“How?? How could this happen??”
“Well, when a man lusts after a woman...”
“I’m not interested in the science. It barely even touched inside me!”
“For these creatures, their spermatozoa is very potent. Just a single swab is enough.”
“What do I do?”
“I wouldn’t worry. Women have been giving birth for millennia. It’s the long road to making that delivery you have to worry about. For starters, you can forget about getting any good night’s sleep. Get your naps when you can get them. Also, you’ll have to regulate your diet if you want your baby to be healthy.”
“What if I DON’T want my baby to be healthy? Hypothetically speaking.”
“You’ll have to talk to your parents about that. I’m just supposed to spout off helpful advice that you’re going to ignore. I can’t make you do anything, but in this case, you’re going to need outside help. A support group of your friends and relatives is your best bet.”
“Right, I’ll get right on that”, she said, still trying to figure a way to get out of this. “So, I guess I’ll be going now.”
“You can’t leave just yet. Not until the Doctor’s gotten a good look at you.”
“But you’ve already done all the prodding and testing and whatnot.”
“It’s bad form to leave without a second opinion.”
“Meaning... that there’s a fair chance that I MIGHT not be pregnant?”, she said with a smidgen of hope.
“Oh, you’re preggers for sure, no doubt about that. Just wait a few minutes. The Doctor should be along shortly.”
So she waited, and waited. She waited until one hour passed. Then two. “How much longer is it going to be?”
“I contacted him. He’s a busy man.”
“I’m BORED.”
“You could always do your homework?”
“That’s even MORE boring!!”
“Well, if you like, I could inform you of how to handle sudden bloating - ”
“I’ll study”, she said, cracking open a book and reading the material without really reading it.
“You know, there’s plenty of helpful material out there that you won’t find written in any book.”
“I don’t really want to think about any of that right now.”
“You can’t escape it forever. You’re going to have to face up to it, whether you like it or not.”
“I’ll talk about it with my family.” In truth, she had no desire to talk about her current situation with anyone, present company included. All she wanted was to push the thought as far away from her as possible, so she could go back to living a carefree life. The sooner this was resolved, the better. Right now, there was another impulse impeding her thought process that she was finding increasingly difficult to ignore.
“I need to go to the bathroom. Again.”
“You can’t. What if the Doctor comes while you’re gone?”
“Can’t you hold him until I come back?”
“I have no control over where he comes and goes.”
She cast a skeptical look. She peeked outside the hallway looking down the vast expanse where no souls could be seen in the distance. “Would he really be waiting for me to leave just so he could say he came and claim I wasn’t there because I didn’t respect his profession?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. Look, why don’t you pee in this chamber pot instead?”
Without hesitation, she unzipped her pants and pulled her undergarments down, squatting uncomfortably underneath the reflective bowl.
“As long as you’re in that position, we might as well double check”, the Nurse said, handing over a Pregnancy device.
The Girl held the device noncommittally, then held the stick against her flowing urine. Naturally, the test came back positive. And yet, even this result wasn’t considered enough to pass the Nurse’s requirements.
“That proves nothing. Despite its high probability rate, it’s not entirely conclusive. They’ve been wrong before.”
By now, the Girl was rightfully pissed. “That’s two for two. How much more proof do you need before you can write off whether I’m pregnant or not?!”
Just then, on the Nurse’s desk, a face showed up on her monitor, asking for her presence. But it wasn’t the Doctor, but rather, the Vice-Principal who showed up on the screen.
“Are you there? I’d like to discuss the young lady you’ve examined recently.”
“This is supposed to be a confidential place where students can feel free to reveal their diseases without fear of infringement.”
“Please. Privacy is an illusion. You know that. Have you reached a diagnosis yet?”
“I can’t say anything, other than that your suspicions are dead on.”
“I thought as much! Blasted immoral infants, always bringing property values down!”
“Anyways, the patient in question is still here.”
“Great, that saves me some time”, he said, not missing a beat. “Bring her ‘round. I have some choice words to say.”
The Girl stood in front of the monitor, not intimidated in the presence of a Vice-President who couldn’t bother to make his accusations in person.
“Now, I understand that you’ve gotten yourself knocked up against all recommendations of this school. As such, we feel it’s best that you don’t come back to this institution of higher learning for the duration of your... term.”
“Couldn’t you make an exception?”, she asked, putting up meek protest. Although she didn’t want to go to school, she also didn’t like being told what she couldn’t do either.
“We’re not obligated to accommodate you. Well, we could, but we don’t want to. Implementing odor-free zones would take up too much time to set up, occupy too much room, and send the wrong message.”
“That educating the undertroden is a priority?”
“That rewarding lascivious behavior would be encouraged. If we help you out, that would mean other women would have free license to have unprotected sex and take advantage of our generosity, free of consequence. We can’t have that.”
He continued on. “There’s also the question of the lingering stares such private booths would attract. You’d suck up all the attention in class just from your presence alone. That would only further add to your shame.”
“You’re wrong there. I wouldn’t be embarrassed at all.”
“Well, there’s no surprise there. We already know you’re shameless.”
“If it’s a question of cost,” she said, warming up to the subject, “then I wouldn’t mind paying out of my pocket.” She didn’t have enough personal funds, having recently burned through her savings, but still felt the need to make a convincing argument.
The Vice-Principal opened the contents of a personal folder lying on his desk. “I’ve been going through your records. Frankly speaking, your grades aren’t up to snuff. If you were a better student, that would be added incentive to keep you on. But as you are, you’re more of a liability than a benefit.”
Her face fell into a mask of resignation and passivity. “You’ve been wanting to get rid of me all this time, haven’t you? And you’ve finally got the perfect weapon against me.”
“Don’t oversell yourself. Until you started causing trouble, you hardly registered on my radar. You can just as easily continue your pitiful education within the confines of your home. Don’t bother coming back for your finals until your little problem’s taken care of.”
She threw up her hands in frustration, staring accusingly at the Nurse. “Great! I didn’t have to do all that homework after all! I studied all that crap for nothing!”
“Did you say something?” the Vice-Principal queried. “Why are you still here?”
“If I could interject,” the Nurse interrupted, “We’ve been waiting for a confirmed diagnosis from the Doctor, but he hasn’t come in yet.”
“I’ll put word through. He should be coming along shortly.” And then he logged off.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before,” the Girl said, disbelievingly.
She’d barely had time to cross her arms and roll her eyes at the unresponsive blank screen before the Clinic door opened. A man wearing a surgical mask came in out of breath, either from running, or from the Girl’s scent. He drew closer at the Girl, took a furtive look, poked her stomach with a solitary finger, then through a strangled voice, said, “Yeah, she’s pregnant alright.” Then ran out the door with nary another word.
“There we go. You can go home now.”
The Girl was still trying to process what just happened as she suddenly found herself outside the School grounds with no recollection of how she got there. Only the lingering smell of her cursed fetus gave proof that she’d actually experienced what she’d gone through. She checked her watch, and was surprised to find out that, despite the lengthy wait she’d endured, barely half an hour had passed.
Even though she’d meant to take her time by taking several detours, the trip home came sooner than she expected. Might as well get it over with.
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