Kasey is as blunt and sensible as anyone ever was, yet she cares about her friends deeply too. I think that this knowledge of her personality was part of what made me dread telling her the outcome of the test. But as I sat there on the cold, hard bathroom floor and stared at that little, pink symbol, I knew that she was just on the other side of the closed door, waiting for the information that I didn't want to give her. I had realized then that there would be no getting anything around her.
So I had thrown away the test, grappled my way onto my feet, and opened the bathroom door, walking straight past Kasey to flop face-down onto my bed.
"So?" she'd asked anxiously.
I had mumbled the answer into my pillow, knowing that she wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying.
Blunt as ever, she had guessed, "You're pregnant?"
Still unable to make myself look at my friend's face, I had turned onto my back, pulled the pillow over my head, and nodded. Up until then I had been numb, like I was in a fog, but with that admission came the lifting of the fog. I had begun to cry, and then sob outright, as I realized what I had gotten myself into. Kasey had held me close in a long, almost motherly hug and whispered reassurances to me as if I were a child. Once we were both sure that I was cried out for then, Kasey had released mea and I had crawled under the covers of my bed and pulled them over my head, ready to hide from the world until this especially difficult problem went away.
Kasey had stayed sitting on the edge of my bed and silence had prevailed for a few minutes before she had asked crisply, "So, who's dying, you or the baby?"
At this disturbing question, I had flung the covers back from off of my face and sat up, asking, "What?"
She had repeated the question, then explained carefully, "You're going to have to give something up, Amanda, whether it's your plans that you have f0r college… or your baby's life. I'll help you any way that I can, but I don't know that it's feasible to continue all of the courses that you have going and raise a baby. That's just too much for anyone to deal with, even with help."
I had thought about this for a long minute before deciding, "I don't need to make a decision just yet. I need to talk to David first."
"David?" Kasey had asked with a raised eyebrow. "Who's he?"
"You know, David Thomson. The athlete guy."
Kasey had put her head in her hands. "He's the father?"
I'd nodded, made even more nervous about the situation because of Kasey's despairing expression.
"Do you want me to come with you?" she'd asked.
I'd shaken my head and swung my legs around off of the bed, standing up and grabbing my shoes. "I'll be fine."
And I had been naive enough to believe what I'd said.
As I had walked across campus, Kasey's words had kept playing through my head. So, who's dying, you or the baby? You're going to have to give something up, Amanda, whether it's your plans that you have f0r college… or your baby's life. The way that she'd said it had made it seem like getting an abortion would be committing a murder, and though I knew nothing else at that point, I knew that I couldn't become a murderer. I knew that the baby would be born.
The story gets better, I promise! Please tell me what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter! Thanks! And, you know what? For the record, I think that I can say that most of these chapters are going to be drabble-sized (under 500 words).:)