I yawned again.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, am I boring you ?"

I quickly blinked. The chairs in the student union were the opposite of comfortable, but I was near to napping all the same. I sat back up again and tried to focus on the story Poppy had been telling me. Something about her British Lit professor's ear-hair. Sure it wasn't exactly riveting stuff. But that wasn't why I was yawning. "Sorry," I muttered .

Poppy shook her head disapprovingly. "You need to stop staying up so late. I need you fully-functional if I'm going to survive this seminar." She started gathering her things in a manner that could only be described as 'passive aggressive bag-packing ."

I yawned again and then tried to make myself heard over the sound of her zipping all of her various bags. Poppy never had less than three hanging off her shoulder at one time. She was destined for a life spent visiting the osteopath. "I went to bed so early!" I protested, completely bewildered .

It was true. Instead of my usual midnight bedtime, I had fallen, fully-clothed, into my sunken dorm bed while the sun was still up. I had a history assignment I'd completely fucked over in favor of fourteen hours of sleep, but I still felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I grabbed my bags and followed after her .

Poppy paused when she heard me rushing to catch up with her and turned on me suddenly. "Have you had your iron levels checked?" she wanted to know, suddenly transitioning into mother-hen mode .

I stopped and snorted. "You watched me devour that burger last night," I reminded her. Gray clouds scudded across the sky above her head. It had been shit weather ever since Hudson left .

Poppy winced at the memory of the burger. "Ugh, yeah." She wrinkled her nose. "It was like watching a BBC nature documentary. Crocs and wildebeests and such ."

"Hey fuck off," I complained. "I was hungry. I'm hungry now. Maybe that's why I'm yawning ."

She eyed me. "We literally just left the dining hall ."

"I know," I moaned. "I don't think I had enough to eat though ."

"Weren't you just complaining to me yesterday that your pants aren't fitting?" she asked, with her patented Poppy-bluntness .

"I know," I moaned again. "I'm gaining weight like crazy. And I'm bloated beyond all sense. Look at this." I lifted my shirt to reveal the squashy gut spilling over my jeans. "It's revolting. But I don't even care, I'm like starving to death ."

She rummaged around in one of her bags until she produced a foil packet. "You want some of my crisps?" she asked .

I lunged for her. "Yes please ."

Poppy watched me with her nose semi-wrinkled as I lifted the bag of crisps to my mouth and shook the crumbs right into it. Then an old-oil smell hit my nostrils and I let it fall. "Ugh, are these off ?"

She leaned over and dutifully sniffed at the bag. "They smell okay to me ."

My stomach churned. "They smell rancid ."

"Tally?" Poppy said, in a careful, wary voice that I had learned to heed. "Darling, did you go and get yourself knocked up when you fucked that rockstar ?"

I rocked back on my heel, completely non-plussed. "What? No, he used a condom. I'm not stupid ."

"Right, well..." She let her words hang in the air. "How about we check then? Just in case, right ?"

I tried to keep my laughter from escaping but it came out as a snort instead. "I'm just hungry, Poppy ."

"Right," she nodded. "And you're sleepy ."

I wavered a little .

"And smelling phantom smells ."

"It's not phantom!" I cried. "I'm telling you, these crisps are rancid ."

"Right." She exhaled in a rush. "Okay. Well I'm going to the chemist's like right now and getting you a test. And you're going to piss on it in front of me so I can stop freaking out about this now. Sound good ?"

"Poppy..."

"Tally, I'm serious. Let's go ."

Shaking my head, I followed my friend to the on-campus chemist's, certain that this was a waste of time and money. But Poppy was a bulldog when it came to her friends, always mother-henning the lot of us. It was better to just humor her and let her have her way .

"Right," she said again, once she'd paid. She handed me the box. "Let's go have a piss, shall we ?"

I laughed, but hollowly. I didn't like the look of concern in her eyes. It made me think there might actually be a reason to worry. But there couldn't be. He'd worn a condom. And for fuck's sake, who gets pregnant the very first time they have sex? That's like getting struck by lightning, right ?

The nearest loo was in the library and was far too public for my liking, but I knew the only way to get Poppy off my case was to do what she said. "Well then," I said, setting down my bag on the tile floor. "All right Mother Superior, what do I do ?"

She was reading the directions like they contained the secrets of the Holy Grail. "Says you have to pee right there," she pointed. "On that strip ."

I looked at the test with distaste. "Ew ."

"You can always wash your hands, darling ."

"I don't really have to pee though ."

"You're not avoiding this," she thundered. "Get in there, girl ."

Laughing and rolling my eyes, I headed into the stall. "You're worrying about nothing," I called. "And go away, I don't want you hearing my pee fall ."

Poppy made a scoffing sound, but I heard the door close when she left the room .

I was alone with the test. I stared at it with narrowed eyes .

And then I yawned again, catching a whiff of something much like dill as I inhaled. Dill. In a public washroom .

Tired.

Phantom smells .

My stomach growled .

Hungry.

I looked at the test again

And for the first time I was afraid of what it might say .