Startled Awake (Please Vote!)

Duncan's Home.

"Ivy?"

Emmett bristled the moment he heard that. Tilting his head, he mocked in a distinctly Black rapid-fire cadence, "Are you kidding me? I don't want to see nothing but a mouthful of teeth in the middle of the night!"

"..."

Juno froze for a moment and looked at Adam. "Is he serious?"

"Very serious."

Adam explained, "It's fine. Emmett is Black himself, so there's no discrimination involved."

"Double standards, huh~"

Juno shook her head with a sigh.

"Can't be helped."

Adam sighed as well.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Emmett was displeased. He snapped his fingers repeatedly in front of Adam and Juno, interrupting them. "We're talking about Teddy and my love! Don't change the subject!"

"Enough!"

Thinking about how this guy had so sinisterly tried to go after both her and her best friend, Adam dropped his casual attitude and frowned. "Emmett, Ivy is Teddy's best friend, and Teddy is my sister."

"So?"

Emmett was stunned.

"So stop making jokes about Teddy!"

Adam said sternly.

"I'm not joking. Teddy is my true love!"

Emmett said urgently.

"True love?"

Adam snorted. "If you dare go up there and fight Spencer right now, I'll admit you're serious. Otherwise, stop running your mouth. We may be friends, but Teddy is my biological sister."

"You're serious?"

Emmett looked wounded, but seeing that Adam wasn't buying it, he became a little embarrassed and angry. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll go right now..."

He said that, but his feet did not move at all. If he had the physique to beat Spencer senseless, he would have joined the football team or gone to the NBA long ago. Then what couldn't he have?

The key was that he didn't have it!

"...Forget it. Teddy may be my true love, but you're my brother too."

In the end, Emmett predictably followed his heart. "Since you don't like it, I'll bury my true love in my heart from now on."

"Tch!"

Adam and Juno scoffed at the same time.

Emmett lingered for a while longer. With Juno there, and after that embarrassing scene, he felt uncomfortable the whole time. Before long, he slipped away.

Adam and Juno studied together for a while longer, until Bob and Amy's laughter drifted down from upstairs as they came in. Only then did they pack up and prepare to call it a night.

"Do you miss Mommy?"

Seeing Charlie, who had been playing obediently on the sofa, suddenly start wriggling around, Adam picked her up and teased her.

"Mom... Mommy."

Charlie was very smart. Sure enough, she clapped her hands in response, and the smile on her face could melt anyone's heart.

"So cute!"

Juno could not help praising her. "She's much more well-behaved and adorable than my sister Libby."

"Do you want to hold her?"

Adam glanced at Juno.

"Sure!"

Juno carefully took Charlie and looked her over. Smiling, she said, "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I got pregnant now. Wouldn't that be kind of cool?"

"Cough, cough."

Scenes from the movie Juno immediately flashed through Adam's mind. He gave an awkward laugh. "That's not cool at all! Trust me! You're not in a position to raise a child yet. The world is so big—don't you want to go see it? Being trapped in this little town would be so boring."

"That's okay."

Juno thought for a moment. "After giving birth, I could give the baby up for adoption to a family that needs one."

"..."

Adam was speechless. In the movie, she really had done exactly that.

But why was she telling me this now? I don't want to have a baby for some inexplicable curiosity, and I couldn't bring myself to give it away after it was born and then go on living carefree.

"Giving birth hurts a lot, and you'll get really fat..."

Adam racked his brains, trying to talk Juno out of the idea.

"What are you two talking about?"

At the stairs, Mom Amy spoke up in shock. Judging by the way she was standing, she had clearly been there for a while, eavesdropping.

"Nothing."

Adam's mouth twitched. As he walked over and handed Charlie to Mom Amy, he changed the subject and introduced them. "Mom, this is my classmate Juno. Juno, this is my mom, Amy."

"Good evening, Mrs. Duncan."

Juno greeted her with a smile.

"Good evening, Juno."

Mom Amy held Charlie, still stunned. After studying Juno carefully for a while, she suddenly smiled. "You can call me Amy."

"..."

Adam helplessly slapped his forehead.

"It's getting late. I should head home."

Juno could see the awkwardness in the room too. Adjusting the backpack on her shoulders, she reminded them.

"Right, right. If you don't go back soon, your parents will worry."

Amy finally withdrew her gaze from Juno, glared at Adam, and instructed, "Adam, take Juno home. Make sure you walk her all the way there. Um, then come back quickly. Your father and I need to talk to you!"

"Okay."

Adam could only agree.

"Goodbye, Amy."

Juno waved. "Goodbye, Charlie."

"Charlie, say goodbye to the pretty big sister."

Amy took Charlie's little hand and waved it.

Outside.

Adam walked alongside Juno, pushing his bicycle.

"Amy seems to have misunderstood something."

Juno suddenly laughed.

"Yeah. I'll have some explaining to do when I get back."

Adam said with a headache.

"That shouldn't be hard for you, right?"

Juno shot him a sidelong glance.

"What do you mean?"

Adam did not understand.

"Because you should have plenty of experience!"

Juno hit the nail on the head.

"I..."

Adam instinctively wanted to argue, but then he thought of something. His tone changed as he chuckled. "I suppose so."

"You really are afraid of me."

Juno sighed, sounding a little disappointed.

"You're overthinking it."

Adam gave an awkward laugh.

They walked side by side for a while longer. Juno kept her head down and said nothing. Adam felt uneasy, but he figured this awkward silence might be better for him, so he remained silent too.

"I'm here."

When they reached a house, Juno stopped and said flatly.

"Mm."

Adam felt uncomfortable all over. With an awkward smile, he said, "Get some rest early?"

"Mm."

Juno answered, then lifted her head and gave him a radiant smile. "Then, see you tomorrow~"

"Mm, mm?!"

Adam nodded, but then realized something was wrong. Hadn't she just been acting like they were breaking things off? Why was it suddenly see you tomorrow?

"Haha."

But Juno was already laughing as she pushed her bike into the house.

"Damn it!"

How could Adam not understand now that Juno had played him? If she truly intended to stop seeing him because he was afraid of her, why would she have come all the way to his house? She had already known during the day at school!

Maybe she was just Juno, not Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood?

Ripples stirred in Adam's heart, and he could not help smiling. Then he thought of Amy's interrogation when he got home, and the smile vanished again.

Late at night.

After exhausting himself to finally deal with Mom's questioning, Adam lay wearily on his bed. Even with an Endurance stat as high as 300, he felt tired unusually early for the first time. Before long, he fell soundly asleep.

At midnight, a ding jolted Adam awake.

Ding!

Wisdom +0.005