The next day, I knew the only person I haven't told about my plans is Eliza. Big mistake when I told her about the couple I'd be giving the baby to.
Her response is this: "I think that's good. I just thought you'd raise the child to fix your mistake."
"I have no plans to do that. I have a few reasons to so. Dad and I live in a two-bedroom house. How could you see me raising a baby there? There's no room. He works a double shift sometimes. Samuel and I just started dating. We're too young to be the parents and too young to know if we want to be together forever. I want to go to college after I graduate from high school for a career," I told her. "I thought I can count on you to support my decision. I'm not telling you anything ever again."
I got up to go sit somewhere else. Samuel was out with a cold today. I never thought my own cousin would say that.
After school, I wasn't talking to her and went home. As soon as I got home, I called Aunt Betty to tell her what Eliza said to me and she didn't blame me for being upset.
"I haven't spoken to her since I thought she would be glad that I made the right choice. I explained to her why I did that. The number one reason is how can she expect me to raise a baby in a two-bedroom house?" I asked.
"I agree with you, dear. I'm glad you called to tell me. Wait until I talk to her," said Aunt Betty.
"My best friends were supportive of me," I said. "How would she feel if I say that to her if she was in my shoes? She would've been mad at me."
"That's right," said Aunt Betty.
"Even if she did say that before making a decision, I would not change my mind. Dad and Samuel were super to me," I said. "We're just not ready to make that commitment right now. He and I both made that decision together. Even Dad told me mistakes do happen. He didn't force me to do something I might not want to do. Eliza should've thought about it before."
"I know. I'll tell her she better apologize to you or else she's grounded until then," said Aunt Betty.
"Good idea," I commented.
After we talked, I felt better after I did that. Don't get me wrong, I did made an error, but it doesn't mean I would fix my mistake by raising the baby and I still don't regret that decision. If my house was big enough, that's different, but I'd still do adoption anyway. Like I said, I don't believe in abortion. I just don't feel comfortable doing so. Dad told me Mom had to get that done before she had me because the baby had some kind of injury and the doctors were worried it would not live at birth. That's why my folks did an abortion as a precaution. They didn't regret it.
I went off to Providence Place Mall. I was feeling a bit nervous about seeing Mom. I went to the food court for dinner. Apparently, she was on break because she came to me and said, "I haven't seen you these days."
"I was busy. I just started high school. I have been going out with my boyfriend, Samuel, and so on," I said truthfully. "Plus, I'm getting ready to meet the couple who are adopt my baby."
"When?" asked Mom.
"Monday," I replied. "Dad was supportive about it. I'm not ready to be the mom yet. I want to have a career. I'm thinking about where I want to attend college. Dad and I moved here from California into a two-bedroom. Plus, I'm almost 15. He works a double shift every once in a while. In fact, he just left to start the 3:00 pm shift and won't be back until 7:00 tomorrow morning, so I know he could be too exhausted to baby-sit while I'm in school and he likes to nap for a few hours after work."
"That's true," agreed Mom.
"Yeah. My wonderful friends are great. I'm lucky to have them," I said. "Oh, yeah, another thing I won't be ready until marriage is being up with the baby most of the night. Dad told me I was like that."
"It's true you were. You would be up from 12:00 to 4:00 am almost every night. We didn't know what you were crying for," said Mom.
I giggled at that. Although it felt funny to talk to her for the whole time, it actually felt great at the same time.
"I live around here, so you are welcome to visit me anytime you want," said Mom.
"Maybe, but I'll talk to Dad about that first if you won't mind," I said.
"Not a problem. I'll give you my address and phone number," said Mom as she wrote it and gave it to me.
It may not be so bad after all. When she had to get back to work, I was hoping Eliza would text me to apologize for what she said to me. Instead, Aunt Betty was the one who texted me telling me Eliza 'refused' to do that and she is being punished until future notice when she says that she's sorry. I'm still glad about telling my aunt. I counted on Eliza to be supportive. She should understand why I had to do that.
At home, I emailed my gals to tell them about Eliza and they told I did the smart thing to inform Aunt Betty. It's always good to follow your heart. I even added about talking to Mom. They were impressed on how I came around. I was ready at the time, but not so sure if I want to be at her house yet. I added I told her I'd talk to Dad first.
I went to bed at 10:00 pm. I was awake for a bit thinking on what to say to Dad. I know what he would say to me: It would up to me to decide. Honestly, I know he would be right. It would be my decision to make.
I'm starting to think it would be a good idea for me to do. Why? Because if Samuel and I don't have plans on weekends, I could spend time with Mom. Dad decided to let me to date on school nights now whenever he has to do a double shift. If Samuel and I aren't doing anything, I could eat at her house instead being alone.
The next day, Eliza got angry at me for getting her into trouble, but I didn't care and ignored her. Thank god Samuel was back. I asked him to be my partner instead of her for an English project and he agreed to do so. It's a book report with a poster board for an extra credit. I told him about what happened with Eliza and he didn't blame me for asking him.
In the school library, he told her it was our choice to do what we want, not hers. He added I had the right to tell her mother and said, "You're supposed to be supportive, not pushing anyone to so something they don't want to do. Becky told you why she made that choice. There's no way to raise a child in a two-bedroom house. Her father works for a double shift often. Just think about how tired he would be to baby-sit. He likes to nap after his third shift, which is 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. We're much too young to have children. We plan to stay in school, not dropping out. We want to go to college for a career. We want to get married before we could become parents if we decided if we want to be together for the rest of our lives. If that was you, we would respect your wishes.
Eliza just rolled her eyes as she walked away to check out a book and left.
"At least you tried," I said.
"I know," agreed Samuel.
"I'm not even speaking to her," I said.
"I don't blame you for that," said Samuel.
"I didn't have second thoughts on our choice based on what she said to me," I said.
"Good thing you didn't let her make you change your mind," said Samuel.
We both picked Betsy Ross for the book report. She did the first American flag in 1776. Then, I checked out and we went back to class until it was time to head for Science.