17 & Pregnant [ORIGINAL VERSION}

Chapter 14

"Hello? ...Oh. Just  a sec." He looked at me with apologetic eyes, "I have to-"

"I know, I know. Go, go." I gestured for him to leave and he thanked me.

"Have a seat." I said to Manda and Ryan. She was looking really nervous today unlike her usually confident self. Ryan, on the other hand, seemed like a douche to me as always. They both sat down in a chair on either side of my bed.

They sat there silently. After a minute or so, I got irritated by the silence. "What do you want?" I asked rather rudely. I really didn't care.

Ryan took in a deep breath, let it out, then finally started speaking, "I wanted to tell you the truth about-"

"Oh, wait. I'm getting another contraption." I took deep breaths in and out. Amanda held my hand the whole time. Despite what's happened between us, we've always been really close. And helpful towards one another. Well, I seem to do more for her, but hey.

"Alright, I'm good now. Continue."

"Well, it's about Neil." He said. I looked at him, confused. "What about him?" I asked. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Why does he want to talk about my baby?

"He's not adopted. Well, not by me, anyway." Amanda said. I looked at her, and gasped, putting a hand over my heart, "You kidnapped him?!" She nodded, "Yes... I did..." Then she started to giggle. "I'm just joking, I didn't kidnap him."

"That's not funny, Manda." I told her. "Then you're really not going to like this. Neil is our birth child." Ryan said that and to me it was like he'd ripped off a bandage.

"What? I'm sorry, did you just say he's your birth child?" I asked. They both nodded. "Wait, what happened?" I asked, still not sure what I was hearing or that it should even make any sense. It wasn't making sense.

"Amanda and I are pretty active if you know what I mean." He said. I grimaced, "Unfortunately, I do."

"Anyway, when she told me she was pregnant the last thing I thought she could do was keep it. I mean, what would my parents think? Their reaction was unthinkable. I didn't want to be a father. Not yet, anyway. So, I suggested an abortion."

I opened my mouth to say something but he stopped me, "She insisted not to get one. One thing she said she'd never do. So, she carried the baby." He said. "Wait, that makes no sense. During most of my pregnancy, you were around." I said, still confused.

"Yeah. But, I was pregnant before you. Remember that year I'd gone to New York when you were in 11th grade? All those times after that when I said I was spending time with Ryan?" She asked. I thought about it and realised that it all made sense.

She said she was going to NY to tour and experience what it's like there. She also claimed she wanted to compare it to Toronto, where we live, since it's like the much larger version. My parents gave her a whole bunch of money. I didn't think much of it since it seemed like her to do that kind of thing.

Amanda looked at me and then continued the story, "I left because of the pregnancy. After I gave birth, Ryan insisted that I give him up for adoption. The name I'd decided on was Croy-Joseph. I called him CJ. Croy was short for-"

"Croyance; belief in French," I said. She nodded. "I really believed that, no matter what, everything was going to be okay. Hence, the name. So, for the first two months, I did my best to take care of him. That's why I wasn't at home a lot. When I wasn't with him, aunt Liz watched him for me."

"Aunt Elizabeth? I haven't seen her in like two years. How is she?" I asked. Our aunt Elizabeth is our dad's adopted sister. Our grandparents were visiting some foster homes as apart of their service work. They wanted to reach out to youth that needed help the most. When they saw her they thought she was the most remarkable kid at 7 years old. They felt she deserved a future full of opportunity, so they adopted her. This was before I was born and Amanda was 2. Aunt Liz is 27 now.