Cami did not sleep well at all last night. All she could think about was the positive results of the pregnancy test and how she was supposed to tell her mother that she was pregnant. Questions began to flood her mind. What am I going to do? How can I tell my mom? How am I supposed to take care of this baby? What will people think of me? What will Mom think of me? Will she hate me once I tell her?
Her mother had high hopes for her. She practically had the same goals for Cami that she had for herself. Diane wanted her to graduate from high school and college and make something out of herself. Cami wanted the same thing, but she didn’t know if she would be able to do that anymore. She may have been only sixteen years old, but there was a new life growing inside of her. She fought back tears that she could feel forming in her eyes. She hated to admit it but she was scared since she wasn’t even old enough to take care of a baby. She wasn’t even old enough to take care of herself. She was just a kid who still lived at home with her mother, and this kid was not ready to become a mother.
She found herself wandering out of bed and near her window to gaze at the stars. She opened the window to feel a gentle breeze and thought about the girl she used to be. The girl whose teachers always bragged to her mother about her excellent behavior and grades (although not as good as Kaci in the grades department) was pregnant. The girl who no one else thought would ever become a teenage mother was pregnant. The girl who would hang out with her best friend for hours on end on weekends at the mall and pull her into a photo booth was pregnant. The more she thought about it the more she realized that the good girl image of her that was once painted inside her head was gone. She felt as if she had shredded it into little, tiny pieces the night that she had sex with River. River? How was she going to tell him that she was pregnant with his baby? Although he was engaged, she didn’t want to cause any problems for him in his new relationship, but she did want to tell him that she was expecting their first child. It was just going to be harder than she had expected.
He was her first. She loved him, and she honestly thought that they would spend the rest of their lives together. She had to tell him that she was pregnant. He needed to be a part of their child’s life, so she picked up her cell phone and selected “Hide ID” for River’s number. Cami’s heart began to beat faster once she had pressed the call button. She heard a familiar voice yawn and say, “Hello?” She didn’t know what to say. It was as if her mind went blank. It seemed like forever since she had heard his voice. “Hello?” he repeated. She tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out her mouth so she hung up. She hung up on the father of her baby.
Afterwards, she cried for a while. Then she got up and ran to the bathroom to vomit. She felt so sick and terrible inside. She felt as if there was no one who would understand her. She was sixteen years old and pregnant. She feared that people would think that she was a slut. River probably already thinks that. Soon the entire school would think that. Good little me had sex and got pregnant. Guess I’m not so good after all, she thought to herself.
The next morning instead of eating breakfast, she stayed in her bedroom. She was hungry, but she was also too upset to eat with her mother and Kaci. She may be able to hide this from her mom for a short period of time but not Kaci. She could see right through her. If she walked into the kitchen and tried to hide how upset she was with the irritability that she had, Kaci would instantly know that something was wrong.
Cami definitely didn’t want to go to school. She knew that Marissa would question her about the pregnancy, and she was not in the mood to talk about that. When she arrived at her locker, Marissa was waiting for her as usual. “Did you tell your mom that you’re—you know?” she asked, with a fixated gaze on Cami’s stomach.
Cami opened her locker and pulled out a career guidance book that her mom had given her when she was a freshman. “No,” she simply replied. “And try to keep your voice down. I don’t want anyone to find out about this.”
“Fine, but you’re going to have to tell her eventually,” Marissa said in a low voice.
“Don’t remind me,” Cami mumbled.
“Cami,” she began, “pregnant women need pre-natal care.” Cami looked at her questionably. She didn’t know anything about babies or what they needed. She had taken an elective class on child care during her sophomore year, but she couldn’t remember anything from that class. It was such an easy “A” for her that most of the time while she was in class, she would read gossip magazines. Then, she would return home to do the homework and study for the tests which were based off the homework assignments. Now she found herself wishing that she would’ve paid more attention.
“You need to tell your mother. You need help,” Marissa said.
“I told you,” Cami stated.
“And I’m telling you to tell your mother.”
Cami sighed. This was the last thing that she wanted to talk about today.
“Cami, she can help you.”
“I can’t tell her,” her voice quivered.
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t tell her what I did. She gave me birth control pills, and I was supposed to be taking them but I missed a few days.” She felt tears form in her eyes, but she tried to fight to keep them from falling onto her cheeks. “She wanted me to graduate from high school and go to college, but I don’t think I will be able to do that anymore,” she continued.
Marissa put her arms around her. “Just because you’re—you know doesn’t mean that your life is over. It just means that now you will have to work harder,” she said reassuringly.
She sniffled. “What do you mean?” she asked, while looking up at her best friend.
“Well, you should keep your grades up, and continue to set and make goals for yourself,” she suggested. “What is it that you want to be again?”
“I don’t know. That’s why my mom gave me this career book.”
“Anyway, you can still put it to use.” She could tell that Marissa was trying to be helpful, but she didn’t think anything or anyone could help her now.
“Yeah, right,” she mumbled.
“After you have the baby, you could hire a babysitter.”
“How am I supposed to hire a babysitter? My mom doesn’t have the money to pay for it. We’re stretched thin.”
“Then get a part-time job. Half of the kids at this school work anyway.”
“Yeah, well…Uh...Sounds great and all but that’s a higher gas bill for my car.”
Marissa paused for a moment before continuing, “Cami, let’s be reasonable. You could pay fifty to one hundred bucks a week for babysitting and twenty bucks a week for gas.” If only gas was that cheap.
“So basically, my entire life is going to change,” Cami said.
“Yeah, it is,” Marissa agreed.
“Marissa,” Cami began, “what babysitter will work for such a low amount of money?”
“You said that you were stretched thin, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we’ll figure something out.”
“No, I’ll figure something out. This isn’t your problem. It’s mine, and I’m going to deal with it, but I do want to thank you for being such a good friend. This is my life and I’m going to deal with my problem in my own way.”
Marissa crossed her arms. “Does your way include telling your mother?” Cami could tell that she was getting angry and agitated.
“No,” she replied.
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to go on and pretend that this never happened?”
“I love you to death but back off! I said that I’m going to deal with it and I will,” Cami said a little louder than she intended. Some students turned to look at them, and she began to feel embarrassed.
“I sure hope that you make the right decision because you won’t be the only person affected by it,” Marissa retorted and then stormed off.
I’ll deal with her later, she thought. Right now she needed to go to the girls’ restroom to find a toil
et to puke in. So, of course, she ran into the restroom, picked a stall, and puked in the toilet. She didn’t know if she could deal with this for nine months, but she was pregnant so she didn’t have a choice. She wasn’t getting an abortion. That wasn’t even an option and the thought had never crossed her mind. However, Cami didn’t really see how she could keep the baby because she didn’t have the money to take care of it.
She wiped her mouth with toilet tissue, tossed it into the toilet, and flushed it. She put her hands on her face. What am I going to do? she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone walk into the restroom. She looked underneath the stall and saw two girls primping in the mirror.
“I cannot believe that she did that with my boyfriend!” she heard one of the girls shout.
Hey, she knew that voice. She peeped underneath the stall once again. It was Leena and her younger sister, Kelly. They were the most popular girls in school who everyone loved to hate. Both girls have an enviable tall model-like physique with matching dark blue eyes and gorgeous hair. Leena’s platinum, blonde hair cascades down her back while Kelly’s is a cute, asymmetrical brown bob with blonde highlights. Half of the girls at school have even copied her hairstyle.
“Why are you so surprised? This is what sluts do. They steal other girls’ boyfriends instead of finding their own. Low self-esteem issues or something like that,” Cami heard Leena say to comfort her younger sister.
“Out of all the guys to choose from, why did Tammy sleep with Lucas? Why did she have to ge-get pregnant by h-him?” Kelly sobbed. Leena handed her a Kleenex. Kelly graciously took it and wiped her nose. “He and I were supposed to go to college together. He was going to be a movie director, and I was supposed to be the beautiful model…”
It was obvious to Cami that Kelly was hurt by her boyfriend’s betrayal. Although the two were not friends, it hurt her to hear the sound of her crying. She hated hearing other people cry. This especially bothered her because it was about something that was so near and dear to her heart. It made her think about River and what she knew he was doing—having sex with his fiancée while she was carrying their child. The guy that she’d loved had dumped her and found comfort in someone else’s arms.
Leena was now holding her little sister in her arms. “Leena, I just want this to all go away.”
“Forget about him. He’s just a loser anyway.”
Kelly continued to sob. “Don’t worry, Kelly. Tammy and that sorry ex-boyfriend of yours will pay for what they’ve done to you. Your big sis will make sure of that.”
“Dry your eyes and come on,” Leena ordered. “I’ve got work to do.”
I sure hope that she’s not planning to hurt a pregnant girl, Cami thought.
Chapter 3
Cami's Decision Page 2
