Some looked horrified, mouths open in silent screams. But others… others were laughing.

I kicked frantically, my pregnant body heavy and awkward, fighting the weight of the water and the dress. I broke the surface, gasping, choking, flailing.

“Help!” I screamed, spitting water. “Help me!”

Nobody moved.

Calvin stood at the pool’s edge, arms crossed over his chest, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. Doris stood beside him, clutching the envelope of money to her chest like a holy relic, her face twisted in satisfied triumph.

I grabbed the pool’s edge, my fingers slipping on the wet tiles. My stomach felt strange—tight and hard in a way it hadn’t before. A new, terrifying pain radiated from my core. I looked down through the water at my belly.

A thin ribbon of red was beginning to cloud the pristine blue around me.