The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (30 page)

              Everything was going along swimmingly, or so Hannah thought, of what was supposed to be a routine check-up – she even told Brady he didn’t have to come with her – except her blood pressure was high…

              The attending nurse was a bit concerned, as was Hannah.  She did admit to being stressed out with her grades, waiting for her college acceptance letters, and everything else that was going on. 

              Aimee made things worse by constantly saying that she hoped that Hannah would not go into labor while at school.  Randomly throughout the weeks.  In the middle of class.  Lunch.  Between classes in the hallways.  Loudly.  Hissing it only where she could hear. 

              Stating loudly how Hannah had messed up Brady’s life. 

              Whispering beneath her breath about how she wondered if Hannah would make it through college with a child or if she would have a breakdown instead. 

              Aimee brought up all of the doubts that Brady could only reassure her about on occasion because he wouldn’t understand how concerned she already was about ruining his life.  

              It hardly mattered how often her friends would reassure her that everything would be fine.  Or how often they would say that Aimee was a giant bitch for trying to make herself feel better by making Hannah feel badly about the situation. 

              So when the nurse started saying things like ‘High blood pressure’ and ‘preeclampsia’, Hannah stressed out even more with the feeling that she could do nothing right. 

              “Look, sweetie,” the friendly nurse made Hannah meet her eyes.  “It’s probably just stress and nothing to worry about.  I get it.” 

              “What if I go into labor at school?  In the middle of graduation?  What if the college I’m really needing to get accepted into rejects me?  What if I just ruined our lives by refusing to give this baby up for adoption?  What if Aimee is right?” 

              The nurse must have had several panicked teenage mothers in the office before because she sat down next to Hannah and started talking in a soothing voice.  “There is no guarantee about anything except that your friend is toxic.  I have seen my share of teen mothers, and you and your husband seem to have it together more than any of the others that have walked through that door.  Have faith that there is more to your life than these nine months.” 

              Getting up to walk over to where an ominous yellow jug was sitting, “I highly doubt you will go in labor until early June, and sometimes first babies stick around past their due dates.  Trust me.  Now, we need to get your stress levels under control or you could lose your little peanut.” 

              Sitting down beside Hannah, the nurse explained that Hannah needed to pee in the jug (or into a cup and then pour it into the jug) for twenty-four hours and then bring it back tomorrow between three and five.

              “Thank goodness today is Friday,” Hannah shakingly laughed.  “I’d hate to have to carry this jug around school.” 

              Later, while Brady was distracted with his history assignment – he frequently lamented that the textbook his professor used was as dry as a desert – when Hannah brought the yellow jug into the apartment.  “Hey, Babe,” he greeted her without looking up from the book he would occasionally make a highlighter mark in.  “How was the appointment?”

              “They were concerned about my high blood pressure and want to make sure that I’m not at risk for preeclampsia.  I have to pee into this jug for twenty-four hours and return it tomorrow for testing.  It needs to be kept cool so it’ll be going on the bottom shelf of the fridge.”  She started moving items away from where her jug would be sitting.  “Don’t drink it.” 

              “Okay.  Whatever you say.”  Having trouble paying attention, he was not about to admit that he was struggling to read the author’s clinical explanation of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and the repercussions of The Black Hand’s actions and everything she just said went in one ear and out the other.   

              It wasn’t until hours later, when Hannah was curled up on the couch and reading a book just for the pleasure of reading, when Brady asked her a question.  “I saw some apple juice in the fridge?  Do you want some?”

              “What?” Hannah asked, without looking up.

              “Do you want apple juice?”

              “Um, yeah, sure,” she responded, barely taking her eyes off of the page.  It was recommended that she do something to relax without getting on her feet too much.  That left cooking out, but she could catch up on some reading.  “When did you get apple juice?”

              Brady paused in pulling the yellow jug out of the fridge, “I didn’t.  I thought you did.”

              Looking up, Hannah noticed the jug in her husband’s hands.  “Don’t drink that!” she shouted, standing up.  “That’s filled with my pee!”

              Brady stopped mid-motion; he looked at the jug in his hands before putting the bottle back where he had gotten it.  “Why is there a jug of your pee in the fridge?”

              “I told you when I got home,” she sighed.  “They want to test it for preeclampsia.  I have to keep it cool and this is the only place to keep it.”

              Looking at his wife oddly, “Is that why there is a cup in a plastic bag sitting on the side of the bathtub?”

              “Yes,” Hannah chuckled, shaking her head.  “I didn’t want you thinking it was a drinking cup.” 

              Brady shuddered at how close he came to drinking Hannah’s urine sample.  “Let’s just keep this between the two of us.”

              “No promises,” she laughed.  They didn’t realize how seldom she had laughed over the past couple of weeks until the sound filled the air.

              The next afternoon, Hannah returned the jug, sharing the incident with the nurses, before heading home to wait for the test results.  They reassured her that it would only take a few hours, but that she also needed to go home and rest. 

              The nurse took several things into consideration before making her request.  She knew that Hannah would be mostly sitting throughout the day.

“I don’t care how often you are up at school,” the nurse sternly looked at her patient, “but when you are at home I want you sitting down with your feet up.  We are too close for high levels of stress to mess things up now.” 

              “Good thing my last class of the day is guidance aide; they’ve been letting me sit in the comfortable chairs in the waiting area,” she smiled at the worried nurse.

              They all breathed a sigh of relief when the test results came back normal, but with strict instructions for Hannah to sit as much as possible.  “We will be monitoring you closely.  I know you don’t want to be taken out of school this close to graduation, but I will order it if any of your tests show that you are showing even the smallest sign of preeclampsia.” 

              A few days later more stress was alleviated when Hannah’s acceptance letter came in the mail. 

              Prom dresses, prom dresses, and more prom dresses.  Each girl wanted something special.  It made things even more difficult that each girl wanted something different. 

Grace had found a lace gown with a sweetheart neckline in a nice peach shade that complimented her skin tone.  She crossed her fingers, and a few toes, when she finally looked down at the price. 

              “That’s fifty dollars over my dress budget,” she whispered, having saved two hundred dollars for everything she would need – dress, shoes, jewelry, etc.  Money was tight in the Chandler household and she’d been saving for months to pay for this one night. 

              Delilah looked over her shoulder and at the tag.  “You look lovely in that dress too.  Kyle would drop dead if he saw you in that.” 

              Putting the gown on the discard rack, she returned to the other dresses and continued to look.  A dark green, knee-length, and strapless dress went back on the display.  The azure blue dress was admired until she noticed the even larger price tag.  Even a shorter lace dress, with a soft pink underlay instead of the peach, was admired before being discarded.

Even still, her friends saw her looking back towards the full-length lace dress.  They heard her sighs.  They saw her looks of longing.  They ended up pooling some of their money to help cover the last fifty dollars Grace needed. 

              “No, you can’t do this!” Grace protested, holding onto the dress while the others pulled her to the register before she settled on a dress she wasn’t completely happy with. 

              “Prom dresses are like wedding dresses,” Delilah started, thinking about the way her sister had acted during her own dress search.  “Once you find the one, you won’t be happy with any other dress.  You’ll just pay us back later.” 

              Kelly was almost as easy as Grace had been.  She’d tried on a handful of dresses in various colors – including a red she knew her father wouldn’t approve of and a two piece dress she knew the prom dress approval committee wouldn’t approve of – before finding a nice, flowy blue dress with a blue applique top over a nude bodice.  She loved how the skirt swirled around and how the slit settled modestly at her knee. 

              However, she also had pricing issues and ended up having to call her father for permission.  Two phone calls and multiple photos later, Kelly grinned as she carried off her prize to the cashier. 

              Jennifer looked at Delilah and smiled, “I like her better now that she’s not hanging out with Aimee.”

              “Hannah has been a good influence on her,” the bookworm agreed.  “And the mandated therapy,” Delilah idly commented while thinking about her own therapy sessions she had started attending after Aimee’s ambush. 

              The other girls had a few more dress issues and it took several more stores before everybody but Jennifer had found a dress. 

              Penny had several issues to deal with before she could find her dress.  She didn’t want any of her back to show.  She didn’t want any cleavage to show.  She didn’t want tight.  She didn’t want a slit.  Eventually, and at the third store in the mall they looked at, she found a dress that covered everything she wanted in a dress.  It took a black and white color-blocked dress with a flowing skirt to satisfy her list.  The only complaint she had was the sequined bodice, but the fact that she wouldn’t have to buy any shoes to match – she already owned them – and could wear the sparkly bracelet a cousin had gotten her with the dress was all that it took to settle her mind about the sequins. 

              Jennifer was rolling her eyes while listening to Penny’s minor complaints about the dress. 

              “I can wear a white cardigan over the top and nobody will notice the sequins so much.”

              “I’ll have to get the hem raised since I’m shorter and I’ll be wearing my dressy black flats.” 

              Even at the register, “Are you sure that this isn’t flashy?” 

              “No, this dress is perfect for you!” Kelly gushed. 

              Delilah added, “And it’s on sale!”

              “And that shrug matches the white perfectly!”  Grace smiled, mildly amused that she had been the person to find the one thing that removed the last objection Penny had towards the dress.  She also hadn’t been aware that Penny was so modest. 

              Exclamation marks abounded and Jennifer wanted to gag at the girlishness of the moment.  It was everything that sickened this tomboy from her ponytail to her running shoes.

              It was Delilah who surprised everybody with her dark and ruffled dress.  Everybody expected her to find the one dress that made people think of that pesky Austen novel the girl favored.  Instead the dark blue bodice and light blue hem complimented her figure.  The ruffles gave her the illusion of a few curves that she previous lacked or emphasized the curves she’d developed. 

              “I feel pretty,” she whispered as she twirled around.  “Take my picture.  David needs to plan his suit accordingly.  And my corsage.”  She quieted down as she started thinking about shoes, handbag, and necklace. 

              Her silence, and the other girls’ excitement, started getting Jennifer thinking.  They were at their fourth store and she had found nothing that she liked. 

              It worried her. 

              Now they would all be focused on finding the tomboy a dress instead of dividing their attention between the last two friends.  Their numbers had dropped from five to one and Jennifer wasn’t certain that she’d like the attention or the feel of four people ganging up on her just to find a dress. 

              But the ruffles and ruching, beading and embellishments - everything that made a prom dress a prom dress – gave her a headache.  She wasn’t girly like her friends were, and she knew it was because of her older brothers.  The thought that these four girls were now going to use all of their focus on her and her dress nearly caused her to become ill. 

              Delilah, sensing something wasn’t right, directed attention back to herself.  “Okay, let’s get me out of this dress and check out.  I have to get Grace home soon.  Kelly, aren’t you supposed to go baby-sit for your neighbors at six?”

              Looking at her phone, Kelly’s eyes widened when she saw it was after five.  “I need to leave now,” she mumbled, tightening her hold on her dress and hurrying towards the parking lot where she had parked.  It would take her twenty minutes to get home and another five to the neighbor’s house.  The neighbors liked her to be there at least ten minutes early while they dealt with their youngest throwing a tantrum about their leaving him at home.

              Jennifer mouthed, “Thank you,” towards Delilah. 

              Penny quickly followed them to the cash register, feeling uncomfortable being left alone with Jennifer. 

              Who still didn’t have a dress.

              Unexpectedly, Delilah showed up a few hours later with her laptop.  She managed to push the youngest Matheson brother out of the room and sat down next to Jennifer without a word.  Just a look.  Jennifer suspected that Delilah had used that same look on David a time or two when they had one of their arguments. 

              “Okay, what turned you off on all the dresses we looked at today?” Delilah pointedly asked, pulling up the internet and several store sites.  Instead of going to the prom dresses like Jennifer suspected she would, Delilah clicked on formal and women’s dresses instead.  She also did one more unexpected move by clicking on the black dress color options in the search sidebar. 

              “They were just…” she started, uncertain how to explain it. 

              Thankfully she didn’t have to.  Delilah revealed her understanding when she finished Jennifer’s sentence, “Too much?”

              “Yeah,” Jennifer agreed, wondering how Delilah knew that. 

              Holding back a smirk, “We aren’t that different, you know.  I felt the same way when my sisters forced that make-over on me before school started.”  She stopped to think.  “I get it.  The others don’t get your style.  Then we have Penny…” she trailed off.  “Penny is all picky and modest.  I think she’s been going to the Bible Study sessions with Kelly on Wednesdays and might have found somebody there, but if she did they aren’t serious enough for her to break radio silence about it.”

              Looking at her bookish friend, “How did you know that?”

              “I paid attention and she was distracted during Christmas Break.”  Delilah barely looked up from the computer screen as she explained her suspicions.  “I think she doesn’t want anybody to know if she is.”  She pointed to a knee-length dress on the screen.  When Jennifer shook her head, Delilah continued trying to help by pointing to another dress with a crisscross back. 

              Staring at the screen, she stilled Delilah’s hand to keep it from moving.  “That dress.”  She pointed to a simple floor length semi-halter dress with an open back. 

              Looking between the dress and Jennifer, she started making a list.  “I really hope that the store has this dress.  Let’s go before they close.”