Three weeks late. Sharon couldn't believe she hadn't noticed until now. She clutched her pillow as she laid sprawled on her stomach in bed before quickly pulling herself into a seated position.
Maybe she shouldn't do that. Not if she was right.
She thought back to the night she'd been with Kyle. They'd used protection, he waved around the condoms he kept in his car to reassure her, telling her there was no reason they couldn't have sex that night.
And of course it was now she remembered condoms could be damaged from hot or cold weather or if they got too old.
She had no idea how long they'd been in Kyle's glove compartment.
Sharon took a deep breath and tried not to get overwhelmed. There was a myriad of reasons someone could have a late period, stress being one of them. And with finals next month, that was a good possibility.
She took a deep breath, breathing in as deep as possible with both hands on her stomach.
When she placed them there, she tried to feel if there was any difference though she knew it would be too early to tell.
She couldn't have a baby. She couldn't. It would ruin her life, she'd be lucky to even finish high school.
Sharon took another deep breath.
Her parents had her at a young age but they'd gone to college and been married. Kyle made $4.50 an hour at Pizza Hut and Sharon couldn't even get a job for another year. How could they take care of a baby?
She thought about what he would say when he found out. If he found out. There was no reason to alarm him yet.
Still, she felt the urge to call him and ask him to bring her a pregnancy test. But she knew there was the possibility her parents would hear her call.
Her parents.
What would they think?
Would they hate her? She'd heard of pregnant teenagers being kicked out by their parents but her parents would never do that to her, right? Surely they wouldn't get rid of their only child...
Maybe they'd be upset but be happy to be grandparents. It happened to a girl Sharon knew through her old church group and now the girl and her parents would bring the baby boy to church.
She tried to picture what her own baby could look like and she was surprised at how easy it was. Chubby cheeks with just the slightest amount of her red hair and Kyle's green eyes.
Maybe they could make it work. Maybe her parents would let her be homeschooled like the girl from the church group so she could stay with the baby. Maybe Kyle's mother would offer to help, she already stayed home for Kyle and his siblings anyways.
Maybe she and Kyle could attend college locally and raise their child in one of the family dorms. They still had those, right?
Maybe she and Kyle could get married before the baby was born.
The thought broke Sharon out of her reverie. She didn't even know if there was a baby and she was half way to picking out china patterns. It was a stupid idea, she was still only fifteen.
She didn't know why she even entertained the thought of it. Just several years earlier, she still believed in Santa Claus. How could she possibly be someone's mother?
Even if she was, she didn't have to have it, right? She knew of a girl who had the procedure and was back at school Monday, no worse for the wear. No one besides she and Kyle needed to know, they could pool together the money between them and be discrete.
She didn't like the idea and she laid back on her pillow, sighing. No, that wasn't going to work for her.
She told her that no matter what she did, she would make the right decision. There was too much at stake if she didn't.
She ate dinner with her parents that night, careful not to betray that she felt there was anything wrong. She told them she wanted to go to bed early that night and as she crawled underneath the comforter, she eyed the telephone on her bedside table in a moment of hesitancy before deciding against it. She would see him tomorrow anyways.
When she had her period the following morning, Sharon undoubtedly felt a sense of relief. But what surprised her was the twinge of sorrow that accompanied it. She knew it was for the better but as she flung her backpack over the shoulder and began to walk to the bus stop, she couldn't help but feel a sense of grief.
Authors note: By no means do I mean to romanticize teenage pregnancy. I wrote this after reading what was supposed to happen to Sharon if there had been a second season where she was going to have an arc dealing with an unplanned pregnancy as teen pregnancy was at its peak in the early 1990s and the issue wasn't covered on television the way it is today.