Lizzie jumped up and down, struggling with her jeans, fighting them up her thighs which seemed to have grown twice in size in the last month. At last they reached her middle, but the two flaps were nowhere near closing, and no matter how much she fought with them, and sucked in her stomache, she couldn't make them fit. "THIS SUCKS!" Lizzie screamed hysterically, and peeled the jeans off and threw them in a pile with the rest of the clothes that wouldn't fit. She eventually decided on a pair of light blue overalls that had used to be quite baggy, and now were only a little loose on her. "I need to go on a diet," she told her reflection. Maybe you don't, a little voice in the back of her head told her. Maybe you're pregnant! the voice needled at her. "SHUT UP!" she screamed at herself. She shook her head in hysterics, and tears sprung into her eyes. She had skipped her period the last two months, but she kept assuring herself that she was irregular still since she had only started in the seventh grade. You were supposed to be irregular the first two or three years you were on your period, she insisted.

Pink, Lizzie thought to herself. She hated that color now. She remembered every pink outfit she'd ever worn, and she mentally went through her closet, and burned each and every one of them. If only she were really burning them, she thought. If only burning outfits could change anything, she wished. Why pink? she asked herself, and a single tear slid down her cheek. She was home alone, so she took the pregnancy test, and the box it came in and threw it in one of the trashbags in the alley so no one would find it. Then Lizzie returned to her room, and as she dialed the number she knew by heart, tears fell in a waterfall.

Miranda picked up on the third ring, "Hello?"

"Miranda?" Lizzie asked in a quaking voice.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Miranda asked.

"I just took a test..."

"What kind of test?"

"A pregnancy test..."

"Oh my god, Lizzie... you're not... are you?"

"Yes..."

"Lizzie, everything's going to be ok. Are you home alone?"

"Yes."

"My mom and I are gonna come over RIGHT now. Don't do anything. Go make some popcorn and watch TV or something, ok?"

"OK..." Lizzie's voice quivered, and the tears came in another shower.

Miranda and her mom arrived about five minutes later. Lizzie was sitting downstairs in front of the television set, unaware of what she was watching. She couldn't see the TV through the tears flowing down her face. Miranda's mom entered the room, saw Lizzie, and immediately began talking to Miranda in Spanish. Then she turned to Lizzie, a kind smile on her face, "Lizzie, Dear, We have to call your mother. Where is she?" "She's at a parent teacher conference for Matt," Lizzie managed to get out between sobs. Lizzie sank back into the couch and curled into a ball and cried harder and harder. Miranda came and sat with her on the couch. She put her arm around Lizzie, and they waited to hear what Lizzie's mom would say to Miranda's mother.