The Dove And The Grenade.

Chapter 17: Ugh-Oh.

|1998|

Eliese jumped out of her heavy thoughts when the lunch bell rang. Matty jumped too but then he closed his binder and shoved it into the beaten up backpack. He noticed his friend was being slow today; usually she's the first one out the door. But today she dawdled severely. Matty waited behind and watched as the Native American girl fiddled with her blue backpack before they both exited the classroom. He was taller than her by an entire six inches, but he wasn't the tallest, she was just really small. They both slipped through the hallways and across the sports field to the sex education building; that lived up to it's name in more ways than one.

Elise threw her backpack onto the dead grass then fell onto her knees; Matty planted himself down onto the ground with a heavy sigh. They were quiet for a few minutes; Matty tapped his black Chuck Taylor's while Eliese ripped the grass out of the ground.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Matty asked his friend curiously. Eliese's stomach dropped when she remembered what she was going to tell him. She bit at her lip and yanked at the grass with a heavy hum. She narrowed her eyebrows and looked at her dorky looking friend.

"Well, ugh, this isn't easy to say, but, um, I think I might be pregnant." Eliese finally let out the secret that she's been keeping since she realized she missed her period this morning. Matty was taken back by that announcement but he shook it off quickly. He saw the hurt written on Eliese's face that made him move over to her side. He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"Are you sure?" He asked trying to comprehend what he was just told. He couldn't even think of Eliese having unsafe sex with the dickbag of an ex-boyfriend she has. She's too smart to do something like that.

"I've missed my menstrual cycle this month; it's not stress or my diet. It has to be that." Eliese muttered to him softly with a large amount of disappointment in her voice.

"What are we going to do?" Matty questioned sincerely. Eliese shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know. I can't afford an abortion right now. And I need a parent signature for the clinic where it's free. I can't let my mom know as this." Eliese's voice was getting shaky with emotion. Matty frowned and rubbed her arm gingerly.

"If you can't afford an abortion then you can't afford a baby. Y'know I can get my mom to sign the papers for you to get the abortion." Matty was trying to help but Eliese was dead set against letting anyone besides Matty know about this.

"I don't want anyone else to know unless I have to keep the baby." Eliese scolded Matty coldly. Matty flinched and sighed softly before going to give her a hug. Eliese didn't even realize how badly she needed to be reassured until she was wrapped around her best friend sobbing hard into his shoulder.

After class Matty used the pay phone to call his mom to let her know he was going to hang out with Eliese and not to worry if he's been kidnapped. His mom was light hearted with her words, telling him to make sure she got home safely. Eliese's mom was at work so Eliese didn't need to call home. Unfortunately they were companied by their group of friends and had to explain why Eliese was standing in front of the pregnancy tests at the corner store. The six teenage boys waited rowdily outside of the store, kicking at each other and cussing while Eliese used the bathrooms at the back of the store.

Matty anxiously awaiting the results, he kicked at the pavement. Jorel skateboarded around, doing kick flips. George and Charlie playfully pushed each other from side to side, cracking jokes to cover their strong worry for their friend. Dylan cussed at Jorel and Aron, while Aron rode around on his scooter with Jorel.

Eliese's hands shook violently as she sat on the toilet seat with the pregnancy test in her hand. She was almost shaking away the dreaded results, hoping it's negative. But her gut dropped when the final moments tricked away, the sands of time slipping through her fingers.