Three Weeks, Nine Months, A Lifetime

Chapter 5

"Please fill in this sheet and take a seat," the receptionist said, handing me a clipboard and a pen. "If I may ask, how old are you?"

            "I turn seventeen in two months."

            "Do you have the certification of an adult to be here?"

            I paused for a second, wondering if the receptionist was supposed to be giving me any trouble. "My brother's eighteen. I'll give him a call."

            He picked up on the second ring. "Tissa, where the hell are you? Did you run off with Matt somewhere in Daniel's car? I better not hear that you're doing it again or I'm coming—"

            "Paul, I'm at the clinic."

            That shut him up. His response came a split second later. "Are you hurt?"

            "I'm fine. I just... I had to know."

            I could hear laughter and a loud clink of bottles in the background. Somebody shouted and a cheer erupted. Paul sighed. "I'm coming."

            "No!" I said, a bit alarmed. "Stay at your party. I'll be a while. Come in two hours tops? I think I want to do this alone."

            "What about your boyfriend?"

            "I sent him back to Sammy's. Don't argue with me. He'd be freaking out right now. He wouldn't be able to function properly. It's safer I tell him after I know for sure. And you can't always be the boss of me. This is my baby and—"

            Paul cleared his throat. "Okay. Do what you want. I gotta go." And he hung up.

            I walked up to the receptionist. "My brother's picking me up later. You can check his ID and everything. I promise I'm not sh— bluffing you in any way." I tucked my phone away and smiled sweetly.

            "And you think a promise is going to get you a blood test?" I felt like boiling. Was she kidding me? She went on, "If this test comes back positive, I will give you three weeks to tell your parents you're pregnant. And then, I'll be giving them a call. Please provide their numbers on your sheet."

            So I sat down on a cold chair next to a very pregnant woman, and I filled out the sheet completely, putting in Paul's number under DAD, and mine under MOM.

            I gave it to the receptionist. "You can make this a rush, right?" I asked.

            "You'll get to see the doctor as soon as Mrs. Anderson here is assured safety through her pregnancy. Eight months now, aren't you?" she called out.

            "Yes, I'm very excited."

            The receptionist gave me a cheery smile. Boy she could not have been getting enough sleep. She said to me, "You may have a seat. We should be able to get you with the doctor in half an hour."

            "Thank you."

            When my phone rang a second later, I thought perhaps my parents were wondering where I was, but then I remembered the dinner they were attending, and they had to be either raging drunk, or they were taking care of their raging drunk friends.

            And that was all I thought before I clicked the green button. "Hello?"

            "Tissa, giving me a fake number."