FRIENDS SUPPORT
"What are you doing again? You've only been looking better for a few weeks. But today a new problem has come your way. You don't want to tell us, do you?" Tina persuaded Sarah with a sad face.
Sarah turned to all of her friends before her eyes returned to the glass of juice in her hand.
"I'm pregnant, and maybe that's what your class teacher was talking about. Maybe that's also the reason my class teacher was looking for me," Sarah replied calmly.
Sarah's four friends gasped in disbelief at a statement that seemed as if Sarah was joking at this time. Even though Sarah was serious and it showed in her expression.
"I'm serious, Sarah. No kidding. What did you just say? Pregnant?" Tina asked in an unusual and urgent tone.
"You think this kind of thing can be made a joke?" Sarah replied casually.
"You're pregnant, Sarah?" Julie also asked and Sarah nodded in response to the question.
"Are you not aware of my pregnancy? You are not aware that my body looks fuller? Other people know what I'm going through but those of you who play with me every day don't even notice,"
"I thought you already knew the news of my pregnancy but you still chose to remain silent because you respect my privacy who prefers to be alone,"
No one laughed or smiled at this time even though Sarah spoke in a relaxed tone.
"Sarah, we're serious," Johnson said, seeing Sarah intently. Johnson's heart broke too, imagining Sarah's condition like this if what Sarah said was true.
Johnson is a man who likes Sarah and had a date with Sarah when they were in middle school. But because Johnson's parents did not agree with their relationship which was considered very young, Sarah decided to just be friends, as Sarah had wanted since they had known.
Little kids don't date, that's what Sarah told him before, and with the rejection of Johnson's parents, John had to let go of the Sarah he loved.
Then, when he saw Sarah's current bad luck, John felt he had contributed to Sarah's current predicament. If John had persisted in refusing to separate from the bond of the child's love with Sarah, perhaps Sarah would not have been in a relationship with Alex and Sarah would not have had this unfortunate experience.
"I'm serious. I'm pregnant and now I'm seven months pregnant. Is my stomach invisible to you guys, huh?" Sarah answered again in a relaxed tone.
Julie's sobs began to sound. Everyone turned to look at Julie and then back to Sarah again.
"Why are you taking it all on your own? Aren't we all your friends, Sarah? Why don't you share your troubles with us?" Julie cried when she asked Sarah.
Sarah is still calm while looking down to listen to her friends who can feel her sadness at this time. Sarah didn't know either and was at a loss as to what she wanted to say.
"If I don't even know what my life is like right now, how am I going to tell you guys?" said Sarah while holding the chewed food in her mouth.
Sarah tilted her head up, trying to hold back the tightness in her heart so the tears wouldn't fall. When she felt her tears had been well controlled, then Sarah returned to talk to her friends.
"If only I knew what to do. How can I tell you? My life is already sad like this, it's not good if I share my sadness with you. I just want you to see that I'm always happy, not me who is sad and down like this," Sarah said with a sad smile as she looked at each of her friends.
"Sarah?" John said Sarah's name quietly. He was devastated to see Sarah like this.
John clenched his fists tightly. He is angry and sad, as well as cursing his past stupidity that easily let Sarah go for Alex in the past.
If only Sarah was still his lover, maybe there wouldn't be a day as painful as this.
But all that is in the past. Who will know what today will be like? Same for the following days. If there were choices and views about the future, perhaps there would not be such sadness as now.
Julie and Tina put their arm around Sarah. They poured out their sorrow for Sarah who was like a sister to them.
They knew very well that Alex's death was the heaviest blow in their best friend's life. Unbeknownst to them, Alex had left Sarah with too big a gift, which may be at their age it would be difficult to live the life ahead.
Sarah's four friends did not think that Sarah had endured the burdens and problems of life as big as this until now.
"Come on, don't cry like this. Later I will cry too, you know! I don't want my baby to cry because he always hears his mother cry," Sarah tried to calm the hearts of her two best friends who were also broken because of thinking about her life.
Now Sarah's gaze turned alternately to John and Tommy. With a bitter smile, Sarah nodded as if to let them both know that she was all right. She is strong.
Tommy covered his face with his palms and elbows resting on the table. He tried not to see Sarah's face that would make him cry.
Tommy stroked the edges of his red eyes that were already watery and imagined how cruel fate had played on the life of Sarah, his friend since elementary school who he loved so much.
"So the teacher at the teacher's office was discussing you, right? Then, why were you summoned to the principal's office?" asked John curtly.
Right now only John could control the expression on his face as he looked into Sarah's face, and he felt compelled to ask to know what kind of trouble Sarah was in again this time.
"Somebody's complaining that I'm pregnant," Sarah replied, grinning.
"I don't mind if my pregnancy will be found out because I don't mean to hide anything from anyone. It's okay if other people want to talk behind my back. I don't care and in fact, I'm pregnant, right?"
All of her friends were touched by Sarah's stubbornness. Julie and Tina tightened their grip on Sarah even more. How strong Sarah was to face the harsh realities of life.
"But, what makes me angry right now is because they accuse me of getting pregnant because of promiscuity,"
"No wind, no rain, I was accused like that. It's so easy, do they? It's just one time they talk and accuse and then it's all over,"
Sarah continued her story in an even tone and with a blank stare looking straight ahead. It was as if what she had just said was commonplace.
However, the reality is the opposite. Sarah's words suddenly shocked her four friends and straightened their bodies to turn their gazes to Sarah.
"They can't just accuse me, can they? They don't know what it's like to be me. But it's so easy to corner me and make me sad like this,"
"Life is weird, or was I born to be a joke?" Sarah said with a sad smile. However, Sarah's sad face and smile immediately turned furious as she muttered.
"Is it because they don't know the sadness of leaving their husband? Is it because they don't know what it's like to be pregnant without a husband? Who's wrong? Me? I don't want to be like this either, do I? I don't want Alex to have an accident either!"
"So this is all my fault? Why are they so presumptuous to say that my child is the result of promiscuity? Why are they like that?"
Sarah's body shook violently with anger with her head down and only focused on the glass she was gripping tightly.
The tears fell this time. Sarah couldn't contain the anger she didn't know to who she was going to vent.
Sarah's friends could only keep quiet and encourage Sarah because of what they could do if things were like this. Until class ended, the four of them remained in the canteen accompanying Sarah before everyone returned to their respective homes.
When Sarah got home, she immediately told her mother and Spencer about the call for Sarah's parents to school.
Without subtracting or adding, Sarah recounted some of the annoying moments during her interrogation in the Principal's office earlier.
Of course, Spencer was furious and Mrs. Katie, Sarah's mother, was sad.
"Why do they go easy on you, Sis? How dare they accuse others carelessly! They are educated people who should investigate and ask questions without accusing them. They make my respect for them lose!" Stu grumbled in annoyance. It seemed he was furious with the teachers' unfair treatment of his older sister who lived in such a pitiful situation.