Aries

"I think you've exerted yourself enough for one day."

I was sitting on a couch at Libra's place, watching Shadowhunters, when my phone rang loudly enough to wake the dead. "For the love of God, Aries, put that thing on silent!" called Sagittarius from the kitchen. "Well, you stop eating everything in the kitchen, doof-"

I looked down at my phone, realising that Gemini was calling me. Strange.

"Hello?"

"Um, Aries, hi! Is... are you with Libra?"

"I'm at her place, but she's watching a movie with Scorpio upstairs. Why?"

"I kinda need urgent help."

"What is it? I'm sure I can help too..."

"Okay, well, I suppose there's no harm in asking..."

"Spit it out, then."

Gemini sighed, her voice shaky. "Aquarius... Aquarius is pregnant."

"WHAT?" I screamed, leaping to my feet.

"What is it, Aries?" asked Sagittarius, hurrying back into the room armed with... a bag of chips.

"Wait, is someone with you?" asked Gemini.

"Yeah, just Sagittarius," I answered. "Anyways, where's Aquarius right now?"

"She's at my place. I told her to relax, watch some TV."

"Yeah, that's good, but has she told you if she's going to keep the baby?"

"No, not yet..."

Sagittarius sat himself down next to me, crunching on his chips as silently as he could. I sighed, standing up. "Let me go get Libra. After everything that happened to her cousin Val, she's probably got some good advice..."

Libra's older cousin, Val, had fallen pregnant two years ago while we were freshmen. Libra had helped Val through the abortion procedure and had supported her for months to follow. If anyone could help Aquarius through this, it was her. Hurrying upstairs to Libra's room, I knocked before letting myself in, finding Libra with her glasses on, eyes glued to the screen, as Scorpio snored gently. "Aries?" Libra whispered, not wanting to wake her boyfriend. She pressed pause on her show, clambering out of bed. Libra wrapped the covers around Scorpio, patting his head as his snores grew louder.

"Yeah, it's Gemini. She wants to talk to you."

Libra nodded, taking my phone. "Hey Gemini, what's up?"

.....

"Can someone please tell me why I'm shuttling everyone to Gemini's place at 6 in the morning?" Scorpio asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked incredibly grumpy, with his brows set in a frown and his lips pursed. Sagittarius, Libra, William and I sat in one of Cole family's many cars-a grey Sedan.

"We're going to help Aquarius," Libra groaned. "How many times will I have to repeat myself?"

"Yeah, that's great, but why couldn't we help her after school? Did we really have to drive to Gemini's at six in the mor-"

"Stop whining! Honestly get a grip of yourse-"

"I will whine if I want to! You didn't even let me sleep!"

William's line of sight went from Libra to Scorpio, who were seated in the front, before turning toward me. "I thought they were a couple," he muttered as Libra and Scorpio went on bickering.

"They fight with every breath, but they do care about each other," I answered. Sagittarius nodded, clearly sick of listening to Libra and Scorpio fight. Honestly, I wanted what Libra and Scorpio had. They fought so much, but at the end of the day, they were always going out of their way to do sweet things for each other. Whenever Libra was tired, Scorpio would make her some tea and put on a rom-com for her, making her fresh popcorn to go with the movie.

Libra was no slouch either-whenever Scorpio was busy with his assignments (he had shifted his focus to excelling in school so that he could have more career choices) Libra would bring him all sorts of snacks, ranging from freshly baked cookies to instant noodles. I thought back to when I was with Sagittarius. Sure, we were always going out and spending bucketloads of money on fancy dinners, but we had never done the small things that made a relationship such a beautiful thing. We never made each other tea or cookies. Heck, we'd never even bought each other flowers.

We were better off as friends.

Or at least that was what I told myself whenever I caught myself staring at him for too long or whenever he went off on a date with one of those seniors.

"-and I swear to God, you are such a misogynist, just saying that Aquarius' whole pregnancy doesn't demand immediate attention-"

"What did you wake me up for? It's not like I can offer her life-changing advice-"

"You're a better driver than I am!"

"You can drive and so can everyone sitting behind us!"

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Sagittarius yelled, looking incredibly annoyed. "Can't you two just, I dunno, kiss and make up?"

Libra rolled her eyes before turning toward Scorpio. "I know you're not a misogynist." She hesitated before opening her mouth again. "I'm sorry for forcing you to drive."

Scorpio grinned. "It's okay, Leebs. I don't mind waking up this early-at least we get to spend some time together."

Sagittarius and I groaned collectively while Will simply stared, looking incredibly confused.

"Okay, we're here!" called Scorpio, stopping the car in front of Gemini's.

Libra clambered out of the car, pulling a dark blue hoodie over her white tee, sitting on top of her light blue jeans. "Come on. Gemini said her butler prepared some breakfast for us too."

We all followed Libra and Scorpio to the house-a gorgeous, modern mansion that looked strangely untouched. Libra knocked on the front door, taking a step back as Scorpio put an arm around her. Gemini answered the door, looking incredibly frazzled. "Thank god you're here," she sighed, leading us into an incredibly modern bedroom. Aquarius sat on a stiff-looking leather couch, wrapped in a beige blanket that was obviously new. Libra took a seat next to Aquarius as Scorpio talked to Gemini.

I knew Scorpio and Gemini had always been close, like Sagittarius and myself, but neither of them felt anything for the other.

Not that I felt anything for Sagittarius either after everything.

"Hey, Aries."

I turned toward Sagittarius, who was looking down at me. Our height difference had been incredibly infuriating, but now that Sagittarius had muscled up, he seemed to look like he was twice my size. It was crazy to think about... but somewhat attractive.

"Wanna go eat?" he asked, gesturing toward an outside table set up with a steaming breakfast.

"By which you mean listen to Libra and Aqua's entire conversation from behind the shutter doors?" I replied, smirking. "Come on, Will." I took the confused boy's hand, leading him from the room. There was something about the way Will was watching Aquarius that confused me. It seemed like... like he knew her. They'd never met, so how was that possible?

I helped myself to a stack of pancakes, dousing them in maple syrup before sitting on the other side of the glass doors. Lukcily, the blinds were shut, so nobody could see us listening in on the conversation.

"-and I don't know how it happened! I mean, I don't even know who-"

"Well, the first order of business is a a paternity test," Libra replied.

"But what about the baby?"

"First, we need to know who the father is. Then, we can decide."

"But I don't know what I'm going to do!"

"One step at a time, yeah? Come on-if we hurry we can make it to the clinic. Go clean yourself up and I'll pack us some breakfast."

Aquarius sniffled in response before we heard the blanket rustling, indicating that Aquarius had stood up. This was followed by steps-unmistakably Libra's steps-toward the glass doors. I sprang to my feet, as did Sagittarius and Will, hurrying back to the table. By the time Libra was outside, we were all enjoying scrambled eggs and conversing about how lovely the sunrise looked. "Enjoying your breakfast?" Libra asked, packing some croissants in a Tupperware box.

"Of course, replied Sagittarius, grinning.

"By which you mean you heard every word I said?" she taunted, lowering some English muffins into the box.

Libra just knew us too well.

"Yeah, maybe," I replied. "But we have a right to know. I mean, you did wake us all up at six to be here..."

Libra exhaled sharply, looking incredibly annoyed. "Aries, I swear-"

"Okay, let's all cool down," Sagittarius cut in, widening his eyes. Libra was usually the mediator, which was why it was a shock to see Sagittarius taking charge. William just kept his head down... much like his cousin. Cancer didn't speak much unless spoken to either.

Okay, I'm off to the clinic." Libra closed her box, walking off.

"Please, make sure Aquarius is okay. You know how she got with Andromeda's situation..." Will added. Moments later, he looked like he wanted to slap himself.

"What Andromeda situation?" Libra asked.

"N-nothing..."

I looked over at Sagittarius, who seemed to be eyeing Will suspiciously.

There was something up with Cancer's so-called cousin, and I was going to figure it out.