I hated doctors offices. The smell, the sterile room, the hard backed chairs, the wholesome magazines laid out on the tables. I spotted a woman reading a parenting now magazine and chuckled aloud from the irony of it all.

My foot tapped nervously, a habit that I had developed in high school from all of the presentations that I had been forced to do.

"Hey."

I was pulled out of my daze by the face of my best friend, Lena. She was what everyone living on the Reservation called a, "pale face," sometimes jokingly but mostly in the way that Draco Malfoy called Hermione Granger a muggle. Her mom had gotten remarried to Thomas Soloman, one of the elders of the tribe about 10 years ago, but the jibes had never ended. Lena was very pale, even compared to me and she had her dyed red hair up in a small, messy ponytail. She smiled at me encouragingly.

" I'll bring that up for you."

Looking down, I remembered the paperwork in my lap and hastily handed the clipboard to her.

Lena was my rock, had always been. When we were little I used to get in fights with anyone who messed with her. I'd even broken a boy's nose once. As we'd gotten older, our roles had seemed to reverse and I'd become the quiet, nervous type while she had developed a quick tongue and sparkle in her eyes. I trusted her more than anyone, we'd been together through thick and thin.

I felt her chair knock into mine as she settled herself back into her chair and I noticed for the first time that she was biting her nails, the nervous habit that she'd developed in high school.

Suddenly, I heard the door of the clinic open, the bell above ringing, dragged out and only adding to my anxiousness. Several people with varying sizes of homemade signs shuffled into the small room and I finally understood why some people were claustrophobic.

" A life is a life!""All babies want to be born!" "Abortion is murder!"

Their voices rang out individually and then mingled together like they'd been put through a mixer as the security guard materialized from a side door and shuffled them out as quickly as they'd appeared.

"Oh god." I felt my throat tighten and my heart beat fast enough to rip out of my chest.

" Devery, breathe okay? It's going to be alright.

"Lena. I can't do this." I lifted myself out of my chair, tears blurred my vision as I ran out of the clinic almost swinging the door off of its hinges.

"Devery, I thought you were an Independent. You know? Pro-choice?" Lena huffed air in and out her hands on her knees from chasing me.

"I-I-I know I just." I took a shaky breath. " I don't know I just don't want them to stick anything up, you know, there. And- and." I stopped.

"Sorry to be crude Dev, but isn't that how you got in this situation to begin with?"

I felt a blush of anger, " yeah I know, but this would be cold and-and I just can't Lena."

We both fell into silence and then I started to laugh. Lena looked up in surprise and grabbed my shoulders, like I was in shock or something.

"Dev, don't get all crazy on me okay? You're really freaking me out."

I gulped in air in the breaks between my laughter, "I was just thinking"- another bout of laughter, my stomach felt like it would break with it- " I was thinking that it would be the same as- well- him. Cold."

Lena had a look that clearly said "you are insane". But in a few moments she shared in my laughter and we fell onto the ground together, crying from the laughing.

If you haven't already guessed, I had made a mistake. At the time, I had seen it like one of those 80s teen movies where the unattainable guy (Brady) swept down to save the nerdy lost girl (me). But it had been a little more wham bam thank you ma'm then that. Except he hadn't even been enough of a gentlemen to say thank you. Or to tell me that, apparently, the condom had broken, which was a little more than obvious at this point.

Brady Fuller. What could I say about the guy? Only that, unfortunately, my little high school girl heart had been devoted to him from the moment I spotted him in my freshmen Spanish class. When he had showed interest in my little virgin self at some guy's graduation party, how could I have resisted those eyes and that body that could probably be used to melt chocolate and cook eggs. Literally and figuratively I'd realized during the act of- you know- sex. I cringed at the word and thought of the painful five or six minutes of grunting and sweating and thrusting if you will. And afterwards, the little virgin that I had been, I went in for the teen movie snuggles- resting my head on one of those ripped arms. But Brady apparently had no time in his busy schedule and so after a few minutes of awkwardly sitting and staring around the room where I had been left, I had decided to find Lena. I had cried and begged her to take me home and told her everything in the car. And then about a month and a half later, after puking my guts out into the bathroom at my work and stealthily purchasing a pregnancy test at the drug store, I had told her about my whole bun without a baker situation.

And that's how I found myself, dying of laughter in the parking lot of the planned parenthood in Port Angeles.

We finally stopped laughing and Lena's expression turned serious.

"So what are you gonna do?"

I thought about it for a minute. My mind went to everything I knew about teen pregnancy; secret life of the American teenager, teen mom- oh god no. And then I thought about Ellen Paige in Juno.

"You know Juno? That movie with Ellen Paige?"

"Yeah..." Lena bit her lip, "Dev, you want to give it up for adoption?"

"Why not? I mean, I'm definitely not prepared to be a parent or anything like that... And I can't go back in there Lena."

My best friend gauged my expression and then sighing she lifted herself off of the ground and helped me up.

"So you'll support me, right?" I don't know why I even asked, as I felt her link our arms and my head settled against her shoulder.

"Dev, thick and thin, remember? Especially thick." She said chuckling and I buried my face into her sweatshirt muffling my laughter.

Xxxx

So the second part of my little teenage drama was on its way; telling the rents of course.

I had a pretty good relationship with mom and dad; they were divorced but both still lived on the reservation. Otherwise, there were no cliches or family tropes to observe. They were fairly doting, often overbearing, regular, average, everyday teachers.

Anyways, I had Lena come with me to tell first my mom and then my dad. I presented my adoption idea to them and said that I would remain at my job as long as physically possible, making sure to save money for my time off and dipping into my current savings if necessary. Mom immediately went into shock, then tears, and then called her obgyn and compiled a list of necessities for me. Dad and my stepmom both gave me shocked faces that clearly read, " when did you even learn about sex?" And then dad threatened to hang the guy by his balls. So it didn't go too badly.

I didn't find any adoption ads in the paper, but I did find some information online- no craigslist- and I compiled a list of possible parents for the little monster that caused me to gag and puke at even the slightest suggestion of grease or meat products or dairy products or while I was going about my merry way doing absolutely nothing at all.

You may think that I'm acting a little too calm and collected for a pregnant teen, and you would be right. Everything is a facade and I'm actually terrified of what people will say when they find out and also of squeezing a watermelon out of a keyhole. The only consolation was that I had graduated high school and so I wouldn't have to go through that little slice of drama what with dropping out, or staying in, or attending a "special school." And also the reassurance that I had already made the biggest mistake that I could at this juncture in my life.