I freeze, my whole body locking up.

This can't be happening, I think desperately.

I'm so still and silent that the sound of her leaning on the door seems to echo.

"You know," she goes on, the mockery in her voice grating on my nerves, "Even though you're totally giving off the same vibes my elder sister did when she was pregnant, I thought such a thing happening had to be impossible. I mean, look at you. Who could possibly want you? But… did you really get knocked up, Allison?"

Her tone, that of a person clearly fishing for gossip, makes me clench my jaw. Emily is a lover of...