2. | LAST SUMMER [THE SANDLOT]

chapter five

chapter five

"respect is earned,
honesty is appreciated,
love is gained and
loyalty is returned."

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     Benny fucking Rodriguez. The love of my fucking life. Believe me guys, he's amazing. Not just because he bought me those PF Flyers— it's because he dropped everything just to spend time with me. Like yesterday when Chloe wanted Benny to hang out with her and Benny said no.

     That was the best day ever. He chose me over her. His girlfriend over his childhood friend. That's like every girls dream to have their boyfriend always be loyal to them and not worry about any other girl. I love Benny more than ever.

     I woke up next morning feeling bloated. And not period bloated. There was like this sign when I knew I was going to throw up. The sign being all my saliva building up in my mouth. Sounds gross, I know. Good thing I made it to the toilet in time. I was struggling to get out of Benny's grip. And yes, our parents let us go back to sleeping over at each other's houses after they found out about what has been happening between us the past two days.

     But, anyways, as of right now, I'm throwing up a storm right now.

     "Luna?" I heard Benny call out from my bedroom. I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was more throw up.

     "Oh, baby." He whispered as he walked into the bathroom seeing me there. He bent down to my level and pushed some of the hair that came out of the little pony tail I just recently put up. He started to rub my back as I started to hiccup. After sitting by the toilet and having Benny rubbing my back, I got up and flushed the toilet and brushing my teeth.

     Benny helped me towards my bed but we were stopped by my angry mother standing in my room with her arms crossed over her chest. "I knew it! I knew this would happen! I knew you would get embarazada!" (Pregnant)

     My eyes widened, "¿Estás loco, mamá? I am not pregnant, I'm sick." I countered with my week voice.

     My mom hummed, not convinced with anything I was saying. She then told Benny to head home because she was going to take me to the hospital. Which is a little over the top but I'm going to prove her wrong, I'm not pregnant.

     I don't even know why she'd think I was pregnant. I'm not that dumb. And neither is Benny. We'd never got that far until we were married. Or at least I would. I don't know about Benny.

     We arrived at the hospital and my mom helped walk me towards the front desk. And I know what your thinking, that I can walk by myself but even having my eyes open makes me light headed. Like really lightheaded. My mom rang the little bell at the receptionist desk. A dark skinned man in navy blue scrubs rushed towards us, from behind the desk.

     "How may I help you two ladies?" He asked us nicely.

     My mom smiled at him half-heartedly, "Could I get an ultrasound on my daughter? She says she's not pregnant but I don't believe it."

     "Sure thing," He chuckled. "Follow me."

     The man wheeled a wheelchair towards me, helping me sit in it. He wheeled me into the elevator with my mom following pursuit. We reached the third floor, which was basically a floor for new born baby's and pregnant women, and he took us towards a room in the back. In the room was another receptionist desk with a short, brunette sitting behind it. The man and the lady talked to each other before the lady came towards us.

     "Hi, I'm Katherine, and yours?" She asked very happily.

     "I'm Luna and this is my mom, Eva." I responded back, slightly weak. Katherine's smiled widened.

     "Okay, well, we're going to head into this room over here and we will see if there is a baby growing inside of you." Katherine explained. She stood behind me and started to push my wheelchair through some doubles door the other nurse was holding open. The ultrasound room was pretty big. The walls were painted an indigo color and there was a big screen hanging on the front wall. The usual hospital bed and monitor stuff for the ultrasound.

     My mom and Katherine both helped me onto the bed. I laid down as Katherine began setting up everything and my mom sat beside me.

     "Okay, Luna, I'm going to put this goo," She held up the little bowl of this clear, thick liquid. "On your stomach. I'm warning you, it's really cold."

     I nodded and she put a little of the goo on my stomach. She was right, though. It was cold. I jumped a little in result of my almost falling off the bed. She grabbed this white remote with a flat bottom that had a curly wire attached to the end and connected with the monitors. She started to smear the goo around my stomach with the remote.

      My mom was bouncing her leg while biting her nail as she stared at the screen intently. Her being nervous made me nervous. I watched as Katherine's eyes scanned the screen with a puzzled expression.

      "What? What's wrong?" I asked.

      Her head began to shake, "There's no baby. You're not pregnant but there's something else."

      My mom then began with the questions about what she meant by there is something else. Katherine ignored her and shuffled out of the room.

     "Mom, I'm scared," I sniffled. My mom grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly. Moments later, Katherine came back in with a Doctor.

     "Hi, my name is Jasmine Fell." She introduced herself. We nodded at her being too scared to talk. She turned towards Katherine and muttered a few words to her. She then looked towards the monitor screen and began to move the flat remote around my stomach. Her eyes widened slightly before she cleared her throat.

     "So, seems like you don't have a baby and you were never pregnant but there's something a lot worse going on in your stomach— more towards your chest." The doctor explained.

     "Well, what is it?" I asked. My voice cracked slightly as tears began to form in my eyes.

     "We'd have to go to my clinic and figure out what it is. I have some tools in there to help determine this unusual situation." She said. They all helped me into the wheelchair sitting beside the door. The doctor began to push me towards the elevator. She pressed the third floor button and soon enough, we went up. The elevator doors opened and Dr. Fell began to push me towards her clinic.

     A couple of nurses in the room gazed towards us as we came in. Dr. Fell exchanged some words to the young nurses and they immediately started to set things up. They pushed me through theses double doors near by. My mom was guided behind a glass wall that had more monitors, etc. In the middle of the room there was a huge, white machine. It looks like one of those x-ray things, I'm guessing.

     One of the male nurses had lifted me up and set me on the machine. He gently laid me down and put a pillow under my head.

     "Okay, Luna," I heard Dr. Fell's voice through a speaker. "just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. Its due to pulses of electricity going through metal coils inside the machine. Uh, if you want we can get you some earplugs or headphones."

     I nodded. A nurse came in and handed me the ear plugs. I put them in and laid back down. "Okay, Luna, this will take from 45 minutes to an hour so try not to move so much. Even a little bit." Dr. Fell said. I nodded stiffly. Loud orchestral music began to play as the dashboard of the machine began to move me under it.

     To be honest, I'm terrified. The look in Katherine's eyes sent chills downs my spine. And not the food kind of chills. It was purifying. Something substandard is going to happen to me. I don't know why this is happening to me all of a sudden but I really scared.

     I just hope I'll be okay.