As if in the blink of an eye, 3 PM came and went. While Momoko and Miyako boarded the school bus home, Nyoko had to stay behind and wait for her mother to come pick her up and take her to the abortion clinic. God, this sucked so much. First, she had to find out that Eric got revenge on her by giving Xemnas quaaludes so he could force himself on her. Now she had to end her first day of high school by getting an abortion against her will. She wasn't sure what else to expect from this point on, but it sure wasn't a great year. There was a bright spot to this, though. Her birthday was coming up. Maybe she could still end 2002 on something of a high note.
About fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Goshima pulled up to the front of Conifer High School in her navy blue 1987 Chevrolet Suburban and honked her horn to get Nyoko's attention.
"Come on, Nyoko," Mrs. Goshima said. "It's time to go."
Nyoko just sighed and got into the passenger side of the car. There was no use fighting this, lest she find herself homeless and possibly starving to death.
"You'll thank me for this later, Nyoko," Mrs. Goshima said again. "You're just too young to have a child right now. After this, your father and I will be talking to you and your sisters about the importance of abstinence."
Nyoko couldn't help but be confused by that. Abstinence? What the hell was abstinence, and what did it have to do with anything? She wanted to ask her mother about that, but she didn't want to get into another fight with her, so she kept quiet.
For the whole duration of the trip to the abortion clinic, Nyoko just stared out the window and reflected on all of her accomplishments and dreams. She knew that someday, she wanted to be an acclaimed writer, and perhaps there could come a time when she would have to write about something like this. After all, there had to be at least one person out there who faced this kind of situation. Perhaps they would want to read about her and feel better that their story wasn't the only one out there. Besides, she managed to graduate from West Jefferson Middle with nothing but pride and her dignity.
As if in the blink of an eye, Nyoko and her mother had finally made it to the abortion clinic.
"Well, here we are," Mrs. Goshima announced. "Today's the day we get rid of that thing."
Nyoko didn't respond. She just wanted to get this over with.
Mrs. Goshima proceeded to climb out of the driver's side of her Chevrolet Suburban. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go."
Nyoko sighed and got out of the passenger side and followed her mother inside.
"What did she mean they couldn't see anything?" Mrs. Goshima couldn't help but ask herself on the drive home.
She didn't get it. How in the world could a trained doctor like Dr. Byer not be able to find an embryo to abort? Surely, all those years of medical school couldn't have been for nothing, right? Nyoko herself seemed equally confused, especially since Dr. Goransson had been able to confirm her pregnancy when they last met. Could she have been tricking herself into thinking she was pregnant for whatever reason? It didn't make sense, but that was the best explanation she could think of.
For the rest of the drive home, Nyoko just told her mother about how her first day of school went and how she needed to go over the syllabuses the teachers had handed out in class. Once they finally got home, Nyoko ran straight into her room and started going over Mrs. Nelson's English class syllabus. She was more than eager to start going over everything the syllabus listed, especially since it was just the right thing she needed to distract herself from that abortion appointment. As Nyoko went over her syllabus, however, she couldn't help but overhear her parents' conversation. She decided to put the syllabus down and have a listen.
"How did the abortion go, Sadako?" Mr. Goshima asked. "I hope Nyoko didn't take it too badly when they sucked it out of her."
"Um... they couldn't do it," Mrs. Goshima could only reply quietly.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"They couldn't do it, Emmanuel. After Dr. Byer led me and Nyoko into the procedure room, I asked them to do a sonogram and they just... they couldn't find a baby."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Then Dr. Byer suggested that maybe Nyoko was earlier along than we thought. Either that or Nyoko isn't pregnant at all and is somehow convincing herself that she is."
"I mean..." Pause. "Doctors do make mistakes like that, Sadako. It's what makes them human."
"I guess, but why would Nyoko be convincing herself that she was pregnant? Our girls are turning 14 soon. They shouldn't be thinking about kids right now. Besides, Dr. Goransson got the results back, and they said that Nyoko really was pregnant. How do you explain that?"
"I... I don't know. Maybe she got them mixed up with someone else's results? I don't know. Dr. Goransson's not a computer, just a human being."
"I know..." Mrs. Goshima then sighed. "Maybe I'll schedule an appointment for Nyoko when she's further along. Let's just focus on other things for now."
Nyoko stopped eavesdropping after that and got right back to reading through the syllabus. The required reading was rather intriguing. Mrs. Nelson recommended things like The Pearl, The Importance of Being Earnest, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, and most interesting of all I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Nyoko had been somewhat familiar with Maya Angelou's work, having first gotten into it when she was in sixth grade. She couldn't wait to read from her again. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from the book.
It wasn't long before the Goshima sisters had finished their first week of school and the weekend had arrived. For Nyoko, it meant she could get away with sneaking down to the computer room more often and chatting with Buster on AIM. She decided to do just that at around one to two in the morning on a Saturday, making sure to catch Buster up with every little thing that had been going on so far.
"So what r u goin 2 do now?" Buster asked.
Nyoko typed, "I guess wait til I'm further along :/"
"How do u like high school so far?" Buster asked again.
"Pretty good. I've got this nice English teacher named Mrs. Nelson. She's Asian like me and Mrs. Nguyen."
"Cool :) My first day of high school was good too. I got my own locker and everything, plus I can go wherever I want to eat."
"Cool. What are your teachers like?"
"Some good, some okay but boring. Overall, good bunch of teachers."
"I'm glad. I'm glad things are going well for you."
"Thanks Nyoko. U r a good friend." A few seconds went by before Buster typed anything again. "Well, I guess I have to go now."
"Why?"
"Im supposed to visit my dad this afternoon. Mom doesn't want me 2 b tired when I see him today."
Nyoko couldn't help but envy Buster a little bit. Even though his parents were divorced, it sounded like they were willing to do whatever it took to be there for him and make sure he got to live as much of a normal life as possible.
"I understand," Nyoko typed. "Goodnight. TTYL."
"TTYL." With that, Buster logged off.
Nyoko decided to log off as well and get ready for bed. After all, it was just going to be like any other day, right?
