Three Weeks, Nine Months, A Lifetime

Chapter 23

Though I hated to admit it, Paul was right. I missed painting. I loved painting. I decided from that day that I was going to do it everyday—or as often as I could, anyway, between hanging out with Dev, Elaine and Melissa, visiting Diane and her two sons, and, of course, being pregnant.

            The entire summer didn’t consist of only that, though. I started to understand Dev a lot better, even though I knew he purposely kept things from me, and even though he started talking about the colleges he wanted to apply to, while I didn’t even want to think about it.

            I already knew I was staying home for college, so there was no point trying to get excited for it. It disappointed me that Dev wasn’t going to stay with me, not that I expected it of him.

            He wasn’t one to be tied down in one place because of a girl.

            The day before senior year was about to start, Elaine and Melissa came over to my house for a sleepover, for a change. As much as I loved Melissa’s beanbag chair, I wasn’t going to appear on her school bus with my belly three months bigger.

            I wanted to prolong the moment before people saw how pregnant I really was. And, also, Paul was driving us, because my parents were out of town.

            “Do you realize I’ll be one of those girls who has to check the box that says I have a daughter when I fill out the common app?” I said. “Do you think they’ll even let me into college because of it?”

            “Yes,” Elaine said. “Well…” Melissa said, at the same time, and then, realizing that Elaine had already answered, added, “Yeah, of course.”

            I looked at Melissa, making my eyes wide. “You don’t think so?”

            “Well, I don’t know! I’m not the expert on college.”

            Elaine was shaking her head at both of us. “My parents got me a college counselor this summer. Believe me. You having a daughter is not going to jeopardize your chances of getting into college.”

            “Thank goodness,” I said.

            “But your grades, on the other hand, might have some impact.”

            Even though I knew Elaine was making a joke—my grades weren’t that bad—I still leaned forward and lightly slapped her on the arm. “Look who’s talking,” I said.

            “I have straight A’s,” she said.

            “So, under ‘characteristics’, can you put boastful, or immodest? Or something along those lines, whichever word you like better,” I said, looking straight at Elaine.

            “There isn’t a ‘characteristics’ category,” Elaine explained. “Not explicitly anyway.”

            I was on the verge of asking what she meant by that when I heard the doorbell ring, and Melissa looked at me questioningly. I shrugged. “Pizza for Paul?”

            “Paul gets a lot of pizza,” Elaine said.

            Melissa laughed. “You guys. Expert usage of alliteration. I’m so proud.”

            She loved the English language. Honestly, I was still trying to figure out why. “Hey, do you guys think I can be really—“ I started.

            Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because suddenly Dev walked in.

            Now, Dev and my friends weren’t ‘besties’ like Matt and my friends had been. I didn’t consider it a bad thing. It wasn’t like I had made it a personal goal to try and make them become friends. Nevertheless, no situations had arisen—yet—where I had been able to get them all to talk.