The next morning Cassidy found herself doing the same thing as the morning before, trying to throw up quietly so she didn’t wake up her father. So far she had been successful. Tiffany and Cassidy had spoke the night before in code on MSN instant messenger so her father couldn’t check the files. Tiffany said that she would have her brother pick them up at lunch time and then drive Cassidy to the Planed Parenthood downtown. They do free pregnancy testing there and they would be able to help her in any decision she would make. Cassidy was surprised to find her father still passed out in the living room when it came time for her to get walking to school. She thought about waking him up but then she thought again and found that it was finally her chance to walk to school a different route, a route that would take her by Kevin's apartment and she knew he would be outside playing basketball. Cassidy grabbed her backpack and ran out of the house before thinking twice.
As Cassidy neared the old apartment building she could feel her stomach churn and had to duck behind a bush to get sick.
After emptying her stomach of whatever she had left in it to begin with she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around expecting it to be her father but was pleasantly surprised to be staring into Kevin’s brown eyes.
"Cassidy are you ok?" He asked helping her up off the grass.
"Umm yeah I’m fine just not feeling well today." She said. She didn’t want to just throw the news at him. She had to find a way to ease it into a conversation. Kevin grabbed her and wrapped her up in a hug.
"I was so worried about you Cassidy; I didn’t think I would ever see you again." He said squeezing her harder. It took all of her might to not throw up on him.
"I know Kevin, I have missed you terribly." She said when he let go of her.
Kevin grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes.
"Cassidy I have never felt this way before in my life, Cassidy James I love you." He said.
Cassidy felt her stomach churn again as she knew this was the time to tell him that he had gotten her pregnant.
"Kevin I have to tell you something, can we go up to your apartment for a few minutes?" She asked.
Kevin nodded his head and held her hand the entire way.
They sat down on the couch and he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Cassidy took a deep breath before starting.
"Kevin you know I care about you and I want to be with you more than anything in the world." She paused for a moment to look at him straight in the eyes and she could see that he looked troubled by what she was saying. She didn’t want to tell him but she knew she had to.
"Kevin, what we did that night was.... well..... My first time with anyone ever."
"It was my first time too Cassidy." Kevin interrupted.
"I’m glad we got to share it then...... but there is something more...... Kevin I think I’m pregnant." She said pulling away from his arms that were around her. She was ashamed and didn’t want to look him in the eyes.
He was silent for a moment and then Cassidy felt his hand caress her face and turn it towards him.
"Cassidy that’s great news, I will stick by you no matter what. We will get married and you can live here with me and we can be a family." Kevin said in a low voice that was almost a whisper.
"I can’t Kevin, my dad found me once he will find me again. I’m already taking a huge risk coming here in the first place, if he found out he would beat the hell out of me and who knows what he will do when he finds out I’m pregnant. I’m going to Planned Parenthood today during lunch to find out for sure. Then I will decide from there." Cassidy said.
"I want to go with you." Kevin stated getting defensive. "And I don’t want you to kill our baby Cassidy, that baby is just as much mine as it is yours." He said.
"I knew you would get upset, I don’t know why I even told you." Cassidy shouted as she ran from the apartment. Kevin tried to follow her but it was no use, she had already gone too far.
Morning classes seemed to go on forever for Cassidy. For some reason lunch couldn’t come soon enough. When the bell finally rang for her lunch period she ran to her locker to grab her bag and then slipped out the back doors by the janitor’s closet where no one could see her. She walked along the back of the school but stopped when she saw a figure walking closer to her. It didn’t take long for her to figure out who it was.
"Kevin what are you doing here?" She asked
"I told you I want to come to this appointment." He said.
Cassidy decided not to fight him anymore; she just didn’t have the energy. Kevin followed her to the parking lot where she met up with Tiffany.
"I’m assuming your Kevin?" Tiffany said with her arms crossed.
"Yes I am, and you are?" He asked.
"Tiffany, Cassidy’s best friend." She said in a rather mean tone.
"Well it’s nice to meet you Tiffany." Kevin said extending his arm for a friendly handshake.
Tiffany looked at Kevin intensely for a few moments before taking his had. She wasn’t sure about his intentions about this whole thing and she had to be careful.
They got into the car and the 20 minute ride to Planned Parenthood was rather silent. Kevin had insisted on sitting in the back next to Cassidy even though Tiffany protested it. Kevin held Cassidy's hand the whole way. Cassidy wasn’t sure what to think of him now, she didn’t know what her plan was so she didn’t know what to do.
The waiting room of Planned Parenthood was rather quiet as well. There were a few girls there some with boyfriends and some alone. A few of them looked to be around Cassidy's age and she noticed Amanda Walker a very popular girl in their school sitting there in tears with a woman who looked to be her mother. She didn’t know what to think of it but she didn’t want to say anything to her and make the situation whatever it was worse than it already seemed. Cassidy sat in between Kevin and Tiffany for 20 minutes before a nurse called her name. When all three of them stood up the nurse stated that only one person was allowed back in the room with Cassidy. Although she didn’t want to Tiffany sat back down and allowed Kevin to go with Cassidy. The nurse handed Cassidy a plastic cup and showed her the way to the bathroom and told her how to collect the specimen. Then she took Kevin to their exam room where he waited patiently in a chair. When Cassidy walked into the exam room she took a seat on the table and stared at her fingers. This was the first time she and Kevin had been alone since that morning. Kevin rolled his chair over to her and lifted her face with his hand.
"I’m sorry for getting upset Cassidy. This is just the best thing that has happened to me since meeting you. I finally get to have the chance to be a father to someone, to prove that I can be better than my father and better than your father. I am really excited about this." He said with a tear in his eye.
Cassidy opened her mouth to respond but just then the door opened and a woman in a white lab coat walked in.
"Hello..... Cassidy." She said looking down at Cassidy's chart.
"Hi." Cassidy said looking down at her hands again.
"And you are?" The doctor asked looking at Kevin.
"Cassidy's boyfriend, Kevin." He said holding his hand out to shake the doctors.
Cassidy laughed in her head at how friendly Kevin was it was something she really loved about him.
"Well kids I have some news for you both then I guess......... Cassidy you seem to be almost 12 weeks pregnant." The doctor said. Cassidy felt the tears well up in her eyes and she tried hard to hold them back.
"I can see your upset about this so obviously it wasn’t a planned pregnancy. Being so far along I’m sorry to say that you will have to carry the baby to term. Do you know what you want to do then?" The doctor asked.
Cassidy looked up at her and shook her head no.
"Well there is always the option of adoption; it’s a great way for teens such as you to start over. I have a few pamphlets that I will send home with you along with your prenatal vitamins. Go ahead and look them over and you can decide from there. Please take the time to read them; this isn’t a decision to make lightly." The doctor said.
Cassidy walked to the front desk and made her next appointment for next month at the same time during lunch. Tiffany's brother agreed to pick them all up at school for her appointments.
Tiffany and Cassidy returned to school and Kevin stuck around the elementary school playground for the rest of the day until school got out. He knew he had to talk to Cassidy; he had to convince her to keep this baby and be a family with him.
