Page 95 of The Sun
I snatched the up basket and placed it in my lap, hoping if she didn’t look at them she wouldn’t vomit.
Daisy leaned back in the both, her face completely drained. “Are your parents gonna kill you for skipping school?”
“My mom’ll understand.”
“Wait! You told her?” Daisy’s brows shot up.
I crammed a greasy tot in my mouth and chewed it for a second, wondering how she could even rationalize that by now the phone lines weren’t lit up with gossip about the pregnant preacher’s kid. “No.” I swallowed. “But I’m sure your mom has called my mom.Someone’smom has called her.”
“People need to mind their own business.” She sank down further in the booth. “I almost got out of there. The message was genius though, I started it with,Guess what? I have my tongue pierced.Then I added,Also, I’m knocked up.I figured it was best to come clean with all the things.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “I was about to addwhat a way to ring in the New Yearfor a bit of comic relief, but that was when Mother came in from the garage. She evidently forgot her Weight Watcher’s calculator and just had to come back for it. Foiled my entire plan.”
“What did she do?”
“At first, she just stood there, looking at the board, then the marker in my hand. I kinda mumbled,surprise, and she started sobbing. Eventually, after a lot of screaming and crying, she prayed over me. Then she cried some more.”
Cramming another tot in my mouth, I shook my head. “Does your dad know?”
“He was already at the church. Thank God. My guess is, I’ll be in an all girl’s boarding school by mid-week.”
“You will not.”
“Hopefully not. I figure I can argue that an all girl’s school isn’t going to un-impregnate me.” Daisy’s elbows hit the table with a thud before she buried her face in her hands. “What am I supposed to do, Sunny?”
The waitress stopped by to refill Daisy’s Sprite, although it was nearly full.Eavesdropper.I waited until she moved on to the next patron before I answered Daisy.“Whatcanyou do?”
“Go back in time and never date that asshole?” She dragged her hands down her cheeks, pulling at her eyes until she looked like some mutant zombie with her lower eyelids stretched out and red. “It’s not fair that Ben just gets to go on his merry way.”
“When his parents find out, I’m sure they’ll make him—”
“That’s the thing, I don’t want them tomakehim do anything. I was supposed to mean more to him than that. God, my life is over.”
A teen pregnancy. Sure, I could see how it seemed like the end of the world, and in some ways, for Daisy, it would be. It would be the end of parties and most likely an ax in her plans to attend South Florida. It was a big kink in our plans to have kids when we were thirty so they could grow up together. It was losing the freedom to sleep in late and stay up until all hours of the night, and instead, going full-speed from adolescence into adulthood. But really, once the chaos of it ran its course, once the heartbreak and betrayal subsided, it wasn’t the end of anyone’s world. Just the beginning of a new one.
“It’s not over, Daisy,” I said. “It’s just gonna be different.”
She rubbed her lips together while bouncing her leg so hard her entire body shook. “Easy for you to say.” Tears welled in her eyes. “The guy you’re dating wants to marry you, and you aren’t pregnant!”
“Look, Ben’s a dick. You’re knocked up, and sure, it’s crap, but I’ll still be here. Brandon will be here. Your parents will calm down and still be here. It’s just not what you had planned, but really, I don’t think anyone gets the life they planned.”
Two hours later,Daisy and I checked into school. Cramps were always an excuse the guy in the registrar’s office never questioned.
And when I got home that evening and went to the fridge to grab a Coke, Momma was waiting at the table.
“Um.” I offered a confused smile. “Hi?” I grabbed the soda and cracked it open before setting my backpack on the counter.
“Daisy’s mother called me this morning,” Momma said, her voice full of pity.
“Figured.” I took a seat beside her at the table. Instead of looking at her, I focused on wiggling the can tab back and forth until it eventually broke off.
“How long have you known?”
I shrugged because that wasn’t lying; it was a nonverbal, I’m not going to tell you.
“I know you aren’t seeing anyone, but I also know that teenager’s get urges, and I just want to make sure that—”
With a mouthful of soda, I shook my head and coughed. I did not want to go down this road with her. Again. “Mother, we had this talk after. . .” I swallowed Elias’ name down. “Um, when I was fifteen. We don’t need to have it again.”
“Just. If the occasion ever arises.” She tapped her hand on the placemat, and I caught a twinge of pink painted her cheeks at her choice of words. “I hope you’ll use the proper precaution.”
