A/N: I'm sorry if the first few chapters are a little rushed. The main idea of the story is actually Amanda with her baby. It'll be less rushed after she has it. :)

Chapter 1

I danced around her room, singing to Britney Spears’ third album, Britney. The current song was Bombastic Love, and my favorite. The music blasted from my computer speakers, bouncing off my walls and making the room vibrate.

“Amanda Kathleen Lewis!” My mother barked from outside the door. “Turn that down now or you’ll be grounded until you’re forty!”

I sighed and turned off the music. I was sweaty as usual from thirty minutes of nothing but dancing. That was how I worked out.

I was fourteen years old, living in Ocean Views, California with my mother. We lived in a large house, ten feet from the beach. My father had split when my mother had told him that she was pregnant when she was sixteen and he was nineteen. At first, Mom had had a lot of struggles with me, but when she graduated high school, she went to college and became a lawyer.

My room was fully decorated. The walls were deep purple and the ceiling was royal blue. The floor was dark oak, and the doors to the closet and the hallway were blue. My curtains to the window that overlooked the front yard were black and white checked.

I had a day bed in the corner by the window with a purple bedspread, blue sheets, and a purple pillow. In the middle of the room was a fuzzy, blue rug. At the end of her bed was a purple trunk. By the hallway door was a dark oak dresser, and next to that was a matching desk with a Windows XP Professional computer. On her closet door was a full-length mirror with photos that I had taken lining the edges. In the center of the mirror, I had written with lipstick: DREAMLAND. There were large Christmas lights that lined the ceiling.

I sighed again and started singing one of my own songs that I had written. “You are the knife that I hold in my hand! Cut me until I bleed!”

At that, Mom entered. “Excuse me?” she asked, her eyes flaring.

“It’s just a song, Mommy.” I replied innocently, sitting on my bed and pulling a stuffed giraffe into my lap.

“Well don’t sing it anymore.” she scolded me. “I don’t want to hear you talk like that.” she was leaving when she paused. “By the way, Melissa called and she wants you to call her back.” she left.

I picked up the phone extension on my desk. I guess my music had been too loud for me to hear it. “Hello?”

“Mandy, you ready for school tomorrow?” Melissa squealed. Tomorrow would be our first day of high school, and boy was I ready. I had just turned fourteen and Melissa was fifteen. We’d met in kindergarten when we’d been reading partners and had been best friends ever since.

“Oh yeah.” I muttered tonelessly. I was just as excited as her, but I didn’t really show it.

“Something wrong?” Melissa asked. Without waiting for an answer she said, “Oh my gosh, I saw the cutest guy today. His name is Jason and he goes to our school!” she squealed.

I rolled my eyes. “Good for you.”

Melissa sighed loudly. “Mandy, I’m saying that you should totally go out with him. I already have a boyfriend, so I’m taken, but you’re totally free!”

“Gee, thanks.” I said, my voice dull.

She sighed again. “Amanda, you know what I mean. Can I come over so we can show each other what we’re going to wear tomorrow?”

“Fine.”

--

She came over about a half hour later with a gigantic duffel bag. My mom thought she was spending the night, so she gave me this big lecture on telling her first. When we assured her that we weren’t, she calmed down.

In my room, Melissa dumped all of her clothes on her bed. “What about this?” she asked, holding up a pink, spaghetti strap shirt and a blue, denim skirt.

“Perfect!” I squealed. Obviously, I was in a much better mood. I held up a brown denim jacket, a black spaghetti strap top, and brown jeans.

Melissa also squealed. “Awesome! Brown goes SO well with your hair!”

My hair was auburn, curly and shaggy. My eyes were dark blue and my skin was tanned from spending so much time at the beach.

I grinned and draped the clothes on my desk chair. “So…” I said after a silence. “Want to go down to the beach?”

--

The next day during Geometry, I tried hard to pay attention, but all Mr. Larson talked about was his likes and dislikes and what the rules were. And what a syllabus was. Talk about boring.

At lunch, Melissa and I sat together under the shade of a willow tree. We ate without really talking until she whispered, “Amanda! It’s Jason! That guy I told you about!”

I turned and saw a gorgeous guy with blonde, shaggy hair and green eyes. He looked and me and grinned. “JASON!” Melissa yelled. He laughed and started to walk over. “Hello ladies.” he winked.

“Jason, this is my best friend, Amanda Lewis. Amanda this is my brother’s best friend, Jason Anderson.”

“Melissa, quit harassing my friends.” Melissa’s brother, Nick walked over, laughing. “Hey, Mandy,” he winked and Melissa shuddered. “Nick, quit harassing my friend.”

Nick laughed. “Amanda are you coming to the big party at my house today?”

“Am I invited?” I asked, staring at my plate of fries.

“Of course.” Jason replied, sitting down next to me. “How can there be a party without such a cute girl like you?”

I felt myself turn red. “Um. Okay, I’ll go, but I have to go to class now, the bell will ring soon.” I grabbed my backpack and left, my cheeks still flaming.

--

Later, at the party, I lounged around by myself. Everyone was drinking alcohol. Even Melissa. She was absolutely drunk and was now making out on the couch with her boyfriend. Melissa and Nick’s parents were in New York on business for the week, so they had the house to themselves.

I looked up when Jason walked up to me. “Having fun?” he asked. I could smell beer in his breath and his words were slurred.

I ignored him and took a long drink from the punch. Then another and another. After about five, Jason and I had somehow wandered into the guest bedroom of the house. And we did what my mom had told me not to do until I was married.