Jumping Rope

Note:

This is my first story, so be kind to me...I'm just kidding. The second chapter will be more interesting...so bear with me...and...enjoy the ride.

--

The harsh fluorescent lighting reflected off of the tiling and blinded me. My eyes felt as though they were going to explode any moment and I would be left with nothing with two giant holes in my face.

At this point I was welcoming it. It wouldn't be the first crazy thing to happen today.

I tried looking back at Jocelyn but to look at my distressed best friend was...well...

distressing

. I put my eyes somewhere else. That 'somewhere else' being rows upon rows of pregnancy tests and contraceptives.

Maybe I shouldn't look there either. It definitely doesn't help

, I thought dimly.

I was in a drugstore squeezed between the feminine napkins and KY jelly. An older white man shuffled by the aisle, I could

feel

him staring at us. How did I get here, again?

"Are you sure...?" I asked, squinting for more than one reason. I immediately regretted it.

Your best friend thinks she may be pregnant. There's a possibility that she could be an unwed teenage mother and all you say is 'Are you sure'?

Jocelyn looked at me with sad dark eyes, her face screwed and twisted in discomfort. "Remember how I fainted in Gym the other day, and I've been super hungry lately. And tired, and..." She nearly hissed as she reached for a store brand pregnancy test.

It seems she is thrifty even in crisis

, I thought.

I had never seen her that emotional about...anything. She must have noticed because she paused to compose herself.

"...look Leese, I'm late.

Very late.

This..." She gestured towards the rows of tests. "...is the only way to find out."

"I mean," I started, unsure. Everything about this scene was making me unsure. When I woke up this morning I didn't envision having to deal with

this

and

her

. Especially when she was the president of nearly every high school function and club.

When her GPA was a number that wasn't even supposed to

exist

. When she was the most focused, dedicated, and frankly, future obsessed friend I've ever had.

"...it just seems unlike you." I finished lamely.

I didn't even know she was having sex. She did have a steady boyfriend...Malcom Kendrick...but he didn't seem like the 'sex before marriage' type.

You didn't think that about Jocelyn either

, a voice in the back of my mind mentioned.

It was ludicrous, really. Even if she

were

having sex, she would be anal enough to always use protection. Jocelyn and sex...

That was the kind of thing you told your friends. I frowned.

"It's a long story, Leese." She, seemingly to have read my mind, patted my shoulder soothingly.

"I don't know...I'm just saying, this all is a bunch to take in...I mean, I figured that Hollie would get knocked up first, not you."

That

made sense. Hollie was always sucking face with her boyfriend. During lunch, after school...

She sighed loudly and quickly pushed the box into my hands. I had to nearly cradle it to keep it from dropping. My fingers were dripping with sweat.

It was amazing how something so small could cause such a big panic...could ruin your life...or make it better...?

"I need you to do a favor for me." She eyed me intently, unblinkingly. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were set in a thin grimace, the poor lighting making her warm brown skin look ashen and sickly. This was the Jocelyn I knew. Intense and in control.

"I—I need you to go up to the register and buy that for me." I blinked as I registered what she was asking.

She wants me to

what

?

"C'mon. You know I can't be seen with it. If anyone from school finds out—anyone—everything I've ever worked for...and you..." She stopped suddenly and looked down. She didn't finish. She didn't have to. I could almost hear it.

"...and you are the lovable slacker. No one would be surprised if

you

were going to have a baby."

"...you know how my mom is, and if Ida ever got wind of this...I asked you to come with me because I know you're the most understanding.

Please.

" She picked back up, almost begging. She

was

begging.

"Fine...meet me outside." I sighed. She embraced me suddenly, tightly.

You couldn't pay me back with all the hugs in the world right now.

"Thank you, thank you." She pulled away and headed towards the exit. I watched her retreating form. Her steps didn't seem as weighted as when we first entered.

Sure, she left all the hard work to me.

I looked back down at the box in my hands. It was white with a ribbon of pink coloring around the front stretching to the back. Purple fancy cursive spelled out the name...the 'brand that could be trusted most'. For her sake, I hoped it could.

I tried to imagine Jocelyn as a mother, tried to imagine her giving up the possible scholarship to Princeton, marrying the father (who ever he was). I tried to imagine her doing something like getting a factory job—maybe at a brewery—and settling down on the south side.

I couldn't. I just couldn't.

What if it turned out positive? What if she wouldn't get an abortion? Of course she wouldn't, she was

Catholic

. If things could turn that way for her...there was no hope for me.

How ironic it would be if she got pregnant before the underachiever.

I sighed and shrugged my jacket back up to my shoulders, making sure to cover the

St. Barnaby's

crest on my shirt. The last thing that school needed was more talk, and if something like this got out...I could just see the headline.

Superstar student, eighteen, attends all girls' Catholic school turns up pregnant...and man less!

It would probably best for me to go to a lady cashier. A lady cashier would probably just give a sympathetic nod and a push out the door. Yeah...

I took slow feather-like steps towards the check out. It was nearly vacant towards the front, just mag-racks and early Halloween chocolate. The register was deserted. The corners of the box were begging to stab me in the sides so I just gripped it in my left hand.

When I finally reached the register, I slammed it down loudly.

Half of the battle...

"Hello?" I mumbled. Nothing, no one. It was like I was the

only

one in there. What happened to that old man staring holes into my ba—quite suddenly, some dashed behind the lane.

"Sorry for the wait, miss. I was nic'ing..." He said and coughed. Not a lady. A guy, a

white

guy, about a foot taller than me. I pressed my thumb up to my lip in nervousness, and concentrated on the tiling.

"It's no problem, really." I nearly muttered.

So much for that plan.

"You look a little young to be expectin'. How old are you, anyway?" I didn't have to look at him to know he was smiling. I could hear it, and as far as I was concerned there was

nothing funny about that

.

"It's not for me." I said, shortly. A deep wheezing noise emitted from his direction. I realized it was laughter. His laughter.

"Was it for your girlfriend then?" I was counting my sixteenth tile when he interrupted my awkward silence. I looked at him. He was bigger, taller than me...but then so were most people. Jocelyn probably had four inches on me.

Brown hair, stubble, dark eyes, disturbingly pale. There was nothing remarkable about this guy, looks wise. He could be any other check-out boy in Chicago...He wasn't old as he sounded though...maybe it was the smoker's cough.

The only thing that could possibly stand out was his smile. It showed all his teeth...It was a nailed in, full frontal, shit eating grin. Like he couldn't stop even if his health depended on it.

What was he so happy about?

Maybe he was one of people who didn't smile because they were happy...

"My what?" I blinked slowly as he scanned the box.

"You know..." He put down the scanner, made a V with his pointer and middle fingers and stuck his tongue through his fingers. It wasn't until his tongue started flickering that I knew what he was talking about.

He thinks I'm a lesbian! That—

"

No.

" Jocelyn owed me big time.

"No need to get pissy. I was just joking—That'll be fourteen dollars and eighty nine cents." He quickly bagged it. I fumbled, for a moment, to reach my wallet.

Only seconds to sweet freedom.

"Hey," He leaned in closer to me. "I should give you my number. You seem like fun..." His smile didn't flicker a bit. I tried to shrug it off coolly.

"Here," I handed him the money. "exact change." He handed me a scribbled receipt in exchange. As obnoxious as he seemed, I didn't wanted to offend the guy by throwing his phone number away. I just folded it neatly and stuck it in my pocket.

"You should call me tomorrow." With no teeth, it looked more like a smirk. I briefly wondered if his face ever got sore.

"Yeah..." I quickly grabbed the goods and nearly ran out of the drugstore from Hell.

Jocelyn was waiting by the bus stop near by. "Were you—", I threw the plastic bag and it's contents at her.

"Take you stupid test. I'm going home." Riding the Loop was better than putting up with this. Putting up with my

mom

was better than putting up with

this

.

"Leese!" Onlookers parted ways and stared as I ran away. Ran until I couldn't hear even the faintest

'Leese'

.

--

"You're late. It's dark outside.

Where have you been?

" Mom called out from the kitchen. I was shaking my shoes off in the plant room and unzipping my jacket when she walked in, pot in hand.

"Huh?" Her silence was heavy as she waited for me to answer. I hung my jacket up on the coat rack and slowly unzipped my skirt. It was just a way to bide time really. My mother was particularly intimidating for her size...though we met nearly neck to neck.

Her eyes were hawkish, like she could read the truth all over my body. She tightly held her lip as though she was holding back.

"I was at the library. What's the big deal?" I asked breathlessly.

"You went to the library but you didn't bring you book bag home?" She raised an eyebrow.

She can always tell when you're lying.

"Don't do that mom. I'm not one of your patients." Not tonight. I walked through the kitchen, through the foyer and nearly halfway up the stairs. I could hear her trailing behind me.

"You're eighteen, and it's about time you started acting like it." If I could put one foot in front of the other...I was nearly home free.

"You know you're a smart girl, Felicia. If you only applied yourself...took school seriously—" I sighed.

"—just like Jocelyn does maybe—" I didn't hear the rest of what she said. I slammed my door.

--