An Unplanned Life (Unplanned Series) (17 page)

Chapter 39

Nicole

The past…

The final bell on my last day had rung. I felt like I was finally being released from Hell, although spending the next month at home being tutored would be like going into purgatory. But at least there wouldn’t be a Rachel Wiser there. I could just go up to my room to escape my dad. Donna had cheerleading practice, so I was
taking the bus home. I hurried up and grabbed all my belongings from my locker. I didn’t want to turn around when I heard Rachel scream, “Jonathan!” She began to make out with him in the middle of the hallway, clearly for my benefit. I continued to pack my stuff in my bag as if the two of them weren’t even standing there. "Two more days till prom," Rachel shouted. I closed my locker door, trying to think of a way that I could exit without walking past them. "Oh, bye, Nicole; it will be so nice not to have to look at your prego butt around here anymore," Rachel said with her arms still wrapped around Jonathan's neck. Jonathan remained silent, unable to look at me. I finally had enough of both of them.

 
"And it will be so nice to not have to look at your ugly face anymore for me, Rachel."

 
Her jaw dropped as she removed her arms from Jonathan's neck. "Excuse me?"

 
"You heard me."

 
"Don't be pissed at me, Nicole, just because I'm dating the guy that you claim to be your baby daddy, when we all know he's not, right, Jonathan?"

 
Jonathan looked at me and then put his head down. "No, I never even slept with her," he whispered.

"You're right
; we never slept together. It was more like two minutes of Hell. Go ahead and deny it, because I don't want my baby associated with someone like you in any way at all."

 
"Ha, she's delusional." Rachel laughed. "Just because you’re a slut that doesn't know about birth control, don't try and ruin everyone else's life." 

"You know what
, Rachel, you are the only slut that I see standing here." I turned around to find Jason Balint standing right behind me. Jason and I had been friends since freshman year. We had several classes together this year and he was always so nice to me, which was a rarity these days.

 
"Oh, screw you, Jason. Don't hate because you could never have me," Rachel said. 

"I wouldn't want someone like you. You and Jonathan are perfect. You
’re both assholes. You belong together." 

"Fuck you
, dude. You want to take this outside?" Jonathan said.

 
"No problem, but are your mommy and daddy going to be out there for you to run behind." 

Jonathan pushed Jason into the locker
. Just as punches were about to be thrown, Mr. Haskell came out of his classroom to break it up. "Mr. Caldwell, what are you doing here? You're no longer a student here."

 
"He came to pick me up and he was subjected to Jason starting crap with him,” Rachel whined. I knew that Mr. Haskell wasn't falling for it. Jason never caused problems in school; he was well liked by everyone. Everyone knew that Rachel was the troublemaker.

"Well
, regardless, Jonathan shouldn't be coming into this school and putting his hands on anyone."

 
"Whatever!" Rachel shouted as she slammed her locker door shut. "I can't wait to get out of this fuckin' stupid ass school." Her voice carried as she and Jonathan walked away.

"Hey, thanks
, Jason. But I had it covered with those two jerks."

"I know you did, but I'm sick of watching her treat you the way she has these past few
months." 

I smiled. "Oh, shoot!" I said as I looked out the door and saw the buses pulling out of the parking lot.

 "I can give you a ride home," Jason said.

 
"Hey, thanks!" He took my backpack from me and we headed out the door to his car.

 
We pulled up to my house and I thanked him again for coming to my rescue. For the first time in four years, I realized just how cute he was. His big brown eyes were comforting to look into. I had my hand on the door handle and was about to exit.

 
"Hey, Nicole?"

 
"Yeah." 

"Friday is prom
, you know."

 
"Yeah, I know," I answered sadly.

 
"Well, I was thinking, since neither of us are going, would you want to have dinner with me instead?"

 
"Why aren't you going?" I asked. 

"Well, Becky Carver turned me down."
 

"What! Well
, that's her loss," I said. 

He shrugged his shoulders. "So, what do you say?"
 

"You really want to take my fat butt out to dinner?" I asked.

 "Yeah, I do." He smiled. 

"Okay, that sounds great!"
 

We finalized our plans and I headed inside. My sister was whining to my mother about her wedding dr
ess when I walked in. I made a beeline for the steps like always when I entered my house. "Nicole," my mother shouted cutting my sister off.

 
I took a deep breath and turned around, heading back into the kitchen. "Yeah?" 

"How was your last day?"
 

"Fine."
 

"Well, when is the tutoring going to start?" she asked in effort to make conversation, which was a rarity between me and my parents lately
. My sister rolled her eyes and went storming up the steps as if she were annoyed that the conversation didn't revolve around her anymore. 

"Monday," I answered.

She put a plateful of chocolate chip cookies on the table and motioned for me to sit down. "Nicole, I just want you to know that I'm so proud of you and your strength and determination. I know that these past few months haven't been easy for you. Your brother told me how that Rachel Wiser acts toward you in school and I'm so sorry that you have to deal with that same behavior at home by your own father and sister." I nodded, not knowing what to say. "You know that you haven't faced that hardest part yet, right?" 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

 "Giving up your baby." 

I felt a stabbing pain in my heart, just thinking about it. "I know." I tried playing
it off coolly.

 
"No, Nicole. You don't know. You're not going to know until the moment that baby is born." I tried my hardest to fight back the tears. My mother placed her hands in mine. "Listen to me. If you decide that you can't do it, I will be here for you. I have some extra money set aside that I've been saving for years. Your father doesn't know anything about it. If you can't bring yourself do it, when the time comes, we can get an apartment, and I will help you raise him." I couldn't believe what I was hearing my mother say. She was actually willing to leave my dad and her home to help me raise my baby. Although I appreciated her finally offering me some support, I knew that I had a plan in place and I wasn't going to deviate from it. My baby was going to the best home possible and was going to be given things that I would never be able to offer him.

 
"I appreciate that, Mom, but I know in my heart what will be right for my baby and as hard it's going to be for me to give him up, I need to put him first. Tisha said that he's going to a wonderful family. I trust her judgment more than anyone’s. 

Tears began to form in my mother's eyes. "Okay, but if you change your mind
, the offer will always stand." 

"Thanks, Mom."

After dinner, I escaped back to the refuge of my bedroom. I sat on my bed, organizing my papers in my folders so I would be all prepared for my tutoring on Monday. I stood up and looked at myself in the full-length mirror. I turned sideways and lifted my shirt up to examine the bump in my belly. “You’re in there, baby boy, and even though we can’t see each other, I can feel you. I love you so much,” I whispered.

I quickly pulled my shirt down and pulled myself together when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in."

 
My brother was standing in the doorway with two glasses of juice in his hand, a bag of Doritos under his arm, and a DVD in his mouth.

"What are you doing, crazy boy?" I laughed.
 

"Well, Renee is downstairs having a another meltdown about her wedding
, so I figured if I bought you some junk food that maybe you would let me watch this horror movie in your room." 

"Sure," I said.
 

He set the glasses down on the nightstand and popped the DVD in. "Are you gonna watch with me?” he asked.
 

"Yeah, as long
it’s not one of those gruesome ones that you like." 

I cleared all of my papers off my bed along with my stuffed animals. "Hey
, it's Ralphie," my brother said as he picked up the little plaid elephant that was once his and he had given to me.

"Yup, Ralphie gets a special place on the bed because he's my favorite." I left him on the bed, throwing all of the other animals on the floor. I propped the pillows up against the wall and my brother and I sat on the bed and watched the movie. I found myself jumping several times throughout the movie
while my brother laughed at my edginess. I picked up Ralphie and buried my face into him to hide my eyes during a part that was really freaking me out. 

"Hey, Justin?"
 

"Yeah?"
 

"Would you
be upset if I gave Ralphie to my baby?" He looked at me strangely. "I mean, if I give him to Tisha to give to my baby’s new parents."

 
"Well, Ralphie is a very special guy," my brother joked. "But since he would be going to my nephew, I would be happy to let you hand him down." 

"Then he'll always have a piece of us - his mom and his uncle," I said as I leaned my head on my brother's shoulder and rubbed my fluttering belly.
 

***

  Jason picked me up on Friday and we headed to Donna's before going to dinner so I could see her in her prom dress. She was going with a “just friends” date. I snapped about a million pictures before they hopped into the limo and drove away. I was a little envious, wishing that I could be attending as well. This was just another reminder of how much my life had changed. Just a year ago, I had a ton of friends and had attended every social function under the sun. Now, I could count the number of friends that I had on one hand and I was missing out on my senior prom; the event that I had dreamed about since my freshman year. I sighed deeply as I got into Jason's car and we headed to my favorite burger restaurant.

 
We sat down and placed our order. I told Jason all about my scholarship and how excited I was to be going to college. Jason was super smart and headed to Stanford University in the fall to begin his pre-med studies. How I wished that I could travel across the country and escape all the painful memories that this place held to attend college. I was having a great time. Jason didn’t look at me like “the pregnant girl.” He viewed me the same way that my brother and Donna had, just as plain old Nicole Morgan.

After dinner
, we took a walk along the bay. "You better watch it, Jason, or Rachel will be telling everyone that you’re the father of my baby next." I laughed. 

"Well, I would be proud to have that title," he said
, taking me a little off guard. The smile on my face had now turned a little more serious. "You know I’ve had a mad crush on you since freshman year," he said.

 
"No, I didn't know that," I said. 

"Well, I think you're pretty great."
 

"Hey, thanks and you're not so bad yourself," I said
, trying to lighten the mood. 

"How did you manage all year?" he asked.

 "What do you mean?"

 
"With Rachel and Jonathan and the way everyone else treated you?"

 
"Well, along with my growing belly, I grew some pretty thick skin. I realize that those people mean nothing in the grand scheme of things."

 
"Well, I think you’re pretty amazing."

 
"Thanks," I whispered. 

We stopped walking and he took my hand in his.
“Can I just do something that I've been dying to do from the first day that I saw you in Mrs. Gomez's algebra class?" He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips. 

"You will always be my
‘what if’, Nicole."

 
I smiled. "Well, I am honored, Jason." He took my hand in his and we began to walk again. If only I had known how Jason felt from the beginning, then maybe things could have been a lot different right now. But for the moment, as we walked along the moonlit beach, I was just thankful for his friendship.