Teenagers, Love and Pregnancy

Chapter 1

"I'd love to hang out with you babe, really I would," I said into the phone as I stretched out on the couch. "But I really feel horrible." As I said it, a wave of nausea swept over me. I closed my eyes and pressed the back of my head into the arm of the couch and waited for it to pass.

"Are you sure you can't make it?" my boyfriend, Joey, said into the phone.

"I'm sure," I sighed.

"What's wrong with you anyway?" he sounded nothing short of caring and concerned, which broke my heart.

"I don't know. Bad sushi, maybe?"

I sighed to myself. It wasn't THAT much of a lie, was it? I mean, for all I knew, I COULD just have food poisoning.

"I'll talk to you later, Joey, okay? I love you."

"I love you, Cameron. Bye."

I pushed end on our call and laid my phone on the floor.

"Oh boy," I mumbled to myself as I rubbed my stomach in slow, easy circles. "This is bad. This is really bad."

I sat up to grab the TV remote off of the coffee table. As I sat up, my stomach lurched and my head spun. Without waiting to see if it would pass, I jumped off the couch and sprinted to the bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet. I knelt there on the bathroom floor until the front doorbell rang. I sighed, flushed, and went to open it. Standing on the front porch was my best friend, Kelly.

"Geez, Cam," she said, looking me over when I opened the door. "You look...rough."

"I feel rough," I mumbled, closing the door behind Kelly as she walked.

"You haven't. . ." she trailed off, searching my face.

"Just did," I said, leaning my head against the wall.

"I can't be pregnant, Kelly," I said, tears welling up in my eyes. "I just can't!"

"Maybe you're not," she said encouragingly, rubbing my back. "But there's only one way to know for sure."

I turned around to face her and she lifted up a grocery bag in her hand. My best friend had gone out to buy me a pregnancy test.

"You're the best," I said, smiling. I knew only a true friend would do something like that for me.

"I know," she joked, rolling her eyes.

"You didn't have any trouble buying it, did you?"

Kelly's blonde hair shook as she laughed.

"I think one of the ladies that's in the Garden Club with my mom saw me," she said with a laugh. "I'm sure I'll hear all about that tomorrow." She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "But who cares?"

I pulled the pink box out of the plastic bag and turned it over in my hands, my eyes flitting over images of happy women clutching positive pregnancy tests.

"Please don't let that be me," I silently prayed.

"I can't believe this," I mumbled out loud.

"Look," Kelly said. "Nothing's for certain, okay? For all we know, you have food poisoning and for some reason you're a week late, and that's it."

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and opening the box. I withdrew the test, the small piece of plastic feeling surprisingly heavy in my hands. I knew the course of my entire life relied on what this test said.

"Well," I said, faking a smile as Kelly squeezed my arm supportively. "Here we go."

I clutched the test in my hand, swallowed the knot in my throat, and went into the bathroom, praying for no surprises.