Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 966 : Normalcy

*Bianca*

Other than the fact that I was now over three months pregnant and had a little bump growing on my stomach, life settled down into normalcy rather quickly. Leo went back to work with Franky early in the morning while I slept a bit later for the few classes I started retaking at school.

The Dean still wasn’t thrilled about me after taking such a long absence but he did everything asked with only some mild grumbling behind my back. I was just happy to finally put my slacking brain back into use, to be out and about in the normal world without worrying about all the craziness of my fiance’s life.

However, there was one other tiny new change in my life.

“My god, I knew your boyfriend had to be rich but not that rich.” Isabela grasped my hand as soon as she saw it, gawking at my engagement ring. I sent her a bit of an embarrassed but proud smile.”Do you even know how much a perfectly cut diamond of that size costs?”

“Not really,” I admitted, chuckling as I set my hand down on the picnic table outside in the courtyard. I gazed at the beautiful gem on my hand with a smile. “It means a lot to me because of the thought he put into it, not how much it costs. He designed both of our sets to be matching.”

“Oh, wow,” Isabela said, sipping her drink as she rolled her eyes at what I’m sure was my lovestruck look. “Now you’re really making me jealous. Rich, handsome, and considerate? Meanwhile, I get saddled with the freak who kidnaps me on a second date. Just my luck.”

I winced, still feeling a little guilty at that part. Though it hadn’t been my intention, Isabela had gotten kidnapped and involved in a plot against Leo between rival gangs. She took the whole thing pretty well considering.

But I still doubt she’s as fine as she seemed.

“Sor-” I began, automatically with a guilty look at her but she cut me off with a raise of her hand and a pointed look.

“We’ve been through this before, Bianca. You have nothing to apologize for. You didn’t kidnap me, you didn’t want me to be kidnapped. Nothing to do with you. If anything, I deserve an apology from that psycho. But I hope he’s rotting in prison for what he’s done,” Isabela huffed, crossing her arms as she ate the last bite of her sandwich.

I cringed as I sipped my own drink. That wouldn’t be happening. I didn’t even find out about what happened to him but considering Taylor and Leo had their hands in it, well.... I doubt he was still breathing.

“Who’s in jail?”

Speaking of the devil who slipped into the seat on my right, Taylor gave Isabela a raise of his eyebrow as he questioned her. He had a bundle of snacks pulled from the vending machines in his arms and I snorted as he dropped them onto the table.

“Why don’t you eat some real food?” Isabela asked, tapping her glasses up her nose with her finger. “You’re going to get a heart attack. Who eats that many honey breads anyway?”

“I do,” Taylor responded, taking a bite of said sweet treat. “You didn’t answer me. Who’s in Jail and why don’t I know about it?”

“Taylor,” I groaned, giving him a look to drop it but of course, Isabela got there first.

“That psycho who kidnapped me a couple months back,” she mentioned off-hand, pulling open her book. “I was just telling Bianca to stop feeling guilty for it and that I hope he rots in jail. Not anything big. So are you guys doing advanced chemistry this semester or is that just me?”

Taylor hesitated over his bite of honey bread while I paused with the straw of my drink still in my mouth as we both sent her a dumbfounded look.

“What?” She blinked in surprise.

“You really think either of us would be taking advanced chemistry?” Taylor asked deadpanned.

“Oh, right.” Isabela pursed her lips before turning back to her extremely complicated textbook which looked like gibberish to me. “I forgot I’m friends with idiots.”

“Hey!” Taylor and I protested at the same time and Isabela laughed loudly, grinning proudly at her little dig at us.

I pouted at her. “I’m not an idiot. I’m just pregnant and still deciding on my major. There are only so many gen ed classes I can take before they’ll force me to pick. I just want something I like- something stable that’s not too difficult or time-consuming. But I don’t know.”

“Spin a wheel.” Taylor just shrugged, mouth filled to the brim with some kind of marshmallow dessert.

“Thanks for that helpful suggestion.” I sent Taylor a bland look. ‘It’s not that easy.”

“Well, it’s not that hard, either,” Isabela perked up. “You like reading and writing right? How about something like Journalism?”

“Too flashy.” I wrinkled my nose. “And way too competitive. They always have to be in the know, on the scene, you know. I just can’t do that much research without my head exploding.”

“Well, how about the law? It’s tough but you can really make a difference,” she suggested next.

“Arguing for a living? No, thank you.”

“Okay, Marketing or Economics make pretty good money and they’re stable jobs.”

“Not really into math. One of my weakest subjects, actually,” I sighed.

“Ooh,” Taylor’s eyes lit up as he turned to me with a grin. “How about a business major? You’ve always had a knack for it. Remember that business we had when we were younger? We made pretty good money from it.”

“You mean our lemonade stand?” I retorted in disbelief. “We made 50 bucks total and you spent it all on a video game system that I never got to play.”

“Hey, it was a great investment.” Taylor just smirked. “For me at least.”

“Jerk!” I shoved him straight off the bench and pinned back a laugh as he dropped one of his sweets straight onto the ground.d

“NO! Not the cupcake!” he roared in sadness and shock.

I turned with Isabela as I grabbed my things up. “Well, I’ll think more about it. I’ve got to get to a meeting with my advisor.”

“And I’ll deal with this idiot. We’ve got the same class in half an hour,” Isabela sighed. “Good luck.”

I rushed out of there, hearing Taylor still cursing behind me though I didn’t feel the least bit sad about it. I brushed all my worries off my mind as I headed to the advisor’s office. I already knew what she wanted to talk about.

Now that I was showing my pregnancy, I knew it was about time to set up a plan for when the baby arrived, even if that was months out still.

My advisor was a kind middle-aged guy with three kids and he understood my predicament almost immediately, helping to give me some options I hadn’t considered before. Ultimately, I think it would just be safer for both me and the baby to do online classes for my last month of pregnancy and until the baby is old enough for me to leave him.

That would also give Leo some peace of mind while he works on settling his successor issue.

“Alright, we should have everything set up then,” my advisor smiled brightly as he took back the forms I had to sign with all my information. He looked them over, squinting his eyes behind his glasses to see, and paused. “Huh.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked, concerned by the weird look on his face.

“Oh.” He jolted back to life with that same friendly smile on his face. “Oh, it’s just that I see you haven’t picked a major yet, is that right?”

“Yeah, I haven’t been able to decide yet,” I told him then frowned. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, not at the moment.” He shuffled the papers, giving me an almost fatherly look. “But the general education classes won’t help you for much longer. Each career path has different requirements for graduation, for continuing to a graduate or even a Masters in that field. Our online fields are more tailored for those coming in with specific degrees so we only have a few classes you can take for general education.

“I would suggest you start thinking about which path you want to take. We’ll probably need your answer in a month at the latest. That way we can sign you up for the relevant classes that you can take online, though I can’t guarantee every class will have an online equivalent.”

I frowned, taking all this in quietly. He explained the process a bit more, giving me a packet of their detailed career paths. I only stayed for a bit longer, making sure I got all my questions out before I finally left.

My heart felt a bit heavy as I left campus, having taken my last class of the day and as I headed out to the parking lot, I couldn’t help thinking about everything.

My career path has always been a mystery to me. I knew I wanted a higher education, and that’s why I came to UCLA but it seemed like such a big decision to make within a month.

I sighed, getting into my car and throwing my backpack and heavier packets onto the passenger seat. Before I could start the car and drive off, though, my phone started ringing.

“Hello?” I answered without even looking, thinking it must be either Leo or my Mom checking on me. I was surprised to find that I was wrong, however.

“Bia-baby, I have the craziest most fantastic news to share with you,” Amara practically shouted into my ears.

“Amara? Did you get back from vacation with your family?” I asked almost immediately, thrilled to hear her voice after so long. It was a long tradition that she went out of the country from December to late January.

I’d actually been missing her a bunch since I wasn’t able to see her over the holidays.

“Yeah, but enough about that,” Amara scoffed, then I could practically hear her grinning as she announced. “My school was doing an exchange program with UCLA and I fucking got the spot!”

“Wait.” My eyes went wide. “Does that mean...”

“It sure does, Bia!” Amara cheered loudly, “I’m coming to LA for a whole semester.”

“Oh my god, that is amazing!” I beamed, flooded with happiness over the declaration. “I can’t believe this. When are you coming?”

“In about a week and so, I’m probably gonna need a ride back from the airport, you up for it?”

“Always,” I chuckled, delighted and hopeful. Even for just a little while, I’d be getting my best friend back in my life.

That was more than I could ever ask for.