Chapter 2

Jimmy pulled away and checked his cell phone as he turned the corner. He had a message from Vinny.

"You on your way yet?"

Without taking his eyes off the road for more than a second, Jimmy scrolled through the automatic messages and sent "yes". Within ten minutes he pulled up outside of Tony's Tires and More. He got out as a husky man came walking out of the garage. He stood at the entrance and folded his arms across his chest.

"About time you showed up. Did you have fun dropping your girlfriend off at kindergarten?" Vinny said laughing as Jimmy got to the door. They both walked in as Jimmy grabbed his work shirt from the hook on the wall and put it on over his white tanktop.

"You're an arse, I hope ya know." Jimmy said trying not to laugh. "She's almost a high school graduate." He said, defensively.

"And how old are you again?" Vinny asked, mockingly.

"If you must know, I'll be twenty two on October the thirty-first." Jimmy said as he picked up his wrench set. "Now, can we work, or are you going to just stand there jabbering on about my social life all day?"

Jimmy walked to the Camaro that was in the back of the garage.

"All I'm saying is America ain't like Ireland, Jimmy. You can't just date whoever you want. You can get in trouble for being with this chick." Vinny said, picking up the yellow hood.

"She wouldn't get me in trouble. Sandra's different than all the others." Jimmy began loosening some bolts.

"She wouldn't be the one that got you in trouble." Vinny said as he leaned in to pull a part out. "Just be careful man. I don't want to see you getting shipped back to Ireland."

Jimmy didn't say anything else. He submerged himself into his work for the rest of the day trying to think of nothing else.

Sandra fidgeted at her desk. She had all her supplies organized the way she liked them. She had her AP Calculus book opened to the lesson that was scheduled for the day with her notebook on the right side of the desk slightly overlapping her book. She had her pencil and pen at the top of the desk and her calculator on the left hand side of her book.

She took a deep breath and looked around as the class began filling up. Mr. Glarvin was the last person in, as usual. He shut the door behind him and immediately began his lesson. He got to the front of the classroom and began writing on the dry erase board that stretched across the wall.

"Today, we're going to learn some new formulas." He began writing a new formula on the board as Sandra gagged. Her hand shot to her mouth, but the whole class was staring at her.

"Are you alright, Sandra?" Mr. Glarvin asked, worried. She nodded her head. As he turned around to finish writing his formula, Sandra could feel her stomach turning again. She jumped up from her desk and scrambled out of the room.

Sandra went to the bathroom and threw up three times. She sat on the floor in front of the toilet. She didn't know how long she was in there. Class wasn't over because the bell hadn't gone off yet. The door swung open and slammed shut. She smiled when she heard a friendly voice.

"Are you okay?" It was the new student from France.

"Yes, I think I'm alright. Just way too embarrassed to go back to class." Sandra opened the stall door. Since she had gotten here, Sandra often found herself jealous of her. The new French girl was arguably one of the prettiest girls in the whole school. She had short dark brown hair that was naturally straight and smooth and she had grayish blue eyes.

"You're Sandra right?" The girl asked, sitting down in front of Sandra.

"Yes, I'm sorry, what's your name again?" Sandra asked, feeling rude.

"Imene," she started, before clarifying. "Pronounced, eeh men. Everyone I've met so far has a problem saying it."

"Nice to formally meet you, Imene." Sandra held her hand out. "After sitting next to you for almost a month." She laughed as Imene smiled and took her hand.

"So I am guessing you're pregnant?" Imene said, trying her best to overcome her French accent.

"That obvious, huh?" Sandra asked, letting a small laugh out.

"Don't worry. I told the class you went out for sushi last night and you think you got a bad piece." Imene said standing up. She held her hand out to help Sandra up.

"Thank you so much." Sandra said, taking her hand.

Sandra walked over to the sinks and rinsed her mouth out at least five times.

"Here." Imene said, handing Sandra a piece of mint gum. "Now, let's get back to class before the class realizes I'm lying!" Imene pulled Sandra out of the bathroom.

As she walked into the class, she felt everyone's eyes burning into her.

It was as if they knew all her secrets just by looking at her. She kept her gaze low and tried to sink into her chair. She hoped if she felt invisible she could be invisible. The only problem was she couldn't feel invisible when half the class wouldn't stop staring at her.

Imene handed her a paper and Sandra quickly realized it was the notes from the class. She flashed her a grateful smile and tried to pay attention to the rest of the lesson. Unfortunately, all she could think about was everything she didn't want to. Her mind wandered to when she told her parents.

It was the day before the first day of school. Sandra walked into her parents room and saw her mom laying alone on the bed. Sandra went and laid on her side beside her. She focused on the TV, trying not to seem too obvious. She wanted to tell her mom but was scared. She could feel her hands shaking, so she tucked them between her knees and curled up a little. She tilted her head up to look at her mom.

"Mom..." Sandra started.

"Yes?" Her mom responded, not taking her eyes off the TV.

Sandra panicked. She couldn't tell her yet.

"Here's the remote. I was laying on it." She said, handing her mom the remote.

"Thanks." Her mom said looking at her suspiciously.

After a few moments, Sandra couldn't take the tension.

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out, trying to keep herself from crying. Her whole body was shaking. After about a minute of silence Sandra said, "Mom?"

She looked at her mom and realized she was crying.

"I really thought you were smarter, Sandra." Her mom said. "You really must be the dumbest smart person I know."

She began to get louder and Sandra's dad came in and asked what was going on.

"Ask your daughter." Her mom said walking out of the room. She slammed the bathroom door. Sandra's father narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm pregnant." Sandra almost whispered.

"How could you be so stupid?" He yelled at her.

Sandra got up and went back to her bedroom. Her dad stopped yelling at her and was now trying to calm her mom down. Sandra lay down in bed and stuffed her face into the pillow. The tears were streaming out of her eyes now. She rolled over and held the pillow over her face until she couldn't breathe. She wanted to suffocate herself. Her lungs were screaming for air and she didn't want to give them any.

She heard someone come into the room, but she ignored it. They sat on the edge of the bed and took the pillow out of her hands. It was her mom. The front door slammed shut followed by the roaring of a car's engine. Her mom wiped the last evidence of tears from her face before speaking.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked, trying not to sniffle.

"I don't know." Sandra answered.

"Well, I don't want to tell you to get an abortion because I don't want you to feel like the baby wouldn't be welcome here if you ever decided to keep it." Her mom said calmly.

"So don't." Sandra said without looking at her mom.

Her mom sat there for a moment, staring at Sandra. Sandra heard her take a breath as if she were trying not to cry. Her mom got up and walked briskly out of the room. Sandra put on her head phones and listened to her Linkin Park CD until she fell asleep.

Sandra woke up and it wasn't even dinner time yet. She looked at her phone and it was only four in the afternoon. Her mom came in and threw the cordless phone at her.

"Start calling clinics to make an appointment for an abortion." Her mom said coldly before walking out. She slammed the door behind her.

Sandra's stomach felt like it was being tied in knots. She had been blindsided by the one person she hadn't expected, the one person who seemed to have been slightly on her side. She didn't know what to do. She stared at the phone trying not to cry again. Her mom came back in.

"Have you called anyone?" She asked almost without emotion.

"I don't know any numbers." Sandra sniffled.

"Here." Her mom said handing her a list of numbers.

Sandra tried calling the first one, but they were already closed for the day.

"I think they're all going to be closed at this time." Sandra said, trying not to sound too happy.

"Try again tomorrow after school then." Her mom said snatching the phone out of her hand. "Go eat. Dinner's on the table."

Sandra was jolted back to reality when Imene elbowed her.

"So using this formula, Sandra, what is the function of eighty-two?" Mr. Glarvin asked, waiting patiently for an answer. Sandra hesitated trying to figure it out quickly in her head, but knew it would be impossible to do all the work in her head. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, she was saved by the bell.

"Okay class, remember to do all the problems on page one hundred fifty-seven. Have a good day!" He said as everyone pushed their way into the hallway. Almost immediately, Stacey was walking beside her.