STARS' DON'T GLOW ALONE

Chapter 2

I do not remember walking home. One moment I was standing outside Gavin’s gate, the cold night air biting at my skin, and the next I found myself sitting on the edge of my bed, the pregnancy test still clutched tight in my palm. My fingers had left deep indentations in the plastic, and my knuckles were white from squeezing it so hard.

The house was silent. The only sound was the faint ticking of the clock in the hallway and the distant hoot of an owl from the tree at the end of our street. I stared at my reflection in the window glass—pale, eyes red-rimmed, shoulders hunched like I was trying to make myself disappear. This was not how any of this was supposed to go. For years I had imagined telling him, imagined him being scared at first but then stepping up, holding me and saying we would face it together. I never thought he would look at me like I was something he wanted to throw away.

I curled my knees against my chest and buried my face in my folded arms. The tears came then, hot and fast, burning my eyes and soaking through my pajama sleeves. I cried until my throat ached and my chest felt tight, until there was nothing left but hollow, silent sobs that shook my whole body. Every memory we had played behind my closed eyelids: him sharing his lunch with me in Grade 2, him waiting for me every morning by the gate, him kissing me on the school roof, him whispering that he loved me more than all the stars in the sky.

How could someone say things like that and then walk away the moment things got hard?

Sometime later, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, sunlight was streaming through my curtains and my alarm was buzzing loudly beside my pillow. I swiped at it blindly, turning it off, and lay there for a long time staring at the ceiling. My head throbbed, my eyes felt puffy and swollen, and my stomach twisted with the same heavy, sick feeling I had carried since yesterday.

Get up, I told myself firmly. You cannot stay here forever. You have to face this.

I washed my face over and over again until the redness faded a little, tied my hair back tightly, and pulled on my uniform. I stuffed the test into the very bottom of my school bag, under old papers and notebooks, like hiding it would make the truth stop existing. Downstairs, Mama and Papa were already eating breakfast.

“Elara,” Papa said, looking up from his plate, “you look terrible. Did you even sleep last night?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, my voice coming out rougher than I intended. “Just… thinking about exams.”

Mama frowned, studying me closely. “You haven’t touched your food again. Is something wrong? You’ve been acting strange for days now.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. Tell them, a small voice whispered. Tell them and they will help you. They are your parents. They love you.

But then I remembered Gavin’s face, the fear and disgust written clearly across it, and a cold knot formed in my stomach. What if they reacted the same way? What if they looked at me like I had ruined everything too? I could not bear to see that look in my own parents’ eyes. Not yet. Maybe never.

“I’m just nervous,” I said quietly, reaching for a piece of bread. “That’s all.”

The walk to school felt longer than usual. Every step felt heavy, like I was carrying stones in my shoes. Halfway there, I saw Gavin waiting at the usual spot. When he spotted me, he hesitated, then started walking toward me. I stopped in my tracks, my fingers tightening around the strap of my bag.

“Elara,” he said, his voice low and unsure. “Can we talk? Please.”

“There’s nothing left to say,” I told him. I was proud of how steady I sounded, even though my hands were shaking. “You said what you wanted last night. I heard you clearly.”

“I was scared,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I panicked. I didn’t mean—”

“You meant exactly what you said,” I cut him off. “You said you would not do this. You said you would not ruin your life. So don’t try to take it back now, Gavin. I know where I stand.”

I walked past him without looking back. I could feel his eyes on me the whole way, but I did not turn around. If I looked at him for even one second, I knew I would break all over again.

School was torture. Every time someone laughed nearby, I wondered if they had heard already. Every time the teacher called my name, my heart jumped into my throat. At lunch, Mia sat down opposite me and pushed her tray aside immediately.

“Elara,” she said seriously, “tell me what happened. Please. You look like you’re going to collapse any minute.”

I pulled the test from my bag and placed it on the table between us. Mia stared at it, then up at my face, her eyes filling with tears.

“Oh, Elara,” she breathed, reaching across to hold both my hands. “And Gavin? What did he say?”

“He wants me to get rid of it,” I whispered. “He said he can’t do this. That it would ruin everything.”

Mia made a sound of pure anger. “That coward! That absolute, selfish coward! How dare he? How dare he make you carry this alone?”

“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted, fresh tears slipping down my cheeks. “I don’t want to… I can’t hurt them. But how can I do this by myself? I’m only seventeen. We have college, and… and my parents—”

“Hey. Look at me.” Mia squeezed my hands tighter. “You are not alone. You have me. I will help you with anything—money, food, a place to stay if you need it. And about your parents… you will tell them when you are ready. But you need to know one thing first: whatever choice you make, it is the right one. You are strong, Elara. Stronger than you think.”

Her words wrapped around me like a warm blanket, but they could not chase away the cold fear deep inside my bones. Strong or not, I was still just a girl who had suddenly found herself standing at the edge of a cliff with no one to hold her back.

For the next three days, I existed in a haze. I went to class, I answered when spoken to, I ate small bites when I remembered to—but my mind was always somewhere else, tangled in a thousand different worries. Gavin tried to approach me twice more, but I walked away before he could speak. Seeing him hurt too much. Every time I looked at him, I saw all the promises we had broken.

By the fourth day, I knew I could not keep hiding it forever. My nausea was getting worse, some mornings I could barely get out of bed, and Mama kept asking if I needed to see a doctor. If I waited any longer, she would notice on her own.

That evening after dinner, when Papa was reading the newspaper and Mama was folding laundry in the living room, I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Ma? Pa? Can I talk to you both about something important?”

Papa lowered his paper immediately. “Of course, Elara. Come sit.”

I sat on the edge of the sofa, my knees knocking together. My hands were folded so tightly in my lap my nails dug into my palms.

“I… I found out something recently,” I started, my voice trembling. “And it’s… it’s not what we planned. I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

Mama frowned, putting down the shirt she was holding. “What is it, anak? Just tell us.”

I pulled the test from my pocket and held it out to them. “I’m pregnant.”

For a long time, no one said anything. The silence stretched out, heavy and suffocating. Papa stared at the small plastic stick like he could not understand what it was. Mama’s face went completely pale, the color draining from her lips.

“Pregnant?” Papa repeated finally, his voice dangerously quiet. “You are seventeen years old. You are supposed to be studying for university. Who… who is the father?”

“Gavin,” I whispered. “Gavin Santos.”

That was when everything broke.

Papa stood up so fast his chair scraped loudly against the floor. “That boy? After everything we did for you? After all the sacrifices we made so you could have a good future? You throw it all away like this?”

“It was a mistake,” I cried, tears spilling over again. “I know it was. But it happened, and I… I want to keep them. They don’t deserve to be punished for our mistake.”

“Keep them?” Mama shouted, her voice cracking with anger and pain. “Have you lost your mind? What will people say? How will you finish school? How will you ever find a good job? You are ruining your entire life, Elara!”

“I will find a way!” I pleaded, standing up too. “I will work hard. I will study extra. I just need you to help me get through this part. Please, Ma, Papa—you are my parents. I need you.”

But my words only seemed to make them angrier.

“After all we taught you, this is how you repay us?” Papa said, his eyes cold and hard. “You bring shame to this family. If you are so determined to keep that… that thing, then you can do it somewhere else. We will not watch you destroy yourself.”

“Papa, please—”

“Get out,” he said, pointing toward the door. “Pack whatever you can carry. And do not come back until you have come to your senses and done what needs to be done.”

I stared at him, waiting for the joke, waiting for him to say he was just angry and did not mean it. But his expression did not soften. Mama had turned away, her shoulders shaking, refusing to look at me.

This was real. They were choosing their pride over me.

I walked slowly back to my room, my legs feeling like lead. I stuffed clothes into my old school bag, my favorite star notebook, a few photos, and the blanket my grandmother had made me when I was small. That was all I could take. That was all I was allowed to bring from the home I had lived in my whole life.

When I walked back through the living room, Mama looked at me one last time. “This is your choice, Elara,” she said, her voice empty. “Don’t expect us to fix it for you.”

I nodded, too broken to speak. I stepped out the front door, and the moment I heard it click shut behind me, I knew: there was no turning back.

The sun had already set, and the streetlights flickered on one by one as I stood on the pavement. I had no money, no real place to go, no one I could call except Mia—and I did not want to be a burden to her family either. I pressed a hand gently against my stomach, even though there was nothing there to feel yet.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to them, to the two lives that had already become my whole world. “I’m sorry we have nowhere to go right now. But I promise you. No matter how hard it gets, no matter who turns their back on us… I will never let you go.”

Somewhere far away, thunder rumbled. Rain began to fall, slow at first, then heavy and fast, soaking my hair and clothes instantly. I pulled my bag tighter against my chest and started walking, not knowing where my feet would take me, but knowing one thing for certain: from this moment on, I was all we had.