Dauntless High School

Chapter 34

TRIS

When I pull into Marlene's driveway, she is sitting on the front porch with her knees pulled up to her chest and two large duffel bags on the steps in front of her. She slowly stands as I close the door to my truck and start toward her. Marlene's parents didn't even leave the porch light on for her, and even in the dark, I can see how red and puffy her eyes are.

Her lower lip quivers as I pull her into a hug and she bursts into a sob. Fresh tears soak the shoulder of my shirt. I hold her, unmoving, as she cries. By the time she quiets, I am shivering in the cool night air.

I pull back from the hug. "Okay," I say. "Come on over to my house, we'll eat our weight in ice cream and you can tell me what happened. I even have the rest of those BBQ flavored chips you were putting on your sundae the last time."

My comment gets a bit of a laugh from Marlene, much to my relief. I grab one of the duffle bags and she picks up the other, and soon we are headed back to my house.

-o-o-o-o-o-

We bring the whole carton of ice cream up to my room, along with those potato chips, a couple of bowls, and the little bit of candy that is leftover from last weekend. Marlene didn't tell me what was wrong when she asked me to take her home from school today, but I had been sitting next to her and noticed how uncomfortable she was while watching Christina's dare video. Then, she had asked me to run by a pharmacy on our way back to her house. It didn't take me long to figure it out from there. But still I didn't say anything. If she wanted me to know, she would tell me.

Her phone call was mostly indecipherable; all I could gather was that she had a big fight with her parents and they kicked her out.

"What happened?" I ask, scooping a bit of chocolate ice cream into my bowl before handing the carton of ice cream to Marlene.

"Do I have to say it?" she asks miserably. "I'm sure you've worked it out by now."

I sigh. "I remember," I say, "when my mom died... it was over a week, before I said the words. Before I said out loud, 'she's dead.' And... it wasn't really real until I did, you know?" Marlene breaks up the potato chips into pieces before sprinkling them on top of her ice cream. "But you can't ignore this, Mar. You can't just pretend this isn't happening. You have decisions to make, you have things that need to be dealt with, and it isn't just about you anymore."

Marlene closes her eyes, resigned. "I'm pregnant," she whispers. She opens her eyes and looks at me, and I take both her hands in mine. "I ― I got a test at the pharmacy today. I took it, in my bathroom. I put a tissue over top of it and I recycled the box. But I guess the receipt fell out somewhere and my mom found it and saw what I had bought. So she went looking, and she found the test and she freaked out, Tris. She and Dad yelled at me for... it felt like hours. They said..." Marlene trails off and shakes her head, takes a deep breath.

"So they kicked you out," I say sadly.

Marlene nods and bursts into tears again. "What am I gonna do, Tris? I can't be a mom, I'm sixteen! I don't even have a place to live! Not just when the baby comes but I don't even know where I'm sleeping tomorrow night. I can't― I don't―"

"Oh, Mar." I reach for her and wrap her up in my arms. "It'll all work out. You can stay here for a while, okay? We'll figure it out." She thanks me between hiccups. "So... you're going to keep it?"

"I think so. I won't have an abortion, I couldn't do that."

"And... the father?" I ask carefully, because as far as I know, Marlene hasn't been seeing anyone in a while. There was this guy Gabe she dated for a few months, but they broke up last spring.