Unfit to be a mother

Unfit to be a Mother: 11

Chapter 11

            “I can’t do this,” I moaned, hitting my head against the dashboard. “I can’t go in there.”

            “Jenna, get out of the car.” Jeremy nudged my shoulder. Since he had another two days before he took off for college, he was in charge of driving me to my first day of school.

            “Why couldn’t he have sent me to some pregnant teen institution?”

            “Because you begged to go here.”

            I groaned loudly and hugged my baby bump. Thing 1 made it noticeable. (In case you’re wondering, I did name her, for Dad’s sake. But I would continue to call her Thing 1.) My backpack next to my feet smelled good. Dad forced me to take a packed lunch, says school lunches wouldn’t give me the nutrients I needed. You would think he was a doctor instead of a lawyer. God know he knew enough to be both.

            “That was stupid,” I muttered.

            “You know what, short stuff? I’ll go in with you.” He cut the engine and opened the door. A few seconds later, my door swung open. “Come on,” He took my arm and pulled me out. “Let’s go.”

            I could feel the stares—on my back, on my brother, on my bump. “Jeremy, please.” I whimpered. I hated feeling weak, but this was one of those moments where I couldn’t help but use the sympathy card to try to get out of something. I loved attention, but I hated stares. Stares of disbelief, stares of hatred, stares in general.

            “Nope, you’re going to school, Kiddo. Remember that time when I convinced mom to dye my hair?” I laughed. Of course I did. The blue haired Jeremy looked hilarious. I think we still have pictures. “It’s like that. I begged and begged until I got it. And when I finally got it, I didn’t want it anymore. But I still had to live with it because she refused to let me change it back.”

            I nodded, “So I have no choice but to face the masses and deal with it? And it’s a little too late to go back to being a non-pregnant Jenna,” I joked.

            “If only you could go back to the night he got you pregnant.” He slung his arm around my shoulder. “But then again, you’d still be living with mom and her bastard of a husband.”

            “Very true, and I never would’ve had a reunion with my dear, older brother.” I grinned at him. “Aha! Guess who you get to see today?”

            “Who?”

            “Eileen Brooks,” I laughed rudely as he frowned.

            “Why would I want to see her?”

            “Because she was in love with you in fifth grade.”

            “Oh god,” He pushed me away. “I don’t claim you anymore.”

            “I don’t know if I want to claim you either. No doubt all the teachers are going to pin me as a trouble maker just like you were.”

            “Jenna,” He sighed. “You’re five months pregnant with the last name of Marks. Of course they will pin you as a trouble maker.”

            “You, my brother, are just plain rude.” I walked into the main office and waited at the desk for the secretary to appear. Everybody got their schedules in the mail, but since it never occurred to Dad that he might want to change my mailing address, I never got it. The lady came out and started to smile when she saw me standing there but jumped back when she saw Jeremy beside me.