Don't You Remember – Chapter 1
Jane Rizzoli was really into sports, as a freshman in high school she was playing on the Boys Varsity Baseball team. It was almost unheard of for a girl to play on boy's teams. The coach knew how well she played and fought for her to be on his team.
The coach met with the school district and they reviewed the rule book and couldn't find any rule against it. He took his request to the commonwealth's high school league officials, after a meeting with the different representatives his request was approved.
When the coach notified her, she was ecstatic. She loved playing baseball and thought it was so unfair that the girls had to play softball. She had been playing baseball since she was old enough to throw a baseball. As a small child she loved playing catch with her pop. He often was tired after work but he knew how happy it made his daughter to play catch with him, so he took a few minutes to play with her.
When her little brother, Frankie, came along a few years later, he joined them when he was old enough to throw the ball. As Jane aged, street ball became her favorite activity and her mom let her play until dinner time each evening as long as her homework was finished.
Baseball is how she met her high school boyfriend, Charles 'Casey' Jones. He was in the same grade as her but he played on the freshman team. Quite often the three teams practiced together in an effort to strengthen them. His sophomore year he moved up to the Jr. Varsity team while Jane remained on the Varsity team. By their junior year, Casey was playing on the Varsity team. Jane and Casey started hanging out after practice often going for a slice of pizza and soda before he would walk her home.
Jane had never had a boyfriend before as she was too busy. Between school, baseball and helping her pop out with his plumbing business she didn't have time for boys. She made time for Casey, she liked him. They started sleeping together their senior year in high school.
Four weeks before graduation they had planned a date to go to an actual restaurant and sit down for a nice dinner. It was a Friday night and they didn't have practice as they had just clinched the regional playoffs and would resume practice on Monday after school. The coach wanted them to have a few days off to celebrate their accomplishment and rest their muscles.
"Casey, I'm late." Jane told her 18-year-old boyfriend when he picked her up for their date. Casey didn't understand why Jane would say she was late. He was on time and they had plenty of time to get to the restaurant for their 7:30 reservation.
"What are you talking about Jane? We are not going to be late. I made the reservation for 7:30. We have half an hour to get there and it is only a ten-minute drive." Casey explained to her as they walked to his car.
"No, I have not had my period yet. I am more than a week late." Jane told him as she hopped into the passenger seat and fasten her seatbelt.
"What exactly does that mean?" Casey asked as he turned to look at Jane. He had taken a seat in the driver's seat and was waiting for her answer before he started up the car.
Jane just looked at him with disappointment evident in her eyes. She really didn't want to be explaining this to him. He should understand what 'being late' with her period meant. She sighed and said, "I might be pregnant, Casey, that is what that means."
"Oh." Casey stated as he didn't know what to say. He didn't want her to be pregnant. He didn't want to be tied down with a baby. He was just having fun and enjoying his time with Jane. He wasn't ready for any type of lasting commitment. Not yet, they were both too young.
"I will get a home pregnancy test at the drugstore tomorrow and take the test." Casey nodded acknowledging what she had just said.
"Please, let me know the results as soon as possible." He said as he started the car and drove to the restaurant. They enjoyed a nice dinner and had a pleasant conversation. He didn't want to be rude and not take her dinner after they had been looking forward to it all week.
He did however cancel the rest of what he wanted to do that night. He took Jane home after dinner. He was going to take her to this new nightclub for those under 21 that had just opened. Right now, he just wanted to take her to her house so he could go somewhere to think. He didn't want to be around her or anyone else right now.
Jane didn't know what to think after Casey dropped her off. The drug store was closed or she would have gone to get the test already. She would do that first thing in the morning as she needed to know. She sensed that he was upset. He had forgotten that he had told Jane that they were going to be going the club after dinner. Jane didn't forget so now she was worried.
Jane didn't sleep that well that night. In the morning, she left for Saturday school early. Saturday school was a way for students to make up missed days. Jane had missed a few days when she had a really bad cold around Thanksgiving and her schedule hadn't let her make up her time yet so she needed to make up her time.
She couldn't remember what time the drug store opened and was happy to find out that it was opening in a few minutes. She knew she might be late to school but she decided to wait for the drug store to open so that she could purchase the test before school. She entered the drug store when it opened and quickly purchased a test. She ran the rest of the way to school and managed to get in her seat before the bell rang.
At lunch time she went to the bathroom and took the test. She would have to wait three minutes, and those were the longest three minutes in her life. When the timer went off, she was scared. She wanted to know the result but at the same time she didn't want to know. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes and looked at the stick. The stick confirmed what she thought, she was pregnant.
She went home after school and went straight to her room. She didn't know what to do, Casey was being an ass so she didn't want to share the news with him. She didn't want to tell her mother until she was able to confirm that she was pregnant.
She went to school on Monday. She saw Casey sitting at the lunch table with his friends. He motioned for her to come over but she shook her head from side-to-side and motioned for him to come to her. He did.
They walked out into the hallway so that they could have some privacy. She showed him the home pregnancy test result, he was not happy. "Jane, I can't do this. I don't want a baby. We are too young. Have you thought about having an abortion? You could do that. You could just go to one of those clinics and have the abortion. I have enough money, I could pay for it." Casey told her. Jane was not happy with his response.
She walked away leaving him in the hallway by himself. He ran after her and when he caught up with her, she told him, "Casey, I don't want an abortion. We graduate soon, I want to have this baby." Jane had thought about having an abortion, but she didn't want to do that. If she truly was pregnant then she wanted to have the baby. She hoped that her parents would help her out.
"Jane, I don't, I have plans and they don't include a baby right now. I hope you understand that. I called an Army recruiter and I am meeting with him right after school today."
"Wait, what?" Jane said as she stared at Casey.
"You heard me. I want to join the Army. If all goes well at my appointment today, I will be enlisting. My ASVAB scores that we took earlier this year are great and I should be able to get any number of jobs with the Army."
"My ASVAB scores were excellent but you don't see me running off and joining the military." Jane snapped at Casey. They had talked about going to college together with her cousin, Arianna and her longtime boyfriend, Angelo. The four of them had planned to go to BCU together.
Jane should have known that Casey wouldn't follow through with their college plans. He had been pulling away from her and also Arianna and Angelo in the last few months. She didn't know what was going on with him.
Two days in a row Jane didn't know what to say to Casey when she saw him so she just turned and walked away. He called her name several times, but she didn't answer, she just kept walking away from him. Right now, she was thankful that they didn't have any classes together after lunch. She wouldn't have to see him until the morning for their second period class.
She had had a terrible weekend and seeing Casey just made things worse. Friday night was bad but now knowing that she was possibly pregnant and seeing how he was treating her made this day even worse.
After school Jane went by the Free clinic. She explained to the nurse that she thought she might be pregnant. They found a time slot for her and she would have to wait almost two hours to meet with the doctor and have some blood work taken. She sat and waited, she needed to know. The nurse noted that she was waiting in the waiting area and squeezed her in early when the doctor had a break in her schedule.
The doctor asked her a series of questions, like any new patient type interview with a new patient. She had the nurse draw the blood for the test. Now she had to wait, the doctor told her it would probably be two days before she received the results. They made an appointment for two days later as Jane didn't have a cell phone and she didn't want to be at home when she got the results. She would rather receive the news in person. The doctor understood and told her to try and relax until her pregnancy was confirmed.
Jane tried to be patient, however she was not a patient person. She wanted to know the results. She thought the three minutes waiting for the at home pregnancy test was torture, this was worse. How was she supposed to keep her cool at home for the next two days. It was Monday night and she would have to wait until her appointment Wednesday afternoon. She made sure that the appointment would be after practice as she didn't want to explain to her coach why she needed to be excused from practice when they were so close to playing in the championship game.
She and Casey initially had plans every night but since she told him about the positive home pregnancy test, he made himself scarce. She had been used to him walking her home every day and maybe stopping and having some pizza and a soda, but he said he was busy and didn't walk her home. She wasn't upset by that, because if she was pregnant and this is how he was going to act she was happy that she found out now instead of later.
Sensing that Jane and Casey had broken up, Angela, Jane's mother let her be. She could tell her daughter wasn't herself. She tried asking on Tuesday night and Jane just said, "Casey and I broke up and I just want to be left alone. Please Ma!" Angela allowed Jane her privacy and left her alone. She only called on Jane for meals and to make sure she was up and dressed for school.
Jane was happy that her mother was being somewhat understanding. She didn't dare tell her that she might be pregnant. She didn't know how her parents would react to that news and right now she wasn't going to say anything until the doctor confirmed her pregnancy.