Chapter Twelve

"Jana, can I talk to you for a sec?" asked Michelle with a hint of worry in her voice. Jana closed her locked door and nodded. Michelle pulled her over to the corner and breathed out shakily.

"Michelle, what's wrong?" Jana said this with concern in her voice as Michelle looked down, bothered by something. She didn't say anything. "Michelle, tell me!" Jana persisted.

"Jana, I don't know what happened," Michelle said. "I didn't get my…you know…rags this month."

"So?" said Jana with a shrug. "Maybe you're late."

"No, you don't understand!" Michelle cried, impulsively hugging her friend. "I've been feeling really sick too this past month, and I've been throwing up."

"What! You cannot be pregnant," Jana remarked with wide eyes. "Heck, you're still a virgin. Maybe you should see the doctor."

"Mm-hmm. I think I should," said Michelle sadly. "Jana, there is a possibility of me being pregnant."

"How?" asked Jana with a frown.

"Me and Lance did it."

"You did?" Jana said in disbelief. "When?"

"Oh, does it matter?" shrieked Michelle, almost beginning to cry. "I have to know the truth. I also took the home pregnancy test, and I was positive. If I'm pregnant, it'll ruin everything! My dreams will be shattered. I won't be able to go to college."

"I think you should tell your parents," Jana replied softly, hugging Michelle still. "Wow, I can't believe it. I don't think you are though."

"I hope I'm not," Michelle lamented. "I really hope not. I am so scared."

"You have to tell Lance."

"No." Michelle's eyes flashed with fear. "I-I can't tell him," she whispered. "What will he say? What will he do?"

"Michelle, Lance loves you. He will support you through this," said Jana firmly.

"What if he leaves me?" asked Michelle, not wanting to even think about it. "It always happens. You think your boyfriend loves you, but he ends up leaving you because he's scared."

"Lance is different from other guys," protested Jana. "Oh, Shelle, how can you be pregnant? Did you use protection?"

Michelle nodded vigorously. "I feel sick right now," she replied, clutching her stomach. She fell down on her knees weakly. Jana placed her hand on Michelle's shoulder.

"Go to the nurse," she told Michelle, helping her up again.

"I should," said Michelle, cringing in pain. "I'm going to hurl."

"See the doctor, A.S.A.P.," ordered Jana. "Now come. Let's get you to the nurse's room." She felt sorry for her friend. Michelle is in a big mess, she thought with sorrow in her heart.

Michelle waited patiently in the waiting room. She had just been examined by her doctor to see if she was pregnant or not. Finally, the nurse called her back inside. "The doctor will be with you in a minute," the nurse said quietly as she left Michelle in a small room.

Michelle watched as the clock ticked and ticked. What are the results? she wondered, impatience in her head. Dr. Lawrence quietly entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hello, Michelle," Dr. Lawrence said warmly, while glancing at Michelle's files. "It's seems here that you are positive, and you have been pregnant for twenty-eight days."

Michelle gasped and she clutched onto the chair for support. "No! Are you sure? Maybe there's some mistake. I can't be pregnant, Dr. Lawrence."

"Your tests proved positive results," Dr. Lawrence said sympathetically. She patted Michelle on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Well, here are your options. Do you want an abortion? And do your parents know about it?"

"No, not yet." Michelle's voice was full of sadness. It just couldn't be true. She couldn't be pregnant. There was no way.

"How long have you been having headaches and nausea?" Dr. Lawrence's voice interrupted.

"Um, I guess since twenty-eight days ago," Michelle said bitterly. "Oh, I can't have an abortion. I am so against that." She looked up at Dr. Lawrence desperately. "I don't know what to do!" she cried. "I really screwed up my life, didn't I?"

Dr. Lawrence put down her files and hugged Michelle. "I'm sorry, honey. It happens quite often with girls your age. I'm sure your parents will be supportive of this."

"N-no, they won't!" Michelle burst into tears of regret. "I can't do this. I wish I had waited. My life is screwed!" She wept angrily, hating herself.

Jana had decided to attend the local carnival that was happening. As she arrived there, she realized that she was without anyone. "Oh, well!" she muttered underneath her breath, walking towards the games area. She decided to try a game.

She gave the person in charge of the dart game her script and received two darts. There were dozens of rows of red balloons on papers with dart holes in them. She bit her lip as she threw her first one. It missed the red balloon. Jana groaned and threw her second dart, annoyed.

Next to her, someone threw a dart and hit the red balloon square in the middle. Jana turned to her right, aggravated. It was JC, and he was smirking. "Hey," JC said cheerily as Jana looked at him in awe.

"How did you do that?" she asked him with a laugh. "Jeez, you're good. I really suck at this!"

JC shrugged. "You'll learn," he said with a wink. He stuffed his hands in his pocket. "So what are you doing here by yourself? Are you coming around well?"

Jana nodded. "Oh, totally," she answered. "I figured out that I need some time to think things out. I feel a lot better!"

"That's wonderful," JC responded sincerely. "You're by yourself, right?"

"Yeah," Jana said sheepishly. "Michelle said that she had a doctor's appointment today or whatever. What about you? Are you by yourself too?"

"Unfortunately." JC made a face that Jana had to laugh at. "The guys bailed out on me to play basketball. But I told them that it was a carnival! Can you believe they chose basketball over this?" He laughed.

Jana grinned. "Well, knowing Justin-" She stopped in her sentence, feeling sick to her stomach. "Never mind," she said instead, twiddling with her script on the table. The lady in charge of the dart game came up to JC.

"Sir, you won this," she said, thrusting him a teddy bear into JC's arms. JC thanked the lady.

"Here, you can have this," JC replied, giving it to Jana. "It's not I'll need it or anything." He gave her an ironic smile.

"Oh, really, JC! You won it," Jana protested, trying to give it back to him. "Take it, I didn't win this."

"No, no, no!" JC argued, giving it to her. "I want you to have it."

"Okay, fine. Thank you," Jana replied, holding the teddy bear. "He is kinda cute." She squeezed one the bear's arms. "Hey, do you want to go on a ride or something?"

"Sure. How about the ferris wheel?" Jana suggested. JC offered his arm to her hesitantly, and Jana linked her hand through his. They began walking to the ferris wheel.

Michelle solemnly walked into her house. She was hoping for a comfort from her parents to hit as soon as she told them the news. She knew that she had to tell them. They would find out sooner or later. She shut the door behind her and walked to the kitchen, putting her hand over her stomach.

She found her parents in the kitchen, talking away. They greeted her as she came into sight. Michelle kissed her parents both on the cheek. "Mom, Dad," Michelle said, "we need to talk. I need to tell you something."

"Okay, sit down," Mr. Clarke told his daughter, pulling out the chair right next to him.

Michelle took her seat and placed her hands in her lap, frightened. "There's something I have to tell you," she began, losing her confidence.

"What's wrong, dear?" Mrs. Clarke asked, stepping closer to her daughter. "You look worried."

Michelle breathed in and out slowly. "Okay. I'm…I'm going to have a baby."

Mrs. Clarke dropped the spoon she was holding and gasped. Mr. Clarke looked at her with a glare. "What?" he asked her in his most calm voice as possible. "You're pregnant?"

Michelle nodded, tears filling into her scared eyes. "Yes," she answered. "I'm so sorry, Dad. I didn't mean for this to happen.

"Who the hell do you think you are!" Mr. Clarke stood up, outraged. The fire burned in his eyes. "We brought you up well with good morals and this is how you repay us? We take care of you, and want to send you to a good college and see you have a future, and this is what you do?"

"Honey, don't yell," Mrs. Clarke pleaded, picking up her spoon. "The neighbors will hear you."

"I don't care if they hear me!" Mr. Clarke shouted, still giving Michelle a scathing look. "Our daughter is a tramp, Nelia! I want her to get out of our house. In fact, I'm going to disown you. Who the hell do you think you are the do that? We did all we could for you, and you give us this…this crap!"

"Dad, no!" Michelle begged, falling to her knees helplessly. "You can't to that to me! I'm your daughter!"

"Who'd you sleep with!" Mr. Clarke demanded. v"Dad, no! Please!" Michelle argued, sobbing hysterically. "Don't kick me out! I don't have anyone."

"I'm going to disown you. You better leave as soon as you can," Mr. Clarke warned. "I don't want tramps in my house."

"Please don't call me a tramp," Michelle said softly, wiping back her tears. Her heart was in pain to hear her own father call her a tramp. "I'm not a tramp. I'm your daughter. Why don't you help me?"

"Just leave."

Michelle looked to her mother, who was shaking her head in disbelief. "I didn't bring you up to do this, and for you to get yourself pregnant." She choked on her words and covered her mouth, tears filling in the older woman's eyes.

Michelle felt unloved. She walked out of the kitchen and upstairs into her room to pack. Her own parents didn't want her in their house. She was no longer a part of the Clarke family. Defeated and devastated by her own parents' words, she walked out of the kitchen helplessly. Her life was over. There was no college or future for her.

Justin punched in Jana's number for the fourteenth time. Again, he got her answering machine. "Okay," Justin said, clicking the "off" button on his cordless, "either she is trying really hard to ignore me or she's out!" He sunk back into the living room couch, feeling disappointed. That was the biggest mistake that he could have ever done. He did exactly what JC had done to Jana-cheated on her. JC was probably trying to win Jana back, and he probably had luck doing it.

"Well, it's not like we officially broke up, or did we?" He didn't exactly want to break up with Jana. Maybe they could still be friends. But he knew his heart belonged to Gina.

Ironically, his telephone started ringing. He clicked the "on" button. "Hello, is this Justin?" Gina's voice asked softly.

"Gina!" Justin cried, happy to hear her voice. "Hey, are you in New York?"

"Yeah, I am," she said with sadness evident in her voice. "How are you?"

"I'm missing you terribly," he admitted, sighing into the phone. "When can you come back and visit me?"

"Actually…" Gina's voice trailed off. "I don't think I'll be going back there anymore."

"What? Why not?"

"There's someone else."

"Someone else?" Justin repeated, overwhelmed. "What do you mean?"

Gina sucked in her breath on the other line. "It's not just that," she added. "I don't think we should have a relationship."

That hurt. Justin felt like someone had punched him directly in the stomach. "Okay…But may I know why?"

"Oh, Justin! Don't you get it?" Gina sounded like she screaming at him. "We can't do this anymore. We shouldn't have done it in the first place. Okay, maybe it was fun for a while, but it was wrong. And I am seeing someone in New York."

Justin squeezed his eyes shut, pretending that he hadn't heard her words. It was his turn to get dumped. Everyone was so unfaithful to everyone now-a-days. Justin couldn't take it. He was hurting extremely inside. He hadn't lost one, but two girls. "Okay, fine!" he spat into the phone, showing his anger. "Fine. If that's the way you want it to be, that's fucking fine with me."

"Justin, you're overreacting," Gina replied quietly. "Don't get all mad at me please."

"Well, I'm sick of all this love crap." He hung up, feeling a million emotions swirl around him. There was no point to life. People just used other people. Jana thought he had used her. He felt as if he couldn't trust anyone anymore, not even himself.