Harper & Lee Plus Three

Now What?

I could feel my face heating up bright red with embarrassment. I quickly helped Etsy gather the beads that were all over the floor. I put them in a pile back on the table.

    "Yeah, 'oh fuck' is right," I whispered. "Hazel told me I should get an abortion but like...I don't wanna."

    "So don't. It's your life. Not hers," Etsy said.

    "Yeah but like...she had one and I'm not even seventeen yet."

    "Hazel's had an abortion before?"

    "Shh! I said I wouldn't tell anybody."

    "Well, I'm definitely not telling you any of my secrets."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks. Super helpful right now."

"Alright. So how did Lee take it?"

"I haven't told him," I said, my voice starting to shake. "I know we're only teens and we've only been together for two years but...like we talked about kids and he really doesn't want any. He wants to travel and go to comic cons and stuff like that. I don't know what's gonna happen."
    "I guess you'll find out when you tell him. Are you a hundred percent sure you don't want an abortion?"

"Yeah. I've always really wanted kids. I told Lee a while ago and we had a really big fight so I just didn't bring it up again."

"Welp. Good luck with that. He'll probably be chill if you give it away though."

"That's the thing...I'm not doing that either."

"Harper, for reals? You're in foster care. There's five kids in your house! If you try to put anymore in there the roof is just gonna bust off. The walls will come down. It'll explode!"

"Look, I'll figure it out, okay? I was really hoping you'd be a little more supportive..." I said, my voice trailing off.

"I'm sorry, alright? This is a lot to take in."

"Are you serious? I'm the one who's pregnant!"

"Ugh. I get it. What do you want me to do?"

"I dunno...help me talk to Lee, I guess? I want to tell him before I tell Sophia and John."

"That, I can do."

I took a shaky breath. "Maybe it was a false positive. Maybe I just didn't do it right?"

"Just hop over to Walgreens next door and grab some. I'll still be here."

"Yeah...that sounds like a good idea," I said, getting up.

I walked in the cold air to Walgreens and wandered the aisles. I looked both ways before going into the section with the pregnancy tests. My worst fear was someone seeing me. I found the cheapest box they had and took it up to the counter. I nervously took it up to the self checkout.

    "Nine ninety-five," said the machine. I hit the 'pay' screen. "How are you paying?"

I put a ten into the machine and it spit out the change. I grabbed the receipt, stuffed the box in my purse, and ran back to Starbucks.

    Etsy looked up from the table when I got back in. She followed me towards the bathroom. We went inside and I took it out of my purse.

    "Do you want me to stay in here with you?" Etsy asked.

    "Yeah," I said.

    I opened the box and started reading the instructions. There was literally a manual for these things. I quickly skimmed through the instructions and went into a stall. I peed on it, went out of the stall, and set it down. As I was washing my hands, I could already see that a plus sign was forming.