• Chapter 6: School Again

    Christy entered the school, noticing that Amanda, Lindsay, Travis, Amber, Angie, and Kali were all standing there waiting for her. Amber and Angie seemed to be the only ones who noticed the small bump at Christy’s abdomen. Everyone circled around her and gave her a hug. They all knew about Isaac, and they all knew that Christy was the one hurt most by the loss. The only thing they didn’t know was that she was expecting a child. She knew she had to tell them at lunch.
    This year, she had many more classes with the 6 she knew better than anyone else in the entire school. Every class, there was at least 1 of them with her. There had been talk of a new girl. They were right last year. New kids are considered big news. She knew she had to sit with her at lunch because she knew exactly what she felt like.
    When lunch came, they sat with her. She had red hair and silver eyes. She had a lot of freckles all over her face. Instead if having flat hair, it was somewhat textured. Christy sat to the right of her.
    “Hey, I’m Christy. That’s Amanda, Angie, Amber, Travis, Kali, and Lindsay.”
    “I’m Janie. I’m from Boston.”
    “Cool. I used to live in Chicago. If you don’t mind me changing the subject I have extremely big news for everyone here. I’m pregnant, getting really close to four months now.”
    “No Way!” Christy heard almost everyone say those words, along with many others.
    “So, Janie, what are you into? What kind of things do you like to do, and where do you like to spend your time?” asked Christy; while the others were still in shock that Christy was expecting a child.
    “Well, I like to swim and once in a while I’m just in the mood to shop, and I recently found a place called YFJ.”
    “YFJ?” was the only question on everyone’s mind, and most of them said it out loud.
    “Yeah, it stands for Youth For Jesus. I just found it last week, which means it took me 2 months. It’s on every Thursday,” explained Janie while she looked for the handouts she had picked up and began to pass them around.
    Everyone talked and made Janie feel just as comfortable on her first day as Christy had. They discussed big cities, and how much different it was here. They also talked about the differences between Boston and Chicago, such as Boston has a lot of trees. They had agreed to go skating after school, but Christy told them she didn’t want to go. She wanted to be home, where no one could give her funny looks because her stomach looked a little swollen. Now she thought about it, maybe it was just a little bit more noticeable than she thought. Anyways, she wanted some beef jerky. That was definitely her one and only craving. That was the only thing she could possibly want, and was all she thought about during school. She was going to the store, getting the jerky, and going home to eat it, if she could wait that long.
    When she got home, she saw her father packing some bags into his car.
    “What are you doing?” Christy asked.
    “Your mother and I decided it might be best if we didn’t live together anymore. We want you to stay with her because she knows more about the baby stuff,” her father answered.
    “What? No!”
    “Christy, we have to, it’s for the best.”
    “It would be ‘best’ if you stayed!”
    Christy ran into the house. She rushed into her room and stared into space. She couldn’t cry anymore. How could he leave me? Right when I needed him most! First Isaac, and now my dad. The two most important men in my life, and they’re both gone. The only thing I have to live for now is my child. Poor kid has to grow up without a father and a grandfather. If they’ll be able to make it, so can I. She felt abandoned. She was just starting to get over the death of Isaac, and now her father leaves her. She thought things would start getting better as soon as school started, and they were just getting worse. She didn’t know how much of it she could take.
    The next day, everyone in school looked at her baby. She knew word had gotten out. She yelled at a couple of people that she had a face, and if they wanted to talk to her they should look at it. Great, now I get to be the freak of the school, as if it isn’t bad enough that my dad is gone and the baby’s father got into a crash and died. I want Isaac back. He promised he would be here with me! Christy’s eyes began to water, but she held back the tears. She didn’t want to cry at school. He said he would help me through this and hurt anyone that looked at me funny. People are treating me so much different, and nothing has happened to them. Why did he have to leave me? Why now?
    “Don’t worry about it,” said Travis after Christy told him about the situation, “they only look at you like that because it’s the beginning of the year. People who have your shape in March or April never get looked at the way you do.”
    “So, your saying I should have told everyone in May?”
    “Probably, but you would still get the looks you do because either people forgetting or the freshmen who aren’t used to the sight and never knew in the first place.”
    “Do all guys always make sense, or is that just you and Isaac?”
    Travis laughed. “Maybe that’s why we’d been friends since 2nd grade.”
    Everyone looked at Travis and stared. “Since 2nd grade? Are you serious?” asked Kali.
    “Yea, didn’t you guys know that?” his question was answered when everyone started shaking their head. “Oh, well we were.”