Chapter 2: The worst part.

"So what do you guess say to heading to the Silver Dragon after school? My treat." Hay Lin offered, shutting her locker door and looking at the other guardians.

Will put a heavy book in her bag and grunted as she tugged the heavy sack onto her back. "Sounds great." She agreed. "Anything sounds better than heading home and doing homework that the teacher didn't even assign me!"

"Why do you have to do that, anyway?" Irma asked, mildly closing her own locker and looking at Will with curious eyes.

"Mom says it's help me get better grades, but I think it's because she's dating some college professor and she wants him to see how smart I am." Will explained for the 20th time that day.

"Some one hide her report card." Taranee whispered in a consperial tone of voice. The girls all promptly cracked up, playfully shoving each other and teasing the others.

Hay Lin smiled at Cornelia. "What about you?" She asked cheerfully. "Caleb's working in the kitchen today, so you won't have to worry about any awkward encounters."

Cornelia stared into her locker like it was the most interesting view ever. "Um...I can't. I have plans." She said nervously. Recently she had adopted a more serious look, wearing plain colors and clothing types, and even tying her mane of blonde hair back. The result made her look older...in a weak, sickly way.

"A doctor's appointment, right?" Will asked curiously. "You've been so sick for the past few days." She watched Cornelia a bit too closely, an odd look on her face.

Cornelia put her book in her bookbag and nodded. "Yes, I have a doctor's appointment." She agreed weakly. "You guys go on and go to the Silver Dragon; I can't make it."

The other guardians left quickly, laughing and acting normal, no doubt glad to be rid of the newly sober Cornelia. The girl watched her friends leave wistfully, then walked around for a few minutes until everyone else left before walking outside and joining her mother in the sleek silver car.

Cornelia's mother cleared her throat awkwardly. "I thought that a doctor in Riverburg would be best." She said quietly. "So no one could find out about this abortion." Her eyes searched the road ahead, as if looking for an answer to the newly proposed question: What would they do about Cornelia's baby?

Cornelia nodded weakly. "Uh huh." She murmured. Her thin, pale fingers toyed with the fringe on her jacket. "Do you think that my friends would understand why we were doing this?"

Mrs. Hale cleared her throat four more times before answering. "Well, now we'll never know, will we?" She said finally.

Inside the doctor's office, it was cold and sterile. Pale faced woman with haunted eyes followed quiet nurses into rooms and left with sadder faces than before. Music played quietly, a classical piece that bore a haunting resemblance to a funeral march.

Cornelia noticed that this doctor's office provided no magazines or pictures, as if bidding the patient to consider why they were there. She bit her lower lip and pressed her hand against her belly. Recently she had began to sense slight heartbeats there, and her belly felt gentle and warm--not a bad feeling.

A nurse stepped out. "Cornelia Hale." She called. Cornelia stared at her hands, ignoring the fact that her mother was gathering up her purse. The nurse frowned when no one stood up. "Miss Hale?"

Cornelia bit her lower lip and made eye contact with her mother. "I can't do this. I can't get an abortion!" She whispered. "I just can't."

"Cornelia--" Mrs. Hale began, but Cornelia shook her head and promptly walked out of the abortion clinic.

Once out in the warm air, though, she began to smile, feeling happiness surge into her bones. However, it would prove to be short lived.

"Cornelia! You get back in there right now. This is a very expensive clinic, and I had to pay in advance!" Mrs. Hale said sharply. She grabbed her daughter's arm. "Do you hear me?"

Cornelia jerked away, stared at her mother coldly, and then shook her head. "I'm not going back." She said firmly. Then she hurried towards the bus station alone and climbed onto the bus bound for Heatherfield, leaving her mother standing in front of the clinic.