Bridgette Evans felt like her world had been flipped upside down when she saw those two pink lines on the pregnancy test. Her heart sank as her jerk of a boyfriend rejected her, leaving her feeling lost and alone. How was she going to navigate this...
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I couldn't believe it. I was pregnant. Me, a high school senior, with a baby on the way. I had stolen the pregnancy test from my mom's room, and now I was faced with the reality of my situation. Jake was the last person I had been with, but it was all a drunken mistake. He was my caring boyfriend, but how would he react to this news? And my family...how would they take it?
I sat on the toilet seat, tears streaming down my face. I never thought this would happen to me. I was just a teenager, trying to navigate my way through high school and now I was faced with the biggest challenge of my life. I didn't know what to do or who to turn to.
I muttered a curse as I mustered up the courage to leave the bathroom. I didn't want anyone in my family to know that I had taken a pregnancy test, so I discreetly carried it with me, putting on a fake smile as my little sister Claudia came up to me. She was a pain sometimes, but I knew she cared about me.
"Bridgette, mom said she's going to get groceries," Claudia said, studying my expression closely. I quickly hid the test from her view. She was only 8 years old, she wouldn't understand what it was anyway.
I sighed. Ever since dad walked out on us for some other woman three years ago, mom's been drowning her sorrows in shopping sprees and spontaneous outings. It's like she's trying to fill the void he left behind, but all it's doing is pushing her further away from us. Home just doesn't feel the same without her around.
She was always pulling the "Make dinner, Bridgette, I'm coming home late" or "Bridgette, the bathroom faucet's busted, find the manual on the coffee table and fix it, I'll be MIA for a while."
And that's how I became a faucet-fixing genius after spending what felt like an eternity decoding a manual written in Chinese! It was like a crash course in plumbing, courtesy of Mom's never-ending to-do list.
"What's that?" Claudia's voice snapped me out of my daze, her raised eyebrow shooting me a look that only she could pull off. I didn't even know how she managed to raise just one eyebrow like that.
I stammered out a lie, "Uh, well, it's a surprise..." I bit my lower lip nervously. It was definitely a surprise, that's for sure.
Claudia squealed with excitement, "Ooo... What is it? I promise not to tell anyone." I couldn't help but roll my eyes internally. Even if I wasn't pregnant and told Claudia another secret, she'd still blab it at the dinner table where everyone was seated. "Sorry, Audie, a secret's a secret," I replied with a frail smile, knowing full well that Claudia's promise meant nothing.
I shuffled past Claudia, feeling heavy before slamming my bedroom door shut and locking it. I flopped onto my bed, tears streaming down my face as I tried to process the news. A baby? Inside of me? It felt like my whole world was crashing down around me.
