"What should I tell her? I'm pretty sure she's going to kill me when she finds out," Bella said, clutching the phone to her ear. "What if she kicks me out?"

"Don't worry," said the voice on the other end. "I'm sure she won't. I can be there with you, when you tell her. Maybe it will help?"

That was just like Edward, always trying to find something positive in every situation. But Bella wasn't sure if her boyfriend was right this time.

"No, I have to tell her. Alone. Today. Now. I should go now and tell her."

"Good luck," Edward told her, "I love you. And call me as soon as you're done to tell me what happened."

"Okay, bye."

Sitting on her bed in her pink room, Bella knew that she was about to break her mother's heart. Her mother had always wanted her to go off to university and do well. She had always wanted her to have every possible chance at success. And Bella was about to crush that dream, that hope.
She didn't know how to tell her. Her mother believed that Bella was the responsible one, the reliable one. She had always been the good girl.

But she'd been stupid. She'd been careless. She hadn't thought about what could happen, and now she had to live with the consequences.

She had to tell her mom now. At three months pregnant, she didn't really have a choice. Before long, her mom would start to notice the morning sickness that Bella had been trying so hard to hide. And her mom would definitely notice her stomach.

She got up and went to find her mom. She found her in the kitchen, seasoning the potatoes. She had always loved watching her mom in the kitchen. Her mom loved to cook, and she considered the kitchen her sanctuary. She loved it so much that she had actually spent a large part of her savings on redoing the kitchen, and now it was as beautiful as any that could be found in a magazine. She had added a breakfast nook on one end, and an island in the middle. The cupboards were wood and frosted glass. The appliances were all stainless steel. The countertops were granite.

This was definitely her mom's favourite place, and here she was, about to ruin it with her news.

She walked slowly into the kitchen.

"Mom," she started, slowly, "there's something I think you should know. You're not going to like it, and you're going to be mad at me and disappointed, but I have to tell you. I think you should sit down for this."

She paused, waiting while her mom checked the chicken and put the potatoes in the oven, and sat down at the table. She was starting to feel sick, and she was afraid of telling her, but she knew she had to. She took a deep breath, and let it out.

"Mom, I'm pregnant."

Her mother just stared at her. She looked frozen, like she couldn't move. She didn't even look like she was breathing.

But then she suddenly came back to life. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked, sounding angry.

Bella immediately knew that her mom was going to go insane. "I know you're angry at me, and I can under—"

"Of course I'm angry! How could you be so careless, so stupid! How could you do something so irresponsible?"

"I don't know, I didn't think—"

"Obviously you didn't think! If you'd thought, this would be happening!"

Bella didn't know what to say. She didn't really think that there was anything she could say that could possibly make it better.

"I'm really sorry, mom," she said in smaller voice, starting to cry, "I didn't meant to be irresponsible, and I really didn't want this to happen. But it happened and I'm sorry."

It was as if her mom didn't even hear her. She just kept on yelling at her. "It's all over now. All the plans, all the dreams, everything is gone! You're going to have a baby to take care of now! How are you planning to do that, when you're not even going to finish high school! What are you planning to do? Work at a dead end job for the rest of your life? Live on welfare? How are you going to pay for everything? She needs clothes and diapers and food and medicine. How are you planning to pay for that? What are you going to do?"

Bella just sat there, crying. She knew her mom was watching her, waiting for an answer, but she didn't know what she could possibly say. After a while, she knew she had to say something. Her mom would sit there and wait all night if that's how long it took her to answer.

"I don't know," she said, "I hadn't really thought about it. I know I can finish this year, because there's only 2 months left, but I'll just have to put off university for a year. I was hoping that maybe you would help me, because then I could go back to school after that, not just work at some stupid job forever."

Her mom seemed to be thinking that over. Finally, she answered.

"How do you want me to help you? What exactly do you want me to do? Because I won't raise this baby for you. I won't be its mother. So what exactly did you think I could do?"

Bella thought about it for a minute, calmed herself, then answered. "Well," she said, "I don't expect you to raise the baby. That would be my responsibility. I don't expect you to pay for everything that this baby may need, that would also be my responsibility. All I want is for you to help me through this. All I want you to do, really, is not kick me out. I'd like to know that at least I have somewhere to stay, somewhere this baby will be warm. I need to know that you'll help me, because I know that there are many things that I don't know about babies, but you do. I need you to help me so that I can still finish school and so that I can still have the life we both want. It's just that now that life will have to include a third person. I need your help, mom. I've thought about it, and I can't abort this baby. I know it's not ideal, and it's not the right time, but I already love this baby and I want to raise him or her."

"So what you want from me is to accept that you screwed up and that you were irresponsible, but that you're mature enough to handle being a mother?" her mom answered angrily, " I don't know if I can do that. You want me to trust you to be able to run your life when this obviously shows that you can't make important decisions! All I can see now is that I try hard for you to do something better than what I did, and you go and do the same!"

"I know you wanted something different for me, Mom," Bella said, "but I made a mistake, and now this is what's happened. I need you to support me."

"I don't know if I could do that, Bella. I'm sorry. I want you to live your life, not put it aside for now and try to get back to it later."

"So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to get an abortion? Do you want me to put the baby up for adoption? Do you want me to move out?" Bella was starting to sound a little frantic, like she was only now seeing that maybe her mom really wouldn't help her.

"I don't know yet. All I know is that I need you to go to your room now. I don't know if I can just live with this. I don't know if I can accept how irresponsible and careless you are. I don't know if I can deal with your obvious lack of ability to make the right decisions. So right now I need you to go and just let me finish dinner, so I can think. Maybe by then, I'll be able to figure out if I can accept you living here."

"Please don't kick me out, Mom, I don't know if I could do it on my own. What if it was you right now? What would you have wanted your mom to do?"

That just seemed to make her mom angry again.

"It was me, and my mom kicked me out! So I know that it's possible to make a life from it! Don't you even try to make me feel like this is my fault, you did this to yourself! Now please go to your room."

Bella left and went to her room. She looked around at her room, which still looked the same as it did when she was nine, with pink on the walls and stuffed animals everywhere. And she loved it that way. But as she looked around, her room looking like a kid's room, she realized that she couldn't be a kid anymore. She sat on bed and started to cry. She didn't even want to call Edward and let him know what had happened.

She didn't know what she would do if her mom decided to kick her out. She didn't really have anywhere to go, and she didn't think that Edward's parents would take her in. In fact, they might kick him out, as well.

For the next half hour, she just sat there, not even thinking about what she could do. Just hoping that her mom would let her stay.

Eventually, her mom came up.

"Dinner's ready," she said, "and I added a little more now that you have to eat for two people."

Bella looked at her, hoping that meant that she had decided not to kick her out.

"Now," her mom started, "this doesn't mean that everything is ok. You are going to be grounded for a long time. Don't expect me to trust you anymore. And don't think that this means that I think that what you did is ok. You're going to have to earn the right to stay here, and if you mess it up, I will kick you out. I'm not happy with you, but I don't believe the streets are a good idea, either."
Bella ran and hugged her.

"Thank, Mom. And I will do whatever you need me to do."

"Well, we can talk about it later. Right now, we should go eat."