"Okay ladies, I need a break from studying. If it's not in my brain by now, one evening of cramming isn't going to get it there." Jewel said as she slammed her way through the unlocked front door of her best friends’ apartment. Clair and Gabby were sitting on the couch, quietly talking to each other. The room became silent and tension rose. "Am I interrupting something?"
The two girls on the couch looked at each other and then said with a shrug, "No."
Jewel frowned and gestured outside, "I can go."
"Don't be silly," Clair chimed with her soothing voice, "we were just talking, but you are more than welcome to join us!" Then she scooted closer to Gabby to make room on the couch. "Sit." She patted the seat next to her.
"Okay, if you insist." Jewel said happily, and plopped down next to her. She began venting about her stress level. "Pre-med is so hard. It's So. Much. Stressful."
"I can imagine." Clair said, empathetically.
"Right, being a psych major must be just as bad. But are you guys still working on projects? I have one due on Monday. I mean, who gives assignments due the morning of your final."
"No, we just turned in our last paper today. Thankfully I'm done with classes until finals. I have three on Tuesday."
"Well then, do you guys want to watch a movie? I got Northanger Abbey from the library."
"Um, yes! Let me text Edith." Gabby said.
"Oh, yeah." Jewel looked around. "Where is she?"
"She's on campus working on her final project." Clair answered.
"That's right. It must be nice that she doesn't have real finals. She can just draw a picture the weekend before and call it good."
"She still has real finals." Gabby snapped. "She’s been working on her final project until 8PM every night for the past two weeks. Plus she has other classes with written finals in the testing center next week, too."
"I know, I was just meaning she has fun classes that are more laid back, like yours. Art majors and Exercise Science majors really knew what they were doing!"
Gabby pressed her lips together into a slightly up-curved line and exhaled through her nose. Clair placed her hand gently on Gabby's knee, "We all work hard, so we should play hard, too. Or at least watch a Jane Austen movie. Why don't we plan to watch the movie tonight at 8PM when Edith gets home and we can help you with your final project in the meantime."
Jewel slouched, "Okay, if you insist." She said, deflated.
"So what's your project consist of?" Gabby asked flatly.
"I have to choose three experiments to perform and then write at least 2,500 words on my findings for each one. I already did two experiments and I wrote my first 3,000 words."
"Great, so it sounds like you need to write about your findings for the second experiment and do your last experiment." Clair planned.
"Yeah, except I'm thinking of skipping the last one."
"But then your grade will go down by 33%" Gabby pointed out.
"Yeah well, C-s and D-s get degrees."
Just then there was a quiet but hurried knock on the door. Like there was a hummingbird out there.
"It's open!" Jewel called.
The door did not open, but the knock sounded again. This time longer and a little louder.
Gabby got up to open the door to find a very thin little girl standing in front of her. She wore a gray sun dress with ballet flats that were as black as her pin straight hair.
"Hi sweetie, can I help you?"
"Um." She stammered and looked around her. "I'm looking for my mother." The other girls came to the door when they heard the mousy voice.
"Oh. Where was the last place you saw her."
"No, I mean. I uh - I'm looking for Gabriella Montgomerie."
"Well, I'm Gabriella Montgomerie. What's your name?" Gabby asked gently as she knelt down to be at her Gabb eye level.
The tiny girl finally met her eyes, and Gabby watched as they grew wider. "Marie." She squeaked out.
"Well hi, Marie. How do you know my name?" Marie's face began turning red and tears brimmed her eyes. She took another look behind her and then she fell into Gabby's arms. "Oh my goodness." She stroked her hair. "Where's your mom?" She asked and peered outside to see if she could see anyone. She didn't so she redirected her perplexed gaze to her friends.
"Who is she?" Jewel mouthed.
Gabby shrugged.
Clair placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why don't you come sit with me and we can talk." Clair always had a way of calming the situation. "What brought you here?"
"I came to find my mother." Marie told them.
"How would I be able to help you find her?" Gabby asked.
"You are my mother."
Gabby's eyes grew wide and her brows went up. "uh, Sorry sweetie, I- I can't be your mother."
"Of course you can be. You are my mom. You are Gabby Montgomerie, are you not?"
"I am, but I think you must have the wrong Gabby Montgomerie. I've never had a baby."
"Of course, you don't understand. Why would you?" Marie was trembling, tears falling from her eyes again.
"Dude, I know how we can resolve this." Jewel said. "One of the remaining experiments is about genealogy! They suggested using my own and a parent, but this should work too. I just need DNA Gabbyples from both of you."
"We really don't need a DNA test to prove I'm not her mother. I've never..." She trailed off, making a face at her friends to convey her meaning. She didn't want to say the word "sex" in front of a little girl.
"I know, but it will put her mind at ease, and help me complete a project. Sometimes it pays off having a science major for a best friend."
"Okay, fine."
Jewel ran to her apartment to get the buccal Gabbyple collection kits. After she collected what she needed from the inside of each of their cheeks and put each in its own screw cap tube she left for campus to perform the experiment. She was gone for a long time. In fact, she didn't come back until 9PM.
While she was gone Clair and Gabby got to know Marie a little. They asked her questions about where her parents were and how she got to their apartment. How she knew Gabby and who told her she was her mother. There were so many more questions they had for her but they could tell Marie was getting overwhelmed so they lightened the mood a little and turned on a streaming cartoon. The poor thing fell asleep by 7PM.
When Jewel finally walked back through the door, Edith was already home, showered, and snoring in her bed. Marie was somehow still asleep, now snuggled up in Clair's bed, even with the loud sound coming from the adjacent room. Gabby, Clair and their other roommate, Charity, were all brushing their teeth.
Jewel approached Gabby and quietly asked, "Hey, can I talk to you outside for a minute?"
"So the results I found were confusing. I mean, it was the first time I was comparing Gabbyples like this, and I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was accurate. So I had my professor look at it." She stopped and just nervously stared at Gabby. "It looked like it was a match to me, so I knew I needed a second opinion, you know. But he agreed. He said there was a 99 percent match."
"Okay, well obviously I've never had a baby, so it must be a false positive."
"Yeah, totally." Jewel confirmed, not wholly convinced.
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