Chapter Five: Great Awakening

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

"You're what?" I yelled. Then I quickly shut my mouth, afraid of waking Danica up. "You're not joking, are you?"

"Of course I'm not joking! Emma, we're engaged. We're going to wait until I graduate of course. If we can even wait that long, we won't do it until after we're both done at University.

"What made you decide all of this?" I asked.

"Well, Craig and I were together the whole year that you were gone. We decided to take our relationship to the next level," she told me. I was in shock.

"What about Ashley?" I asked.

"Don't you remember? She broke up with him before you even left. The summer after grade ten. It was like three weeks before you decided to leave."

"Yeah, I remember. But I thought Craig hated you? I mean, after you had the abortion. He said he never wanted to talk to you again because you killed his baby," I said, tears forming behind my eyes. I hated what Manny had done, but I can't hate her for what she chose to do.

"He realized that if I had the baby it would have ruined my life. Both of our lives, actually," she said confidently.

"I don't think it would have ruined your life," I said. The tears were spilling onto my cheeks. I was so afraid when I found out I was pregnant, but I don't blame my child for it. "Listen, I gotta go."

"Okay, I'll see you in school tomorrow," Manny said.

"Yeah, see ya." I hung up the phone and went over to Dani's crib. I watched her sleeping. She looked so beautiful. I stroked her cheek and continued to cry. Now that she's here, I can't imagine life without her.

Once again, I flopped down onto my bed and put my head on my pillow. I looked at the clock; it was only seven. I still had a few hours to do my homework. But I'll wait until I stop crying at least. I closed my eyes, willing the tears to go away.

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

I woke up when I heard Danica crying. I fell asleep? I didn't mean to. And I didn't even get any of my homework done. I quickly looked at the clock. 2:04 am. Great. Well, at least Dani slept for nearly eight hours. She's never done that before.

I went over to her crib and picked her up. She needed her diaper changed. And she was probably hungry. I decided to feed her first. She sucked her bottle down quickly but kept on crying. I changed her diaper, and that made her stop. It took me a total of an hour to do all of that and get her back to sleep. This is not good. I'm still tired; but I have to get my homework done. And I only have four hours until I'm supposed to be at school in homeroom.

I couldn't concentrate on my math homework. For some reason, it didn't make sense to me, even though it's one of my best subjects. I guess I just had a lot on my mind. So I tried to do my English essay. I was too tired to be able to make anything up, and I didn't want Kwan to find out about the baby, so I didn't get that done either. Luckily, I was able to read my science book. It is my favorite subject after all.

After my failed attempts at doing math and reading homework, and finally finishing the first two chapters of the science book, it was already five o'clock in the morning. I didn't have to be up for another hour, but I felt rested enough. So I went upstairs and took a long shower. I got dressed and fixed my hair, then went down to my room to get Dani. She was lying in her crib, looking around and laughing.

"Hey there little one," I said, picking her up and holding her close to me. I changed her diaper, got her dressed, and grabbed a bottle out of the fridge to take upstairs with me. When I got into the kitchen, I saw that it was six o'clock. One hour until school. At least things were going smoothly.

"You're up early," my mom greeted me as I sat down and began to feed Danica.

"Yeah, I figured I'd get an early start," I said. "Mom, when did I start sleeping all night for you?" I asked. She laughed before she answered me.

"Probably when you were about six months old, why?" she asked.

"Good, then I only have one month left until she does," I said. "I'm so tired," I groaned. I may not have felt tired when I decided to stay up, but after my shower and getting Danica ready, I was already exhausted.

"It's all a part of being a mother," Mom said, smiling. I burped my daughter and finished feeding her. Then my mom took her from me and set a plate of pancakes down in front of me.

"Thanks," I said, starting to eat. I was starving since I hadn't really eaten much dinner last night.

"Emma, we have to talk about something," she said, suddenly getting serious.

"What is it?" I asked. It didn't look good, whatever it was.

"I can't watch the baby during the day anymore," she said quietly.

"WHAT?" I yelled a little too loudly. Danica started to cry and I took her from my mother. "What do you mean you can't watch her?"

"I was talking to my boss yesterday, and she needs me to work during the day. One of my co-workers quit and I have to take her shift," she explained.

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" I asked her.

"Danica will have to go to daycare. We don't have to worry about Jack because he's in preschool now, and he can stay there all day."

"Mom! She can't go to daycare. I don't want to leave her with strangers!" I cried. "And I don't have the money to pay for it anyway!"

"Maybe you should think about getting her father involved in her life then. Maybe his parents could watch her; or he can pay child support," she suggested.

"I can't do that," I said, wiping a tear from my cheek.

"You'll have to figure this out on your own then. I'm sorry Emma, there's nothing I can do about it. I can't lose my job. You'll have to stay home from school today because I know you can't find a daycare in a half hour."

"I can't stay home on the second day!" I yelled.

"Well then maybe you know of someone who can watch her. Otherwise, you'll have to. Emma, you knew that having a baby and going to school was going to be hard. I warned you about all of that." Instead of saying anything, I jumped up from the table and went down to my room.

"Hey," I said into the phone when he picked up.

"What is it Emma?" he asked me.

"You want to prove yourself? Can you watch the baby today?" I asked him.

"Yeah of course I can. When do you want me to come over?"

"Now would be good," I said, hanging up the phone. What am I going to do? I sat on my bed and held Danica, softly bouncing her up and down. I wrote down instructions for taking care of her. Then he came in through the window. "Jay, you could have come to the front door."

"Sorry, I'm just used to this," he said.

"Whatever. Look, have you had any experience with babies?" I asked him.

"Well…not really…but I know I can do it," he said confidently.

"Okay, her bottles are in the fridge. Everything is written down right there. You can go upstairs if you want; you don't have to stay down here all day. Are you sure you can do this?" I asked him.

"Positive. I won't let you down Emma," he told me. I kissed Danica on her forehead and left for school. I knew I would worry about her all day. I really hope Jay knows what he's doing. Things have to work out; they just have to.

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

A/N: The lyrics are from the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. They own it. Terribly boring chapter, I know…I just needed to add this in. Next one will be better. Review!