TO BE A WOMAN.
I think that this fanfic has some adult themes in it, so I wouldn't really recommend it for little children. But don't worry, that's nothing too hard. This is the story of Miyamoto (Jessie's mother) before she joined Team Rocket: through my point of view, her teenage pregnancy was the main reason of her joining the Rocket Gang. Also the fact that Jessie grew up so poor with her mother being the best Team Rocket's agent of the time never made sense to me.
I also decided to use a dubbed name for Miyamoto. In my fanfics, I call her Melissa.
Chapter one: Farewell
Summers in the region of Kanto are very hot. The sun shines brightly for the majority of the day, leaving a mild and dry climate during the night. Kanto is the principal city of its homonym region: while Pallet Town, Cerulean City, Pewter City and all the other towns of this big region are just small villages, Kanto is the right place to grow up: beautiful houses, lots of attractions for kids and teenagers, amazing parks and gardens, restaurants and many other interesting things.
The presence of Beverly-Hills styled houses and districts makes of Kanto the most envied place to live. Most people who live in this city are known to be very good families with expensive cars, houses and wealthy lives. The inhabitants of Kanto City live in very quiet residential districts, far away both from the traffic of the downtown and from the violence of the suburbs.
I have grown up in Kanto. And I still think it is the most beautiful city I've ever seen.
The Kanto street fair is the principal event that happens in Kanto City once a year. It usually lasts from 8 to 11 September and teenagers and scholars are used to participate, since it is the main sign of the end of the summer. I surely made no exception as I used to go every year with my friends.
But on the year I turned 16, I wasn't allowed to take part to the street fair. That summer will always be unforgettable to me. I graduated from Pokemon Tech on July with excellent results and my mother, as a present, took me and my little sister to the United States for two weeks. After returning home, I spent a lot of time with my friends, especially with my best friend Sarah. I can't even remember the first time I met her, because we had known each other since we were born.
Thinking that one single moment can change an entire life it's a very funny thing. I had never really believed that, until it happened to me. One single moment changed my entire life.
It all happened on a middle August night. A rock group called "Succo Marcio" was playing in Kanto and I wanted to go to their concert and so did Sarah. So we spent that evening at their concert but didn't go home for the night. I told my mother that I was sleeping at Sarah's and she told her parents that she was sleeping at my house. When the concert was over, Sarah went to spend the night off with her boyfriend, Mark if I can remember well, while I reached for Jason's room (the hot singer of the group) as I absolutely wanted an autograph. I didn't expect him to be so tender and generous that I accepted his invitation inside his room. We got to know each other very well and talked for about two hours. I eventually felt so attracted by him (and he did too) that I ended up loosing my virginity to him.
Yes, it was my first time.
I do not know what really went wrong that time. Maybe it was because I didn't tell him I was a virgin or simply because he was just looking for some fun. Well, he cheated on me and said we could never be together. I cried for almost a week but I was totally unaware of what was expecting me.
During the second week of September, I realized I was pregnant. I swear I was almost to have a heart attack when I found out. I would have started a pre-college course the following month. How could I go on?
The evening I told my family the truth was different from the others: the calm and the tranquillity of Kanto City was interrupted by nothing so usual.
From my Italian-styled house, the sounds of two feminine voices could be heard from the outside. Me and my mother were yelling at each other.
"You're an immature girl!" My mother yelled angrily at me.
"But… but mom!" I remember the entire discussion pretty well. Those weren't things that one can forget so easily.
"You heard me! You're nothing more than an irresponsible and immature little girl!" We looked deeply into each other's eyes when I began to cry.
"I'm sorry mom, I know… I know I did a stupid thing… but please forgive me… forgive me," I felt sorry for what happened. I knew she was right but that was everything I managed to say in my own defence.
"FORGIVE ME? YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO ASK ME TO FORGIVE YOU?" She asked me, angrily.
"Well, I… I… I don't know how but… I'll work things out," I was really confused. We stayed in silence for what seemed like an eternity. The only sound that could be heard was my sobbing. Tears fell down to my cheeks and melted on my long purple hair which was down to my shoulders. My face was red from crying and also my aqua eyes were almost the same colour.
"I'll tell you why you don't know," the first of the two who broke the silence was my mother. She was a middle aged woman with long, straight brown hair and aqua eyes. The same colour of mine.
"You are 16, but your head is still up in clouds," she said as she slapped me on the face.
I could say nothing but keep on sobbing.
"With all we did for you… with all I did for you… You were born here in this prestigious family, you attended the best schools in Kanto… You travel in expensive cars, wear fashion clothes… We always bought you everything you wanted! What didn't we give you? What do you miss in your life? What went wrong, Melissa? ANSWER ME!" She yelled to me.
"Nothing… nothing went wrong, mom… It's just that… that… I… I liked him," I don't know where I got this stupid sentence from. In fact, my mother didn't like it at all. Another slap on my sobbing face. This time, harder.
"I'm very disappointed in you. With the 'I liked him' thing, you ruined your life. Is that what you call an adult behaviour? To me, you sound like nothing more than a child," she said.
"I promise I will get a job and then…"
"And then what? How can you think you'll be able to take care of a child when you can't even take care of yourself? You are just 16, you can't be a woman at your age! YOU CAN'T!"
These words rumbled in my head.
"You have just graduated from the best and most expensive high school here in Kanto," my mother continued "only the best of the future is waiting for you… you can go to college and be anything you want… a lawyer, a doctor. Or even take your father's place and run the family company. But no! You have to ruin your life". My father was the owner of a company which produces furniture. I was expected, as well as my brother and little sister, to take his place in the society. On the other hand, my mother was a lawyer. That's because me and my parents (especially my mother) decided that the best thing to do was enrolling me at the Economy and Business High School of the city, the same school which attended my brother and will probably attend my little sister too.
My brother, Simon, was four years older than me. He was pretty cute and had lots of girlfriends. Who knows how many times he may had found himself in that same situation of mine? On the other hand, my sister Kathleen was 7 years younger than me. She was still living in that world made up from candies and sweet fairy tales.
"I will get a job. I can work in the company and do whatever dad needs me to do. I can stay in the office or at the reception. I will do whatever he wants, even cleaning if it's necessary,"
"I don't think that your father will be happy about this. You know what he would say,"
"Dad's not like you!"
"Dad is not like me? Then why don't you pick up the phone and tell him right now?" With that, she picked up the phone and handed it to me. My parents had divorced the previous year. I was living with my mother as well as my brother and little sister, while my father lived in another city. He probably had a new woman so I never really got to visit him. I didn't want to see with my eyes the reason of my parents' divorce.
I realized that my mother was right. If she was angry with me and didn't understand my reasons, my father would have been even worse. I've always thought that if they were still together at that time, he would have agreed with mom.
I stayed in silence for a minute or so.
"You know I'm right, Melissa. You are just a stupid, irresponsible and immature girl. How can you even think of taking care of a child? What… what would people say?"
"I don't care about other people! I only care about myself!"
"That's the problem with you! You only care about yourself and not about your family! What would people say about me? That I'm not a good mother. That I allow my daughter to sleep with everybody," she said. "Melissa, our family is already ruined. Please, don't aggravate things. Please think about this," she added with a desperate tone.
I said nothing as I kept on crying. "There's only one way to get rid of this problem. You know what I mean," my mother went on.
"YOU WANT ME TO HAVE AN ABORTION?" I said in disbelief.
"That's my point,"
"Don't even try to convince me! Don't you know that abortion is murder?"
"Abortion is absolutely necessary in your circumstances! Do it and we'll never talk about this anymore,"
"Oh mom please! I will never kill my child. I don't want it to pay for a mistake of mine!"
"Is this your decision then?"
"Absolutely. No abortion,"
"Fine. You're not allowed to live here anymore,"
"What… What are you talking about? What does this mean?"
"You heard me. I can't ruin again my reputation by letting my 16 year old daughter having a baby with somebody she doesn't even know. Pack all your stuff, Melissa Randwhyte. You are leaving right now,"
"You are kidding, aren't you?"
"I am not. If you think you are woman enough to take this decision, you'll have to deal with its consequences. Get a job, get a house, do whatever you want, but don't try to come back with that fool creature to be," With that, she turned her back to me.
I was speechless. I couldn't believe that she had just kicked me out of home.
I looked around in the dining room, as if searching for an inspiration to say the right thing. But I found nothing.
"But… but… mom…" I said, despondently. I could hear my mother crying too.
"No buts, Melissa! You heard me. Get out of here immediately."
I ran upstairs crying. I burst into my room and slammed the door. I collapsed onto my soft bed which was covered with a white manually-embroidered cover. All around me, a lot of Pokemon plushes, teddy bears and wooden dolls seemed to understand everything. I tossed my head into the pillow and, for the following hour, cried my heart out.
Mum was sitting on the white leather sofa when I got downstairs tears in my eyes, my Eastpack backpack on my shoulders. In my heart I still hoped that my mother would change idea. But of course it did not happen.
"Farewell mother." this is all I managed to say.
With that, I opened the door and left my home on that hot September night.
The most unforgettable summer of my life.