[Chapter Five]
It’s been two weeks since we saw Lindsae die, and honestly, I can’t imagine that happening to Olivia.. It’d be horrible to watch something like that again, even more so with it being my own sister. I curl up at the thought.
After school, I play the piano. I’m playing the song “Hello” by Evanescence, and suddenly, I feel sick. I rush to the bathroom, and barely make it.
I think I was throwing up for an hour. It was horrible. When I come out my mom is in the kitchen, and I go in and sit at the breakfast bar. “Mom, I don’t feel well.” I say, clutching at my stomach.
“Well, you have to stay home when we go to the hospital. We can’t risk Olivia getting sick. Why don’t you ask Collin if he wants to hang out here with you?” My mom suggests.
“Okay.. sure.” I say, and call him.
“Hey Collin.”
“Hey baby. “ He says, I can almost hear his smile.
“My mom says I can’t go to see Olivia, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over later…”
“Why can’t you go see her?”
“I’ve been throwing up. Mom thinks I have the flu, but I feel fine now. Olivia’s immune system is down, you know, so they don’t want to risk anything..”
“Are you okay?”
“I told you, I feel fine now.”
“Call me as soon as they leave, and I’ll come over there.” He sounded worried.
After they left, I waited for Collin outside. When he got there he gave me a big hug.
We went inside, in my room. He kept looking really worried.
“Collin… is something wrong?”
“Is something wrong with you?” He asked.
“No, why?”
“Are you pregnant?”
“No, I mean, Maybe….”
“What do you mean maybe?”
“I haven’t taken a test or anything, If that’s what you mean.”
“Are you late?”
I was, but only by three days. That’d happened before, so I wasn’t too worried.
“Yes.” I finally answered, after thinking my answer through.
“Will you PROMISE me that you’ll take a test tomorrow if your period doesn’t come?”
“I promise.” I said, as he took me in his arms for a hug.
The next day at school was horrible. I barely made it the entire day without throwing up. I wanted to curl up in bed.
Even Jenna, a not-so-bright girl noticed.
“Hailey, are you okay?” She said during free period, we were sitting in the library.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said, grinning at her.
“Okay…” she said, standing up as the bell rings. “Can I call you after school?”
“Um, no. Collin is coming over.”
“Oh. You guys are still together?”
“Yup.” I smiled. “Six, almost seven months together.”
“Wow.”
We departed, I went on to Biology and she went to Algebra.
After school, I decided I’d walk home, so I could go to the convenience store and get a test like I promised Collin I’d do.
There wasn’t much selection in the store, so I just grabbed one. I also grabbed some dye stripper, to get rid of the pink.
The lady at checkout looked at me with a pitiful look. Like the ones puppies give you at the shelter.
That look.
When I got home, I discarded my backpack in my room and went to the bathroom with the test.
The wait was only five minutes, but it felt like an hour.
The word “Pregnant” was on the screen, staring up at me like a slap in the face.
[Chapter Six]
Later, I heard the doorbell ring. It was Collin.
“So..?” He said, looking at me carefully.
“You’re gonna be a daddy…” I said, smiling fakely.
His jaw locked tight, he held me closer. “We’ll get through this Hailey, I promise. I’ll help. I can get a job, so you don’t have to.. Maybe, maybe we could get an apartment. Yeah. Or..” He looked worried.
“You’d stay?” I looked at him, a little shocked.
“Hailey, if I wasn’t gonna stay with you and the baby, I’d have left when I assumed.” He smiled at me, kissing my cheek softly. I curled up close to him, my silent sobs wracking my body.
Later, I stripped most of the pink dye out of my hair, some stubborn little streaks decided to stay. I decided to go back to my more natural hair, going back to blonde and not straightening it.
When Collin saw me with my curly hair, he was shocked. “I never knew you had curly hair.” He looked a little bewildered. It was cute though.
About a week later, after my parents got home, they were sitting on the couch, and Peter was playing Xbox, when Collin and I came downstairs, and asked to talk to them alone.
“Peter, go play upstairs.” She said, he paused his game and went upstairs.
“Hailey..? What is it? Are you sick?” My dad asked, worried.
“I’m.. I- Um…. I’m… Pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant?” My mother spat at me. My father shot a murderous glare at Collin. “This is just like you, Hailey. You couldn’t stand Olivia getting all the attention, so you went out and got pregnant. You can’t have a BABY at fourteen!”
“Hailey is having a baby?!” Peter darted down the stairs, grinning hugely. “I won’t be the baby anymore!”
“Peter, were you listening to our conversation?”
“Yes ma’am.” He hung his head.
“Go to your room before I sell the Xbox on eBay.” He darted back up faster than he had come down.
“Hailey, you can’t have a baby at FOURTEEN.” My mother continued, upset.
“Mom, I’m fifteen, remember? You guys forgot my birthday.”
“Oh.. You’re right, you are fifteen.. But you still should not be having a baby at fifteen. You’re just a baby yourself…” a tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. “Hailey, I’m sorry I forgot your birthday..”
“Collin, May I have a word with you outside?” My dad snapped, glaring at him.
“Yes sir.” He said, following my dad out onto the front porch.
“I guess I’ll call my OB/GYN, try to get you in. I’ll get you some prenatal vitamins at the store tomorrow, you’ll need to take those.. And you’ll need to get a job if you’re planning on keeping this baby. Are you?”
I hadn’t thought about doing anything else other than keeping the baby.
“I- I guess..” I began, slowly. “Could I clean out the spare room and fix it up for a nursery? Collin would help..”
“I had kind of forgotten about that… You know, we had planned on having another baby after Peter, hence the spare room, but we had a miscarriage about three years ago, and we just gave up.”
“I didn’t know that…” I said, feeling a little sad.
“It was very early on, we decided not to get your hopes up by telling you so soon.” She hugged me, and then jokingly said “Now I have an excuse to have early grey hair, I can say I’m going to be a grandma.” She laughed, and I giggled a little.
“You know, Hailey, I do like your hair better blonde. I think the little pink left looks cute, too. You should embrace it, because grey hair comes early for us girls. Look at my mom. She’s not that old, and she’s already fully grey.” She laughed, stroking my hair.
“Thanks. Collin was shocked that it was so curly naturally.”
“Well, I guess he just doesn’t know about our curly, blonde hair, since only Olivia shows it in its full nature.” She laughed, then looked sad. Olivia had lost all her hair already, from brushing it too often. It fell out faster that way. She was wearing knit caps to keep her head warm.
Collin and my dad came in, and my dad came and sat down next to my mom, and Collin came to say goodnight, hugging me lightly. “Goodnight Hailey. Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Fellows.” He said, nodding his head over to my parents, and then leaving out the front door.
“Hailey… Why would you sleep with him?” My dad asked, a little mad tone in his voice.
“James, I don’t..” My mom began, but my dad cut her off.
“Rachel, Hailey needs to stand up for what she has done. Hailey, answer me.” My dad shot at me.
“James. Hailey is tired, she needs her sleep. We can talk about it another time.” My mom pulled his arm towards their room.
“Fine.” He said, getting up and heading to bed grumpily.
“Goodnight Hailey.” My mom said, heading to her room.
About two weeks later, I went to my first OBGYN appointment. It was awkward at the beginning, but got better.
The doctor gave me an ultrasound to see how the baby was doing and check the size, and she told me I was about nine weeks. The baby looked like a tadpole. She gave me a picture of my baby, I put it in my backpack, I’d show Collin later.
After my appointment, I walked to the beach and mom went on home. I stared out at the waves, thinking about my future.
I looked at two little girls, building a sandcastle.
Olivia would be building a sandcastle right now if she was here with me. If she wasn’t sick.
She’d be running in and out of the waves, playing, having fun. Getting a tan, her blonde hair getting a little lighter. She’d smile, and yank my arm and say “Hailey, come play with me!” and I’d be able to, without a worry. We’d smile and laugh and build sandcastles and have fun.
Instead, she’s dying in the hospital.
Tubes stuck all around her. Her hair is all gone. Instead, I’m pregnant.
Little do I know how much worse things will get.
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Thank you for the comment, Zorom.
-Bubbles
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