Someone Like Us | Completed ✓

Chapter Four: Proof

Week 2: April 17

At the moment, Joan was lying down on an exam table in a hospital room, undressed from the waist down. She was a little uncomfortable, but felt no pain. Her mom was sitting beside her and holding her hand. As the doctor spread a gel on her stomach, she smiled at her. "Are you ready?" she asked. Joan closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then nodded.

The doctor took the transducer and started gliding it over her belly. The room was painfully silent for a long time. It was nerve-wracking. Joan closed her eyes and held her breath. She would have started praying, but she honestly didn't know weather she wanted to pray that she wasn't pregnant or that she was.

Finally, she heard Lilly gasp. "There it is!" the doctor announced. Joan's eyes shot open and she looked at the screen.

The doctor pointed out a small but unignorable blob. "That's your baby," she said. Joan stared. "Really?" she asked. "Yes, ma'am," the doctor said cheerfully. Her smile was huge. Joan looked at her mom. She was smiling, too. "Is this for real?" Joan said. "Yes, ma'am," said the doctor. "You're pregnant!"

"I am?"

"Yes, ma'am, you are! That right there is a perfect, healthy, 2-week-old baby!"

Joan covered her mouth with her hands and started sobbing. "Oh my gosh," she mumbled. Lilly leaned over and hugged her daughter. "You're a mom, Joan!" she exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you!" "You are?" Joan said. "Yes, I'm ecstatic!" Lilly said. She laughed. "I'm a grandma!" she cried.

Joan looked over at the fuzzy black-and-white-and-gray image on the screen again. The blob moved a tiny bit.  

"That's... that's my baby," she said. The doctor nodded in confirmation. "I'm officially a mom," Joan said. "A true mother, ma'am!" said the doctor.

Joan started at the screen. Slowly but surely, a huge smile spread on her face.

* * * *

Joan practically flew through the doors of Ace's house a few hours later and ran into Ace's bedroom, where he was playing video games with Nick and Kyle. "ACE!" she screamed. Ace dropped his controller and stood up. Nick paused the game. "What's the matter?" he said, worry written all over his face.

Joan jumped up and down and shrieked. She took off her backpack and reached inside, handing Ace a single black-and-white photo that changed his life. 

"There's your proof," she said. He stared at it for a minute or two before looking up at her. "Are you for real?" he whispered. Joan smiled and nodded. "You're going to be a daddy," she said. "Professionally confirmed!"

Nobody said anything for what seemed like an hour. Finally Nick said, "You know you can choose abortion, right?"

Ace reeled on him. "Heck no!" he yelled. "Who do you think I am?" He got on his knees and kissed Joan's stomach. He looked up at her. "You're growing a human being inside of you, Jo," he said admiringly. Joan smiled at him and started crying. Ace started crying with her. He hugged her, lifted her up and started spinning them both around the room.

"Ace, this is going to ruin your life," Nick argued. "You're going to get pushed out of groups in school. You're going to get stereotyped. Some teen parents don't even finish high school, let alone college. Listen to me! You're making a mistake!"

Ace set down a dizzy and laughing Joan and picked up the ultrasound picture that he'd dropped. "No, you're making a mistake. A hurtful mistake," he snapped. He shoved the picture in Nick's face. "This is not a mistake," he said. "We may have made it on accident, but this is far from a mistake. This is my child, Nick." A took a second for those words to click in his mind. Ace jumped up and down, cheered, and hugged Joan. She started laughing at her boyfriend's excitement. She hadn't really been expecting this. "That's my child, Jo!" he yelled to her. "That's my flipping child—"

"Wait," Kyle burst, speaking up for the first time. "If you're a dad, then that means—"

"You're an uncle, bro!" Ace yelled. Kyle jumped up and started cheering, too. After a few seconds they ran out of the room to tell Emily and Ellis.

Nick stood up. "You guys, this isn't something to celebrate!" he called after them. "You're going to screw up your lives..."

Nobody answered him. They were too lost in their joy to acknowledge him.