The following Saturday, Allison's parents traveled to Indianapolis for the weekend for a case, so Bender took Allison out for the day. He and his band, Jesus and the Pirates, had a small show at Fender Bender's Auto Shop, and Allison and Bender decided to hang out before heading over there. It was another grey day, and the wind was blowing, making the day incredibly cold. Allison and Bender sat on two old swings of an abandoned playground that sat in a small park on the south side of Shermer, about a block away from Bender's place. The playground was old and rusted down. No kids played there, and they hadn't for as long as Bender remembered. It had to be in use at one point, but not for a damn long time. Now it was a place where drug pushers who were wanted in downtown Chicago to do their "business." There were a few scattered hypodermic needles (the needle parts facing up in plain air...Allison and Bender knew to wear sturdy shoes and long pants while walking around through it) and empty coke baggies among the green and gray woodchips. As Allison and Bender swung back and forth on the swing set, the old contraption squeaked worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, but neither of them cared.
It had been a week of hell at school for both Allison and Bender. The rumor had spread quickly that Bender was the father of Allison's love child, not Andy, and that was why they parted on bad terms. Those who'd felt sympathy for Allison before were now looking at her with shame, and those who were looking at her with shame were laughing at her misfortune. The only one who didn't believe the rumor was Liz. In the pit of her heart, Liz knew that Bender was just covering for Allison, which only made Liz love and admire Bender more. Allison hadn't skipped a day, but more often than not, she would retreat to her art room to work on a new project, Madame Valjean didn't mind. Bender joined her there on Wednesday and Thursday. The other three days he kept Rudy and Tad company in lunch.
Rudy and Tad also tried their best to keep Allison comfortable. When Bender had after-school detention, Tad drove Allison home and stayed with her until Rudy could spring Bender. Allison sometimes felt like a retard the way the three of them felt the need to always have someone near her, but more often she was grateful that she wasn't alone. Geez, God knows Allison would have gone insane if she had absolutely no one around. Even Brian regretted not being with her. He called almost daily and promised that he'd be by her side every minute he was on his month-long Christmas break. That was nearly two months away, Allison would be in her second trimester by then!
For now, just Allison and Bender sat on the old, bio-hazardous playground, swinging.
"He didn't call, did he?" asked Bender. Allison shook her head. No, Andy had not called Allison back since she left the message. She figured if George had gotten to it first, Andy still wouldn't know about it because George would undoubtly throw the tape away. If Andy did get to it first, he either might still be in shock, or he just refused to take responsibility as a whole. Allison and Andy hadn't exactly been inseparable the week before he'd been spirited away to Kenosha, so Allison knew not to expect Andy to come running home to her. But the least he could have done is called back to make sure Allison hadn't thrown herself off a cliff or aborted the baby.
All Allison said was, "nope."
Bender growled. "Figures. Watch, it'll be triplets or worse. Sporto always had to do things better than anyone else."
"It doesn't surprise you that he's not taking any responsibility?"
"Not at all. Hell, even I have the decency to take the rap for knocking someone up—"
"—but you didn't!" Allison reminded Bender carefully. She was afraid that Bender would grow to think he really was the father.
"I know. I just think it's weird that everyone thought I'd be the first to get a chick pregnant! Damn him, Sporto beat me to the punch!" Bender said, jokingly. Allison laughed to herself. After the initial shock wore off, she began to lighten up. But she still had a long way to go before she fully accepted her pregnancy.
"I wonder what I'll do for money once it's born?" Allison asked. "I should be very close to graduating by then, it's going to come in June. What kind of job can a girl get with a high school diploma?"
"Any job behind a counter selling fried food," said Bender. "That's all that's available anymore, damn yuppie scum," Bender hissed. "I suppose Ernie could get you a job in the garage as a sign designer or a car painter."
"I can't work a job like that with a baby on my knee!" Allison moaned. "This sucks royally!"
"We can work something out," Bender said. "Maybe…" he suddenly got an idea. "I can get my GED, and then get a full-time job in the garage to help—"
"—no you won't," Allison said. Bender looked at her with an odd glance. Allison pouted her lip.
"Why not, Al? It's not like school is the reason I breathe or anything. Do you REALLY see me graduating?" Allison quickly shook her head. She knew one of the only reasons Bender hadn't just dropped out was because of herself, Rudy and Tad. Rudy intended on graduating and going to a community college or culinary school. Tad was staying in school because it did guarantee a slightly better job than without a degree. Many of the school staff didn't realize that being a "criminal" didn't necessarily mean being a careless, carefree moron who didn't give a rat's ass about their future. Getting a GED or a degree was like rubbing Dick's face in dog shit.
Allison remained silent.
"Common, Al! A GED is better than no degree. Ernie could give me a better job and I could help you out."
"I don't need help," Allison said. Bender rolled his eyes.
"Puh-lease, let's NOT go there!" Bender said. "Working at McDonald's isn't going to cut it for when Junior comes!"
"Yeah, you'd know," Allison remarked sarcastically.
Bender smiled at her. "Okay, fine. DO everything on your own. Maybe every time you get a minimum wage paycheck your heart will die a LITTLE bit more…heck by the time the kid is 5, maybe you and Dick'll be going out! Then you'd get MARRIED and continue to work for quarters an hour—"
"—OKAY!" Allison hollered. Bender gave her a teasing smirk. Allison smirked back and winked. "If you INSIST!" Allison licked her lips and kicked a small pile of woodchips from underneath her feet. "But I really don't want my little mistake to ruin your future, John."
"Psh! What future, Al? Honestly? A two-bit garage band frontman? The best I can be one day is a fucking wedding singer!" Bender said. "I ain't gonna be going too far. I'm not about to become Dr. Freud like Big Bri back east and find a cure for cancer!"
Allison giggled to herself. How true. "I said it's fine," she said. "I'm still a little concerned about Danny and Marty, though. What about a place to live? I'm not gonna be living with the Dipshit Squad with a child of mine in there with them!"
"You right. It could be considered child abuse to raise a baby in a house where the baby is smarter than the grandparents!" Bender laughed. Allison jokingly punched him in the arm. The sky was beginning to darken. Bender was meeting his band at 6:30 for a tune-up. Some of the local community college crowd was coming to the rehearsal tonight (thanks to some posters Allison had whipped up and hung around town before finding out she was pregnant).
"Common, let's head down to the shop. Ernie probably picked up some egg rolls and Fritos for us for eats," Bender said getting up. Allison heaved herself to her feet. It might have just been her imagination, but she was already beginning to have a little difficulty squatting and standing up by herself. Her stomach wasn't really showing any signs of bloating yet, but Allison could have sworn she felt something hard in her gut, the size of a small rock or orange; and because Allison was so small, it threw off her balance occasionally. She already hated being a mother. She almost had a feeling now why her own mother hated her so much…
…but then how could that explain mothers who loved their kids?
Allison ignored that mental question and started down the road with Bender.
Jesus and the Pirates was a pretty good band. Not exactly up to Led Zeppelin's standards, but MUCH better than any local bands Allison had heard.
Her fliers were evidently very effective. Sixty or so college students, a few high school students, and even a young adult couple on a date gathered around the small corner in the garage to listen to Bender's band rock out the auto shop. The sofas were full; people were sitting on the hoods of cars and on ladders. Ernie probably took in as much income through the soda and candy machines tonight then he had all day with parts sales and oil checks. Bender himself was an okay singer. He sang with a surprisingly light, feathery low tenor voice, nothing like his normal, barking, hard voice. But way beyond his singing voice was his guitar skills. Allison was afraid that he'd set the guitar on fire, he was playing it so well. It was like her and her art. If Bender's parents knew about his radical guitar skills, they'd probably sober up just to see their boy in concert. Okay…maybe not. But then again, her parents hadn't come to a single one of her art shows.
The other members of the band were incredible at their instruments too. All of them had either spiky or long hair in their face, always whipping around in their face as they head banged to each loud song. Allison could see Ernie sometimes closed up in his office, trying to talk on the phone over the loud music. Allison felt loosened up, perched on the arm of the longest rugged sofa, watching Bender. Sometimes, he'd look her way and wink coolly before going into a bridge. A blonde college sophomore holding a beer can looked up at Allison from her place sitting on the floor in front of her.
"Is he winking at YOU?" she shouted. Allison nodded. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"
Allison shook her head. "No, just a friend."
The girl held up a beer can. "Wanna sip?"
Allison extended a hand to grab the can, then suddenly took it back. She couldn't drink. Damnit. "No thanks," Allison moaned. Her vodka. Her beloved vodka. She couldn't partake of vodka for nine months!
Right about then it pretty much sucked to be Allison Portia Reynolds.
Allison was having fun that night. It was fun being alive in that garage. But on the other hand, it was incredibly depressing knowing that in 7 months, Allison's life would pretty much be over. Oh, what she wouldn't give to strangle the living hell out of Andy at that very moment. She may have started it, but if it weren't for Andy being a horny teenage boy and not a young adult with half a brain, he could have stopped her from trying to screw him.
Allison needed to slap herself. Talk about being irrational!
Suddenly, a familiar face caught the corner of Allison's eye. It was a female figure, hiding behind a black corvette. Allison couldn't see a full face through the clouds of pot smoke and heat from the large group of people smothered into the small poorly-vented garage, even in mid-November. But from what Allison could see, the face seemed to be staring at Bender with an odd look. A wave of curiosity came over Allison as she squinted to try and get a better glance at the blonde figure.
But as quickly as she'd come, she turned her back and ran off down the dark road.