Sayanni Janae Wilson | Chicago IL
April 30th 2020
"Sayanni!" the young girl heard her name being called. Instead of looking up and acknowledging the voice, she turned up the volume of her music, shifting a bit in her seat. Pulling her oversized hoodie over her protruding belly as it rolled up. She could feel eyes on her as she tried to tune out whatever voice was calling her name.
Someone had tapped her shoulder, shaking it when she didn't respond. Her airpod was snatched out of her ear, causing her to look up, squinting at whoever had touched her.
Professor Swithens, her first-period English teacher, squatted in front of her desk. A scowl was prominent on his face, making the lines on his forehead more noticeable.
He was Sayanni's only teacher she could stand. He had always looked out for her and pushed her to do better. Since this was her last year of high school, he was practically breathing down her neck about grades, scholarship admissions, and her GPA.
"Your grandmother is outside to pick you up." He mentioned tapping her desk before he stood up straight, placing her airpod back onto the desk. She sat up, sighing as she put her things away.
Grasping the desk and the chair behind her to stand up, her stomach prohibited her from standing without help. Sayanni could still feel the eyes of her peers and hear the whispers of a few people.
Walking through the aisle of desks, handing her workbook to Professor Swithens, a small smile on her face, as he took it from her patting her back, and then proceeded with the lecture he was doing before the phone rang, interrupting him.
She looked back at her friend before she made it through the door, Amina smiling at her, waving as she waved back.
Amina and Sayanni had been friends for about 4 years since their 8th-grade year of middle school. Amina was new, but she was extremely outgoing and quickly made friends on her first day, including Sayanni.
Sayanni walked through the hallways down to the administration's office, where she signed out, saying her goodbyes to a few staff and students that spoke to her.
Past the double doors and out to the front of the school, she squinted as the sun shined in her eyes. A horn honked, darting her eyes toward it. Her grandmother's black Honda Pilot gleamed in the sun.
Joy rolled down the window, a frown on her face. "Ain't you hot in that jacket, baby?" she questioned, pulling at the fabric as Sayanni struggled a bit into the car. "Put your bag into the back, please, ma'am." Joy mentioned pulling the visor down as she pulled off.
"You get induced today." she chirped, placing her hand on Sayanni's knee and shaking it in a reassuring motion. Sayanni sighed, her worries about today coming back.
She was supposed to be getting induced today. She had gone over her due date two weeks ago. Her daughter was supposed to come on August 19th but had gone over the due date, not wanting to come yet. Because of how small and young Sayanni was, her body was going through a lot during the pregnancy.
She had lots of heartburn, pain, her joints stiffening up, and high blood pressure. Her doctor was concerned about delivery. But today was the day she would be meeting her daughter.
Yes, Sayanni was 17, but she had made it up in her mind that she was going to be the greatest mother to her daughter.
Jerimiah, her daughter's father, wasn't very happy about the news. He wanted to keep the baby a secret.
He hadn't been to school since he found out, taking all his classes online, too embarrassed to be seen and known as the dude with a kid in high school, especially by some girl he barely knew, or that's the lie he told his friends and family.
Sayanni pulled her hoodie off and over her head, pulling down the white tank top she wore as it started to rise from lifting her arms. She reached to turn the vents towards her as the heat from outside was causing her to have a hot flash.
"Do you want to call that boy and let him know his baby will be here?" Her grandmother asked, turning to Saynni, her nose flaring at the mere thought of him quickly turning back to the road as someone honked for her to move.
"Momma, I'll let 'em know when she's here. I ain't trynna talk to him right now." Sayanni responded, checking the message thread she had between them.
She had already let him know what was going on, whether he chose to respond or not. "I never liked that fast-ass lil boy. Done told you several times to stop messing with him, but you are so damn hard-headed sometimes." She grumbled, pulling into the hospital entrance.
Sayanni frowned, feeling tears prick her eyes, her bottom lip in a pout as she thought about how wronged she felt.
"It wasn't just him, mama. Stop doing that. We both laid up in the bed being grown," she replied, her voice cracking as she spoke.
"Baby, I know that, but y'all gotta find some type of communication and be just as grown in this situation as y'all did to get here." She spoke sternly.
"So call that boy's phone and tell him what's going on." She retorted, parking the car and unbuckling her seat belt getting out, and grabbing the overnight bag from the backseat. Sayanni sat in the car for a little while, not moving to let the words her grandmother spoke run through her mind.
She was right.
Even though the circumstances of the situation weren't ideal but she got herself into this situation, and she's the one that had to deal with it.
As if the looks and talks from guidance counselors and people at her school weren't enough, she had to deal with the pain of losing someone that made her happy.
Sayanni sniffed, inhaling through her nose and blowing out her mouth, fanning her face to stop her from crying. She opened her phone, went into her contact list, and called his phone. In the first four rings, he hadn't answered, so she didn't stress it and turned her phone off, getting out of the car and pushing her phone into her back pocket.
She waddled to the other side of the car to get her bag from her grandmother. Making sure they got everything, Momma Joy closed the doors, locked them, and started their walk toward the hospital entrance. Sayanni hissed, feeling the baby kick as she walked, slowing down a bit to soothe her.
"She probably been ready to come, being stingy, taking up as much space as she could," Joy joked as they walked a bit more towards the entrance instead of in front of the ER.
As the women made their way to the entrance, a screech and car honking could be heard in the distance.
They had stopped, concerned about what was going on. Sayanni looked to her right to see a black sprinter van barreling towards them, her eyes going wide, and as quick as she could move, she pulled her grandmother towards her and onto the curb out of the way of the van coming towards them.
The van came through the entrance quickly, chaotically stopping in front of the double doors. Four different men jumped out of the car, and all went to one side to pull out another man that was bleeding from his chest. His white shirt was covered in blood.
They all collectively and quickly walked the bleeding man into the ER entrance. All could be heard yelling as they got closer to the doors.
Before Sayanni could take another step, a sharp pain ran through her body, starting from the middle of her lower back and through her legs. She groaned, bending over and clutching onto her stomach.
"Fuck!" She cried as copious amounts of water could be heard splashing against the pavement. Her legs began to give out from the pain, and her grandmother caught her before she could fall.
The driver in the van had seen what was going on and quickly jumped out, running towards the two of them. "Y'all good? I can call a nurse out here if you need me to. I ain't mean to come thru here like that scaring y'all." He panted, a little winded from the recent events.
Sayanni felt as if her body was tearing at her from the inside, another wave of pain running through her. "Are you able to carry her?" Momma Joy asked, looking toward the young man. He had tattoos starting from his neck down his arms and blooming on his hands, the black wife beater he had on showing off the few tattoos on his chest.
His shoulder-length dreads, a few pieces dyed blonde in two strand twist, half of it pulled back into a small ponytail, his jawline on display. "Yes, ma'am." he replied, moving towards Sayanni, lifting her bridal style and muttering a small "sorry" hence they didn't know each other, and some random man had just lifted her into the air whilst undergoing a contraction. She hissed as he lifted her, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Listen, we gon get you in there, and you gon be fine," he reassured her as they made their way into the hospital.
Following behind, who he assumed was her mother, they walked up to the front desk, Sayanni still in his arms. He could feel her body stiffen up, her hold on his becoming tighter as she tried to breathe through the contraction.
"You gotta put me down, please." she whimpered, feeling a strong urge to push. The boy hurried to do as told. He carefully placed her back on her feet, worry all across his face seeing the young girl in pain. Finally, the nurse came back with a wheelchair, and he helped Sayanni down into it.
"Thank you, young man." Momma Joy stated, placing her hand on his shoulder before following the nurse and her granddaughter into the elevator. He nodded, a small smile gracing his face as
Sayanni mouthed one as well, still in his line of vision, her chest heaving from all the pain she was in. He nodded toward her watching the elevator doors close.
Whoever she was, she was undeniably beautiful and her skin had this glow to it. Her skin was clear of any blemishes or scars, and she was like something out of a movie.
"Von come on, what you doin man?" He heard someone say, snapping him out of his thoughts, his closest friend Durk grabbed him by his shoulder, pulling him towards the rest of his boys sitting in the waiting room.
"Tony good?" He asked, sitting next to Durk. Durk looked up at him before sighing and shaking his head.
"He's gone, mane."