The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Aftermath

Chapter Five

I willed for sleep to come, but it did not.

I couldn't believe this. This was my fresh start. My new beginning, in the city of dreams. And I repeated the same mistake I made more than four years ago.

We got careless. The condom ripped, maybe we weren't wearing one, I couldn't remember. I'd missed a couple of pills, and now I was going to have another baby.

I needed to rehearse what I was going to say. Who was I going to see first? My mom, or my dad and Kathleen, or even Ricky?

My mom. I'd talk to my mom first.

Just as I was thinking of what I could say, a strong wave of nausea hit me. I unbuckled my seat belt and ran to the airplane bathroom. I threw up my breakfast.

"Great," I mumbled. I washed my hands and fixed my hair, then headed back out to my seat. There was no husband or boyfriend there to hold my hair back and comfort me. It reminded me that I was doing this all alone.

And after hours of fretting and being anxious, our plane landed. I left the airport, and suddenly realized I didn't have a car. I sold it after I moved to New York. I called mom on my cell.

"Hey Amy!" my mom answered cheerfully on the third ring.

"Hey," I said, trying to match the cheer in my mom's voice.

"I came back home early. Do you mind picking me up at the airport?"

"No problem Amy. See you then!" She said, and then ended the call.

Thankfully the airport was pretty close to Palm Springs, and I wouldn't have to wait too long.

I see my mother's car pull up and I hop in on the passengers side. "What made you decide to come home early?" She asks. "Just missed you," I say, plastering on a smile.

We just a catch up. Robbie, her job, my new friends, classes, trivial stuff like that. And the whole time I just want to blurt out the real reason I came back. That I'm having a baby.

I can't just pretend like this is not happening. It is. And I'm going to need to tell my family.

We pull up to her house and I sit down on the couch. Anne makes herself busy in the kitchen. I decide this is the time.

"Mom, can you come over here for a sec," I call out. She walks in. "There's something I wouldn't to talk to you about."

"Me too, Amy," she says. "I just wanted to say how proud of you I am. For following your dream and living in New York and making the right decision for you and John. You shouldn't feel obligated to be with Ricky just because you have a son. You'll always have to co-exist, yes but you are you're own person. And I am so proud."

Tears were streaming down my face. "Mom," I say, choking back sobs. "I'm pregnant."

I see the disbelief, the anger, the sadness that I ruined my life, and then the sympathy. She sits down beside me, strokes my hair, and whispers comforting things.

But nothing can comfort me now. I'm pregnant. Really pregnant. My life was turning around, I was taking steps forward. This is setting my life a million steps back.

"Mom, I have to go. I need to tell Dad and and and Ricky," I choke out. I want them to hear it from me.

"My poor, poor Amy. How did this happen?" she asks.

"Sex?" I sob, reminding me of that time four years ago when I told her in the kitchen.

I take her car to my dad and Kathleen's.

"Hey Amy!" Kathleen greets me at the door. "Come in."

"George!" she calls upstairs.

"Aims!" He says when he sees me and engulfs me in a hug. "What are you doing back here?"

I decide it's time to tell him. Right here, right now.

"Kathleen could you give us a moment?"

"Of course," she answers me and exits the room.

"Dad," I can already feel the tears welling up in my eyes. "This isn't easy to say. But I have to. I'm- I'm preg-pregnant."

His face drains of all its color. "Oh no, you can't be. You can't be. You can't be."

"I really can," I cry.

"I need some time to cool down, to think, Amy can you leave? Can you please do that for me? I'll say something I regret."

"Alright, Dad," I reply.

And without another word, I open the door and walk out. Now it's time for the hardest confession. Harder than my mom and dad combined.

Ricky.