Chapter 4
The Bitch that's Morning Sickness
Early the next morning, Kate was rolled out of bed by Eve, and told to get dressed, brush her hair and teeth, and get in her car quickly. At first, Kate looked at her mother like she'd lost her mind, then balled up under her covers with a defiant growl of "Bite me!" The moment Eve mentioned her appointment with the pregnancy doc though, Kate's eyes flew open, and she was in clothes and out the front door in less than ten minutes.
"Sorry 'bout that," Kate apologized in a thick, sleepy mumble as she flopped in the passenger seat of Eve's gunmetal Tahoe. "I totally forgot 'bout my doctor's appointment."
"You're lucky I remembered."
Yeah, I'm also lucky I have a mom that remembers I'm pregnant and doesn't try to belt me first chance she gets.
"Sure am," Kate said, answering to both her mom's comment and the thought zipping through her head.
She yanked the car door shut, and slumped in the front seat tiredly as Eve pulled the Tahoe out of the driveway, and onto the empty road. She felt so wiped right now. Was this how she was going to feel for the next nine months?
God, I hope not. That'll be the last thing I need.
With an exhausted yawn, Kate closed her eyes, and slept for the hour-long ride to downtown Chicago.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Kate...honey, wake up."
Kate jolted awake at the sound of Eve's voice. She remained still for a second, then stretched out her stiff arms and legs, looking out the windshield in confusion as she did.
"Ugh, where are we?" she groaned groggily. "We at the hospital?"
"See for yourself."
Through squinted eyes, Kate looked around through the windows; she noted that Eve had parked the Tahoe in a practically-empty lot, right beside a high-rising building with a sign that read 'Welcome to Northwestern Memorial Hospital of Chicago' in big blue letters.
So, we are here.
"Jeez, that was quick. Feels like we left five minutes ago."
"Sleep'll do that to you, cakes. Now c'mon, we have your appointment to take care of."
With a sigh, Kate pushed herself out of the passenger seat, and walked into the hospital with Eve, shivering slightly in the cool early morning air.
"You nervous, hon?" Eve asked Kate once they were inside the hospital and in an elevator going up to OB/GYN.
Kate nodded. "A little."
"Don't be. It'll be okay, Kate, I promise." Eve pulled Kate into a hug, and kissed the top of her head. "I promise it'll be okay."
"Thanks. That totally boosts my confidence."
The elevator dinged and came to a stop at the fifth floor. As the doors opened, Kate grasped Eve's hand tightly. Her stomach was rolling and flip-flopping with anxiety, and her skin was getting a little clammy. In a few minutes, she was going to sneak a peek at the kid growing inside her.
The two walked down the hall, stepped through a large wooden door, and into a small waiting room with sofas, a flatscreen, and more pregnancy and People mags than Kate could count.
"Good morning. Can I help you?"
Kate looked to her right, and saw a small, gray-haired lady sitting behind the reception counter. The lady smiled kindly at her. "Are you here for an appointment?"
Eve went to the counter. "Hi, good morning. We're here for my daughter's appointment."
"The six o' clock for Katherine?"
"Yep, that's it."
The lady put a sign-in sheet of paper and a pen on the counter. "If you could just fill this out for me, that would be wonderful." She again smiled at Kate. "Forgive me for asking, but how old are you, dear?"
Kate chewed on her lip before she answered. "Sixteen," she said quietly.
Oddly enough, she nodded like there was nothing wrong with Kate being a sixteen-year old baby mama. From the way the lady was acting so cavalier about this, Kate assumed that she must've seen a LOT of teen mothers over the years. God, even more proof of how sad my generation is.
By then, Eve had finished filling out the sign-in sheet. The reception lady took it, and placed it on a neat stack of papers beside her computer monitor. "If you could just come back here, and go into the first room on the right Kate..." She stood up, and politely got the door for Kate. "Doctor Evans will see you in just a moment."
Kate nodded, and walked to the little room she was in with Eve. Here goes nothing, she thought with a sigh.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
About an hour later, Kate and Eve were back in the car and on their way to the high school. As they motored down the highway, Kate stared at the papers in her hands, mindlessly reading and re-reading everything she needed to know about pregnancy in the first, second, and third trimester and coping with the effects of pregnancy. She felt like her head was disconnected from the rest of her body at the moment as her mind did a replay of the appointment; 'Doctor Evans' hadn't wasted any time in giving the straight-up facts: Kate was about six weeks into her pregnancy - "that's the start of the biggest pain-in-the-ass part of the kid growing stage to boot...trust me, you'll know what I mean VERY soon, hon" - and at six weeks, the baby looked like an amorphous sea monkey (that part didn't surprise Kate one bit).
"I can't believe I've been pregnant for six weeks...sure as hell don't look or feel like it."
"Oh, trust me baby, you will," Eve chuckled. "Get ready for the mother of all pregnancy bitches, Kate. It's gonna be a rollercoaster ride for the next couple of weeks."
"What's the mother of all pregnancy bitches?"
Eve only smiled at her daughter in sympathy. "Morning sickness, babycakes. Comes when you least expect it. That's what makes it such a bitch to deal with."
Kate groaned. Morning sickness that could happen at any time in any place. Could her life be any more suckish?
"Well then, I'd better hope I don't barf in the middle of my classes for a while," Kate grumbled. "That's the last thing I need. Ugh, dammit..."
By now, Eve and Kate had pulled up to the front of the school, and the former was looking at her daughter sternly. "Okay, I think you might wanna mind the sailor talk, Kate. We're at the school now."
"That calls for more swearing, then." Kate hopped out of the Tahoe, and slung her backpack over her shoulder with a look of dread on her face. "God, this is gonna suck and thensome."
"Ah, get to class, you whiner," Eve teased. "I'll see you after school."
"'Kay, later."
As Eve zipped off, Kate made her way up the stairs to the main doors, went through them and the office, and walked through the silent halls to her locker.
When she got to her locker, Kate took one look at the door, and growled. Somebody had decided to tape a piece of paper with the word SKANK written across it in girly, bold red lettering.
Nina. That bitch.
Angrily, Kate ripped the paper off the door, crumpled it up into a ball, and threw it in a trash can. "She has one helluva nerve doing that to me," she muttered under her breath as she kept her eyes focused on the floor and stomped off to her first period chemistry class. "That shit's so not gonna fly. Calling me a skank...fucking stupid-"
All of a sudden, Kate was crashing into somebody, then falling to the floor. She - and the other person she'd walked into - cussed, and stood up to regather herself.
"Jesus Christ, can you watch where you're going?"
Kate's head snapped up at the sound of the other's voice; if she wasn't mistaken - and she was painfully aware that she wasn't - that had been Mark Swayne she'd just heard.
She slowly panned up, and met a pair of clear, luminous green eyes. Oh hell, it was Mark.
Shit.
His eyes widened slightly as he took in Kate's guarded appearance. "Andy Spencer's party!" he exclaimed as he pointed his half-empty bottle of orange Powerade at her. "I remember you! You're that one girl who got ice water dumped on you!"
"Yeah, so?"
"Kate...Kate Merna. Oh man...Jesus, that was one helluva night."
The memory of Andy Spencer's party slammed into Kate so hard she stumbled back a couple steps. "Shut up," she hissed. "Don't even think about bringing that up, Mark."
"Why not? Nobody's here! It's fine!"
"No, it's not fine! One, we're in school, so there's no way in HELL that we're talking about that night, and two, that's the absolute LAST thing I wanna think or talk about!"
"Why, the hell, not?" Mark repeated, sounding out his words sharply like he was talking to a naughty five-year old.
"You really wanna know why not, Mark?" Kate spat angrily, voice wavering. "It gives me nothing but trouble, that's why not!" A lump began to form in Kate's throat as the memory of essentially being used by her crush settled in. She squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to stop herself from tearing up. "You have no idea how fucked up that night's made me."
She heard Mark take a cautious step towards her. "What are you talkin' about, girl? What happened to you?"
Before she could answer, nausea boiled up violently in Kate's stomach. She slapped a hand over her mouth, and bolted for the closest bathroom, hoping to God that she'd make it before her body forced it out in the halls.
"Hey! Where are you goin', Kate! Wait a sec, talk to me, please!" Mark called out to Kate as he ran after her.
She darted around a corner, her stomach growing queasier with each passing second, and her skin feeling clammy and sweaty; if she didn't get to a bathroom in the next few seconds, Kate was gonna lose it, figuratively and literally, with Mark Swayne there to witness the whole thing.
Please, let me go! Stop following me!
At last, Kate could see the plain girls room sign tacked to a door. She flew through the door, went into the nearest stall, and vomited as tears of frustration, hurt, and embarrassment rolled down her pale cheeks.
When the morning sickness feeling had disappeared, Kate slumped against the stall wall, and cried. She felt like a mess; Mark Swayne, his obliviousness to her emotions and body language, and his stick-in-his-ass stubbornness were making her frustrated and angry, and to top it all off, this fucking morning sickness was making Kate miserable. As far as she was concerned, her life totally sucked at the moment. Right now, she wanted to crawl in a hole and stay there for the rest of her life.
"Kate!"
Oh god, he followed me. Why can't he just give up and leave me alone right now?
"Go away, Mark!" Kate rasped back as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "Right now!"
"But-"
"BEFORE I THROW A FUCKING SHIT FIT IN YOUR DIRECTION!" she screamed.
Thankfully, Mark did the smart thing by listening to her, and leaving her in peace for the time being. He wasn't in the mood to have the wrath of Kate Merna raining down on him.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Kate spent the next ten minutes crying in the girls bathroom, not all that interested in showing up for chemistry, or any of her other classes, for that matter. Her mom had been right - morning sickness was the mother of all pregnancy bitches, and she'd just experienced it first-hand. It had sucked big-time, but she knew that it was only gonna get worse as time went on.
Fuck my life, fuck my life, fuck my life...
The sound of somebody walking into the bathroom zapped Kate with fear. In a panic, she flushed, and tried to get out of the stall as fast as she could. Only Gavin, her parents, and Nina knew that Kate was pregnant, and at the moment, that was the way she wanted it to stay.
Kate wiped away any residue on her mouth with the back of her hand, and had just walked out of the stall, when she stopped dead in her tracks.
Amee Goff stood in front of her stall. Her back was turned to her, but nonetheless, she was still in front of Kate. Her face paled as she looked at the junior reapplying her makeup; this girl had to be the biggest skank that East McAllister High School had ever taken in, which was really easy to tell when one noticed the short-shorts and trashy pink burnout t-shirt she wore currently. She was also the biggest bitch the school had seen, too; Amee Goff was, in fact, rather famous for destroying the reputations of those who screwed with her, whether it be for getting her in trouble or for trying to nab one of her numerous boyfriends.
Even worse than that - Amee Goff happened to be Mark Swayne's girlfriend.
This is BAD, Kate thought as she stood fear-stricken behind Amee. This is VERY, VERY BAD.
Amee still had no idea that her boyfriend had managed to get a girl pregnant; if she somehow managed to find out that he had put somebody into that situation, then figured out that he'd done it to Kate, things would get extremely ugly between the two of them. East McAllister would practically turn into a fucking social warzone if that happened, and that was the absolute LAST thing that Kate needed in her current state.
I've gotta get outta here NOW.
Kate pressed her back to the stall doors, and shimmied towards the door, praying that Amee wouldn't notice her sneaking out. Fortunately, Kate made it to the door without having Amee zero her attention in on her, and she quickly slipped through the bathroom door, and into the hall.
As soon as she'd cleared the bathroom, Kate scooped her backpack sitting in the middle of the hallway, and ran off to her second-period German class just as the passing-period bell rang.
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WOW, it's been a while since I updated this puppy. Anyway, R&R! REVIEWS ARE POWER!!! :D