Chapter One
How To: Salvage A Bad Day
Anger that stemmed more from annoyance than actually being upset with someone pounded through Rebecca's veins as she jabbed a key into a lock her landlord should have replaced ages ago. Without even having to fully turn it, the flimsy pressed wood door opened and she gained access to her tiny, but comfortable apartment. It wasn't much but it was her's. That was something. And it looks fantastic, she thought smugly, as she set down a plastic bag full of bargain bin material, glue sticks, and some flowers she had found in the clearance aisle. It really did. The transformation her horrible little hole in wall apartment had gone through over the last six months was nothing short of amazing. When she had moved in the walls had been a dingy off white, the hardwood floors covered with pet urine stains, and her meager pieces of furniture had definitely seen better days. She had hated it. Hated, hated, hated it! Nobody wanted to live that way. Unless they had to; and Rebecca definitely had to. The moment the stick turned positive her parents had kicked her out and her boyfriend had vamoosed. A nineteen year old pregnant waitress couldn't afford to be picky and when she had seen an ad for a furnished apartment with cable and internet for $150 a week she had jumped on it. At first she had thought she had made a huge mistake. Nobody in their right mind wanted to live in a place so awful even cockroaches refused to take up residency. And then it happened. A late night attack of insomnia and trolling had led her to watching how to videos, which led her to finding thehowtogirl.
There wasn't anything thehowtogirl couldn't do. From covering walls with fabric and ribbon using only starch to revamping a frumpy wardrobe with only ten dollars to cooking up favorite dishes from scratch, thehowtogirl, better known to her friends and family as Izzie, knew how to do it. And if she didn't know how to do something she figured it out. What Rebecca loved the most about Izzie was all her projects were reasonable and all the dishes she made were recipes Rebecca was capable of making. It became a daily ritual to check for new videos from thehowtogirl. Sometimes the videos consisted of projects she wanted to do or recipes she wanted to make, other times she just enjoyed watching the pretty blonde craft and cook. Tonight she was in the mood for a project though and if Izzie hadn't uploaded a new project she would find an older one. Anything to keep her hands busy as she sorted through her mixed up thoughts on keeping her baby or giving it up for adoption.
Letting out a sigh, Rebecca settled herself in front of the laptop that was set up on an old trunk that doubled as storage and a coffee table. Another tip she had taken from thehowtogirl. Her whole apartment was a tribute, really. She let out a small chuckle at that thought. Maybe she should use her cell phone to make a video montage to post on Izzie's page. Or maybe not, she thought. She wasn't going to be the creepy stalker fan who posted video responses, no matter how much she admired the beautiful stranger who taught her how to make her pathetic apartment livable.
"Interesting title," she murmured, when she found that Izzie had, indeed, uploaded a new video. Like always the title included the words How To. What threw Rebecca was the how to salvage a bad day. It wasn't like the unknown woman to have such a mundane title. She liked to keep things perky, upbeat, and fun.
There were dark circles under the usually radiant blonde who sat cross legged in the middle of a full sized bed. Her long hair was piled on top her head in haphazard fashion as she stared at the webcam in front of her. "So," she drawled, her voice sounding hollow, "I had this really great video planned for today. Easy apple pie, along with a few tricks on making your dinner table look fab. The thing is, after the day I've had, I'm not really in the mood to bake or make an old bed sheet into a table cloth. I'm not even sure I'll be ready for those things tomorrow." Her chest heaved a bit as she visibly inhaled and let out a shuddering breath. She tucked her lip between her teeth, as though she was debating on telling her audience what was going on. She inhaled again, her fingers digging into the fabric of her yoga pants. Whatever she was about to say was huge. "As some of you know from my last couple videos I'm going to have a baby. What you don't know is that I…well…I guess there is no easy way to say it so I'll just say it! I had my best friend George donate his sperm so I could have a baby because I am so sick of waiting for the right guy to come along. What if he never comes? Am I suppose to just not have kids? I don't think so!"
Rebecca leaned back, worming her way into the pile of pillows that lined the back of her otherwise uncomfortable futon. It was rather interesting that someone who was only four years older than her was tired of waiting on the right guy. Twenty-three was still young. Plenty of time to find someone and start a family. Apparently not in Izzie's book though. Nope, thehowtogirl, had done what she did best and took matters into her own hands. So why does she look so miserable, Rebecca wondered. Was she having regrets? Did her friend who donated his sperm have regrets?
"I guess the why behind it is sort of irrelevant. The important thing is I'm pregnant and I don't have a clue who the father is. See, some nurse at the clinic we used mixed up George's…sperm up with someone else's… sperm." The way she halted over the word 'sperm' would have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. The way her lips twitched said she thought so as well. "It kind of ironic, really, because the whole reason I asked George to be a pal and help a girl out is because the idea of having a baby with a stranger freaked me out. Yet, here I am, having a baby with a man I don't know. Which, apparently, goes against some bull shit moral clause the paper has. So. There you go. My crap day in a nutshell. I'm knocked up by some stranger because of a careless nurse and because of that I'm now unemployed. If it wasn't my life I would laugh. Seriously, who has crap like that really happen to them!" She let out a sigh and shifted around, the bed creaking beneath her. "On second thought, maybe I should bake. Nothing like some apple pie to make a girl feel better. Be on the look out for a more upbeat video. And thanks for letting a girl vent!"
"Well, baby, it looks like someone else's life is more screwed up than ours!" Patting her stomach, Rebecca waited for the baby within to move. Right on cue a tiny foot pushed against her palm. A sad smile flittered across her lips. What to do, what to do. If only thehowtogirl had a video on how to make up your mind, Rebecca mused as she stood and stretched. Even if Izzie's latest video blog had been contained more personal information that Rebecca would have liked, it had made her face one very important fact: as bad as her life seemed at the moment there was always someone else who's life was even more messed up!