“How? We’re not eighteen. We’re both going to school. You only work part-time, and I don’t work at all. And no way am I moving in with Kevin,” I say, breathless.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“How are we going to figure it out, Kai? Tell me. How?” Nerves are running through my body again. I’m tense in this seat because of all the questions popping up in my head. “And even if we figure it out, how are we going to afford an apartment and everything that comes with it? And a baby? How the hell are we going to afford a baby? Do you even make enough to pay for anything?” I wipe the tears from my cheeks and rest my trembling hands underneath my legs as I try to compose myself.The weight of my emotions is taking over too quickly. “And no one is going to hire a sixteen-year-old pregnant girl.”
“Hey,” he says, running the back of his hand down my cheek. “Give me some time and I’ll get everything figured out. I promise.”
“How much time? Because I don’t think I can hide this from my mom anymore, and she’s going to kick me out when she finds out.”
“If she finds out before we tell her, I’m sure Kevin won’t mind you staying with him until we find something.”
Just thinking about staying with him makes my stomach queasy, but I know I can’t be too picky since I got myself into a mess.
All I know right now is we better figure something out quick, or I’m going to be homeless, sixteen, and pregnant. Thankfully, it’s winter, so I can hide my growing stomach with sweaters. I can’t keep any food down, though, which makes me think I’m losing weight rather than gaining. But soon, I won’t be able to hide the bump regardless of how much I eat or not.
“How can I help you?” the lady at Planned Parenthood asks.
“I have an appointment for an ultrasound,” I whisper.
“Your name?”
I get closer to the desk so no one hears me—as if everyone here in the waiting room knows me and it will get to my mom. “Blakely Leigh.”
The lady taps away on her computer before telling me to wait in the waiting room for my name to be called.
I didn’t know where else I could go without my mom being part of this. A lot of doctors want a parent present for underage minors. I’ve heard of this place from girls at my school. They come and get free birth control and condoms. They brag about getting it for free. I wish I would’ve come here earlier and started birth control before this entire mess happened.
“What do you think everyone here is being seen for?” Kai whispers.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I told Kai. He has been my safe place to go when I’m freaking out. He’s been by my side through it all. It makes me regret having those feelings of doubt about him.
“I don’t know.” I don’t understand why I’m embarrassed, as if everyone here is going to judge me. They don’t even knowme. We had to ditch school to come here. That was the only time we felt we could do it without my mom finding out.
“Blakely.” I wince at my name being called so loud.
“Hey, everything will be okay. I promise,” Kai reassures me.
Our appointment is over, and I cried the whole time. I rarely cry, even if there is sad news, but my emotions are all over the place. One minute I’m fine and happy, the next I cry over something so dumb. I guess in this case, it’s not dumb, but I’m not that sensitive of a person to cry over everything.
“You realize when I got pregnant, right?”
“Whenwegot pregnant, Blakely. It’s both of us,” Kai reminds me. “And no.”
“The first night we did it.” I turn down the heat in the car. Beads of sweat are forming all around my forehead. Kai stopped questioning why I’m so hot after finding out about the pregnancy.
“What? Really!” he says in a raised voice.
“I’m eight weeks pregnant. I lost my virginity to you eight weeks ago.”
Kai scratches his head, apparently thinking back to that time. “Damn.”
Narrowing my eyes toward him, I say, “That’s all you can think to say? Damn?”
“What’s done is done. I don’t know what else I can say.”
“How are you taking this so lightly?” Kai has been so calm and collected the entire time. I don’t understand why he thinks raising a baby is going to be easy, especially at this age.
“I have a strong feeling we will be okay,” he says as we pull into a car dealership.
