Chapter 5

A few days later, I was in the bathroom peeing on a stick just before school. I mean, technically it was called a pregnancy test, but whatever.

I had even bothered to spend the money on one of those pregnancy tests that were always on commercials. You know"First Response" or whatever the brand name was, so I wouldn't have to wait to take the test.

I brushed my teeth as I waited for the results, which, of course were positive.

I sarcastically fake cried to myself. "Oh noes, I'm pregnant," I murmured. "I think I'll go cry about how it's going to ruin my life. Waa. Or not."

I stuffed the pregnancy test into my little trash can and finished getting ready.

"So?" Lena asked when I got to school, "Did it work?"

I raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm, "Yep. I'm pregnant."

"Shit," Lena said loudly, "Great! Cool. And you feel fine, right?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied. "I don't feel any different."

Lena reached over and patted my stomach. "Gosh, it's going to be weird when it's all beachball-y. I wonder if you're going to have a boy or a girl," she chattered.

"What does it matter?" I asked flatly, "I'm giving it up for adoption."

"Oh, right." Lena frowned. "I guess you were right. You really are unattached."

"Why would I be?" I asked, "I'm just doing it for a project."

Seth passed by in the hallway. He looked like he was actually going to talk to me, but my eyes flicked away from him quickly in favor of looking at Lena. So I was avoiding him. So what.

"See you," she said, as we reached my first period class.

"Bye," I replied, pushing open the door.

I plopped my stuff down in the back and sat tiredly. Stupid early hours of school.

The teacher came in a moment later, a boy with her. A very cute boy.

"Everybody, this is Mark. He's new, so make him feel welcome," the teacher told us. "Sit anywhere you like, Mark."

I watched with great interest as he scanned the room, then flicked back his blonde hair. I thought I heard Paige and a few of her friends sigh.

I thought for sure he would sit near them until I "accidentally" pushed over my textbook onto the floor.

He came over and I immediately smelled the scent of male. Not a bad male scent though. More like the smell of a guy who knew how to use just the right amount of cologne.

"Here," Mark said, depositing my book onto my desk.

"Thanks," I murmured. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," he replied. Then, miracle of miracles, he sat at the desk next to mine. "I just figured that if you were pushing the book off your desk for attention, you must be pretty desperate for someone to sit here."

"Hey!" I defended lightly, even though I felt like laughing. "I'm not desperate, I just..." My voice trailed off.

"Right," Mark deadpanned, and I knew I was going to like this kid. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"You too," I replied, my voice at a normal tone.

"Now, why would you be sitting here all by yourself when you could be over where people are?" He asked.

I groaned. "Unfortunately, I don't really like people who's voices reach over 100 wafts. Grates on my eardrums a little. But feel free to sit over there, if you want. You look just their type."

Good job Cassie. You're supposed to be impressing him, not insulting everyone.

But Mark nodded. "I get your point. Why would I want to sit with a bunch of non-intellectual fools when I could be here?"

This time I blushed, but I handled myself. "My name's Cassie," I told him, holding out my hand.

"Come on," he said, "Handshakes are boring. I do hugs."

And then, he got up and gave me a hug. "Good to meet you, Miss Cassie."

After I'd found out that I was pregnant, my life basically returned to normal for about two weeks. The pregnancy wasn't showing at all, so no one knew or said anything. I took note of that for the project, feeling like it would be important.

Mark, Lena, her boyfriend Bryce and I eventually formed a little group at lunch. I felt good for my friend; apparently she had changed him so much that he wanted to hang out with her rather than his popular friends. Like Seth.

But, I was eating my chicken wrap at lunch when the first morning sickness hit. I somehow managed to make it to the bathroom and do my thing on time instead of puking all over the lunch table.

When I came back, neither Bruce nor Mark seemed concerned. But Lena mouthed at me, "Pregancy?" And I nodded in response. I took out a small notebook and made a note about it. Then, after a thought, I scribbled down the bloating feeling I'd had for the past few days. Hey, as I'd said, you never knew what would be important.

I had to keep up my facade for Mr. Everett's class, the project I was supposedly doing. It was pretty easy at first, seeing as it was the beginning of the year he didn't check on everyone's stuff too much because we had actual class work to do in class.

And in sex-ed, I mean, Health class, we had finally moved past pregnancy and were going into regular old hygiene.

All of this happened within a 2 week period. 2 weeks pregnant, one month of school down in all, and I was fine.

But after I threw up that day, I knew I needed to tell my father about the pregnancy. I knew I was going to tell him about the project, but I didn't know if I was going to act like it was an accident at first to see his reaction. I decided to play it by ear.

"Daddy?" I said when I got home from school that day.

"In my room, pumpkin," he called, and an unexpected wave of nerves washed over me.

Suddenly, I realized I knew what any other pregnant teenage girl in the universe must've been feeling when they had to tell their parents.

I made a mental note to put it in the project.

"Hi dad," I said, creeping softly into his room. I smiled; he was sitting on his bed, legs crossed, a laptop on his lap, looking like a teenager.

"Sit, Cas," he told me, "Let me talk to my favorite daughter. How was school?"

"Um," I said, "Good. Uh, daddy, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" He glanced up and looked at me.

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. Then I chastised myself; this wasn't real. It was for a school project, and I was going to tell him that in a second.

"I'm pregnant," I said, my eyes dropping to my lap. I suddenly wished my mother were here, even though I didn't know her, because telling something like that to your dad is extremely awkward.

I looked up to watch his reaction. He was frantically typing something into his laptop.

"Dad," I said, "Did you hear-"

"Yes, yes," he muttered, "Give me a second. I'm just looking up the school website to find this boy and kill him."

"No," I said quickly, knowing my father was basically serious, "Don't do that. I can explain."

"Look, honey. I know you want to protect this boy but when he gets you pregnant..." he said and trailed off to take a drink of Sprite.

"It was on purpose," I said quickly.

My dad choked on the drink of soda and spent at least a full minute coughing. "What.. Does that... Mean?" He asked in between coughs.

"Um... Well," I started carefully. Shoot. This whole project was starting to sound a lot more stupid when I actually had to explain it to someone, "It's for school."

"Is it for health class?" he asked, "Instead of giving you a plastic doll they are making you actually become pregnant to see what it's like?" He looked horrified at the prospect.

I laughed, "No, Dad. That's ridiculous. Can I just explain without you interrupting me?"

He nodded slowly, taking deep breaths. "Okay, go."

"So..." I started, "I, uh, always thought that there was always this huge deal over teen pregnancies, right? When it's not that big of a deal. And it's not fair that a girl who did it on accident has to get called names and all of that. So, for the project, I decided to see the effects of my pregnancy. It's purely for a social experiment, I'm not getting attached to the kid or the guy at a-"

"What?" Dad interrupts. "You actually had sex for this? I thought that maybe you went to a sperm bank or something? I thought I had to wait at least a few more years for this problem to come up."

"Anyway," I continued, "You don't have to worry about anything because I'm not going to get attached. I'm going to have the baby, and give it up for adoption. Okay? I don't even like explaining it, it makes it seem like a bigger deal than it is."

I gave my dad a second to take it in.

"Adoption?" He said finally, "Honey, are you sure?"

"Yep," I said, wondering why he cared about that part, of everything.

"Sweetie, it might be harder than you think..." He started, but then shook his head. "Never mind. Do whatever you want."

"So you're not mad?" I asked carefully.

He sighed, "I guess not," he replied helplessly. "I mean, I guess I can't stop you... And you seem to know what you're doing..."

"Cool," I said, smiling. "Look, I'm sorry to spring it on you like this. But this project could really help."

He nodded slowly as I backed out of the room and closed the door.

Well, now that that was over-

I clapped my hand over my mouth and ran to the bathroom.

Hey guys, guess what?! Her dad, apparently, is a horrible parent. I mean, who just says "Oh yeah, you seem responsible, do the project." Like father, like daughter.

I know, another filler chapter. Sorry.

But! There will be some Seth stuff in the next chapter! So, yeah.

I know some of you knew she was going to meet a guy. But I can't leave it as simple as that, can I? Oh, it'll seem that way at first…