"Is Dad still mad at me?" Rina implored innocently, fiddling with the drawstrings of her grey sweat pants as the low rumble of the engine tried to lull her to sleep.

"Don't you think we all should be?" Cindy viciously replied as she cruised down the road, slipping out of her composed character. Rina whinced at her mother's anger, not wanting any more verbal abuse from her family. She glanced at her daughter quickly, then refocused on the road. "I'm sorry...But, you really...God, I don't know. This is a huge change in your future...you do realize this, don't you? I, I don't know what we're going to do."

"We aren't going to kill it, are we?" Rina asked, looking outside the Explorer.

Cindy sighed, taking Rina's hand in hers. "Of course not," she replied soothingly. "But how are you going to take care of it? By yourself? I suppose I am going to have to stop working for a while..."

"Mom!" Rina shouted, peering at her in disbelief, running both hands through her curly hair. "I couldn't have you do that..."

"Well I don't have a choice, do I?" Cindy asked mutually, turning into the Hospital parking lot. Guilt was like a boulder on Rina's heart as she sunk down in the car seat.

The waiting room was very uncomfortable. She felt like every one was examining her, wondering who she screwed and where was he? The air reeked of baby powder and unclean diapers. Screams of frightened babies pierced her ears, making her wish she was deaf. The babies cheeks were moist with sadness and red with pain. The expecting mothers patted their stomach tenderly as their significant others laid kisses atop their brow. A tinge of jealousy flowed through her tender body. Cindy gave the plump receptionist all the necessary information as Rina tried to concentrate on a 'Seventeen' Magazine...

"Hi, Adrienne," a middle-age chinease woman said, her head looking down at her medical chart. "I'm Dr. Jing and I will be seeing you through your pregnancy." Her vibrant chocolate eyes became level with hers. Adrienne smiled slighly, her arms crossed in front of her engorged stomach. The tan medical bed was so cold; a chill she never experienced before. "Nervous, ey?" Dr. Jing implored with a hearty chuckle, "Understandable. Just know that I don't make judgement on you and you don't make judgement on me, Agree?" Her eyes lit up her face, wrinkles slightly rivering from her eyes and mouth.

"Agree," Rina replied, a little more comfortable in her own skin.

It was almost like a normal doctor's visit. Dr. Jing checked Rina's blood pressure, height, weight. She stole some blood from Rina's arm to test for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Adrienne hated needles, so she gripped her mother's hand as hard as Hercules and looked away. But she then told Rina to sit in a chair, almost like a dentist's chair, and she checked "down there" for a certain coloration. It was a little weird for Rina, but she closed her eyes and thought of what she would eat when she got home...a bowl of orange sherbert came to mind; an ooey mound of orange slopped in a green bowl, sweetness glistening the top. She smiled at the thought. Finally, Dr. Jing asked questions about her last period, illnesses she has, disorders that are inhereted in her family and her blood grouping. Adrienne and her mother answered them carefully and easily.

"Are there any questions you want to ask me?" Dr. Jing asked, her eyes still glued to the chart as she scribbled down notes. She pulled a nearby chair next to Adrienne and plopped down, fully concentrated on her task.

"Is there any programs we can sign her up for?" Cindy asked, ajusting her glasses.

"There is a small school for pregnant teens," Dr. Jing replied, standing up from her seat and walking over to Rina's side. "It's only 20 minuetes from here...it's more comfortable than going to public school. They keep you pretty much up with your school work and take a more intricate look at what's happening to you. They have separate programs for lamaze..."

"But Mom," Rina interruped, peering at her strangely. Cindy's eyes scolded her for interrupting the doctor. "I want to go to my school. I can't let this baby alienate me from my classmates."

"Unfortunetly, Adrienne," Dr. Jing replied with a frown, crossing her hands over her chest, "I wish that this baby wouldn't alienate you. But it's going to. Teenagers can be cruel if they don't understand what happened and what's happening with you. I advise you to give this other school a chance."

"I suppose you're right," Adrienne sighed, slumping down in her chair and gazing down at the floor. She crossed her ankles together and drummed her fingers on her legs. "What can happen...like something has to go wrong because I'm having the baby so young..."

Dr. Jing smiled sympathetically, placing her pen in her breast pocket of her white coat. "You shouldn't worry about those things, but since I'm all about truth, here's what COULD happen. You could develp anemia, a low red-blood cell count. You could become hypertensive, increased blood pressure. Your baby may be born premature or have a low birth weight. Mental retardation, brain damage, I mean, these things could happen to any baby. I wouldn't worry."

But Adrienne did worry. So many things could go wrong, what's to determine they can't happen to her? A draw of a card? A roll of a dice? Why did she get pregnant? Was it all just unresponsible behavior or maybe it's part of a bigger picture...Fate?