“What’s wrong with Ariel? She’s been crying a lot lately…” “Yeah I know, I heard her mom got beat up again…poor girl.”
“I feel so bad for her, everybody knows about her drunken deadbeat dad and her weak mom; she couldn’t leave because of her mom…if I were her I would’ve left that shitty house a long time ago”
“I know…I still can’t believe she turned down a scholarship to Harvard! That was her ticket to a better life, maybe she like living with her deadbeat dad!”
Ella kicked the bathroom door open and pointed her fingers at the girls standing in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Stop wasting time gossiping and go study!” The girls immediately ran out the moment Ella stepped inside the room.
“Ariel…I know you’re in here. Are you going to hide forever?” Ella walked to each stall and looked underneath. She stopped at the last stall and leaned against the door. She knew her friend was inside.
“Ariel!The whole school is talking about you! Open the door right now and tell me what the problem is!” Ella demanded her eye brows furrowed with worry lines. The girl did not answer; the only sound coming from the inside was low agonizing sobs. Ella realized screaming at her best friend was the wrong approach. She pressed her hands on the bathroom door and whispered gently,
“I’m sorry Ariel, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now…just the thought of it…I’m sorry okay? Please open the door and let me see you…” Ella pleaded. Still now answer. Ella glanced at her watch, school was almost over.
“Ariel…please talk to me.” Ella knocked on the door and waited. Slowly the crying ceased and Ella back away from the door waiting for her friend to come out.
“Jiro…gave me a ring…today…he wanted me to be his girl” Ariel whispered her voice so dry from crying Ella had to press her ear to the door to hear.
“After waiting for this moment for so long, dreaming and hoping that he would feel the same about me…it’s too late now.” Ella sighed, what bad timing.
“Open the door please.”
The door finally opened and Ella peered down at her friend shaking her head at the pitiful sight before her. Ariel sat on top of the toilet seat her arms wrapped around her knees, eyes red and puffy from crying.
Ella pulled her friend up and hugged her. She felt her eyes sting and knew she was in danger of crying. Ariel had waited for Jiro for so long… since the day he gave her a dummy boyfriend. All the girls laughed when Jiro gave Ariel a dummy doll and told her it was her boyfriend. But Ariel loved the doll…she secretly called him Jiro.
“So that blockhead finally realizes how much you mean to him? What took him so long?” Ella wanted to hit Jiro on the head for being so slow.
“You’re sad because of the baby right?…let’s go talk to the nurse…we should look at all the options available before making a decision. What do you think?” Ella asked.
“I’m keeping this baby Ella.” Ariel said her voice filled with determination. Looking at her friend’s face, Ella knew Ariel did not just decided to keep the baby overnight…it was a decision made after many sleepless nights. She nodded and squeezed her friend’s hand in support and comfort.
“Give this back to Jiro for me Ella, and tell him I’m sorry.” Ariel handed Ella the box with the couple rings.
“Ariel…”
“Please Ella; tell him I’m really really sorry.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ariel stared blindly out the window, her expression so forlorn the nurse stopped talking and waited for the girl to take notice of her presence. After a long silence, the nurse finally cleared her throat.
“I’m sorry Ms. Han…” Ariel muttered embarrassed. She quickly straightened up in the chair.
“I haven’t seen you in ages…are you feeling sick?” Ms. Han asked concern. Ariel shook her head and lowered her eyes.
“I…What…if…a girl is pregnant at a very young age…what are some of the available options?” Ariel asked avoiding eye contact with the nurse.
“Well, there are different options available…is she absolutely positive she is pregnant?” Ms. Han asked watching Ariel’s expression carefully. Ariel nodded, her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
“She can get married to the baby’s father, she can get an abortion, she can attend an all girls school for pregnant teens, and or she can continue her education in the home…it’s what we call home study.” Ms. Han explained. Ariel listened closely as if she was taking note of the different options. Ms. Han quickly glanced at the girl’s stomach.
“All the options I shared with you need your parent’s support…have you…?” Ms. Han started to ask but Ariel jumped up from the chair and shouted,
“It’s not me!” but she knew the nurse did not believe her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Who’s the mother fucker that knocked you up?!” The man grabbed Ariel by the throat and yanked her off the chair. Ariel saw her mother in the corner crying, her face already bruised black and blue.
“I don’t know.” She replied for the hundredth time. Her father wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed hard. For a brief second Ariel thought she was going to die, she couldn’t breath and everything suddenly became blurry. The hands around her throat finally loosen but without time to breath she was thrown against the wall. Her father lifted her mother up from the floor and pulled her up by the hair so that they were face to face. He turned to Ariel and snarled,
“Who’s the damn fuck that knocked you up!?”
“I don’t know.” She whispered and winced when her father punched her mother hard on the stomach.
“Who is he?” He asked again. Ariel couldn’t answer. Her heart was breaking staring at the blood dripping from her mother’s face.
The man kicked her mother across the room and walked furiously toward Ariel. He suddenly stopped midway and turned toward the kitchen. Ariel’s mom lifted her head and begged her daughter,
“Run away! Please go!” Ariel couldn’t move, her body felt numb. She wanted to scream but her body felt like it was frozen in ice. She saw her father walked back in the room with a butcher’s knife.
“You deserve to die for raising such a whore of a daughter, how many damn punks did she fuck that she can’t even remember who got her pregnant?!” Ariel saw everything in slow motion, her father walking with the butcher knife in position and her mother helpless on the floor. Mom’s going to die! Mom’s going to die and it’s because of me!
The man raised the knife in the air and plunged down without hesitation. Ariel opened her mouth and screamed,
“JOE CHENG! The baby’s daddy is…Joe Cheng!”
