Different

Chapter 16

The bell rang at the end of my last class. I sighed as I walked out of the classroom. I decided to skip coffee and just to go straight home since my mom would be waiting for me.

to Courtney, Tamzin & Savannah

i’m gonna have to skip coffee, mom is being a psycho xxx

I started to walk home. A few minutes later my phone vibrated against my leg.

from Savannah

good luck from all of us xoxo

I sighed again. Why did I have to be the one with an overly strict parent. I answered the phone, she knew I wasn’t dead or anything. I don’t get why she’s over-reacting so much.

Eventually I got home. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. It was quiet. Too quiet. I placed my bag down on the floor trying to be as quiet as possible. Then I went to the kitchen for a glass of water since I was parched. My mom was sat at the table silently, staring at me. I averted my gaze as I filled my glass with water and was just about to leave the room.

‘Jenna. We need to talk.’ she said in a stern voice. It still made a nice change from hysterical screaming though. I sighed and sat down at the table.

‘What? I have a lot of important homework to be doing.’ Homework excuses were the best since my mom was obsessed with my education.

‘Where were you last night?’ That was much more straightforward than I was expecting.

‘Not here.’ I replied simply.

‘Don’t even try and tell me you were at Tamzin’s or Savannah’s either since I rang their moms.’ Why didn’t they think to tell me this?!

‘I’m fine, I’m still alive, surely that’s all that matters?’ I said exasperated. I knew I’d have to tell her eventually since all my other excuses had been destroyed, but I was just dragging it out.

‘Just tell me where you were and we can end this conversation.’

‘Ugh. Whatever. I was at Spencer’s if you must know.’ I said as casually as I could manage. I could see the anger in eyes.

I got up and left the kitchen running up the stairs to my room. I could hear her slamming doors and stomping round. A couple of minutes later I heard the front door slam and I heard her car start. I put on some loud music so I could let myself relax. I logged onto Facebook and scrolled down my news feed.

-

About half an hour later I heard my mom’s car pull up in the driveway. I turned off my music since she hated it when my music was loud and I wanted to get into as little trouble as possible. I could hear her coming up the stairs towards my room. She barged in and practically shoved her hand into my face. ‘Take these.’ she barked. It took me a minute to register what they were. Pregnancy tests.

‘Mom, I’m not pregnant!’ I shouted.

‘Just take the tests Jenna. We need to know either way.’ She said matter of factly.

‘There is no way I’m pregnant.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because I’ve never even had sex!’ I said exasperatedly. I could feel myself blushing with embarrassment.

‘You’ve been with Spencer for almost a year now and you expect me to believe that you haven’t had sex with him?’ she hissed, emphasising Spencer’s name as if it was a disgusting word.

‘I’ve not!’ I said. Two small tears rolled my cheeks. Was it really that big of a deal, should I have done it just to get it over with?

‘Just tell me when you’ve taken the tests.’ she said harshly, leaving my room.

I decided to take the tests, just to get her off my back. I followed the instructions and waited for the tests to turn negative. I left them on the floor outside my bedroom door since I wasn’t speaking to her for the foreseeable future.