before entering," I told him, watching as he was about to enter rudely.

Nodding vigorously, Gabe excitedly knocked on the door before receiving a response and entering Teddy's room, closing the door behind him.

Amused by my little brother's excitement, I headed to the bathroom to clean off all the sweat that playing with hyperactive kids had caused.

After cleaning up, I returned to my room to study some books I had taken from the hospital library, getting lost in the interesting information while taking notes, I didn't notice the passage of time until I was called for dinner.

"Hey mom, how was your day?" I greeted the woman who was sitting at the table.

"Oh, it was a great day, thank you for asking PJ," the woman replied with a big smile, "I heard your day was possibly better than mine," she added with a strange smile.

"I'm telling you, it's the Duncan genes, we're always heartbreakers," coming out of the kitchen with a big pot in his hands, Bob said proudly.

Upon hearing the man's comment, I immediately understood the situation, looking at Teddy, who suddenly found her empty plate fascinating, I shook my head slowly, "she's a friend, she joined us because her dad has a strange rule about going out with her sister, Teddy's friend," I quickly explained, pointing at my sister.

"It's not true, Bianca's mom said it was an opportunity for Kat," ignoring her interest in the empty plate, Teddy quickly said with a playful smile.

"An opportunity for what?" not understanding, Gabe asked.

"To get PJ," much more amused, Teddy explained.

"Okay, enough of that, Kat and I are just friends, nothing more," stopping the now shared smiles of my family, I said, "how was your day dad?" following a move from Kat's playbook, I asked, serving myself spaghetti from the pot to change the subject.

"Oh, pretty good, there was a bedbug infestation at one of the city's hotels," the man said cheerfully.

Early the next morning, like every day, Gabe and I went out for a run. When I returned home after cleaning myself up, I had breakfast peacefully at the kitchen table with my siblings and Bob, who was reading with a big smile on his face a special newspaper. "Everything okay?" I asked as I ate my breakfast.

"Everything's perfect," the man said with a big smile, giving a thumbs-up sign that only he and I understood.

As he had signed as a guardian to have the investment account, he received a report monthly about the state of my portfolio, while every week he religiously read a special newspaper that published the state of certain companies' stock market.

When we finished our breakfast, mom, still wrapped in a robe, handed each of us a bag with our lunches inside, giving a kiss on each of her children's foreheads, also kissing her husband before leaving the kitchen, presumably back to her bed.

"Who's going to take us to school?" Gabe asked worriedly as he watched his mom leave the kitchen.

"Well, now that PJ has a car, he can go to school on his own, and since his mom spends energy for two people, I'll take you to school," Bob drummed his fingers, saying.

"Can PJ take me?, it'd be much cooler to ride in his car than in your truck," hopeful, Gabe said, silently supported by Teddy, both ignoring the sudden attack to Bob.

"I'm sorry, Scrappy, it would take me too far out of my way," killing the child's hope, I said, shaking my head.

"Aw, alright, dad's truck it is," the child said sadly, leaving the kitchen with his backpack, a moment later followed by Teddy.

"You don't think my truck is bad, do you, PJ?" hopeful, Bob asked.

Giving him a pat on the shoulder as an answer, I left the kitchen, after putting my plate next to my siblings' in the sink, to brush my teeth.

Saying goodbye to the kids and Bob, I headed out to 'Debbie' for school.

I had never realized how slow Bob's truck could go, despite leaving home basically at the same time every day and still respecting traffic signs, I had arrived much earlier than any other day; the parking lot next to the school only had a few cars parked. At least arriving at this hour would make parking easier; usually, the lot was full.

Greeting the few people who, like me, had arrived early at school, I reached my locker, allowing me to organize my things for the day with much more silence than I was used to, even allowing me to read a bit about the upcoming topics of some classes.

A few minutes later, the silence I was enjoying was completely interrupted by the same daily chatter of dozens if not hundreds of teenagers catching up on their weekends.

I was no exception. "SuperStar," with a punch to my shoulder, Brock appeared at my side, cheerfully greeting. "So, you brought her," suspiciously, my friend leaned in and asked.

Quickly understanding what he was talking about, I nodded. "She's in the parking lot," playing along I responded to the now excited teenager.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Brock. "What's awesome?" David asked as he approached, greeting us.

"Debbie is in the parking lot," Brock explained with a big smile.

"Who's Debbie, is she hot?" David quickly asked.

"Yeah, she's very hot," I quickly affirmed before Brock could remind him that 'Debbie' is a car.

"Nice," David nodded slowly with a proud smile as he searched through his locker.

"Haven't we already solved this problem?" Brock asked me, puzzled, in a whisper, keeping his gaze fixed on our friend.

"Yes," I simply replied, amused.

A few minutes later, Alan arrived, equally calm as every day. It hardly seemed like he had a wild training session the day before, at least in my eyes.

"Hey," I greeted back my calm friend as he rummaged through his locker, "what's up?" He asked, without taking his eyes off his open locker, before facing me and tilting his head in curiosity.

"Oh, nothing," I quickly said, averting my fixed gaze from him; I might have been staring at him strangely since he arrived.

The last to arrive was Georgie, who, after greeting everyone, began, much to Brock's and my amusement, along with David, to talk about the possible hot girl I had seen in the parking lot. "Yeah, her name is Debbie," excitedly David said, giving me a weak elbow nudge with a proud grin.

"Wait, that's the name of his car," Georgie broke our amusement and the illusion of David, surprisingly remembering that this had already been discussed.

After Sheldon arrived, we, mainly me, accompanied the kid to the first period. The day continued as usual; at least that was how it seemed until the end of the last period before lunch.

"Don't you feel a déjà vu?" I said to Alan, seeing people suddenly starting to look at me while whispering things with their friends.

"Yeah, seems like you've done something again," Alan said calmly, not really making a big deal out of it.

Could it be that everyone already knows?

"Hey PJ," in one of the hallways, we crossed paths with Kat and one of the two girls I had seen her with before.

Returning the greeting, Kat discreetly pointed to her friend, smiling slightly proudly. Recognizing immediately the reason behind the proud smile, I smiled back in acknowledgment.

In the cafeteria, we were sitting in our usual spots, having lunch and discussing weekend plans. Regina and her friends never showed up; surely another cheerleader meeting had taken place.

However, what did appear in the middle of lunch was my Vietnamese friend. "PJ Duncan, my friend, I saw your car in the parking lot," the boy said with a strange smile, awkwardly attempting to sit next to me. I quickly helped him by taking his tray. "Yeah, that's where I left it this morning," I replied to the strangely smiling boy, with a hint of sarcasm.

"You know, I usually use the school bus," Tam quickly said after smiling at everyone at the table, "and I live a few streets from your house; I'm willing to walk the remaining stretch," he continued equally quickly, with a hint of hope in his voice.

Understanding what the boy was asking discreetly, I assured him, "Sorry, Tam, every day I have to go somewhere before home, and it's in a completely different direction. Otherwise, of course, I would take you."

"Really?" apparently also interested in the topic, Georgie asked disappointedly, "darn, I thought you could give me a ride," my friend continued upon receiving a positive response.

"Tam, what are you doing here?" Behind us, carrying a paper bag, Sheldon asked, puzzled, "our regular table is free," the boy continued, pointing to the table where Tam and Sheldon always had lunch together.

"Sheldon, sit down and have lunch with us once in a while," I said to the boy, indicating an empty seat.

Surprisingly, Sheldon seemed to consider the idea for a few seconds, even seeming like he was about to move to take the seat. "No, thanks," he quickly replied, "let's go," he said to Tam before walking straight to his usual spot.

After a big sigh and shifting his attention from Sheldon's completely quiet table to the noisy table where we were, Tam picked up his tray and got up. "Anyway, thanks for considering it, PJ Duncan, my friend," the strange boy said formally.

"No problem, Tam, and seriously, PJ is just fine," I replied to the boy before he also walked, much less enthusiastically than Sheldon, to his shared table.

"Weird kid," Alan said on my other side.

"He's just very formal," I defended the boy.

The day passed relatively normally; whatever was spreading through the school during lunch had been fully delivered to each and every student. By the end of the day, I hadn't seen Regina or her friends in any of the hallways between classes.

Outside the school, I immediately recognized a luxurious car parked on the main street. With the rear window open, Regina's annoyed face peered out, staring straight ahead for some reason in the car without moving.

As I reached the side of the car, I leaned in slightly. "Hi Regina, haven't seen you all day. Hi, Mrs. George," I said, approaching the window.

"Hi, PJ!" Mrs. George cheerfully replied with a high-pitched tone.

"Mom!" Regina suddenly exclaimed, reproaching her mom.

"Oh, sorry, honey," the woman replied apologetically, quickly turning her body back to face forward.

"I don't know what you heard today, but if it's about Kat, we were just there as friends. Her sister and my sister are friends and wanted to go to the mall, so I took them. Kat's parents made her come to look after her sister," I explained, waiting for any reaction from the girl.

Still staring ahead, Regina sighed before rolling up the car window a few seconds before swiftly accelerating out of the school grounds dangerously. "Thanks for understanding and not believing in stupid rumors," I said again to no one.

Turning to walk to the parking lot, I found a large number of people looking at me while discussing things in whispers with their friends. Somehow, I was facing a small audience.

Ignoring the still lingering gazes of the people around me, I walked to 'Debbie,' quickly getting into the car and starting the engine; now even more people were watching me.

When I was far enough from the school, I let out a sigh I didn't realize I had been holding since the beginning.

As in the morning, I arrived surprisingly earlier than usual at the hospital, apparently much earlier than Mom, as I couldn't see her car parked in the usual spot. After greeting each of the nurses at the hospital reception, I walked towards House's office.

"Kid, are you still giving sponge baths and cutting nails, or can you help with something?" House called out loudly from one of the hallways.

"Ha ha very funny," I chuckled falsely as I approached the doctor, who was standing with Doctor Wilson. "If you two little girls are done catching up, we can go. I have something to show you," House said seriously after Doctor Wilson and I exchanged greetings cordially, walking to one of the hospital wings.

Maternity wing.

---

Author Thoughts:

As always, I'm not American and Not a Doctor.

Almost 5k words.

A few things:

As an incentive for you to visit the auxiliary chapter in the comments, there's a (very small) spoiler of something I'm preparing for the future (very far in the future). I'm saying this now so that possibly in a few years, I can come back here and read this. I plan to continue writing for a long time, so many thanks to those who are still here supporting my practice (because that's what this is, practice) for all this 40 chapters.

That said,

I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

Thanks for reading! :D

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