~~Hope~~

Chapter Ten

I hopped (on my crutches) into this small room with a black couch and a desk. There was a white board on the wall with some posters and pictures. Her desk was cluttered with papers and a computer stuck in the middle of the mess. 

I sat down on the right side of the couch while my mom sat on the left. I watched as the woman moved some papers to make room for what must be my new file. 

She turned towards me with a smile that lit up her whole face. "Hi Anna. I'm Angela, but you can call me Angie."

"Hi." I replied, I sounded dull compared to her happiness.

"So..." She said as she read over some papers. "We are here to talk about you being raped and pregnant, right?"

I flinched at how open she was at the word pregnant. "Yes." I said in a small voice.

"Hmmm.... Well, I know this is hard on you. How do you feel?"

I thought for a moment, I didn't want to talk about my problems but I trusted Angie for some strange reason. "After I got raped, I wasn't okay inside. But I told myself I was fine, that I couldn't give up... hope. So this made me feel better, I guess. I was fine, even when I was in the hospital. Then I found out I was... well pregnant, and everything in my body just gave up. I lost all hope."

Angie wrote some things down, then looked at me with comfort. "Do you feel like you can ever get your hope back?"

"I don't think so." I told her.

She nodded. "Okay, what do you want to do about the pregnancy?"

"I'm confused."

"Do you want to get an abortion, an adoption, or keep the baby?"

"Abortion?"

"Yes, the choice is all up to you."

I looked at my mom and she was also nodding. "I... I don't know."

"You have time to think about it." She reassured me. "Now, I'm sure since you just got out of the hospital you don't want to stay here long, am I correct?"

I nodded, "The only place I want to be right now is my home."

"I can imagine that. I'm giving you homework though, you have to think of all the possibilities. I'm not saying you have to choose what to do yet, just think about it. Okay?"

"Okay." I got up. 

She shook my hand, and we said bye, like we'd known each other forever.

Once I was back with my mom in her car she turned towards me, "You have another appointment in about a week. They want to start you on some medication for depression and stuff but they don't want to harm the... baby."

I closed my eyes, taking a couple of deep breathes before opening again. When I did we were already back to my house.

I hurried up to my room, closing my door behind me. I sat down on my bed and went over everything.

I don't know how long I had been sitting there but a knock at my door made me jump.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"Zach." 

I felt a happy feeling to know he came to see me at my own house! "Come in."

He walked in, I watched as he grabbed my make-up table chair and move it next to my bed. He sat down.

"Hello." He said.

"Hi." I couldn't help but smile. 

He looked at me for a moment. "You have something on your mind." He stated it as a fact.

"Uhm.. yeah." 

"What is it?'

"Well, I have to decide what to do about the.. baby. Get an abortion, An adoption, or keep it. I don't know what to do, can you help me?"

He thought for a moment. "A little. Don't get an abortion, you'll never forgive yourself. Stick to adoption or keeping it."

I was surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Because your not that kind of girl, and when you said abortion I saw this glimmer of denial in your eyes."

I smiled. "Okay, what about adoption or keep?"

He smiled back. "That one, you have to choose. It's your life, not mine."

I nodded, even though I wished he would help me decide. 

He looked around my colorful room. "I love your room. It looks like, well..."

"A rainbow threw up on it?" I asked with a laugh.

He laughed with me. "Yeah."

"I need to redo it."

"No you don't, I like it."

"But don't you think it looks... childish?"

"No." He grabbed a statue of hello kitty I had on my nightstand and looked at it. "I think this room fits you."

I looked around again, realizing how organized I was. 

There was a small knock and my mom entered carring something. 

Zach got up. "Should I give you some privacy?" He asked my mom.

"No, I want you to stay." She replied to him. She came up to me and handed me the the thing she carried.

It was a small box nicely wrapped in neon yellow wrapping paper. I looked up at her.

"It's just a gift I wanted to get you." She told me.

"Thanks." I replied as I pulled off the paper. Once it was off I came to the small brown box. I opened it and inside was a necklace. It was a heart and inside the heard in perfect cursive letters was the word "Hope."

I felt tears swell up in my eyes. I looked up at my mom who was watching me, I scooted over to her and gave her a big hug.

"Your welcome sweetheart. I saw that, and I knew I had to get it for you. Now, one more thing." She told me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Are you going to school tomorrow?" 

I froze for a moment. I had totally forgot about school. "Depends.... what is tomorrow?"

"It is Tuesday, I think you should really go back to school. Julia refuses to go without you."

"Okay I'll go." I told her.

She got up, and started leaving, but half way out the door she turned back with a smile. "Oh yeah Zach has something to tell to." With that she left closing my door behind her.

I turned back towards Zach, and handed him the necklace so he could put it on me. After it was on I looked at him. "What do you have to tell me?"

"It was suppose to be a surprise." He said with a chuckle. "Then I guess I shouldn't have told your mom."

"What is it?"

He sighed. "I knew going back to school would hard for you, and I know everything is easier on you when I'm around, but I'm home schooled."

"Uh huh."

"So I switched to your school and teachers happen to like me because I got us all the same classes."

I stared at him, then hugged him. He took a moment then hugged me back. I pulled back. "Zach! You did that for me?"

"Of course." He smiled.

I smiled back and watched as he read a text. 

"I'm sorry, but I just got a text from my dad saying I have to be home since it's late and I'm starting at a new school tomorrow." He said getting up.

"Thanks again." I told him.

He nodded and left. 

I then got into my PJ's and decided it was time for bed.