No Regrets by Elizabeth Karre Page A

sleep. But first, baby, tell me—did you get sick again in here?”
    I couldn’t remember. “I cleaned it up,” I mumbled.
    â€œThat’s OK, that’s OK,” my dad whispered. “I’ll take care of it. You rest.” I was asleep before he left the room.
    When I woke up for dinner, my mom was not so nice.
    â€œI got a call from school,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell us you were sick and staying home? So we could call it in.”
    I shrugged, playing with my food.
    â€œGirl, is there something going on we need to know about? Does this feel like that stomach flu you had before, or do you have a problem? Are you making yourself throw up? Or are—” she looked at my dad. “Are you pregnant, Layla?”
    â€œOh my God,” I said, resting my head on my hand. “ No. ”

chapter twenty-five
    I didn’t know if my mom believed me, but I hardly had the energy to care. On Wednesday I went back to school.
    Tanaya stopped me before first period. “You look really bad.”
    â€œI know,” I said.
    â€œAre you sick again?”
    I shrugged.
    â€œYou have to talk to Coach. Or are you quitting track?”
    I shrugged.
    â€œYou gotta talk to her. This weekend she’s taking us to the U, remember? She went there? And we get to watch a meet and have pizza with the coach and team? Don’t you want to go?” She looked so puzzled.
    I shook my head. “Naw, I don’t feel good, and I’ve got stuff to figure out this weekend. Have fun.” I walked away.
    After that Tanaya kind of stopped speaking to me. Really only Cherry talked to me at lunch. I didn’t care. I was only at school on autopilot, trying to conserve my energy for time travel. It was the only thing I cared about right now.
    I had to give it a break again, though, for a few days, if I didn’t want my mom hauling my butt off to the doctor to find out if I was dying or pregnant.
    Then on Sunday, when I was sitting on my bed trying to decide if I felt OK enough for my next trip, it suddenly hit me. What if I was supposed to meet him at this track thing at the U? And now I hadn’t gone? What would happen?
    I stuffed my fist in my mouth for a moment to try to stop the sobs. Remember, I was exhausted. I’m not usually a crier. Then I bit my knuckle hard and took a breath to pull myself together. I texted Tanaya.
    U have fun?
    She wrote back right away, Grl, you missed some fine bruthas!
    My heart dropped. No, no!
    C wants to know what’s up with you. She’s gonna call.
    I groaned. I hoped Coach would call me, not my parents. Crap.
    Staring at Tanaya’s messages, I knew then that I had to stop. I was making myself crazy and sick, and messing up my life now and maybe for the future. I put my head down and cried all I wanted.
    I tried to stay focused all that week. No trips. No wondering. I talked to Coach, and she wondered if I had mono and said I should go to the doctor and get tested. But she didn’t kick me off the team. Just said she was worried about me.
    At lunch on Friday, Cherry said, “You guys don’t have practice today, so you should come to rehearsal with me.”
    â€œSay what?” I said.
    â€œFor Our Town. I’m helping with costumes and hair, remember? I told you last week? Anyway, there are some guys in it that might surprise you how good they are. Guys we’ve barely noticed before. If I wasn’t taken …”
    I snorted. Like that had ever stopped her.
    I didn’t really want to, but I didn’t have anything better to do. Cherry sat down with us in the dark theater.
    â€œThey don’t need me right now,” she said. “OK, they’re doing the last act. So Jennae is Emily—that girl, there—she’s come back from the dead to watch some of her life over again. And she knows everything that has happened already—she’s like a ghost sometimes and sometimes