Pregnant At Sixteen

Reed - Choices and Decisions II

As soon as I pull up in the parking lot I notice Isla's ride. It's a 2016 red Hyundai that she got for her birthday; I thought she had sold it before leaving because I thought she was leaving for good, seeing it here shows that I was wrong. I park my car, turn the engine off and move to the small coffee shop. It used to be one my favourite hang-out spots but that was before everything changed; now it's just another spot to hang.

Before I exit the car, I stop for a second and take a few deep breaths. I felt confident on the ride over here but now that I am here I'm starting to feel a lot less confident. I don't know if it's because I was a bit angry with Reena when I left but now the anger and frustration is gone and well, I honestly don't think that this is a clever idea. I know for a fact, because I thought about it, that if Reena came to see an ex-boyfriend behind my back I would not feel happy about it.

In fact, I would be jealous. Just thinking about it right now, Reena in the company of someone she used to have feelings for is making me mad.

Okay, I definitely can't do this.

I promise I would never hurt her and I won't break that promise.
I re-start the engine and start backing out of the drive-way when I see someone running up to my car. Isla. She was in her car all along, watching me.

She knocks on the glass and I sigh, whining it down.

"I'm going home Isla. Whatever you have to say, send it in a text."
I begin to whine it back up but she stops me,
"Wait Max. Please!"

Her eyes are wild and she seems scared, "Isla, please. I have to get back home, Reena..."

"I was pregnant!" She says it so quickly that I stop dead and stare at her, like I've never seen her in my life.

"You were pregnant?"

She bites her lip as a tear slithers down her face and she nods, "Can we talk please?"

Apart of me wants to go but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in knowing how she was pregnant. I nod, park the car and get out. She leads me to the coffee shop, and we go in and find a seat. She orders us both mochaccinos and when the waitress delivers them to the table I finally find my voice to speak.

"You were pregnant?" She nods again. "And that's why you left?"

She nods again and I fall silent, staring at the girl before me like it's the first time I'm actually seeing her. After a long minute, she takes a sip of her mochaccinos and looks at me.

"I found out I was pregnant after that night in your car. At first, I was scared, hell I was petrified. How would I ever explain to my parents that I was pregnant, they didn't even know I was having sex. Unprotected sex at that. I knew they were going to be so disappointed. My dad mostly, because that would only destroy his perfect and clean family image. I'm the last child of five, everyone else has a fantastic job and they're successful and I would be the 'Teen Mom'."

She clears her throat and looks down, "Then there was everything else. I couldn't raise a child. I was too young; I still am for god's sake!"

She giggles a little and takes another long sip. "You know I wanted to travel before even going to college, having a child was only going to hinder that, and I know there was no way you were ready for one either. We both had our futures ahead of us and I knew this was just going to be a bump in the road."

Isla looks up at me and stares for a long minute, "I really wanted to tell you Max, but before I could my mom found out. The morning sickness gave me away and I could never lie to my mother."

Her head falls, "Then she told my Dad and the next thing I knew we were packing to go to Europe, France at that. The day I broke it off with you, I had to. My dad told me, I had to and I did."